Fall Weekend in Wyoming

Or should I say Montana weekend? Craig's business trip to Montana required that he spend the weekend somewhere between Libby and Billings, providing the perfect opportunity for a mini-vacation. I flew to Missoula on Saturday morning, Craig picked me up at the airport and we drove to Yellowstone Park. Arriving at the North Entrance, we discovered that a bridge was out between Norris and Madison, and a fire intermittently closed the road between Bridge Bay and West Thumb. We decided to take our chances with the fire and luckily made it through Yellowstone to the South Entrance and on to Jackson, Wyoming, where we stayed at the Snow King Resort.

The plan for Sunday included the Grand Tetons and a trip back through Yellowstone, this time exiting at the Northeast Entrance with the final destination of Billings. Having heard about Jenny Lake from, well, Jenny--daughter of a Wyoming rancher who thought Jenny Lake was about the prettiest place he'd ever seen--we decided to check it out. Yep, it's worth the trip.


After driving through Grand Teton National Park, we entered Yellowstone at the South Entrance and very soon discovered that the forest fire had jumped the road at Bridge Bay, leaving only the West Entrance as an option for north-bound travelers.

Billings, in eastern Montana, was looking to be a bit farther than originally anticipated. As Craig explored our options using the GPS and chatting with Mr. Park Ranger, I took the new Nikon for a spin and walked through West Thumb, which provided a great view of the forest fire and Yellowstone Lake. Note to self: Take cell phone when walking toward a forest fire, in case spouse does not see where you are going and sends the park rangers out to look for you.

Old Faithful is located between the South and West Entrance and made the required detour an attractive option.

After setting up the camera and enlisting an elderly couple to keep an eye on it, Craig talked me into walking around Old Faithful to see the other hot springs. Just as we got to about the furthest point from Old Faithful, the geyser erupted, four minutes early according to Craig. Hence, no action shots of Old Faithful. Payback for allegedly disappearing into a forest fire? Nah, probably not.

As we approached the West Entrance, dozens of cars lined the road and we joined them, having learned that cars on the side of the road signaled wildlife and, therefore, photo opportunities. I tried out the telephoto lens and was pleased with the results.

We arrived in Billings after dark, slept a few hours, and were at the Billings airport at 5:00 am for my 6:00 am flight to Portland on Monday. Although I had marked myself out at work for the day, my original plan was to stop by the office on the way home from the airport and put in a few hours of work. Instead, I rolled for home and napped until the boys got home from school at 4 pm.

I Know an Artist

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE my neighborhood? And my neighbors? It makes me happy to walk out of my front door and into the whimsical world of Tin Man. That's what Nancy and her father Frank have named their garden art business. These birdhouses look so cool, tucked beside a butterfly bush or in a grove of birches. And they also look pretty cool just sitting in the driveway, readying themselves for the next summer art fair.

Fairy Cakes

Both Sarah and Cindy had birthdays on Tuesday, providing a good reason to celebrate, and I was on holiday Monday, providing ample time to bake. I stopped by the Decorette Shop to pick up some cupcake liners and couldn't resist this stand. It holds 24 Fairy Cakes, which I think is a much cooler name than mini cupcakes. I also bought some Ghirardelli Chocolate Sprinkles, made with chocolate liqueur instead of, well, whatever those tasteless chocolate grocery store sprinkles are made of. The Milk Chocolate Dream Cakes were my favorite, although the Cream Soda Toffee were also very good. Both recipes are keepers and have earned a spot in the Favorites Cookbook. More on that project later.

Road Trip: NASA Camp

Peter's acceptance into the NASA Inspire Program prompted a road trip to the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology earlier this month for NASA camp. Craig and the boys are all about road trips; me, not so much. But I've been keen to get back to Montana ever since my days of traveling the college fair circuit each fall for Willamette University. Back then, I'd fly into Billings, drive as far north as Cut Bank, over to Kalispell via Havre, down through Missoula, Butte, and Helena to Great Falls, where I'd fly home. On one occasion, Craig took the train out to join me in Essex, where we discovered the Issac Walton Inn, built by the Great Northern Railroad in 1939 to house winter snow removal crews. Nestled in the foothills just south of Glacier National Park, it has groomed cross county ski trails in winter and provides a relaxing backdrop in summer.

The Inn, which is just a few miles from the West Glacier Entrance, was our first stop. With no phone, television or internet service, the boys were unimpressed.

Glacier National Park was just as beautiful as I remembered, particularly Lake McDonald.

The Going to the Sun Highway was not nearly as narrow as I remembered ... the first time I made that journey I was terrified we were going to tumble off the side of the mountain.



