The trip home

We left Alpine this morning - said our goodbyes to Paul, Jenny and Max. We had a lovely visit and we hope to return in July.  Over the weekend we "babysat" Max while Paul and Jenny went to a Chamber of Commerce event at which Jenny was feted as "Person of the Year" for all the volunteer work she has put into the Star Valley Chamber. We were proud of Jenny and Max was a sweetie.

This morning was very cold. It was -17 degrees when we got up. It took a while to get the car warmed up. But I got it loaded up and we were off before 9a.m.  It was a gorgeous day - not a cloud in the sky. The mist off the river created hoar frost on the trees which were beautiful against the snow and sky.

 When we got to Grand Teton N.P., the mountains were clearer than I had ever seen them. Spectacular!

Togwotee Pass is a snowmobiler mecca - as evidenced by these patterns in the snow.

Somewhere along the way, a truck kicked gravel onto our windshield and caused a crack. We decided to stop in Riverton, WY at a little auto glass repair shop to get it fixed. We lucked out - the owner was able to take us in immediately.

His son normally works with him and restores cars in his spare time. He has a passion for Chevvie Malibus. Looks like he has his work cut out for him!

Tonight we are in Lusk, WY.

Paul's work site

Friday we went to visit Paul's work site. He is the Site Manager for a company called OSM (On-Site Management) at a $3 million custom home project outside of Jackson, WY, near Wilson, WY. The house is a modern, concrete and steel affair with two huge decks at either end, and spectacular views. We are awed by the complexity of the project and the amount of detail Paul has had to master to keep on top of what is happening. He has to order materials, maintain a tight schedule, oversee what the sub-contractors are doing each day to make sure it is right, do constant problem-solving and in many cases help design details that the architect has failed to provide. He has a great skill in organization plus a great deal of field experience in having built two of his own homes, but nothing on this scale before and steel and concrete is a new type of consctruction for him, so he's learning a lot on the job. He has the respect both of his boss and the workers on site. It's a demanding, challenging and often exhausting work, but it's a good job. He expects the owners can take occupancy by July this summer - may when we come next we can see the finished product.

Here is an architect's rendering of the house:

   
  








 And here how it actually looks as of now:

It looks bigger from the south side:

 
This is an interior shot of the living room fireplace.

 After we had lunch with Paul at Nora's Fish Creek Inn  in Wilson,

We went up into Grand Teton National Park  and walked a bit on a ski trail

And got a nice view of the Tetons.

Today we went to Idaho Falls - all five of us. Paul and Jenny had some shopping to do for their house at Loew's and Home Depot and Sam's Club. We ate at an all-you-can-eat buffet placed called Chuck-O-Rama. It's a good deal for sure, but I restrained myself, as did the others.

Chuck-O-Rama - nobody we know

When we got home,  I watched UNC play #8 Miami in  basketball  (UNC is unranked) - we had recorded it. Just as well - UNC got tromped 87-61 or something like that, so I could fast forward and reduce the pain. The Miami team had four seniors and one Junior. UNC has two freshmen, two sophs and one senior.  Big difference in experience. UNC is building and improving, but they were outclassed in this game.

This is Wyoming

Inside the herb store

We've found a really great herb store down in Thayne, WY - about 15 miles from Paul's house - which has all the dried herbs one would ever want, plus tinctures and lots of organic foods, etc. It's called Haderlie Farms, and is located in an old red barn. A little touch of Vermont in Wyoming.

Haderlie Farms Herb Store

I learned it does most of its business by catalogue, online. Which doesn't surprise me because this area just doesn't strike me as being populated by a lot of herbal-type folks. But as I was going in, I noticed a little sign that brought me up short - I'm in Wyoming, not Vermont. I guess this sign means the folks inside are armed. So reassuring!

Herb store protection!

Wedding Photo

We were sent a link to an archive of photos by Ryan and Alicia McQuen from their wedding last July.  It included this photo which I think is pretty classic:

Where we are, what we do

So, we are at the home of Paul, Jenny and Max Baker in Alpine, WY. Paul built the house himself four years ago. They got a lot of snow just before we arrived and even though it has melted some, it's still pretty deep.

Paul's house in Alpine, WY

 We try to take a walk every day, and we get lovely views like this one in the late afternoon:

The view from above Paul's house

Sunday mornng when we got up, we discovered the world had been transformed. A freezing mist had covered every twig with hoar frost:

Hoar frost on the trees next to Paul's house

We got ourselves organized and went to church with Max at the Star Valley United Church, which is Presbyterian/Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

Star Valley United Church

It is a small congregation but very friendly. The pastor, Rev. Steve Crittenden, took advantage of it's being Super Bowl Sunday and the fact that the two coaches, John and Jim Harbaugh, are brothers - a unique situation which, he said, creates "a very theological Super Bowl." He imagined watching the game through the eyes of their parents, knowing that one of their boys would be happy, and the other disappointed. The parents had been asked by an interviewer what they would do after the game. They responded - "we'll celebrate with the son who wins, but we'll be with the son who loses." That, said Pastor Steve, is an analogy for the way God looks at humanity.

