Back at Home

We've been back at home for two weeks now... plenty of time to remind us just how much we enjoyed the pace of life at sea!

The list of chores hit Pat the hardest... bedrooms had to be painted, furniture moved, boxes unpacked, school supplies purchased, suits & ties located, lists and schedules made, etc, etc... Emily offered up an "ocean waves" CD to help him pass the hours painting trim, but he was less than soothed by the familiar sounds. He'd much prefer scraping barnacles v. base boards!

We have all enjoyed the opportunity to reunite with neighbors and friends and to rediscover items packed away in storage during our travels. For the kids, it's been like Christmas unpacking their favorite toys.

Our first weekend back in Portland was highlighted by one of our favorite annual neighborhood events... the Multnomah Days Parade. It's one of those events that really brings home the saying "Keep Portland Weird"!

Here's a photo album of the parade, the kids hanging out with friends, and Emily proudly showing off her new "green" room.


A note about our post-trip blogging plans: We will be creating a new blog soon, linked to this one and updated periodically with photos of the kids school activities and our family weekend adventures. You can rest assured the Jubilee Crew will not let our now limited free time impact our commitment to fun and adventure!

Timothy Lake Reunion

We surprised the kids with a stopover at Hoodview Campground on Timothy Lake near Mt. Hood. They thought we were just "driving through" to say hello to one of dad's work friends before we pushed out the final 70 miles home. Instead, they discovered that a dozen or so of their friends from Bridlemile "just happened" to be camping with their families!

We were thrilled to be able to wrap-up our cross country drive with this surprise reunion and enjoyed catching up with old friends. We were treated to quite a feast, as you'll see from these photos!

Boise to Baker City

Here's a quick photo album from the final fews days of our travels - through Western Idaho and Eastern Oregon.

We're homeward bound!

Moon Walk

Passing through the Idaho Falls area, we couldn’t help but make a quick stop at the Idaho Potato Museum... that’s definitely a place you only go once! An adult admission to the museum comes with a complimentary box of "dehydrated hash browns" (yum), so at least we got breakfast out of the deal... sort of. The kids got potato-shaped lapel pins, which was a bit of a let-down. They had their hopes set on potato chips.

The day got better when we reached Craters of the Moon National Monument. Here we discovered some incredible landscapes, both above and below ground. Here are some photos of our “moon exploration”.

The kids loved our hike to the top of a cinder cone on a very windy afternoon to look over the miles of lava fields... talk about a harsh environment!

Drew was especially happy to be able to utilize the hard hat and knee pads he got on his caving tour at Mammoth Cave to lead his very own “wild cave” tour through the Monument’s four caves. Despite very hot temperatures above, one cave still had ice covering much of its floor.

Grand Teton

WOW! This is exactly what we’ve been looking for. The days we spent in Grand Teton National Park were by far the best of our trip. If it had been our first stop, we probably would never have left! We’ll definitely come back. We even liked the campgrounds... that’s a first!

Here’s a photo album from our time in Grand Teton. On our first day in the park, we took an amazing 10-mile hike that passed alongside Two Ocean Lake, through fields of wildflowers, and up to a fabulous viewpoint, Grand View, from which we could see all the peaks and valleys of the area.

Afterward, we stopped by Jackson Lake Lodge and Lunch Box Hill to watch for elk and moose in the early evening. Jake was the first to spot two moose in the distance.

Our second big hike took us from Jenny Lake up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point, then on into the canyon where you really get a sense of just how massive the mountains in the Teton Range are. This time our moose sightings were up close... one in a stream and another feeding on a hillside just above the trail.

White Water Rafting on the Snake River was a huge hit. Drew and Pat got to serve as “lead paddlers” for our 14-man raft. Jake and Emily and I sat between them in the front row as we passed through several Class 2 and 3 rapids along an 8-mile stretch of the river. One wave knocked the sunglasses right off Jake’s face!

