The Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Melissa’s. There are loads of good posts from many excellent bloggers — one of mine is in there too.
Hey, if you blog, consider submitting an entry. It is painless, and fun to see those blog-hits go up.

We received another 2″ of rain last night so everything is muddy as can be. The guys are not laying block. So much for schedules.

The work on Pat’s 4-car garage began while we were traveling out west. He quickly put the boys to work on the garage when we returned home though. First DH supervised SK as he moved stone into the footer forms.

Last Saturday just before the rain came, the cement was poured for the foundation footers. SK worked beside the cement truck driver moving the cement into the forms—that’s SK in the green shirt:

This weekend the block work began. SK mixed mortar and delivered it to his Dad while MK did some tuck work. They completed laying the block for all four corners.

I fear though that at this rate the block work will take several weekends rather than just this weekend.

Now, how do I describe this on SK’s high school transcript?

It has been a busy week. Monday we finished doing the laundry, putting stuff away, going through the mail, and paying bills. I hate paying bills.Tuesday I went off to the Dr’s to see my blood test results; everything looks great. With clothes and shoes on, and breakfast in my fat belly I was only down 7#. The nurse didn’t even balance the thing which irritates me. I mentioned to my Dr that my the balls of my feet hurt really awful while I was hiking. He then pressed on a little nerve on the ball of my foot and literally sent me through the roof. Amazingly I saw a podiatrist in the afternoon who recommended Cortisone shots until surgery. I don’t care for either approach and will try the dual-shoe approach. When we hike I wear hiking shoes and then mid-way through the hike when my feet are hurting I switch to my old hiking shoes. I can’t wear them throughout the hike since they neither have treads or support. That means I can feel every rock we trod on and my ankle can easily twist. It works for now.Wednesday we swam in a friends pool until the thunderstorms rolled in. This area does not need anymore rain.

Thursday we were to head to the beach with some friends but I couldn’t see making the trek in the morning thunderstorm. Yes, more rain. We headed off to have new tires placed on my car and to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead’s Man chest, which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Friday morning the weather looked great so we and a friend traveled to DE Seashore for a day of fun in the water and sun. After loading up on sunscreen we hit the water—COLD!!! and there were lots of jelly fish. UGH!!! The boys still had fun.

Saturday the cement truck arrived and we poured the foundation for our 4-car garage / woodworking shop. As the truck pulled out of our drive the thunder began and shortly afterwards the rain came. Mother Nature does not realize that this area really, really does not need anymore rain. At least we were able to finish the cement smoothing and were able to cover it up before the rain came.

Last night I began to tackle the homeschool room. Remember that beautiful room, with all the organized space and bookshelves? It has become a dumping ground for all things great and small and somewhere in there I know are all the books and stuff for the coming school year. The process of organizing it again, and moving last year ’s books out and this year’s books in has begun.

Oh, I also examined Mark’s IOWA test results. Smart kid, he did quite well and improved immensely in Math this last year. I laughed as I noticed that his spelling grade equivalent was 5th grade; just where he was in Spelling Power.

And today we have a Science Olympiad Picnic to attend; the weather looks great right now.

Friday night, after driving another 700 miles — that’s 1700 miles in two days — we arrived home.

Home Sweet Home.

But wait, what is that dirt pile in the yard? Pat started digging the foundation for his woodworking shop–a 32×42′ space–built forms for the cement but then 4-1/2″ of rain fell. Hopefully things will dry out soon so he can rebuild the forms and get the building going. I knew he was putting the structure up but thought he was waiting for us to be home before starting the project.

Then I notice the pick-up truck, “Where’s my Honda? And whose truck is this?” I asked.

“This is my truck. I traded your Honda in on this. Isn’t it great! I needed a truck to spread mulch on the garden so I could start digging. Isn’t it a great truck?” He said all this with a big grin, a neighbor had suggested just before I left that Pat should trade in my Honda while I was gone for a new car. Heck, it is only 6 years old and runs great, why incur the expense of a new car?

A few more “Where’s my Honda?’ questions were answered with a, “I traded it on this truck.” but then he finally admitted that it was at a neighbor’s home around the corner. WHEW!!

And so we went into our home. Sweet (dirty) home. While there weren’t any dirty dishes to be done, the kitchen floor hadn’t seen a broom let alone a wet mob since before we left. Ditto for the kitchen counter, and oh my, the microwave….. Michael even cleaned the bathroom before he used it and still can’t understand how Dad could have used it in its condition. I had to do the same to our master bathroom.
So, the last two days have been spent doing laundry — all our clothes from the trip plus 3 weeks of DH’s, putting all our camping gear away, weeding the flower gardens of 7 weeks of weeds—about 150 linear feet of flower garden, pulling 7 weeks of weeds from our massive vegetable garden, and eating wonderful steak and ribs that Pat cooked for us.

Ok, so the guy doesn’t understand that keeping a home is more than just doing the dirty dishes but he sure can cook a great steak or make great ribs.

Now if I can just find the energy to go through the 7 weeks of mail left on my desk……

PS — I lost 12#, not quite the 20# I was hoping for but the loss sure has helped me fit into my summer clothes. All those long hikes, and walking at least 6 miles everyday is what did it. Of course if I hadn’t eaten that ice cream, …. but this was just the boost I needed to help me get eating healthy and exercising again.

Today we drove, or should I say I drove, from the Western edge of South Dakota, through SD…..

through Iowa …….

through most of Illinois……

until hubby told me on the cell phone that driving 1000 miles in one day was ENOUGH…get a room NOW.

Okay, so we are all ready to get home. He was right since I was quite wobbley in the hotel lobby but feel quite fine now. I have showered; first good shower in ….. hmmm, a very long time. I’m headed to bed but the boys are permitted to stay up and quietly watch tv. They were great in the car; no fighting, no complaining; great kids. I’m lucky.

When we are back home and I’ve gone through the mail, washed our clothes, put everything away I’ll write about our time in Yellowstone, the Rodeo in Cody, our quick visit to Devils Tower, our hikes through Wind Cave and Jewell cave, how we watched the fireworks over Mt Rushmore—WOW!!!—-and our final days at Badlands.

What a GREAT Field trip we’ve had this summer; and the boys want to head out next summer, again. YAHOOOOOOOO

Day 16, June 14, 2006

Dinosaur National Monument to Salt Lake City, Utah, 303 miles

While in Vernan we all decided to take the scenic route to Salt Lake City via going north toward Flaming Gorge. This route takes you through immense hogbacks, lifted up as a result of the numerous faults in the area. Along this route there are rock layers from the pre-Cambrian period up through each of the ages — it is a geological timeline in a short 38-mile route. The hogbacks were stunningly beautiful, dry and arid in appearance, but the rocks were colorful ranging from yellows to reds. Finally at Flaming Gorge we took a short walk to the dam, wondered what the area looked like before 1940 when it was built, and then traveled on. It was a long drive to Salt Lake City, and Michael and I had another blow-up when he was more interested in reading then in being my navigator.

Finally we made it to Salt Lake City, but we traveled south to the Kennecot Copper Mine. After traveling about 2500’ up, we gaze into a huge cooper mine 2-1/2 miles across and as far down into the ground. Michael used his high power binnocles to make out that there were people walking around at the bottom of this huge pit.

We returned to Salt Lake City and met my niece Kathy and her husband for dinner. It was delicious, and while I really wanted BEEF the lamb and rice dish tasted great. Our visit with them was quite comfortable and considering that the last time I was with Kathy was in ’99, and rarely before then it was amazing how easy it was to be with them.

Our hotel was far from what we were looking for. Our first room had not been cleaned and we were quickly switched to another room. The host gave us a complimentary roll-away bed for Mark, but when we unfolded it we found the linens filled with cookies. Dirty linens—yuck! When I pulled the bed covers back we found them to be wrinkled and dirty looking. They too looked as if they had not been changed from the previous user. We all slept in our sleeping bags on the beds—-not what we were looking for.

Day 17, June 15, 2006

Salt Lake City, and an unexpected trip to Idaho, 350 miles

Early in the morning we headed out to “This is the Place” Park. We traveled just a little ways north from our hotel and walked around the location where Brigham Young identified the valley as the place for Mormons to locate. We walked around, however none of us were really interested in spending very much time at this park. We looked, and moved on. From there we traveled to Temple Square to see the Tabernacle and the Mormon Temple. We walked around, none of us were interested in going on a tour, but just wanted to see the buildings. Last summer we had joined our Mormon friends at the Pageant in New York State and had heard enough about the Mormon tradition / story but all we wanted here was to see the sites. Michael overheard one sister state to another, as we passed by them, ‘they’re Mormon’ HAHA, far from it.

We traveled back to my niece’s apartment area, caught some breakfast and picked Kathy up. She directed us south of Salt Lake City to Timpanogos Cave National Monument, and we walked 1-1/2 miles up 1000’ to a wonderful, wet cave. The walk up was steep, but quite easy to the ones we have already been on. We arrived a bit before the tour time and chatted with the ranger. She asked where we were from:

“Delaware? We’ve never had anyone here from Delaware before.”

Amazing, however since we left the eastern end of Maryland we have not seen another Delaware care either. We’ve had one person ask us what state ‘The First State’ since his kids are doing a license plate game, but east coast license plates out here in UT or CO have not been seen. The 45-minute cave tour was well worth the walk. The cave is filled with stalactites, stalagmites, columns, soda straws, cave popcorn, and numerous other formations. A definite plus to our visit to the area.

From the cave we were to head out to the salt flats but Kathy stated she needed lunch. We traveled back to the city and one of Kathy’s favorite sub/sandwich restaurants. The food was tasty, but privately I began getting concerned over the late hour and that we needed to head to the Salt Flats soon, if we were to make it while it was bright out. Kathy must have been concerned too since she decided that she was too tired to join us. We dropped her off at her apartment and headed west out to the salt flats.

On the way west the sky turned cloudy, the wind kicked up, but we continued westward. The salt flats looked wet, and though it was cloudy I did see the mirage of a lake off on the horizon due to the salt flats. As we reached the western edge the clouds south of the highway created a solid gray zone, so thick that you could not see through it. The wind picked up to at least 40mph, and the way back to Salt Lake City looked like a nasty path, through a nasty storm. Michael didn’t like the way things looked at all, and we all decided that we should travel west into Nevada, then head north to Idaho. We would forget camping on Antelope Island, on the Great Salt Lake, and just head on to our next location.

Finally at 9:30pm we found a hotel in Twin Falls, Idaho. The sheets look clean, J

Day 18, June 16, 2006

Twin Falls Idaho to Crater of the Moons, Idaho, 98 miles

We leisurely got started this morning, found a bakery with great, hot doughnuts and fresh coffee, enjoyed breakfast and headed north out of town. For the first time our car traveled in an easterly direction for some time. I don’t want to think that we are headed back, however I am so missing Pat.

It took us little time to arrive at Crater of the Moons, and we had our camp set up before noon. To set-up camp Michael, Mark and I work together to set up the tent, and it goes quite quickly. Next the boys take the air mattresses and electric pump to the rest room where there’s always an outlet for them to use. While they are gone I move the laundry bag, clothes bags and sleeping bags to the tent, and set-up the kitchen area. Most places do not permit food left out, while other locations even prohibit stoves and canned goods from being left out. The issue boils down to whether or not there are bears in the area. Bears will even go after canned goods and boxed items and only having these items in your car trunk will keep them out. Here at Craters of the Moon bears are not an issue so we can leave the stove out on our table.

