The trip winds down

Helen and Sylvie
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

After the worst breakfast of the trip, the eggs were that bad I couldn't get close to finishing them, we pootled a short way down the road to Mt Rushmore which is a unique, impressive and literally monumental ... well, monument. We only had a short while to spend there as we had to get to the airport, but it was cold and apart from looking around the small museum and meeting one of the original workers and of course visiting the gift shop there wasn't a huge amount to do. I was disappointed that the nature trail was closed but we did see a couple of the big fluffy goats on the way out; the pictures are on Helen's camera.

All that was left of the trip was filling up the petrol tank, taking the car through the car wash and checking in at the airport. One thing I found out to my cost going through security in Rapid City is that snow globes are weapons of terror and not allowed in cabin baggage even if you put them in a plastic bag to be screened separately, sorry Lawrie that was your Christmas present!

Sitting in the departure lounge we were submitted to almost unrelenting news coverage of the boy in the balloon aftermath; oddly enough the news item on the official who refused to marry a mixed race couple was only given five minutes. Helen and I will certainly not miss the often trivial and nearly always speculative journalism on American TV and is looking forward to some good old BBC investigative journalism; I'm also looking forward to decent documentaries that don't over-dramatise, even most original BBC programmes are americanised.

Helen, who was flying on to Portland for the GSA a while later, saw Sylvie and I off as we flew back to what turned out to be a wet and cold Virginia.

Saturday morning was nice and relaxed and the only urgent task was to go shopping for veggies and milk for us and peanuts for the sqrls. Then in the late afternoon I drove Sylvie around the idiot hell that is the beltway, even worse in the wet, to Dulles airport to catch her flight home.

Devil's Tower

Devil's Tower
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

Next morning we got up early, packed our bags and grabbed breakfast before heading on the last long road stage, 540 miles from Jackson to Deadwood. The weather was threatening rain as we pulled out of Jackson and we had not gone more than ten miles when we spotted three moose, probably the same ones from the day before, as well as more Elk. The rain caught up with us as we climbed into the mountains and just as I'd got used to driving in the snow again we hit a big set of roadworks that took away the road as well so when we weren't driving in snow we were driving on mud; fun. We eventually came across some stationary traffic and the couple in front let us know a lorry had spun out ahead; they were travelling together in convoy with one driving a car and one towing a horse box and they were great fun! First off they kindly offered us some Oreo cookies and then they had a quick snowball fight which we elected to avoid by staying in the car.

When the blockage was removed we headed off only to stop again in Dubois to top up the petrol tank and check out the giant jackalope and jackalope museum, a major source of revenue in Dubois. We stopped again some distance down the road for lunch at the Crazy Woman Restaurant in Ten Sleep (great place name) before finally arriving at Devil's tower in yet another new state, South Dakota. The Devil's Tower, which was featured in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was very impressive and difficult to capture in a photograph but I must say that the black tailed prairie dogs in the grounds stole the show for us. The prairie dogs were not concerned by our presence at all and just continued grazing, yipping and greeting each other, in fact the only time they got upset was when a mule deer and calf trotted through their manor.

After a well deserved ice cream and in the failing light we headed off to our overnight stop in Deadwood. Being low on petrol we tried to find the local filling station which was very local and so unobtrusive we drove straight past it and had to ask directions to get back to it. Finally and very tired we arrived in the infamous Deadwood for a well deserved dinner and even more welcome bed.

Chocolate Moose

Chocolate Moose
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

It was odd being in such a famous ski area as Jackson and not be boarding, but the weather was slightly warmer and the rain had eased up.

We made the most of not having a long day ahead of us nor an early start by having a late breakfast and then driving over the mountains, via the post office (stamps for Sylvie) and Staples (SD card reader for Helen), to Idaho where we failed to by any potato related products whatsoever. On our return to Jackson I stayed at the hotel to edit and upload photographs whilst Helen and Sylvie went to the visitor centre before a light lunch.

In the afternoon we met up with the Teton Science School to go on a Wildlife Expedition. We had to wait for a larger vehicle because there were two more people than they had expected, so after a short delay we headed out of town past the National Elk Refuge; there weren't any elk in the refuge because they only gather there for the rut and calving.

Somebody spotted a coyote and as we were heading back up the road to get a proper look we saw a group of three moose standing in a thicket. There were quite a long way away but we were able to use the spotting scopes provided to get a good view of them and in the poor light I pushed my camera as far as it would go to get a half decent photograph.

After watching the moose we drove further up the road and saw lots of pronghorn which look a lot like antelope hence the reference in Home on the Range! We also saw loads of bison, but they were so yesterday we weren't that interested although our guide was very knowledgeable and we did learn a lot about animal behaviour. En-route we stopped at an old Mormon settlement which was very picturesque in the dying light with the Grand Tetons in the background; Helen got some really good photographs.

We drove into Teton National Park to look for bears, but we only saw elk although hearing the stags bugle was very interesting. I did see something small and furry run across a gap possibly a marmot but mostly we saw elk.

