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| At the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone |
Leaving Alaska to escape winter and travel across the Rockies and northern US in late October may not be sensible, but it has been uncrowded and fabulously beautiful. Since leaving Vancouver we've been on the road for a month in our little camper van IRV with travel cat Vesta. Anyone reading this blog probably knows we spent weeks in Vancouver to celebrate and help after the birth of grand-twins Chloe and Claire to Camille & Alex. Willow came too, from Scotland, yay! She drove down
The Highway with Craig while I first helped with the babies.
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| Gail, Willow, Zoe, Camille and Chloe & Claire |
We're presently at the end of a great stay with Craig's brother Glenn and partner Theresa near Syracuse, NY. Upstate New York has subtle and seductive charms. We never knew it to be so rolling, trees so monumental, grounds so spacious, homes and villages so dear. Urban sprawl is not a part of this rural scene.
Aidan and Caleb with Craig & Glenn on the Erie Canal
After experiencing snow in awe-inspiring Yellowstone with some harrowing blizzard driving, we decided to hunker at Glenn & Teresa's to avoid a much greater snowstorm. More than 2,000,000 are without power due to a record early snowstorm in the NE. Oddly it is clear and beautiful in Upstate New York.IRV's rear-wheel drive and no snow tires suggest we head to the deep south before long. But first a stop in Boston to visit nephew Galen and fiance Miya in Cambridge, and cousins Steve and Susan Owen and children Kiley and Julia and explore the city.
Sapsucker Woods at the Cornell Ornithology Lab in Ithaca
The autumn foliage remains devastatingly beautiful, and a recent light snow added to the drama. Some birds remain, such as the red-bellied woodpecker, cardinals, cedar waxwings and bluejays. The famed Cornell Ornithology Lab in Ithaca is a bird haven, even in the late fall. We plan to catch up with some of the departed ones later in Big Bend NP, Texas.
We're learning delicate dance moves in our small rv as we prepare each meal on board. We're getting the routine down, read books aloud from the extremely helpful iPad, and may watch a movie for the evening entertainment. One backing-into-a-ditch experience at night on a deserted road taught us a lot about the dimensions of our wheel base (and the kindness of mortals). After having leaky windows and luggage compartments repaired in Syracuse, we feel increasingly at home in IRV.
A few highlights of our journey:
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| North Cascades National Park, Washington |
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| Pronghorn antelope in the Shortgrass Prairie at Badlands National Park, South Dakota |
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| Bison in Yellowstone & Badlands |
We inadvertently came between a few bison and their herd. While we contemplated diving over a steep bluff into a creek, they decided to take the high path and avoid a confrontation. Whew!
Chimney Bluffs on the shore of lake Ontario look like a mini Badlands. Just in front is a woodland plateau giving way to vineyards and apple orchards. Very dramatic with the lake behind! These Ice age remnants, clay drumlins 150 feet high from lakeshore, erode a foot or more per year.
The real Badlands National Park, South Dakota
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Description not required. Giant graffiti or high art? (no pun intended, really). Great for surrealists at heart.
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Hot pools of endless depth and clarity, colorful bacteria (thermophiles) and boiling temperatures over the active super volcano which is Yellowstone. There are more geysers and other thermal features here than all other sites in the world combined. Who knew? We didn't and were happily blown away (luckily not literally!). PUS gigantic waterfalls - 300 feet - falling into a world class (yellow) canyon. Oh, yes, and a huge lake, and....mountains and animals and rivers..... |
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Eastern Montana Big Sky, Big Country
Listen to Tom Waites "Burma Shave" for an atmospheric accompaniment |
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Glacial erratics in the Adirondacks. |
We daily learn many things, especially what a magnificent planet we live on, and how fortunate we are to be able to see so much of it, along with the kindness and generosity of people along the way.
Aidan and Caleb with Craig & Glenn on the Erie Canal
