THE MIRACLE OF 'LOPES AND FISHES

August 4:

Great day of hiking and fishing. We hiked to a spot on the Lamar River, famous, as mentioned earlier, for bison herds but also a great trout water.

So Jim, as they say, "wet a line " for a while.  Actually a couple of lines.  And with great success!!!

Not with catching fish, of course, but with line wetting. The lines got nicely soaked, which helps keep them supple.

And actually, he did manage to hook three small cutthroat trout.

We should have mentioned that we've been seeing lots of antelopes.  They like the sagebrush country.  Officially they are called "pronghorns " because technically they are not closely related to the antelopes of Africa and Asia.  So we compromise and call them 'lopes.

BLUE SKIES AND BUFFALOES

Actually Aug 3:

Still in Cooke City. There's a haze in the air from forest fires to our west.

Yesterday We took a pretty strenuous (UP-hill) hike to some meadows in the northeast corner of the park.

Yellowstone Park, incidentally, is big.  Very roughly, it's about sixty miles miles north to south and nearly as many east to west. It's famous, of course for its geysers and hot springs. These, apparently, are the result of enormous volcanic eruptions over 60,000 years ago.

And the volcanoes could erupt again, any time between tomorrow and, say, 60,000 more years from now.  If it blows tomorrow, you'll probably hear about it, though not from us.

Great hike today on a path called the Prospect Ridge Trail.  It overlooks the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone river.  Beautiful views all around.

Followed that up with an ice cream float at the Stop the Car!  Trading Post, in Silver Gate, which is even smaller than Cooke City.

On our way to today's hike we rode parallel to the Lamar River. It flows through a huge wide valley that's mostly sagebrush. A few hundred bison (buffalo) live along this section and are easily seen from the road. Many cars were pulled over to see the herds and take photos. 

In the evening you will often see coyotes hanging around with the bison in the Lamar Valley. But they are not a threat to them as the bison are so much bigger. The coyotes are looking for much smaller meals

It's 5 pm right now, temperature around 65, a cool breeze is blowing and the sky, like the old song says, was not cloudy all day.

"Why we suck"

Actually Aug 1:

Cooke City, Montana.  Arrived here after four days of soft traveling .  Staying in a cabin at the world renowned Big Moose Resort.  It's About five miles from the northeast entrance to Yellowstone national park, named of course after the famous cartoon park, Jellystone, in which talking bears in porkpie hats play tricks on dopey human tourists.

Anyhoo....Took a short hike in the park last evening on a trail called Pebble Creek. No Bears in porkpie hats were encountered.

Cooke City is a tiny town. The sign as you enter says it's. "the coolest small town in America."  Well, if not that, it might be the smallest cool town in America. It's about a quarter mile strip lined with several restaurants, saloons, ice cream and gift shops, and a couple of motels.  Imagine a little cow town in an old western movie, and just substitute cars and trucks for horses and wagons, and you have the basic idea.

We dined at our favorite spot here, the Miners Saloon (or MS to those in the know ). It has a bar, a couple of dining rooms, a pool table, and several electronic poker machines. It's a hopping place in the summertime, filled with traveling families, bandana-headed bikers, and eccentric-looking locals.

The highlight, though, at the  MS, is a poster-size display of all the worst reviews they've received over the years, especially online.  A big headline-- "WE SUCK" -- draws your attention to the many essays describing overpriced food, dreary ambience, and lousy service.  Especially harsh criticisms are highlighted in yellow. If you're ever in Cooke City, you MUST go there.

AND IN CONCLUSION!!

Before we put this blog to bed, as we say in the business, a final observation or two might be in order.

One is, the next time you're in Anchorage, be sure to visit the side lobby of the Captain Cook Hotel. I wouldn't get a room there. They're way overpriced. But you MUST go into the side lobby just to sit in the couch or one of the overstuffed chairs. The stuffing takes you in like a long lost child, and the surface gives the phrase " rich Corynthian leather" a whole new meaning.

Speaking of fine lodging, we spent a night at the airport La Quinta Inn in Seattle before our final flight back to Illinois. We mention this because our brother-in-law, Bruce Roberts, recently did some research on the origins of the phrase "la Quinta."  He unearthed that it comes from an ancient and nearly extinct Spanish dialect, and, roughly translated, means, "next to Denny's."

And guess what our La Quinta was right next door to? Yep, you guessed it, and it wasn't the International House of Pancakes.

                                           END OF BLOG


If you enjoyed this blog, you could look for other blogs by the same authors. You could, but you wouldn't find any. Some people have better things to do.

And by the way, if you're a mama, we'd advise you to don't let yer babies grow up to be bloggers. Let 'em be Cowboys and drifters and such. Let 'em like smoky old poolrooms and clear mountain mornin's.    They'll thank you for it later.

ALASKAN BACHELORS

TURN OUT THE LIGHTS 

Turn out the lights, the party's over.  Just shipped camping and fishing gear back home and returned rental car to Hertz.  And it hertz a little to do it.

At one of our motels back in Seward, we heard another motel guest say to the proprietor that he and his peeps had driven 1400 miles touring Alaska. Now they were going home because, he said, "we've seen everything there is to see."  

We drove even farther, 2,536 miles to be precise. And yet I don't feel like we've even begun to see all there is to see.  

Still got an afternoon and Eve in Anchorage  before flying to Seattle tomorrow.

Today's Amazing Alaska fact: Alaska has the highest proportion of men to women of any sate or territory. This has lead to the publication of such magazines as "MEN OF ALASKA," Bringing you Alaskan Bachelors Since 1987"

SHEEPISH

Great hike yesterday in Chugach State Park. Went up to a high mountain pass. Saw about thirty Dall Sheep.  Well, mostly Dalls.  Some were probably Guys.  Heh heh, that's a good one: Guys and Dalls.

Fished for an hour in morning. A river we were told "guaranteed " to have silver salmon. No doubt there were some somewhere. It's a long River.  'Twas still fun despite lack of bites.

Shipping fishing and camping gear back home today.

WHAT, THE RAIN STOP?

Today's amazing Alaska fact:  Alaskans consume more ice cream per citizen than any other state, Puerto Rico, or American Samoa.

'Twas still raining hard yesterday morning in Seward as we awoke and wondered if Lanky ever got home with his takeout dinner.

So we went to a kind of aquarium/sea museum called the Alaska Sealife Center. They had just doubled their size this year and were doing a brisk business. You could easily spend two or three hours there watching seals swim in circles or puffins performing or watching films about ocean life. We did.

Just to prove we didn't waste our time, we now are aware that bowhead whales can live to 200 years old.  It's all about diet and exercise.

We then drove inland and northward to Anchorage, where we're duly anchored in a downtown motel. The rain finally stopped about a half hour inland from Seward.