Once camp was assembled we took in a few hikes, like one to Devil’s Orchard, to the Tree Molds, and a short climb up a cinder cone. The area is amazing with huge lava fields, lava ribbons, and shrubs and trees growing in rare locations. The spring flowers are in full bloom too and since they’ve had lots of rain here the flowers are abundant.

Our dinner tonight was typical; I sliced some pepperoni and added it to a can of Hormel Chili without Beans. In another pot I cooked pasta, and in the pan lid I sautéed carrots. I’m so glad I brought along our backpacking cook-kit, and I have cooked all our meals in it. Mark ate pasta covered with olive oil, Michael and I poured the chili pepperoni mixture over our pasta, however I was the only one to eat carrots. Our dinner meals are simple, which keeps cooking and clean up easy. Long ago we dumped our cooler and opted for meals where the meat comes from a can, and everything else from a box. Fresh vegetables, such as carrots or cauliflower are able to keep without refrigeration for a few days, and I’ve been able to have one or the other with dinner most every night. We also have cans of fruit and typically have one with dinner too. Lunch is far different from what we have at home since we opt for beef jerky; GORP (raisins, peanuts, pretzels, and M&M’s)—-Mark’s favorite, dried fruit and sometimes the boys eat a few granola bars. I miss cheese and while at Rocky Mountain NP purchased a small package that I ate at lunch with my summer sausage. I made it last a few days, and hope we find a grocery store before the Teton’s so I can pick up some cheese. That’s also when the boys will beg for some milk. Mark will also ask for soft rolls so he can munch on them with dinner or as a snack, or maybe fix a PB and Gorp sandwich for his lunch. We’ve been talking about what food we want when we get home; I want a steak and have stated that our next dinner out will be someplace where I can get just that.

I’m glad that we arrived here early since the campground has totally filled up.

Day 19, June 17, 2006

Crater of the Moons, Idaho

Last night Michael stayed out and watched the stars. He was thrilled to see the entire milky way and several globules. He woke me from a sound sleep and I too was able to find a globule cluster too. The stars were amazingly bright.

In the morning we walked Broken Top Loop looking for Buffalo Caves but were unable to find them. We did find loads of flowers, enjoyed looking at the pahoehoe flow and the other lava formations. From there we headed to the Caves Trail.

Our first cave Dewdrop Cave was small and easy to access. I didn’t care for how the rocks moved underfoot so when we arrived at Indian Tunnel I picked a rock to sit on. The boys explored and I sat and ate gorp. It is nice they are to an age where I can just let them go, and know they will stick together. The next cave, Boy Scout the boys headed off with their flashlights and I relaxed. Another family group headed into the cave but one mom sat out. We started talking, discovering that she was from Canada, and a new homeschooler. Her son is quite gifted and not fitting into the slow moving classroom setting. I can’t count the number of times I have heard that as a reason to start homeschooling.

The boys loved the cave, enjoyed the ice-cool temperatures and the ice on the cave floor. They also explored Beauty Cave, and I sat out again. Many years ago I was a spelunker, and explored wild caves with my outdoor club. One trip was into a cave in Kentucky shortly after an earthquake. Although any geologist will tell you that a cave is a very safe place in an earthquake a visit to this particular cave told a different story. Our visit to a 2-acre room that had been filled with stalactites, stalagmites and columns the previous visit was now filled with rubble. While one friend, EJ, walked along a ledge a section of the wall came tumbling down. Luckily no one was hurt, but the thought hit me that being in a wild cave was not the place for me. I promised myself that I would not go in a wild cave again, and I just couldn’t bring myself to join Michael and Mark in these small caves, however, I wouldn’t stop them from having fun.

