The Munchkin's Notebook

Today was devoted to Grand Teton National Park.   We started our adventure at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, which is a very nice visitor center, to get hiking maps and find out where the moose hangout. (Mom really wants to see a moose.) The Ranger was nice and circled the areas on the map were moose are usually sited and said he would text them shortly to make sure they were out.   Unfortunately we did not see any moose today.  Hidden Falls (taken with point and shoot) Our first hike was at Jenny Lake.   We took the shuttle boat across the lake, instead of doing the 2.5 mile hike to get half way around the lake.   From the shuttle boat drop off point we did the 1 mile hike up to Inspiration Point which passes by Hidden Falls.   The hike to the falls was moderate hike; however the hike up to Inspiration Point was a steep half mile climb up 400 feet with multiple switchbacks and a narrow trail. I ended up hugging the mountain on the last...

 Lower Falls (taken with cell phone) Today we traveled the full lower loop. Our first stop was midway geyser basin to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. We then proceeded up to Canyon Village, on the way we stopped at Gibbon Falls. We stopped in the Canyon visitor center so Mom could get her stamp and then went over to the cafeteria to get some lunch.    We drove the upper falls loop, and stopped at the first lookout point.   The path at the lookout takes you 600 feet down lower falls ridge; we walked about half-way down the path.   The path was rather steep and had several switch backs.   After that we went to the Grand View point, this point looks out over the Yellowstone Canyon and the river below. The canyon is a very light yellow color and the way the light played off the canyon walls made it breath taking. A picture just does not do this view justice.   We finished the loop road then headed down to the upper falls view point. We decided against...

Today was a very long day. We were up around 0600 because we are still on East Cost time. We had asparaguses and scrambled eggs, it was surprisingly good.   Then we headed out.   It is about an hour and half drive to the Yellowstone south gate, then another 45 minutes to an hour the Old Faithful area. As we were waiting to go through the gate, there was a squirrel sitting strait up on a rock, all he needed was a little sign saying “welcome”.   As we drove into the park the next animal we saw was a pair of mule deer. At first I only got butt shots, but then they turned around, so I got a face.   Then we continued our journey to the Old Faithful visitor center. Old Faithful from the back (point & shoot) Our first stop in the Old Faithful area was the store to pick up some water then we made our way over to the visitor center. As we were coming up the main walk, Old Faithful just started to erupt.    We watched Old Faithful erupt then made ou...

I was up at 0450 today (yes that is early in the morning) so I could catch my cab and be at the airport by 0600 for a 0730 flight.   Thankfully I checked in on line, so I only had to drop my bag off then make it through security. The security lines were a lot longer than I have seen them in a while for gates 10 – 22. I think that had to do with the very large number of families going through security, then again I’m used to going through with the business crowed during the week. My flight was mostly families with children no older than 10 and they all wanted to sit together on a full flight. Needless to say this caused a headache for the poor gate agents, who had to keep explaining there were no open seats and they couldn’t move people around.   Once everyone was settled, we were up and away. The flight was about 4.5 hours long, and bit bumpy in some areas (I hate turbulence).   I had a three hour layover in Salt Lake City; at least the airport has freed Wi-Fi. While ...

In a week my mother and I will be headed to our nation’s first national park, Yellowstone National Park, for vacation. We will not be staying in the park itself, but at a bed & breakfast in Jackson Hole, which is about an hour outside of the park’s south entrance.  The reason we are not staying in the park, is I was unable to get reservations in time for one of the lodges and I’m not going to sleep in a tent.  I like nature and hiking but at the end of the day, I want a nice comfy bed to sleep in, a hot shower and fully functioning bathroom.  We do plan on going on several hikes through the park, mostly the main sights like Old Faithful, the Paint Pots and other points of interest.  We are not planning on doing long hikes through the back country.  We also will be spending sometime in Jackson Hole. In preparation for the trip I have bought a few things, convertible pants, a travel tripod, water  repellent  spray, bug spray, a bear bell and b...

Andean Bear Cubs I went to the National Zoo today with my husband so I could see the bear cubs. The zoo recently had two sets of bear cubs. The sloth bear had a cub, but we did not get to see the cub and then the Andean bear had twin cubs.  The Andean bear cubs were very active and acting cute and adorable like you would expect cubs to act. Iwo Jima Memorial The other thing we did was go to see the Iwo Jima memorial which is located across the river from DC in Arlington.  It is about a ten minute walk from the Rosslyn or cemetery metro stop. The memorial is nice, and is pretty detailed and a little further down is a friendship tower. Now my other reason for finally going to see the memorial was, to scope out a new spot to take pictures of the 4 th of July fireworks.   The fireworks are shot from between the Washington and Lincoln memorial over the reflecting pool. Usually I photograph them from the Air Force Memorial which is less than a block from...

The good thing about living in the National Capitol Region is there is usually always something going on. Today, even though it was cloudy and looked like rain, I went to the Civil War Fort Day held at Fort Ward Park.  (Yes it did rain a little bit but I had an umbrella.) The fort day shows what it was like living around and in the fort, and includes demonstrations and tours host by reenactors and historians.  The 3 rd US Regular Infantry conducted drills, knitting and telegraphy demonstrations and they let people try charging the practice dummy with a rifle bayonet.  I like these events, because they are excellent photo opportunities and let me use a variety of technics.    You can see all the photos from the day here.  Fort Ward Park   is a 41.4 acre historic park located in Alexandria, VA.  The fort was used by the Union Army from 1861-1865 to defend Washington, DC during the Civil War. The fort had has remains of underground bombpro...