LAST POST

Mara wrote about Yellowstone, but I just want to add a bit about the drive. We drove south from Bozeman and entered the park through the west entrance. While in Yellowstone, we saw Bald Eagles, Ravens, Bison and several Pronghorns. We departed through the east entrance and drove toward Cody. The eastern route takes you down the edge of a mountain that I was not aware we had ever climbed. The road curves along the edge and many of the barricades were missing. It was not clear if this was because of snow, rain or cars plummeting over the edge. The drive to Cody is stunning, I highly recommend the route. From Cody, we went to Billings. We didn't have much time to tour Billings, but we did find a cliff that overlooks the town. Mara sat along the edge to enjoy the view, while I shuddered in fear (note the smashed, rusted car at the base of the cliff).

From Billings, we drove to Bismarck. On the way, we stopped in Medora to see the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. Lots of cowboy stuff, Mara rode a horse. Medora is very nice and "western", so we wandered the town for a while. Along the way, we also found this giant sculpture of birds. Nearby was a field of hay bales. Mara tried to jump onto one.

Wednesday, we drove to St. Paul! We got home at about 4:30 and then headed off to the Twin's game.

Over 27 days, we (I) drove 5178 miles. The average MPG was 51.4. We filled the tank 11 times. I believe the total number of states visited on this trip was 11. During last year's trip we went to 12 states. So, we have been to a total of 23 over the past two years. Mara has also been to South Dakota, California and Nevada, so she has been to 26 states so far and she is only almost 12. Just imagine where she will have been when she is almost 24.

Holden Village Pictures

Make sure to check the past few posts, we've been adding pics!Mara and Theo waiting in line for ice-cream after VespersOur room, in clean mode. (Very rare.) Left-Sara's bed, Right- Mara's bed.The whole crew! (Total of 21)The girls in a front-loader. (Left to right- Laura J., Mara, Laura, Lydia)Sara in front of a mountain
Working the pins in the bowling alley
Jokes told every night on the upstairs porchMe, swimming in the "Cold Plunge". As you might expect, it's freezing, and this was quite an accomplishment for me.

The bright orange pilgrim in the Gnome Home (or Hobbit House, as it's also called.)

Yellowstone

Me, at Old Town.
This is a random pile of antlers, with birds nesting in it.
Old Faithful Geyser!!!
Um.... What is this a jacuzzi? No, it is a thermal pool, and it makes you feel like the world is about to explode.
A thermal pool, surrounded by yicky orange stuff.


Today we drove to Yellowstone!!! We saw many mini-geysers and.... OLD FAITHFUL! We only had to wait 45 minutes, and enjoyed the wait with frozen yogurt. We sat back a bit, because it was a nice view, and we didn't have to deal with the SMELL. It was sick. It smelled like... badness. And it had a very end-of-the-world feel to it. Especially with the dark clouds following us. Remember how we talked about the part in Jackson Hole to the Max where Yellowstone blew up? Yeah, it wasn't unlike that... But then it got better. Have no fear, we did not die. Then we drove to Cody WY where we stopped at this old town that was supposed to look like something from the West. It was very deserted and it looked like everyone that lived there died. Maybe from Yellowstone. They had moved everything from somewhere else here, so it was never really a town. It was pretty cool there, with lots of old dead animals, shark teeth and spears. I just wish we could walk into more buildings there especially in the rain. There was a Buffalo Bill museum that we were considering visiting, but we decided there was nothing more that we wanted to do other than lie in nice warm beds. And here we are. Good night Minnesota!

~mAra

homeward bound

We drove 10 hours on our way from Wenatchee to Bozeman. The day was filled with beautiful views, road construction and rain. We drove through three separate rain storms. The first was quite heavy with some light hail. The second was a bit heavier and the hail actually accumulated down the center and on the sides of the road. It looked like snow in July. The third storm was fairly mild, no hail, but it lasted the longest. I did not feel terribly stressed by any of these conditions, but during the third storm, I looked over at a passing car, and am certain that the passenger was a big banana lighting a pipe. The forecast is for more rain today, wish me luck!