Thankfully, Pat had encouraged everyone to put on their wetsuits for our rafting adventure... the water was really cold and we got really wet. For obvious reasons, we were not able to take photos. (Note for our next trip... invest in an underwater camera!)

Yellowstone

We had a blast exploring Yellowstone’s many thermal features. Forget about Old Faithful... Grand Geyser took the prize for best blast in our book. See for yourself in this photo album.

Our timing was good the day we visited the Old Faithful section of the park. We arrived about 1:30. Old Faithful went off within minutes; Daisy and Castle went off within an hour; and Grant was set to put on its show anytime... within 2 hours of 2 pm, according to the “schedule board”. Grand, “the tallest predictable geyser in the world” wasn’t to be rushed, but finally erupted at 3:58... right on schedule! It was worth the wait.

At the West Thumb Geyser Basin, the kids learned all about scat and how to track animals from Ranger Eric as part of the process of earning their Junior Ranger Badges. They can now tell you with confidence who pooped, when, why and what they ate for lunch.

We were all surprised to find scat right next to some of the thermal “paint pot” areas since the ground is so volatile there, but apparently, the smoke acts as a natural insect repellent.


No bear sightings yet... but lots of buffalo, some deer, elk and a marmot or two. We apparently just missed the wolves the day we camped in the Northern part of the park. We saw the “Wolf Ranger”, who drives a very distinctive yellow SUV, pulled over near a meadow with his telescope out. Unfortunately, by the time we found a place to pull the RV over and walk back to him, the wolves had gone into the woods.

The kids decide to pose as elk one day as we were hiking along a roadside just to see how passing cars might react. One couple actually stopped to thank them... apparently it was the only “wildlife” they had seen all day!

The “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone” and its two spectacular waterfalls was another favorite stop for us. We hiked the 350 some steps down from the canyon rim on Uncle Tom’s Path to get a great view of the lower falls, which is said to be twice as high at Niagra.


The kids didn’t care so much for the mud volcano area. They found the sulfur smell unpleasant. On the other hand, they were glad we visited since we got up close and personal with a number of buffalo on the way there.

Drew recently purchased his first fly fishing pole and had a couple of opportunities to try it out during our time at Yellowstone. He hasn’t yet caught us dinner, but it’s not for lack of effort!

Close Encounters in Wyoming

While hiking at Devil’s Tower, we didn’t see any aliens (we rented “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” the evening before our visit), but we did encounter a number of prairie dogs.

We “circumnavigated” the tower base (about 1½ miles around) and the boys did a bit of boulder climbing to get closer to the monument itself. Jake, who has always had a thing for climbing, described this activity as the coolest thing he’s ever done... so far!

We took a lot of photos. Here they are with a few from Sturgis too. It’s amazing how many different perspectives you can get of what is basically just one big rock... actually, crystalized rock - the core of an ancient underground volcano.

Jake made Pat promise he’d bring him back on his 18th birthday... either to climb it or parachute onto the top! Pat happily agreed to do either.

Wild West Weekend

We spent the weekend in Cody, Wyoming. If you haven’t had the opportunity to do any real Western camping, here’s a photo album that will give you a sense of just what an adventure it is.

Okay, so that wasn’t really us. Those photos were borrowed from an exhibit we saw at the Buffalo Bill Historic Center, “the Smithsonian of the West”. We happened to visit the Center on a holiday of sorts... National Day of the American Cowboy. As a result, the kids got to participate in some special mock-rodeo activities and won free tickets to the Cody Nite Rodeo.

Cody Nite Rodeo takes place every day for 90 consecutive each summer, providing a forum for cowpersons of all ages and skill levels to practice their sport. It wasn’t exactly a professional-level competition, but it was definitely entertaining. We weren’t keeping score, but we’re pretty sure the cows won!

Here’s the real photo album from our time in Cody.

Stay tuned for some pictures and blogging on our time in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons . . .