Karma Is a Dish Best Served Cold

You may have heard that Revenge is the dish best served cold, but I'm here to tell you that you've been duped.  Karma.  All along it's been karma that's best served cold.  To begin this story, I take you way back... back to the days when I was sleeping in a real bed under a solid roof, a time when showers came more frequently than twice a week, a mythic time when Doc and A. Broad still had things left to talk about.  In those days, a friend said to me that I have perfect karma, and that, furthermore, I could probably cash in on that about anytime I felt like.  Now that you know the backstory, let's move forward to a time about four days ago.  The place, Grand Teton National Park.  After Doc and I arrived in the Tetons we set up camp, just like any other day, and I went on a search for firewood, also a common occurrence.  While I was hunting through the woods (and the fire grates of empty campsites... I'm an opportunist) I came upon a plastic moose toy half buried in the dirt.  I immediately brought it to Doc and told him that I thought it was a good omen, and that we should call him Herald, the Moose-cot.  "Perhaps," I said, "Herald can call us some moose.  After all, I've never seen one."  If I only knew then what I know now!  We decided that we would head into town and have a real meal in Jackson, WY, and that perhaps we would stop on the way home to look for moose (since they like the late evening).  We did indeed stop for a "moose jam" and get a peek at my first ever moose thru a kind man's spotting scope.  "Wouldn't it be funny," I said, "if we were looking at this moose long-range thru a spotting scope and there was a moose lying in our campsite?"  Doc agreed that it would be funny, but improbable.  Me and my big mouth.  Me and my stupid, perfect karma!  Why did I choose THAT moment to call upon all my stored up good deeds and ask for a little bit back?  It turns out that when we got back to our campsite there were a bunch of people gathered around looking at my tent.  Literally WHILE we were looking thru the spotting scope there had been a moose stomping her foot down on MY TENT and watching it bounce back up!  Apparently for about 20 minutes!  Luckily for me, nothing was damaged.  Unfortunately, she DID decide to lay down in our campsite (well, right behind it) and bed down for the night.  The National Park Service (in their infinite wisdom) decided that we were too much of a liability and decided they would move us (and our 30 closest neighbors) all the way across the campground to the farthest possible loop.  Nevermind that it was already getting dark, that our site was all set up for the night, or that we already had a fire going!  Now I can say that I've seen multiple moose, and my tent has one slightly bent pole to prove it.

Now to step back in time again before the Tetons.  While Doc and I were staying at Sinks Canyon SP in Lander, WY we managed to happen upon the Eastern Shoshone Indian Days Powwow.  Tons of fun, to be sure.  All the enjoyment of greasy fair food and sno cones mixed with an interesting cultural experience.  The dancing was phenomenal, and our favorite was probably either the dance for Indians 75+ or the Boot and Hat Special (which involved Indians decked out in a combo of traditional dancewear, cowboy hats, cowboy boots, and various other Western items).  Very neat.  We also made a day trek to Thermopolis, WY, the largest mineral hot springs in the world (at least that's what they say and I don't know any better).  Believe it or not, Wyoming's parks are free, and that included their state mineral baths!  We were all ready to shell out the big bucks to take a hot soak, but it turned out to be free of charge.  Super cool.  The only drawback was that the sulfur springs left me smelling like a particularly ripe egg for about 48 hours.  Luckily we are outside most of the time.  Thermopolis also has a particularly active dinosaur bed, and of course we had to go and see their museum.  Doc geeked out (even to the point of having me take his picture!) when he saw one of only 7 specimens of archyopteryx in the world.  Even though I'm not a rock or dino nut, I had to admit that it was pretty darn cool.  They even had a 140 ft. long dino reconstructed in the museum!  So big!

Now we are in Yellowstone, which is of course one of the most beautiful places on the planet.  It is still my favorite National Park.  The waterfalls and rivers are all pumping water like you wouldn't believe, and some of the hot springs are particularly full right now.  Unfortunately, our former favorite, Mammoth, is pretty much dried up at the moment.  Doc reminded me that this is the most active geologic spot in the country, so they might even be flowing again tomorrow, or maybe never.  That's one of the great mysteries about this place.  The gorgeous hot spring that looks like it has rainbow mist coming over it is called Grand Prismatic.  So beautiful.  We may even go back today for another look.  Well, provided the predicted rain and hail hold off.  Tomorrow we head towards Cody for the stampede and to spend the 4th of July with friends.  Hopefully the next post will be pictures of decked-out cowboys and what we have been promised is the "real" 4th of July experience.

So Much Time, So Little to Say! - Strike That, Reverse It

I have 2 National Parks and a State Park to update you on!  Bryce Canyon National Park is still gorgeous, of course!  It's Mom's favorite and she hadn't been since she and Doc took their honeymoon 32 years ago.  We took some fabulous hikes and saw all kinds of beautiful hoodoos, a waterfall, and some wildlife.  Lots of Pronghorns, Prairie Dogs, and birds.  Speaking of birds - the photo that looks like it doesn't have a lot going on in a pine tree deserves a closer look.  There's a bird hanging upside down to eat the pine cone.  The weather was kind of a shocker to us, we went from being in the 80's in Zion to suddenly getting out of the car in 50 degree weather!  Mom and I are cold blooded folks, so we immediately pulled out our scarves and gloves (yes, we packed those!).  You would have thought we were touring the Yukon in February.  

It is rare to find a National Park that none of the Doc clan has visited, but Capitol Reef was one such place... until a few days ago.  The last park we went to with the Mrs. turned out to be lovely beyond belief.  It isn't a very trafficked park, and that was even with it being the first day of summer (free for that reason, kinda cool).  Didn't do a lot of hiking there because of timing, but did some touristing.  Of course Doc and the Mrs. touristed with Diet Coke in hand, A. Broad is not a Coke-aholic.  After the park, we drove Mom to Salt Lake City to send her home.  Just A. Broad and Doc for 5 weeks - God have mercy on us.  Mrs. Doc has a bet pool going about which of us makes it home.  If you would like to get involved in that pool, you can contact her.  

Our plan after Salt Lake was to go to Dinosaur National Monument and Quarry, but a little research into the park showed that it isn't open again until October.  Major bummer!  So we rerouted to Evanston, the awesome little town we stopped in on the way out.  Went to their little museums, which include a replica of the West's first Chinese Joss House (temple).  Very neat history.  They have a whole reconstructed museum of the Joss House dedicated to Chinese railroad workers.  Also stopped at a thrift store across the street that we stopped at on the way out.  The woman is such a trip and everything is super reasonably priced.  Bought some cool goodies for myself and to pass on to other people.  Now we are camping in Lander, WY at Sinks Canyon State Park.  I visited here in 2008 with an Outdoor Student Leadership workshop via Indiana Campus Compact.  Doc hadn't been here before - and I've since been informed that what I just thought was pretty and neat is actually a rare Geologic phenomenon!  Do I know how to pick them or what?  I, of course, pulled one of those, "Yeah! That's why I brought you here!" fibs.  Cut me some slack, I never get to show HIM stuff!  

How could we all resist the opportunity to eat real ho-made pie!  ;)

Right as we came out of Bryce Canyon - it was so huge!

For Joe - A Bird-Only Post!

So here they are... I know what less than half of them are, but I had to work to get some of them!  Hope you enjoy.

Zion - Where God Would Build His Summer Home

In the words of Calvin and Hobbs, "the days are just packed."  I seriously do not know where all my time is going.  Well, it's going a lot to hiking, taking photos, and waiting patiently (hard for me, mind you!) for wildlife to come along.  Hopefully you see all these as being beneficial to you in the form of photos.  I think it's a great use of MY time.  

So Zion is choice real estate.  Thankfully it is a National Park, otherwise it would probably look like most other beautiful places - marred by housing additions and Walmart.  As it stands, it is an absolute testament to the natural world's beauty.  The neat thing is that the park has decided to implement a free shuttle system in order to cut down on pollution and traffic.  You can actually cross the street in the park without fearing for your life!  You can also see wildlife on the sides of the road without 80 cars pulled over and 350 Japanese tourists getting their photo in front of each deer (a la Yellowstone NP)!  I am wicked impressed.  We managed to do several hikes while we were staying in the National Park lodge, and also managed to spend a day going thru the galleries and shops in the next town over.  We ate at a restaurant touted by our Fodor's guide to be the best food just outside of the park on that evening, and it certainly didn't disappoint.  We ate on the patio and their grounds looked like some kind of landscaped city park.  Even the birds were impressed, and we got to see several hummingbirds while we ate (no photos, my soup was way too good to take a photo break).  

Now we are staying in a hotel between Bryce Canyon NP and Grand Staircase Escalante NM.  Went into Bryce on our way thru to the hotel and took lots of pictures.  It was so cold!  It was in the 50's, overcast, sprinkling and 30 mph wind!  After being in Zion in 80 degrees it felt like walking into a windy deep-freeze.  The rain clouds made a striking contrast with the reddish orange rock, as you will see in the next post.  I know, I'm a terribly tease when it comes to photos.  It's called building suspense, okay?

So back to Zion.  We saw so many cool animals.  There were many encounters with neat birds, including a very striking Yellow Warbler you might see in the next post, lizards, a snake, squirrels, chipmunks and a ton of mule deer.  Today on our way out of the park we saw a Mountain Sheep and then several Pronghorns in Bryce.  The two notable animal encounters, in my opinion, are both in the photos below.  We got to see a squirrel eat a caterpillar (I leave you with one of the least graphic photos, the others might turn you off stringy food forever) and a lizard take down and wail on some kind of worm before dragging it home for dinner.  So fascinating.  Doc is loving the Geology, of course, and we stopped at two rock shops today alone.  Happy Father's Day, Doc!  Mom and I didn't even complain.

  

Viva Las Vegas

Good thing I still have more than a month to figure this whole blog thing out again... somehow I've managed to get a post behind on some of the photos.  So the first ones are of coyotes on our way to Vegas and Death Valley.  Mom's first time in Vegas was a hit.  She and I both got to ride in a limo for the first time on our way to see Lion King last night.  The show was one of the best any of us had ever seen.  They had hundreds of puppets in it, including a full-sized elephant with a person in each leg!  So awesome.  We were in the back of the theater, but when the tickets cost a total of $27 for three people, you can't really complain.  It was a sold-out performance, which is not surprising considering that this is its last month in Vegas.  Mom and I also managed to do the Miracle Mile yesterday, but we didn't buy anything.  After the show we ended up going out for a late dinner and decadent dessert in New York, New York.  So much fun.  We all slept in this morning, because we didn't even get back to the room until 1:30 this morning.  We capped off our Vegas experience today with a trip for Mom and I to the Pawn Stars pawn shop and a visit to The Venetian, The Mirage, and Treasure Island to see the canal, volcano, and Sirens show respectively. The finishing touch was a giant helping of frozen yogurt and one last night at the time share.  So grateful to my Grandma and Grandpa for the time here in Vegas being our Christmas gift.  I don't think I've ever spent more time steaming in a hot tub or chilling in a pool, but I think I might get used to it.  Tomorrow we move on to Zion National Park, which should be a great time.  Until then, Elvis (and myself) have left the building.