Holden was great. We hiked several trails around the camp, ate really good (healthy) food, and got to make some fun camp crafts. We saw lots of deer that were not afraid of people standing near them and we lived among hundreds of ground squirrels that were not afraid of people at all. Many of our group saw bears while out on the trails. Mara and I must have been on the louder hikes, because we saw no bears, until on our last day, we were on the bus ride down the mountain and a young bear bounded across the road in front of us. What was especially nice about the week was our group of 21 pilgrims. Young and not so young, all fun to be with!

Holden Village

WE'RE BACK!!! Holden Village was great! It was much larger than I had expected. There was a bowling alley, an ice-cream shop, a pool hall, a jacuzzi, a labyrinth, a bookstore, at least six lodges, about 10 other houses that people actually lived in, and a giant sanctuary with a painted ceiling, that we had church in every night. I can't blog about every single day, but I can assure you, it was fantastic. But I will tell you one thing: when we get back, be prepared for a lot of jokes. Every night, we sat on the upstairs porch of our lodge and told all the jokes we could remember. (We ran out a lot, so we had to ask around.) I am planning on writing a joke book, getting it published, and having it sold at the bookstore at Holden.

That's all I have to say for the regular readers, but I have some news for the Pilgrims that just got back from Holden also.

We just got back from going to the Safeway, (and we are NOT lost) and are now sitting in our hotel room at the Travelodge, similar to our previous room, except this one doesn't have as good of a view as the last one. And I need you all to comment and remind me of more jokes, because believe it or not, I forgot most of them. If you can not comment (which you probably won't be able to) you can e-mail me at maramergens@yahoo.com .

THANKS

~mAra

Washington

Yesterday, we left Portland and headed north. On the way, we stopped in Tacoma at the Museum of Glass. A very cool museum where you can watch people blow glass while someone explains everything you are seeing. Dale Chihuly is from here and there is a bridge of glass that he created attached to the museum.




From there, we drove on to Seattle. Our hotel was not the nicest, especially after the last two. It had the longest hallway I have ever seen and we had to walk through the parking lot to get to breakfast. However, it was just three blocks from the Space Needle, so we walked over there and headed up for the 500' view.

After that, we went to the Experience Music Project. This is a very cool place. The building was designed by Frank Gehry (he also designed the Weisman museum on U of M campus). This is even more curvy and it's colorful! The inside was fun too. You could play instruments as though you were playing along with a great band. We rock! There is also a science fiction museum, so we got to see ET, R2D2, Spock and a whole wall of Star Wars action figures. There was an exhibit of Hatch show prints and even a Jim Henson and the Muppets exhibit. Mara got to be a puppeteer! Whew.

The next morning, we walked to the waterfront and wandered through the market area. I saw someone catch a thrown fish, but I don't think Mara was able to see over the crowd of tourists with video cameras. Now we are in Wenatchee and tomorrow morning we catch a boat on Lake Chelan and head up to Holden Village for our week without electronics and phones. We will check in again on the 25th. Have a nice week!

Sara and Mara

TADA

Mara here! As you can see, I changed the blog up a bit. If you do not like the new colors, please tell us what you think I should change. But I like it just the way it is, mostly because it matches our hotel. Yes. The entire hotel.

So, today we walked around the city. First we stopped by the Portland Art Museum where there was an exhibit on M.C. Escher (*ahem*, sixth graders REMEMBER THE NAME) which was very fun. There was also an exhibit on the art of tattoos which we did not stop by. But, we did stop by the tattoo machine, where you can get your picture taken with a tattoo template over your face. I got an M.C. Escher one. Sadly, you could not purchase your pictures, so the Mara with a tattoo face will only be a memory. Then we walked through the second building, which was the modern art one. There was a giant Claus Oldenburg ice pack (artist of Spoon and Cherry and Shuttlecocks) and a self-playing piano with a tree going through the middle. The entire museum was very original. Then we went to a restaurant (who's name I can not say by the order of my mother) and headed towards Pioneer Courthouse Square where they were giving out free ice-cream. And not just any ice-cream. Free Ben & Jerry's flipped out ice-cream! WARNING! IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SECRET OF HOW TO GET THE FLIPPED OUT ICE-CREAM OUT OF THE CUP YOURSELF, DO NOT READ! WARNING! First of all, you turn it upside down over a bowl or whatever. Then you squeeze the edges a bit, then press the center of the bottom of the cup, and a little circle will pop out of the cup, along with your ice-cream. OKAY, YOU CAN KEEP READING NOW. So then, we went to the Button and Ribbon Emporium, with a whole wall of buttons, and more! So hard to choose! After choosing our buttons, we went back to the hotel and rested. Then we went to a local movie theater and saw- you guessed it. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It was pretty good, and I must say, better than two, three, four and five, but equally as good as the first. Then we went to Wal-Mart and bought some candy, 'cause we need our candy. We just do. Then the rest of our plans sort of failed, except for the mini-park. We stopped by the worlds smallest park, Mill End. It was a circular plant holder, two feet by two feet, with a few small plants in it. It wasn't quite what we had expected, but the person who made it in the first place died, so they couldn't really maintain it. Apparently he put in miniature stuff. Keep checking this post for a picture of Pooh in a mini-tree. Here are some pictures of the park before that I got on-line.

So, that wasn't too bad, especially because we found it. Our other destinations however, could not be found. So we came back to the hotel to the BUSINESS CENTER to blog.

THE END

Hotel Deluxe - Portland

So today was another 8 hour drive, you must be so tired of hearing about these long drives. Almost as much as I am of driving them. Boise appeared to be a nice town, but we just slept there. The trip began scenic, then got not so scenic and ended with the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Route (very scenic). We drove right along the edge of the river for a very long time. The hills to the north of the river were very Georgia O'Keeffe like. They were gold and tan and looked like velvet. Then in the distance the snowy peak of Mount Hood appeared. Gradually everything became much more northwest looking as pine trees filled in the landscape.

We got to Portland right at rush hour and hit some very slow traffic before finally finding our hotel. As Mara has written, it's pretty darn nice. We even splurged on room service for dinner. Someone famous is staying here, but I can't think of his name. Mara took his picture and we'll post it and see if any of you can name him (perhaps there will be a prize). Tonight we are hanging out in the business center, tomorrow we hit the town. Ciao.

Business Center

Hello. My name is Mara. We are in a fancy hotel where each of the floors is based on a famous director. We are on the Alfred Hitchcock floor. Ooh, it's so fun to use an actual non-laptop computer!!! Our room is colorful and pretty in shades of green. Our bathroom is large and fancy, and it is set up so if you want to, you could look through the door and watch TV while in the tub. And best of all, on my (yes MY) bedside table there is an iHome. Yes. AN iHOME! Well anyway, I just wanted to post while on this awesome non-laptop computer. Sometimes you forget how cool it is to have an actual mouse and all. The driver lady will write a post about what we actually did today later. ON A NON-LAPTOP COMPUTER IN THE BUSINESS CENTER.

~mAra

Jackson Hole to the MAX

Yesterday, we prepared for our day of adventure in the dare devil capitol of the world. First we went white water rafting in Snake River. There were lots of rapids, and the wildest was Lunch Counter. It was short, but wild. It threw us this way, and that, and got more soaked than in any other of the rapids. I didn't get to row, but the other one of us said it was hard, especially in Lunch Counter, when they made them stroke faster and harder. I enjoyed the rapids the most, but that was probably because I was one of two "little guys" as our tour guide called us. So the other kid, who appeared 8ish or so, and I did not get/have to row. I'm sort of glad for that, but it also meant I didn't get too wet, which I didn't appreciate. But my mother, the one with the wet buttocks, surely would have.

