Day One: October 8th, 2004!
My day started early – meeting at the van pick up spot for 4am… luckily I had my international possey drop me off! Hehehe… Ste… that was a crazy display! We then drove, 22 of us, to the Detroit airport in Michigan. We flew from Detroit to Minnesota, and from there to Salt Lake City, Utah. Once in Salt Lake we pick up our two rental vans and began the marathon drive. I slept most of the drive, because of the lack of sleep the night before (watching Walking Tall with Jo… oh The Rock!). We arrived in Jackson, Wyoming around 7pm. The group was left to find their own dinner, after much exploring we ate at a small pizzeria and enjoyed “Flat Tire” beers… crazy American domestic stuff! We finally made it to our last destination, Moose Wyoming and the Murie centre. The Murie centre is a conservation area where the Murie’s used to live. The Muries are famous ecologist, who spent their lives working to protect Alaska’s wilderness. I got put into a cabin with Lisa and Erika… and I’d have to say we got the nicest cabin – we had our own indoor bathroom!!!
Day Two: October 9th 2004!
Today was service project day! I spent the morning cleaning storm windows and putting then into the panes… let’s just say I’d hate to be the person who has to take those puppies out! (and yes, that’s out… the way I say it!) After the morning of work, we went to Grand Teton Park and hiked around Jenny Lake. I went with the group on the trail up the mountain to the waterfall… which was beautiful – until I stepped in the water. Hey, waterproof boots are only good until the water comes in from the top! Saturday night we headed back to the Murie centre where we had bison for dinner. It was okay… my first bison experience.
Day Three: October 10th 2004!
Today we left for Yellowstone, I got to ride shot gun the whole way there! Weee… no being crammed into the back for me! Along the way we saw lots of wildlife, bison and elk herds galore! Very cool creatures. We arrived in Yellowstone, where Bill took us to the mess hall we would be staying in. Then we headed off for a day’s worth of adventure. We were unable to make it to Mammoth because of a car accident – so we went to Old Faithful. There we explored the Old Faithful Inn – the biggest log cabin ever! It was really neat… everything was made of wood. It was really dark inside… but the Huckleberry ice cream was good (yeah ice cream!) and much to my dismay, the stairs up to the crow’s nest were closed, so I was unable to get to the top. However, we did see Old Faithful erupt. That was cool… a lot larger then I thought! From there we headed to the falls and artist canyon. We saw lots of animals again: elk, bison, coyotes and a bald eagle! The canyon was cool… the rock faces were so pretty (yellowish stone that had traces of red and greens in them!). And the falls were breath taking. We finished up our by going to a burn site from the 1988 fires. It was really neat to see the new re-growth, however the burnt trees were still standing which created an eeriness about the place. While there we saw our first grizzly – a mama bear and two cubs! That evening we partied and hung out! Weee… for card games!
Day Four: October 11, 2004!
Another day of driving around Yellowstone! We spent the morning exploring Mammoth Hot Springs, probably my favourite part of the park. The hot springs were really cool… I’ve never seen anything like them at all. Although, they were also really smelly (woa sulfur!). For lunch I even had my turkey (Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!!!). The afternoon was spent exploring and enjoying Lamar Valley (the area of the park where wolves are frequently seen). The Valley was beautiful, it was also huge! We hiked all around and took the time to enjoy the view from the top of a small ridge in the valley, however we didn’t see any wolves there. Only a lone bison, whom just ate and ate and ate! The visit in the valley finished with a crazy group of people I was with going swimming in the river there! Brrr….. We then got into the vans in search on wolves! On the way we watched a grizzly travel across another open field. And thanks to the help of a ranger friend discovered an area to where wolves had been seen. We drove up to this peak, which I think was near a ranger station. We stood on the top of this valley (I’m not sure of the name) and watched some wolves! There were white and black wolves in the valley below, along with elk and bears! It was really cool. There were some other nature lovers out there observing the animals as well and they let us look through their scope to get a better view. What beautiful animals. The day came to a close as dust approached. Where we got back into the vans and drove to the town of West Yellowstone for dinner. The fourth and fifth day blend together because we drove all night to reach Utah, Salt Lake. The driving wasn’t too bad (although, I wasn’t the one driving)… but was mildly entertaining with the walkie-talkie grabber that took place between the two trucks! And a very interesting attempt at the Canadian national anthem! We made it to Salt Lake around 3:30 am and sat in the air port and waited for our 6am flight out. We made it to Minnesota okay, however part of the group didn’t make the connecting flight to Detroit. This made the long day even longer. Although, it all worked out and everyone made it home safe.
My fall break was amazing, I had a great time. I’d like to thank everyone who went on the trip for making it what it was and all that good stuff!
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