After church we went to the Alpine Market to get some last minute snacks.

Max helps Ellen pick out some snacks

After we got home, Jenny created a little ski run on the berm in front of their house, and encouraged Max to try out his skis. He was more interested in using his sled.

Fun on the sled

Ellen and I took another walk and marveled at the birches against the snow and blue, blue sky.

Beautiful birches

Road Food

Effie's Oat Cakes - Yum!!

We haven't said much about food as yet. Actually, we like our little snacks out of our box in the car - string cheese or cheddar cheese on an Ak-mak cracker, an Effie's oat cake with peanut butter (we LOVE Effie's oat cakes), a handful of nuts, a square of dark chocolate. 

But we love looking for Roadfood restaurants (that's Michael and Jane Stearns' book which we  find usually sends us to interesting, locally noteworthy, restaurants).

Heid's Diner in Liverpool, NY

Our first Roadfood stop was at Heid's in Liverpool, NY. It is famous for its hot dogs. It was a classic Art Deco diner.

We stopped in Oberlin, OH at one of our favorite restaurants, the Aladdin Eatery which should be in Roadfood  but isn't - a middle eastern restaurant with fabulous falafel cakes and lentil soup.

Falafel cakes at the Aladdin

Actually everything there is scrumptious. We hoped Arthur Davis might walk in while we were there but then realized  he was probably still on break.


 Next door to the Aladdin is a Ben Franklin 5 & 10 which in addition to the usual variety store stock has a great used and new book store. We always make a stop there if it's open.

Ben Franklin cum bookstore in Oberlin, OH

Grove Cafe Breakfast Menu

Grove Cafe, Ames, Iowa - Ellen in window

The BIG pancake

Our next Roadfood stop wasn't until the Grove Cafe in Ames, IA (home of Iowa State University). It is famous for its frisbee-sized pancake. Ellen got one. It was so big, I had to help her eat it. 

We also had breakfast in Schaumburg, IL in a Richard Walker's restaurant - Ellen had her usual Dutch Baby pancake (also huge). And we ate at the Good Earth Cafe in Minneapolis with our friend Arleene Sweet. That's been it for special food so far - a little thin in the Roadfood department, but not too bad overall. 

We're in Alpine, WY

We arrived in Alpine last night after a long day of driving from Sidney, NE. We took I-80 all the way from Sidney to the exit just after "Little America" (a distance of about 400 miles) - which is the name of a very fancy truck stop west of Rock Springs, WY (e.g., it has "17 marble showers" for truckers). Unlike VT where a travel plaza would usually offer a choice of caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee, at Little America the choice is between caffeinated and super-caffeinated (no decaffeinated)! I guess in the west, decaffeinated coffee is for wimps. However, it also has a good selection of postcards, toys and offers 50-cent soft-serve ice cream cones - Ellen and I shared one.

There was a point west of Cheyenne, WY where the visibility was almost zero for a stretch and we wondered if we would have to turn back, but Ellen soldiered on, and from there on,  the visibility was ok, and the road surface was clear and dry for the most part (although there were warnings of "slick spots" along the way - due to blowing snow across the road). But the big problem was cross-winds - gusts up to 50+ according to the warning signs, though I'm not sure we ever experienced that. Ellen had to keep both hands firmly on the wheel, that's for sure! The Subaru held the road well - it is heavier than the Toyota and lower to the ground than an average SUV would be. It wasn't dangerous driving, but it wasn't relaxed for the driver either. We were able to listen to NPR much of the distance, interspersed with my reading aloud from Secret Water, so the miles flew by.

The exit after Little America was Exit 66 - Route 30 west. It goes up to Kemmerer, WY, then turns north at Sage, WY and over to Montpelier, UT (we left it at the Utah border and went due north up to U.S. 89). Just out of Kemmerer we hit another white knuckle stretch of zero visibility due to blowing snow, and once again we wondered if we should turn back and go into a motel at Kemmerer. It was by now late afternoon - about 5:30pm -  the light was waning, and we were about 130 miles from Alpine - tantalizingly close! We decided to keep going and in just a few miles, everything improved dramatically - visibility was good, the road was dry. By the time we got to Smoot, WY - the southern Star Valley (which is the valley Alpine is at the northern end of) it had started to snow, but that did not cause a real problem. It did not seriously affect visibility or road surface. That latter leg of the trip from US 30 up to Alpine, we hooked my computer into the tape deck of the car and listened to iTunes in "shuffle" mode - which means it randomly selects items to play from the thousands in my iTunes library. That is always enjoyable because you never know what you'll get next, and there is a huge diversity of tunes in the library - sometimes it's an old favorite, sometimes a total surprise - "I didn't know we had that!" We got to Alpine at about 8pm, and we found that they had had a lot of recent snow there - over a foot for sure. So it was close to a twelve hour day of driving, and over 550 miles, under not the best of conditions.

But we made it, we had a wonderful bowl of Jenny's white bean chile on arrival, Max was still up and gave us a warm and joyful welcome, as did Paul and Jenny, and we talked for a while, catching up on their lives, and then to bed. We'll take it easy today.