Then we went home and changed (except I didn't have to change), then went to the Snow King Resort where they had an Alpine Slide. But it was closed, due to weather conditions that we personally didn't think were too serious. So we went to town for a few minutes, then called the resort and asked if they were open again which they were. So we went down and bought our tickets. Then we took the ski lift up to the top of the hill. Then, after convincing a group of women we didn't want to buy our ski lift picture, we were given a slide, with a red lever to slow you down, or speed you up. Then we placed them on the long slides and took off! It wasn't as long as I had hoped, and we didn't seem to be going as fast as I had expected, especially considering that there were many areas where we had to slow down. But over all, it was amazing. And add a beautiful view, it was perfect.

Then we went to visit our friend Jessica's house and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with her and her parents. It was amazing to think that anyone could live with such a view, just in their backyard. And she told us why Jackson Hole is called Jackson Hole. If you ever visit there, go to a spot where you can see most of the mountains and hills around you. Can you see how all of them are going up? Jackson Hole is literally a hole in the middle of all of the mountains. But a very pretty hole indeed.

We ended our extreme day with some extreme sleep.

Today we drove to Boise. We stopped for lunch at BJ's in Burley where we both enjoyed some thick yummy bacon. About an hour later, we stopped for gas in Bliss. What a blast!

Idaho potatoes!!

Today we had a 6 1/2 hour drive. The early part was quite lovely with mountains surrounding us and relatively straight, level roads. We stopped in Pocatello for gas and then had a nice lunch at Elmer's. We both had a tasty baked Idaho potato. The next portion of the drive was pretty flat and dull, but we saw a brown sign for the Potato Museum and we knew we had to take another break. The museum is in Blackfoot, ID. It could probably use some modernization, but the gift shop was great. Our souvenirs and a complementary box of hash browns were all placed into a nifty potato sack bag. Well worth the detour. For the final hour of the drive, we drove on two lane roads and slowly went higher and higher and then went down on some winding roads with a 10% grade. Yikes! It was all very beautiful, but I had to keep my eyes on the road. The Prius was quite challenged by the inclines. On Monday, we retrace the route on our way to Boise. I hope I have a little engine that could.

After arriving at our rustic lodgings, we walked to the Jackson town square. It has a gate at each corner made out of a few thousand antlers. We ended up going to a movie called Jackson Hole to the Max, starring Reba McEntire. It was a fun history of the area, with lots of nature, animals and extreme sports. It ended with a scene of Yellowstone exploding with lava and the destruction of north America. How fun!

Jam-Packed

Today, was booked. First we walked to One World Everybody Eats, a restaurant where you pay what you choose, and if you can't pay a reasonable amount, you can work for a meal. Then from there, we walked to the Tabernacle for an organ recital with an unexpected mini light show in the background. With each new song, a new color appeared to match the music. After this, we walked around the visitors center at Temple Square. We were planning on taking a tour, except there were some pretty obnoxious people that were in our group, so we decided against it. The visitor's center, was focused on the life of Jesus Christ, but I probably shouldn't talk too much about it for the sake of our non-Christian readers. Then we went to a Super Target, which from the outside didn't look too different from the ones in St. Paul. But on the inside, it looked a lot like the old Target, but part of it looked up-to-date. And now we are stocked up with groceries for another week, before we go to Holden Village. Then we had our new dinner food in our hotel, cooked in the kitchen in our room. Then we topped the day off with a swim.

~mAra

Drive, drive drive

Gardeners working hard
Pooh and Lincoln


Today, we drove. And drove. And drove, and drove and drove. We made a few pit stops, which added to the time of getting to our hotel, which took 10 hours. Long long LONG! It was supposed to only be nine and a half, but it turned out, we had been following the wrong GPS directions the entire time, but luckily the hotel that it took us to, wasn't too far from our scheduled hotel. Then we made it just in time to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice. You were allowed to come in and leave as you like, and it was very fun to watch. First they went over different chords, as a practice should go, and then they sang the entire song, start to finish, like a performance. It didn't cost us anything, but the parking lot cost $6.

Tonight and tomorrow, we are staying in Salt Lake City, but there will still be new events ahead!

