Woke to 49 degrees today, and that was inside the trailer.
The sky is deep blue and the sun is shining. We're off to Grand Teton National Park. I don't expect to have internet until after we leave there.
Can't wait to see who McCain's running mate will be!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
One More Thing 9:00 Mountain Time
Barack's speech showed me, once again, that he is the smartest, most dignified, most articulate, most direct and engaged, and most presidential candidate in a long time. And he has the best command of the issues that matter to me of any politician I have ever seen. And Joe Biden is growing on me. That's partly due to the difficult psychological effort I am making where Joe is concerned, but it's working.
Even Fox "News" couldn't fault his speech, although by morning I'm sure they'll find a way.
Even Fox "News" couldn't fault his speech, although by morning I'm sure they'll find a way.
Heard on Talk Radio
Yesterday we were between talking books. Never a good thing, as I just hate talking on the radio and Steve finds the call-in shows entertaining. They make my hair hurt really, really bad, and I usually insist upon quiet over talk-radio, but sometimes I have no choice, and sometimes the level of ignorance reaches hilarious heights. For example, a caller was talking about a web site where he found a list of public officials who had obtained their diplomas and degrees from phony universities. He rambled on and on for what seemed like hours, with the host encouraging his barely lucid obsessing. I was starting to get pissed off and reach for the tuner, but then he said "Did you know that you can get a doctoriat [sic] degree from the internet for $1400". Great! Made listening worthwhile. I'm going to apply for one the minute we get back.
Prairie Dogs
I forgot to mention that we finally saw some Prairie Dogs today. The pictures didn't come out because the little critters blend right into the landscape and move really, really fast. I had wanted to see them, but we never made it to the two towns of them in Custer State Park. They were just along highway 26.
Du Bois, Wyoming
Tonight we're about fifty miles form Grant Teton National Park, enjoying a beautiful river front campsite and also enjoying the last TV and internet we're likely to have for a while. Phone and intenet has been a challenge in this sparsely populated area.
In a rest stop this morning, a man who was playing with Doogie insisted that we needed to go to Thermopolis, a detour of 65 miles. He raved about the mineral baths there and was determined that we should go because we would enjoy it. Turns out he's a federal employee, working for the Bureau of Reclamation, and probably a geologist, at least from the way he was able to explain how you get and store water in those circular stone towers that are all over central Wyoming, when you capture natural gas. It also turns out that he was right. Thermopolis is a not-to-be-missed spot. It's located up Wind River Canyon, in Boysen State Park, past a reservoir, up and down colorful mountains, along a beautiful river and through one of the most beautiful canyons I have ever seen.
We veered off route 26 to the north toward a vividly colored mountain range. The first hills we encountered looked as if a giant dump truck had separated all the colors into piles. White calcium, red iron, and white sandstone, gray granite, all neatly separated. The landscape quickly changed to a high, narrow river canyon, striped with copper, white, brown and pink. We passed signs describing the rock: "Phosphoria FM - 225 million years", "Gallatin Cambria 500 million years", "Pre-Cambrian Granite - 600 million years". We also passed pristine river-front campsites along the sparkling blue Wind River.
Thermopolis has numerous mineral spas. Neither Steve nor I has ever had a mineral bath, and wanted to try a soak, but didn't know what to expect. The state of Wyoming has a facility where you can use the pools for free and rent suits and towels. You can stay 20 minutes in the 104 degree water, then you have to leave for 2 hours. As the day was hot and the sun merciless, 20 minutes was enough time for us. I hardly ever put on a bathing suit, and when I do pictures are never allowed, but this was such a unique experience that I wanted to document it. It felt great, but did you know that the primary mineral in a mineral bath is sulphur? Sulphur smells like eggs gone over. We should have rented suits and towels, because our towels now smell a little "over". But it was fun and well worth the detour.
In a rest stop this morning, a man who was playing with Doogie insisted that we needed to go to Thermopolis, a detour of 65 miles. He raved about the mineral baths there and was determined that we should go because we would enjoy it. Turns out he's a federal employee, working for the Bureau of Reclamation, and probably a geologist, at least from the way he was able to explain how you get and store water in those circular stone towers that are all over central Wyoming, when you capture natural gas. It also turns out that he was right. Thermopolis is a not-to-be-missed spot. It's located up Wind River Canyon, in Boysen State Park, past a reservoir, up and down colorful mountains, along a beautiful river and through one of the most beautiful canyons I have ever seen.
We veered off route 26 to the north toward a vividly colored mountain range. The first hills we encountered looked as if a giant dump truck had separated all the colors into piles. White calcium, red iron, and white sandstone, gray granite, all neatly separated. The landscape quickly changed to a high, narrow river canyon, striped with copper, white, brown and pink. We passed signs describing the rock: "Phosphoria FM - 225 million years", "Gallatin Cambria 500 million years", "Pre-Cambrian Granite - 600 million years". We also passed pristine river-front campsites along the sparkling blue Wind River.
Thermopolis has numerous mineral spas. Neither Steve nor I has ever had a mineral bath, and wanted to try a soak, but didn't know what to expect. The state of Wyoming has a facility where you can use the pools for free and rent suits and towels. You can stay 20 minutes in the 104 degree water, then you have to leave for 2 hours. As the day was hot and the sun merciless, 20 minutes was enough time for us. I hardly ever put on a bathing suit, and when I do pictures are never allowed, but this was such a unique experience that I wanted to document it. It felt great, but did you know that the primary mineral in a mineral bath is sulphur? Sulphur smells like eggs gone over. We should have rented suits and towels, because our towels now smell a little "over". But it was fun and well worth the detour.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Casper, Wyoming
After battling the worst westerly winds we've seen this trip, and as we were traveling mostly south or north, they rocked us all over the place, we checked into a campground on a hillside in Casper with no trees to buffet the gusts. The wind blew me into the office where the man commented on the breeze. Startled at the word "breeze", I laughed. "When it starts blowing, you'll know it," he said slowly, in quiet deadpan.
My most important qualification for a campground tonight is that it have cable TV. Last night we didn't have any reception and had to watch the convention on live internet feed, which, probably due to the size of the transmission, kept clicking off.
We arrived about 3:00, hit the ground running, and by 6:30 we had 3 loads of laundry clean and put away, a large grocery shopping done and put away, and a simple dinner on the table. Our over-riding goal was to watch the speeches tonight. We finished all that just in time to hear all of Bill Clinton's speech, and are ready as Biden is about to begin.
Tomorrow we head to the Tetons a day early, having decided not to stay here two nights. We love the Tetons, and an extra day there will be wonderful. And we're leaving early so that we can scope out which bar in which lodge will be showing the Obama speech. Our fallback position is to go to a Starbucks in Jackson to watch it on the computer. Let me know what you think of the speeches!
My most important qualification for a campground tonight is that it have cable TV. Last night we didn't have any reception and had to watch the convention on live internet feed, which, probably due to the size of the transmission, kept clicking off.
We arrived about 3:00, hit the ground running, and by 6:30 we had 3 loads of laundry clean and put away, a large grocery shopping done and put away, and a simple dinner on the table. Our over-riding goal was to watch the speeches tonight. We finished all that just in time to hear all of Bill Clinton's speech, and are ready as Biden is about to begin.
Tomorrow we head to the Tetons a day early, having decided not to stay here two nights. We love the Tetons, and an extra day there will be wonderful. And we're leaving early so that we can scope out which bar in which lodge will be showing the Obama speech. Our fallback position is to go to a Starbucks in Jackson to watch it on the computer. Let me know what you think of the speeches!
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