(no subject)

[snowee]

Or, at least, the more interesting bits.
Hubby had pain in his eye. Background: He is blind in his right eye from a fishing accident. This causes migraines and extra sensitivity to foreign objects. Three times he’s had to go in to have stitched removed because they popped/worked their way to the surface, and scratched the inside of his lid. Doesn’t that make your eyes hurt just thinking about it? Anyway, he thought it was another stitch so we had to postpone trip while he went to eye doc to have it checked out. Not a stitch, just a foreign object that had worked its way far under the lower lid so he couldn’t blink it out.

We left 4 hours late, (we being myself, hubby, child and sister [5 months pregnant] and hubby who brainstormed this whole trip) so instead of going all the way to West Yellowstone that night we stopped at a private campground in Plymouth (UT) because my parents have a membership so it was free. We set up camp, then swam for about 30 minutes until the pool closed. Water was warm and lovely.

It got freezing ass cold that night – below freezing (but only barely) so the next morning, hubby whined. I didn’t think it was that bad and our 3 year old seemed to think it was just fine. He, however, couldn’t take it. He and I had colds last week so I suppose that made things difficult.

Well, after breakfast, we packed up and hit the road. We got to West Yellowstone and our planned campground in the early afternoon. They all decided to rent a “Kamping Kabin” instead of a tent spot. It was expected to be colder near Yellowstone than Plymouth. In the back of my head I thought, “Why did we spend extra money on the good sleeping bags that are supposed to be sub-zero standard if we’re only going to use them in warmer weather?” So, we got set up and then hubby, whom I’d like to mention behaved grumpy ALL DAY and nearly sucked the fun out of it all for me, said he wasn’t feeling well. I’d like to point out that by now my cold has returned – only worse – and we’ve had to stop for cough drops and cold meds which I usually don’t take, but I had to because I felt so horrid and just wanted to enjoy this trip. I wasn’t even all that excited for the trip, but I promised myself I would be excited. So, we left him behind and went ahead to the park. We saw Elk and Bison in packs everywhere. Funny thing about Yellowstone, if you stop, within seconds you’ll have 3 more cars stopped trying to see what you see. (Never stop to pee on a tree.) Also, every once in a while, you’ll see packs of cars pulled off to the side of the road. You know then that you should look out the window because they’re all stopped to look at something…

First we stopped at the Fountain Paint Pots. Too bad I don’t have pics to go along with this yet. I have to take them to be developed and who knows when I’ll be able to pay the ransom to get them back from the film developers? The mud is discoloured by bacteria and it just bubbles in the hot spots. Toria kept calling them gooey geysers. Apparently I let her watch Dora too much because when we questioned her, she said she had seen them on Dora. Still, it was cute.

Next we moved on to Old Faithful. Now, there are many geysers in Yellowstone and Old Faithful isn’t so faithful anymore (since ’88 earthquakes which caused changes to much of the park) Years ago, my friends and I passed through Yellowstone rather quickly on our way home from a Montana vacation. I saw geysers then and didn’t think OF would be such a big deal. Well, we found a seat and waited, waited, waited. About 20 minutes after the “predicted” eruption. OF finally went off. Whoopty doo.

The ravens in Yellowstone are bloody HUGE. They will stop near you, but not too close, so you can have a look. They’re quite beautiful. One flew overhead and that wingspan – wow – plus the loud whooomp, whoomp. Makes you think of the power of their wings and all those references that poets and lyricists make to large birds.

On the way back to camp, we got stuck on the road. Road construction? No. Accident? Nope. Elk crossing the road – YES. They took their time. Eventually (an hour late) we got back to camp and ate dinner in the dark. Talked to hubby. He was just tired and didn’t feel like going into the park, but hoped maybe we could see Old Faithful the next day.

Grunt. So because he was being a sissy (believe it or not, he WAS a boy scout!!!) we had to visit the same thing AGAIN? Sister said she really just wanted to see OF. Her hubby said he didn’t care what they saw, he’d been years and years ago. The rest of the trip was up to me. Well, I wanted to see Tower falls, Mud Volcano, and Sulphur Cauldron. I had a route picked out to make it happen, but now there’s a problem, we have to go back by OF.