Driver thoughts: we stopped at a rest stop along the way that had a giant head of Lincoln. Something about his influence in the development of the amazing Interstate 80 connecting New York and San Fransisco. The rest stop was at the highest elevation along the way. After leaving, the mileage bars hit 100 mpg twice (10 minutes of top mileage). This did not affect the overall average very much because after you coast down for a while, there's always an up to follow. At one point I saw about two dozen cattle walking east in a perfectly straight line. hmm? We also crossed the continental divide. This 10 hour drive was not one I would like to repeat. I was white knuckled much of the time because everyone is driving 75 mph and there were huge gusts of wind every few minutes that, if you weren't tightly gripping the steering wheel, would push you over into the next lane. I prefer the gently rolling hills of the mid-west, thank you very much. We have passed many Flying J's along the way and I thought today we would finally check one out. We filled the tank and our bellies in honor of all the J's we have been visiting (James, Jan, Joel, Julie, Jim and next - Jessica in Jackson!).

Mint Room Survival

Look at the two or three little circles in the hallway. Those are orbs. Otherwise known as LITTLE GHOST CHILDREN!!!! According to Tyler the Tour Guide.
Yes, we had to wear hair nets in the Tea Factory. (Some people wore beard-nets!)
Standing on a log in Bear Lake
Pooh at the top of the mountain
Driving through Estes Park, and taking a pit-stop with LOTS of chipmunks.

On Tuesday morning, we headed to Boulder. The drive took us about 3 1/2 hours. The GPS got us right to our friend Julie's house. After getting settled in, we headed off to the Celestial Seasonings factory tour. We learned more about tea than we had expected and enjoyed a lovely tour of their facilities, even with the hairnets. The company was started in the late '60's by some hippie types making herbal teas from the herbs they found growing in the mountains. The highlight of the tour was entering into a normally closed room that was filled with bags of spearmint and peppermint leaves. The smell was overpowering and my eyes were watering, I couldn't wait to be let out. Mara loved it. After purchasing some packs of our favorite tea flavors, we headed into Boulder and walked around the Pearl Street Mall, where no cars are allowed. There are lots of cool shops and many street entertainers. We had some yummy pizza at a place with their own microbrewery. The mint was finally behind me. After dinner, we passed by a little place called Jax, where Hosea Rosenberg, the recent winner of Top Chef worked.

On Wednesday, Julie drove us up into the mountains. We started with a stop by some falls at the Alluvial Fan. Mara led us on quite a rock climbing adventure along side of the falls. Then we drove to the Alpine visitors center along the Old Fall River Road, a one-way, unpaved road. Lots of twists and turns. The center was at about 11,000 feet and we enjoyed the views and a picnic lunch. It was quite windy and chilly there. The temperature was in the mid 50's, about 40 degrees cooler than in Boulder. From there, we headed down the mountain to the Stanley Hotel in Estes. This is the hotel that inspired Stephen King's book The Shining. We took "the ghost tour" and learned all about the amazing Stanley brothers, how King was inspired by a late season visit to the hotel and how it is legitimately haunted (or so they say). Some of the people on the tour felt the presence of spirits more than others. After that, we headed back in to the park and took a hike to Alberta Falls and ended at Bear Lake. It was a great day filled with hiking and horror. We ended the day with some tasty bison burgers grilled by Julie's husband Jim.

On to Salt Lake City.

Kansas City, Here we come!

The big easel and Pooh
Mara climbing on the vents, probably breaking the rules.
Um... Is it a bunch of peas...?
One of Deborah Butterfield's horses, actually made out of sticks and mud
The giant shuttlecocks