It was only noontime when the boys were finished with the caves so we headed out of the park and off for a drive. Michael had heard that in Shoshone there were waterfalls we should see, so we headed off in that direction. We weren’t able to find the falls but we did find another cave to visit, Ice Cave. I reluctantly joined the boys on what had to be a very disappointing tour. The guide was totally uninterested in showing the cave, and quite frozen by the freezing cave air. It was totally her own stupidity though; dressed in shortty-shorts, sandals, and sleeveless shirt, she was unprepared for the 20-degree cave temperature. Her dialogue was obviously memorized and given without any emotion. Needless to say she didn’t receive a tip from us.

Day 20, June 18, 2006

Drive from Crater of the Moons, Idaho to Teton National Park, Wyoming, 230 miles

Another early departure from camp accomplished by 7am allowed us to arrive at Jenny Lake Campground before noon. There were only 3 sites left and we grabbed site #19. We set up camp; loaded the food we just purchased from the Idaho Falls Wal-Mart into the Bear Box (a metal box with metal clips that is supposed to keep all animals including a bear out of our food), and headed out to see the area. Our first stop was to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center. Being a Sunday it seems everyone was at the park, and the crowds were immense. We walked over to the lake and had a minute of quiet and solitude time before deciding to leave.

We drove down the valley to Gros Ventre, the site of a landslide in the 1920’s that formed the Lower Slide Lake. The natural dam held for two years before it partially failed flooding the town of Kelly and killing six residents. The dam was rebuilt but much of the original dam holds the lake water. It was amazing to me that the hillside is still mostly bare of trees. From there we returned to camp and had a meal of pasta and No-Beans Chili. Mark only ate the pasta and we didn’t have anything for desert.

Back at camp the boys made friends with a neighbor, 10yo Angus and his mom Jackie. The boys played cards while Jackie and I talked about schools, special need issues, labels, and work. I felt like I had met a kindred soul. She and Angus left Memphis 2 weeks ago and have had a grand time at the Tetons. Unfortunately they are pulling out in the morning, however she passed on her business card and we will try to link up in Yellowstone.

Day 21, June 19, 2006

Tetons National Park, Wyoming

After saying goodbye to Angus and Jackie we headed off to hike Tanger Bay. 100 yds down the trail the sky turned black and the thunder boomed. Hiking in the rain when you don’t need to is NOT my idea of a fun day and the thunder gave me a great excuse as to why we needed to return to the car. Besides, the car needed an oil change, the laundry bag was stuffed full, and Michael needed a new pack. As Michael says, it is “a really good daypack that Michael really, really enjoys” We also stopped at Billy’s Burgers for lunch and enjoyed ½ pound hamburgers. I was quite shocked that Mark ate his entire burger.

On the way back to camp the sky was picture-perfect so we stopped off at Targart Lake area and did a 4-mile hike to finish off the day. Jackie had warned us that a woman had seen a wolf in the Targart lake area the previous weekend, so I worried way too much about bears and wolves. It was still a great hike. Michael touched my heart when he requested that the next time we go to buy hats if I wouldn’t pick out the hat for him—“how do you do it Mom? You know just what kind of hat to buy,” me?? Know what to buy? Wow, very touching.

Day 22, June 20, 2006

Tetons National Park, Wyoming

Hike to Lake Solitude, +15 mile hike

When I was on the WFSI trip in ’71 I celebrated my birthday at Lake Solitude and saw this trip as an opportunity to return to this special spot. It would be a long hike, 15.5-miles round-trip, but Michael and I thought we were up to it. We also knew that to make it we would have to start early, and take the Jenny Lake ferry to the trailhead to cut 2-miles off the trip. We made the boat with just a minute to spare and joined a crew of rock climbers for the quick 10-minute ride across Jenny Lake.