So, that night it rained. Hubby gloated that it was a good thing we had the cabin to keep dry. NOW I’m thinking “And why did we spend extra on the tent designed for Mt. Everest – a tent specially designed to resist flooding (all you’d need is to dig a trench, no rain fly, tarps, or other add ons needed) if we’re going to whine when it rains… hard, but only for 10 minutes?” There weren’t even puddles in the morning. If there weren’t puddles, we wouldn’t have flooded.

By now I have a fully fledged cough and a horribly bad sore throat. I tell sister and her hubby I’m sorry if they get sick – I thought I was over the cold and at least past contagious when w left. Now I worry that in such close quarters, they could catch it. Anyway, next morning we have a nice breakfast and head off to Yellowstone again. We saw Mud Volcano, Sulphur Cauldron, tons more elk, buffalo, and ravens, and a bald eagle. It was flying across a field and as I lined up for a photo, trees blocked my view. So, we pulled over just as the eagle landed in a tree. We got out and I used trusty telephoto lens to snap a picture. It’s still sort of distant, but not bad. Within seconds, what do you imagine happened? Someone pulled over. I pointed out eagle and the guy gets his binoculars. “Oh, they’re beautiful birds, aren’t they? He says, then shows his wife. Another RV stops and the guy gets out. We point out bird and he says “Oh, it’s just a bird.” I should have said “HEY! That’s the US symbol for freedom. Try to be excited, okay?” but instead I thought “If you’re going to be picky about what you see, then don’t just pull over because you see a truck and RV pulled over, dumbass.”

Then we circled back to OF. We stopped and saw some beautiful waterfalls and scenery that I can’t even describe. I tried to get pictures, but Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon is so vast, that a picture will never do it justice. The hill just falls off down into a river – a little like the Rio Grande in spots, only not as steep. The rock walls are yellow and gold. There is a sign pointing out where the cliff jutted out another hundred feet and the overlook built there gave a view of one of the larger waterfalls. In ’88, the earthquake took away the 100 feet and we wondered if anyone had been on it at the time. The sign didn’t say, but it’s a scary thought.

Oh and what’s kind of cute are the baby trees. Last time we went through, it was just a year or so after fires swept through the park. Now the pinecones are replenishing the ground and all the pine trees are 3 feet tall or less in those areas. Just beyond all these baby trees you’ll see the majesty of the incredibly tall pine trees as well as the burned tree trunks still standing. Forests are amazing the way they cycle.

Well, we got to Old Faithful and Toria needed the potty. We went in a shop and he said there’s no restroom, but there is one next door. I go there, it’s closed for cleaning. I ask someone there for another. The directions are crap and as I wondered, I ran into another woman following their awful directions. Finally we found someone else to ask and the woman did, but those directions were also wrong so I decided to try hoofing it across the lot to the lodge. Poor Toria is tired and just wants to go to the bathroom (and I do too, to be honest!) on the way, someone says there are more public restrooms “over there”. I follow the point thinking if I go there, I’m guaranteed. If I go to the lodge, I’m taking my chances. I go that direction and find that it’s closed for cleaning, but only the ladies. ARGH! So I rush over to the lodge and find that indeed there are public restrooms. As I get to the doors, this guy comes by and sets down this yellow boards and says “We’re closing for cleaning.” I said, in my rarely used mean voice, “This is the fourth bathroom I’ve been to. You will let us go before you begin cleaning!” and he did. Made me a bit, grumpy, though. None of those buildings were very close together. It took a total of 30 minutes and by then the poor kid had gone in her training panties so we only really needed the bathroom to change her into clean ones. Gargh.

On the way back to camp we stop again. This time, the Buffalo are crossing. One steps out just before us so we stop. It stands there in the middle of the lane. Another one steps out and looks at us like “Hey, how are ya. You wanted to go, right? Well, remember that flyer they gave you when you enter the park? Come on. Just give me an excuse to charge you. Come on.” Eventually he got bored and finished crossing. Then the first one took a step, stopped, lifted his back leg to scratch himself? Looked at us, looked the other direction, looked at us again like “I almost had you there, didn’t I? You thought I was going to cross. HA HA HA.” We’re making all sorts of jokes and laughing when finally he crosses. He stops a couple feet from the road and bows his head until he can scratch the top of it against the grass. We could hear him as we passed. Ah, the sound of a buffalo scratching his head on grass. Yeah.

We get back to camp. Now I cannot stop coughing for the life of me. My throat is so dry and scratchy that I almost cry when I swallow, but I think I’m being a sissy. It’s just a cold, right? Well, either way, I’m fucking miserable. I don’t say much, just try to swallow a couple bites of dinner because I’m starved, but can’t eat much more because it hurts too much. Take lots of pain relievers, anti-inflammatories, cold meds, and go to bed.

The next morning I get up to pee. I walk into the bathroom area and – another tangent. You go to this little building added on to the offices. You’re in this large area with benches. Off to the left are a series of doors to the communal showers. To the right is the men’s room and then at the other end, the ladies’. Okay, so I open the door and BAM Naked Lady. She’s just wandering around, says hi to me. Okay, hi Naked Lady. I… didn’t really need to start my morning like that. I continue to the bathroom and this guy comes out of the men’s room. I hear the lady say “Oh, shit” and as I glance back, the guy is trying to look ANYWHERE else, but at the same time, he’s double checking (like I did) Is this lady really naked? And old, droopy, a little chubby? Now, the human body is gorgeous, imo, but I didn’t ask for this. I chuckle and go into the restroom. When I come out and I’m washing my hands, there is Naked Lady, though now she is dressed. I still see naked, okay? She says “Hello” and ‘I like your hair’ to which I said “Hi” and “Thank you.” Okay, on with the morning.

We do some shopping. Money, by now, is pretty tight. Well, we didn’t have all that much to begin with, but we get a few trinkets. We started home a little after noon and about half the way, it’s raining like mad. We stopped in Pocatello where we used to live to get gas and sister says she’d like to go by our old place. Okay. So we do. The people are painting the trim green. I like green. A nice dark earthy green would be nice on the house, but that’s no the green they have chosen. It’s like Crayola green and it’s only half painted, but there is no ladder or anything around indicating they’re still working on it. Yuck. They took out all my healthy roses bushes and covered it with grass and let the rest turn to weeds.

It’s not my house anymore. I don’t care. I guess it’s just that the realtor made me feel like the house looked like crap because he wanted us to lower the price (so he could get his commission quick and pain free, I guess, since he showed the house only twice and all the other people who looked at it were brought by other realtors) and now it really does look like crap. It was in good condition – the previous owner was an old lady so we even did some fixing up. We asked less than the appraised value. It should have sold. Maybe it would have if we’d had a better realtor, but we lived too far away to keep up the fight so we gave it back to the bank. Not a big deal, really. The bank was satisfied and we had the house off our hands. Blah, so I think they made the house look like crap and we drove home.

Unpacked, exhausted, should have just gone to bed. Hubby’s new school schedule is early so I have to be at the gym by 6:30 on Mon and Wed if I’m going to work out. Because of cough, I really didn’t sleep last night. I promised my sis-in-law that I’d take her with me to gym because she’s wanted to go early by my sister, her workout buddy, can’t get out of bed that early and they’ve been too spent by evening to go. Anyway, I picked up W and took her with me. Having the commitment to drive someone else made me do it despite how I felt and when I got home I thought, well, if I can do it after a vacation, exhausted, sick, and with little sleep, I can do this! So, 6:30 is the new plan. Whee.

Raining here today so hubby took car to school. This means I'll be taking film and mailing stuff later today instead of first thing as planned. That's okay. I've really got to finish laundry and I just realized that the dishes need to be done.