We woke up in Independence, and called our friend (cousin) Jan again. She invited us over for lunch, and said we could stay the night if we wanted to. So we canceled our second night at our hotel, packed up our suitcases, and drove over to her house. When her husband Jim came home, we had lunch, and went to the Nelson Art Gallery. And there. Were. The. Shuttlecocks. And they were HUGE! Claus Oldenburg had designed them, along with a giant light switch, a giant crumpled saxophone, and a few in St. Paul such as a giant bag of french fries, a giant outlet with a giant cord and the ever so giant Spoon and Cherry. The Shuttlecocks were one of the coolest things I've ever seen. You were allowed to touch them, or at least I thought you were, because everyone did and they were in a field, but there was no graffiti. Which was very nice. We saw a bunch of more art, which you can see in the photos. Then we ended the day with a game of Phase 10 which got much harder when Jim and his son Joel started playing. So today we said goodbye to our friends and set off on our drive. We stopped at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Museum and Childhood Home. We saw a short movie about him, then bought a pin and saw a sculpture. Then we drove again. For a LONG time. For the entire time we drove for nine hours, including being held up by three trains in the same town. Finally, after driving for a long time, we stopped at the worlds largest easel with a van Gogh painting on it, of sunflowers, for the sunflower state (Kansas). It was huge! And there was a nice red-brick pathway to it. Then, we left the painting at 7:00 and arrived at our hotel at 6:30. (How did it happen? Did we time travel? Did we drive backwards? Did we lie about it? Comment and guess!) Now we are in Burlington, Colorado, and tomorrow we're heading to Boulder. Keep watching!

Comment Replies

Hey, guys, Mara here! Thanks a bunch for sending so many comments! Here are our replies!

Julie- We are arriving tomorrow afternoon, perhaps mid, perhaps late. We'll call you.

David(Pigpig)- Yes, that was Mama that wrote about our 4th of July adventures. And I knew it was you when I read David. I don't know any other Davids other than your dad.

Great-K8, Me-Rox, and Pebbles!(Great-K8/Artemis Fowl Freak)- I bought a rock, but it was a coincidence that I did. I didn't buy it for you, but I didn't want to say that in the comment because I thought it would sound rude. It didn't occur to me that you still wanted rocks. I bought it because it looks cool and it has some cool luck thing that clears my aura or something. And it's black and white!!!

Betsy- Miss Sara says that she was looking for the sign that said "Sara W. was born here" but we could not find it. :( She only lived there for nine months, so she is still, cheesey, through and through. The fire works were nice, until a group of teenagers parked right in front of our view.

Lucy- Tee hee, nice blog! Technically, we have only been a few places so far, but we went to many last year. Next stop, Boulder Colorado!

Keep leaving comments! It's nice to see that people are following our progress!

Independence Day in Independence, Mo, how apropos

Boys Town
Boys Town Ripley's believe it or not's big ball of stamps
Mara makes a friend. What a friendly duck to come over to someone like that.
Sara with lots and lots of geese. And lots and lots of poop.
The house that Sara was born in

Happy 4th! We have just returned from fireworks at the Mormon Visitor's Center in Independence. We found a nice place to park and enjoyed a lovely view from our car. We began the day in Omaha and the first stop was the house I lived in when I was born. It looked like the pictures that I remember, but they have added on quite a bit. Lovely neighborhood. Then, we walked around the Heartland of America Park. It was very pretty with lots of friendly geese and ducks. We also walked around the Old Market area which seemed like a fun destination, but most of the cool stores were closed for the holiday. We did wander into a couple and managed to find some small souvenirs. From there we went to Boy's Town to see Father Flanaghan and the largest ball made entirely of stamps. Apparently the boys needed something to occupy their time, so why not make a big ball? Next, it was back on the road for the 3 hour drive to Kansas City. We are staying near Harry Truman's home, but it doesn't look like we'll have time to visit. Tomorrow we plan to see the KC sites including the famous shuttlecocks.... (Note from Mara: "shuttlecocks" are birdies in badmitten.)

Year II

Hey everybody! We're back! Today we drove for six and a half hours, and are now in our nice Holiday Inn, waiting for our dinner to be served to our hotel. (Like we have been for about 45 minutes.) Today we are in Omaha, Nebraska. These are the places that we are planning to visit starting tomorrow: Kansas City MO, Bolder CO, Salt Lake City UT, Jackson Hole WY, Boise ID, Portland OR, Seattle WA, Then we're going to spend a week at a camp called Holden Village (where we can not use computers so no blogging), Then Bozeman MO, Bismark ND, and then we will head back to St. Paul MN on the 29th. So keep reading and please leave comments!