To help Mark out, Michael carried most of the load. Our first stop, Hidden Falls was magnificent, and the second stop at Inspiration Point left us admiring the valley floor. What a view,—on our return trip this spot would be jammed with tourists who traveled only as far as this point, yet we had 15 more miles to travel. Once past this point Cascade Cannon is relatively level and the incline is hardly detectable. The cascading water reminds you that you are traveling uphill but the beauty of each cascade just takes your breath away. Soon we were at the 4.8-mile point and looking at only 2.7 more miles to Lake Solitude. We continued up the trail and met our first backpackers coming down the trail. They shared that there was about 4’ of snow on the trail but gave no indication of the real situation. After another mile we hit the snowfields and began walking across the snow trodden trail. We walked and walked and walked; for what we figured was about 1-1/2 miles across snow. Finally I said I could travel no more, Mark was exhausted too and we decided to sit and have lunch. It was noon, and if we were to catch the ferry, and hopefully not the last ferry, we needed to leave the area soon. Reluctantly I gave Michael permission to walk to the next crest and see if Lake Solitude was there. He was told to go no further than the crest and we watched him go.

If you can imagine an immense glacial valley, filled with snow, and sporadic trees, and as you look up that valley you can see your son, a mere ¼” speck on the hillside then you can imagine what I saw and watched. Michael was also told to take only 10 minutes but those had passed while I watched him approach the crest and disappear. Oh no, I had forgotten to tell him not to go near the lake if it was there, and to not go out on the ice—-was he taking lots of time because he had fallen in? Or had he met a bear? No, bears wouldn’t be in this area yet since there wouldn’t be food for them here. My worries mounted as the minutes passed. Finally 30 minutes later Michael reappeared on the hillcrest, and soon was in our presence with a delighted look and news that he had found the lake, taken pictures (which I will load into my blog once I am somewhere where I have TIME to load them onto the web and then into the blog) and was delighted.

We started back down the trail, sliding down the snow trail and back to dry land. Mark loved the snowy trails and even admitted to liking hiking since it led him to snow. It took us 2 hours to finally reach Cascade Forks but we knew we had the easier mileage ahead of us. The trail was now filled with walkers, folks who take to trails without food or water and who can’t imagine all the things that one should take on a hike in the woods. As traveled down the canyon a person pointed out a bear—a mother with two cubs we were told, although we could only see her, eating on the hillside a good 200 yds and with a stream between us from the trail. We admired her through binoculars and noticed that she was looking at us too. Further down the trail we found folks admiring the sunbathing moose. Finally after 10 hrs of hiking Mark and I were back on the Jenny Lake Ferry. Michael decided he hadn’t had enough hiking and took the 2.5-mile trail around the lake.

The only way to end this day was to grant Mark’s request and head to Billy’s Burgers for dinner. We were all very tired, and sore so we hit the sack early. The boys watched a movie while I laid and relaxed. Wow, what a hike—-exhausting but oh my, 15.5 miles—-we did IT!!!

Day 23, June 21, 2006

Tetons National Park, Wyoming

After yesterday neither Mark nor I were up for a hike of any kind. I also felt that I needed to grant Mark his request of doing whatever he wanted to do for the day. That meant that he was allowed to sleep as late as he wanted—-but everyone was up by 7am anyway—– and we went to museums, and didn’t do any hiking. Well, I sorta granted Mark’s wish for the day.

From Jenny Lake we headed north to Coulter Bay stopping along the way at Signal Mountain. We drove to the top, parked the car and walked a few steps to the very top. Mark and I joked that we had hiked to the top of a mountain today even though we said we wouldn’t hike. It made him laugh, which was sorely needed. The mountain was a great stop since we learned about the Teton fault that formed the Teton range, the potholes formed by glaciers, and the path of past glaciers as seen by the present vegetation locations.

From there we headed on to Coulter Bay Visitor Center. After eating lunch of summer sausage, cheese, gorp and other junk foods we headed out on a 3-mile hike. Mark was even a happy participant just concerned that he would be asked to go up or downhill, neither he wanted to do. The hike was flat, uneventful but it felt good to stretch the tight limbs.