Yellowstone

Beehive Geyser
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

Friday saw Helen, Sylvie and myself fly from Virginia to Bozeman, Montana via a very cold and snowy Minneapolis/St Paul. Bozeman was none too balmy but was small enough for us to get in to the car and on the road very quickly. A short while later we rolled into Gardiner, past the local Elk to check into our hotel and then play hunt the restaurant. I know it was out of season, but so many places
were shut and the one place we found had very little to eat for me, even less as the ravioli was off.

We woke the next morning to a wonderful snow covered scene and gingerly headed into Yellowstone National Park where the ranger on the gate, after giving us the peak information pack, told me she didn't want me to run off the road or to hear about me over the park radio. Having European driving skills and common sense we proceeded into the park. The first feature, the cascades, was frozen despite being fed by hot springs as the water forming the steps was very shallow and with the snow still falling it was like strolling though a winter wonderland.

As we pushed on further, stopping occasionally to walk to see geysers, mud pots and sulphur pools the snow eased up and the roads and skies cleared up with only occasional snow and rain. We also saw plenty of elk and so many bison; in fact we stopped in the midst of one herd and were mere feet away from them and were concerned when they sudenly stampeded.

After a lunch stop we moved on to the Yellowstone Grand Canyon before arriving at Old Faithful. Our arrival was well timed as we only had to wait ten minutes for Old Faithful to perform and then minutes later the Beehive Geyser, which was much larger, erupted.

We managed to stop at another couple of geyser basins as the sun started dropping in the sky. Helen and I walked into the Midway Geyser Basin which was very steamy and spooky as we walked through huge clouds of vapour which left me incapacitated when my glasses fogged up.

Eventually and after chatting with a female flagman, being escorted through a very long set of roadworks and avoiding suicidal elk running across the road in the dark we made it to Jackson.

A bit more hectic

Sylvie arrived last week and Helen took some time off to do all the touristy things like going to DC, Alexandria and Shenandoah. I also took Friday off so we could travel to Salisbury in the furthest reaches of Maryland where Helen and I were going to ride in the Seagull Century. The Century is an annual 100 mile rambling ride from Salisbury university to the coast.

Because the ride started from 0700 we had to get up, get ready and check out of the hotel before dawn which was a real drag but necessary because the town was heaving with traffic. After a quick head stop we rolled our bikes onto the road and then along the road a bit to get away from the crowd; it's not just cars that cause chaos. There were bikes across the road, groups sat in the middle of the road as well as people pulling away without looking. The lack of cycling ability or road sense goes further as we saw at all the rest stops and I was almost taken out a few times; the correlation with cars also carries over into cornering ability which you would have thought is easier.

There was some serious drizzle but the weather was warm and the sun did shine through eventually even though the rain did not totally disappear. The course did not involve too many junctions and most of the roads were very quiet although there were a couple of busy ones. The rest stops were well run and there was plenty of food and drink to replenish the energy reserves and even banana bread at the seaside stop. We even had priority over the traffic at most junctions and the police were great at stopping the traffic so we could roll through. On the way back from the coast we turned onto the wind which had picked up and mad life a little harder but did not stop us from rolling back into town albeit very weary.

We had a wash up and change in the car and picked Sylvie up from the hotel where she had been stuck all day and headed off home via Denny's for something substantial for dinner. Once home we unloaded the bikes, showered and headed back out to treat Sylvie with a visit to Tiffany's for some live bluegrass. I'm not sure if it was the beer, but I certainly perked up and although we didn't last until 0100 we did make it through two sets before retiring for the night.

We're now sat in Reagan National airport waiting for our flight to Montana, delayed due to snow in Minneapolis, for our next road trip so expect some decent pictures from Yellowstone.

In the meantime, and in way of apology for the lack of pictures recently, here's a video for you - Sweet Million

All quiet on the western front

Coming to get ya!
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

We enjoyed a few quiet days at home after our hectic road trip before Catherine jetted back to the UK and university life. After Kitty left the temperature plummeted causing us to switch from cooling to heating, but this soon changed on the first day of Autumn as we got hit by a rise in temperatures but now it is quite pleasant.

We've been really boring and other than an evening baby sitting for some friends it has been really quiet, although we we not at all quiet when we babysat.

We did kick things up a notch this Friday when we went to the Birchmere to see the Bacon Brothers in concert. The support act Rebecca Loebe & Raina Rose were a folk duo, had no support and played acoustic guitars as well as a washtub. Their voices were amazing and complemented each other perfectly - check out a video of them - Rebecca & Raina - Clean

Kevin Bacon was definitely the star of the show for most of the audience and he certainly seemed very at ease and had great stage presence but he whole band worked together well and certainly rocked.

The Birchmere is certainly a great venue as you get given a number when you arrive and then they call people through to the music hall where you choose a table and order and eat your dinner whilst waiting for the show to start.

We rounded things off wonderfully by going for a pootle on the fixies over to the National Harbour in the lovely weather today.