We stopped at Little Bighorn Battlefield and Ben, just having finished a unit in American History, regaled us with stories about Lt. Col. Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.


My very most favorite place in Montana is Pompey's Pillar. On their legendary journey, Lewis and Clark stopped on the banks of the Yellowstone River and left their mark in the overhanging stone wall:

How cool is that? The first time I visited this site, there was just a dirt road leading to the butte from I-94. Not yet a National Monument (that didn't happen until 2001), it was a quiet, lonely place back in those days and, standing alone amidst the rustling trees, I could almost imagine what it must have been like 200 years ago, seeing this part of the country for the first time. The site has been developed and now there is a visitor's center, parking lot, and boardwalk to the top of the butte. I'm not sure, however, that these additions constitute an improvement.

We did a few touristy trips, like Mt. Rushmore

and Crazy Horse, and generally did our part to curb the economic downturn. We also discovered that Hotwire.com can produce some pretty good hotel rates the closer you are to your destination. We dropped Peter off at the SD School of Mines & Technology at 4 pm on a Sunday afternoon, and I admit to shedding a few tears on our way back to Billings from Rapid City. After 24 hours of no texts or calls, I was feeling more than anxious until I checked his Facebook page and discovered a happy status post.

Craig and Ben returned to Rapid City, via Yellowstone Park, two weeks later to fetch Peter and our summer road trips are over ... for now. Peter had the best time at NASA camp and frequently wears the tee-shirt, which happily proclaims "I went to smart kids camp."

My Own Backyard

Returning from Oz, Dorothy assures Auntie Em that "if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard." Lately, my heart's desire has included sugar. And the wild blackberries in my back yard were begging to be sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and baked in a cobbler. I've used this recipe so often: Cut* 1/2 cup butter into 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour, add 1/3 cup milk and stir until the dough forms a ball. Turn out onto a cutting board, knead four or five times until the dough all sticks together, then roll out into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Cover with one layer of fruit (in this case blackberries, but my eldest's favorite is apple slices), sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and roll up cinnamon roll style. Cut into slices and place in buttered baking dish. Boil 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water, pour over dough, and bake for 1 hour (or so) at 350 degrees. About 45 minutes in to baking, I usually sprinkle some more cinnamon and sugar over the top for that slightly crunchy effect.


Mmmmmm ... there's no place like home.

*I used to HATE cutting butter into flour (or any other dry mixture). Tedious and messy, not to mention time-consuming. A pastry blender worked better for me than two knives, but still. Until I discovered ... the cheese grater. Just take a VERY COLD stick of butter, unwrap the paper and, still holding the stick of butter with the wrapper, grate it into the dry ingredients using a hand held cheese grater. Once it's all grated, toss gently with the dry ingredients and you're done. Piece of cake. Or dough, as it were.

Easy Does It! Pullover

I originally bought this Classic Silk yarn from Classic Elite Yarns for the Summer Open Cardigan from Knitting Pure and Simple. The Summer Open Cardigan is knit from worsted weigh yarn at a gauge of 14 sts=4". Although the patten says that the loose gauge is necessary for proper drape, the drape was never proper--at least with the yarn I choose--and ended up just looking droopy. I frogged the whole thing (yes, I even had the loose ends woven in), but could not stand not starting on something else right away as this yarn was a splurge and expensive. I found the Easy Does It! Pullover in my pattern stash. I've had this pattern for so long I don't even remember where I got it, and couldn't find it through a google search to put up a link. But now it's my favorite summer tee pattern. And I love top-down patterns when you don't know if you have enough yarn to finish the project. I knit down to about an inch past the sleeves, then finished both sleeves before finishing the body. When I did use up all of the yarn I decided that I would like another inch or two and went back to All About Yarn in search of more Classic Silk. As luck would have it, they did have one more skein in the same dye lot (how often does that happen?) and I added another inch to the bottom. But the project would have been fine without that extra inch, which is what is so perfect about in-the-round knitting.

Paradise Found

If there is a heaven on earth, then it is found at Gold Bluffs Beach. This trip was a short one, just four days, but heavenly. Only tent camping is allowed, no RVs and no electricity, and there are just a handful of sites.


The four mile drive into camp is over a very narrow and rough unpaved road, which--as I explained to Ben--keeps out the riffraff. Then I had to explain what riffraff means.

Elk wander freely through the campground and can be seen sauntering down the beach in packs of five or six. We don't get too close.

We have discussed replacing the REI two person tent, left over from Craig's bachelor's days, but I don't know ... it's cozy and filled with plenty of good memories.