From Coulter Bay we headed south and stopped at every overlook, and finally at the Jackson Hole Visitor Center. The boys talked me into buying them foot gel-pads like I had and we picked up a rotisserie chicken for our dinner. The campground had a ranger talk on pelicans and we all enjoyed Ranger Emily’s presentation. Michael and Mark threw a fire together before we all called it a night.

Day 24, June 22, 2006

Tetons National Park, Wyoming

Hike up Death Canyon, ~12miles

It is amazing what things folks are willing to accept while camping. For instance it is 492 steps from our campsite to the bathroom. Imagine waking in the middle of the night and needing to visit the john? Or, returning from a day of hiking and needing to visit the bathroom? What a hike, and this after hiking all day long. The water is cold, there’s only one sink, and the mirror is unusable—which is a good thing since I don’t have to look at my dirty hair, dirty face, or my outfit. Tonight I once again ventured to the bathroom and washed my hair. This ritual has become something I do every couple days. At home I can’t stand to go a day without showering and sometimes after a hot workout I’ll take a second shower in a day. I can’t stand going to bed feeling dirty or sweaty but out here it is a common-every-day event. Showers are very hard to come by.

This morning we began the day by visiting the little store at the Visitor Center and buying Michael a Camelback water bottle. We then headed to the Death Canyon Trailhead, which is located at the end of “dirt” road. Drivers are warned not to take the road unless they have a vehicle with high clearance. Wow, did we need that!

The trail first heads to Phelps Lake, a pristine blue lake located 1.2 miles from the trailhead. After descending to the lake the trail then heads up a series of switchbacks, and up and up. Finally we reached a short section of level hiking when Mark exclaimed that he saw a bear. Sure enough on the opposite hillside a HUGE blonde bear was meandering around. We watched it for a while before it headed down the hill and out of sight. We sang and talked and made other noise so that if the bear chose to cross the stream and head up our hillside he would know we were there and avoid crossing our path. Bears will avoid humans if they know of your presence, and we wanted the bear to know of ours.

As we traveled further on the trail I kept looking to our left and right wondering if we would see a bear. Then I noticed a carcass of a dear or elk not more then 30’ off the trail and up on a rocky ravine. That was too close for me. Michael saw it too but Mark missed seeing it and I wasn’t interested in us standing around a carcass that might be that bear’s dinner. Not more than 50’ down the trail we came upon very fresh bear scat—-oh my! This was too much for me, but we traveled on. The rest of the hike was through wonderful alpine meadows with the cascading water, numerous waterfalls coming off the canyons sidewalls, alpine flowers galore, and lots of marmots screaming out warnings of our approach. We met some backpackers who shared their encounter with a bear cub the previous night who wanted to investigate their tent. Luckily for them the mother bear did call the cub away but they shared that they got little sleep. This report urged us to talk more in order to warn off any bears in the area.

On our return trip Michael in particular noted that the carcass had been moved but thankfully we didn’t see any bears. We went to the Visitor Center and once again reported the bear, the carcass and bear scat. The rangers were very interested in our story particularly since we saw a carcass so close to a trail. They also told us that the remote campsite at Phelps Lake was closed since a woman had a bear investigate her tent while she was in it.

The boys are presently making a campfire using firewood collected throughout the campground. Evidently the Tetons encourage folks to collect dead wood and burn it in hopes that if a forest fire starts there will be less dry, dead wood for a fire.

July 1

We have not had access to electrical power let alone internet access — my journal is far behind — it is now July 1, we just had a great night at the Rodeo in Cody, WY—-I FINALLY had a shower after WAY TOO much time, and I need to write……or should I sleep in the bed? NIGHT!!!

We are off in the morning to Devil’s Tower, Black Hills, Badlands, and then we will head home to DE. We all are ready to return to our home, but I will write more of our time in the Tetons, and Yellowstone —- great times and only one more bear