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Kirsten's SCUBA Class!

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Kirsten's SCUBA Class!

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Is our homing pigeon anything like yours?

Girls out with the little pets

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Elsa at Camp Fox, Catalina. Archery.

Kirsten Tall Ship Camp

The Silkie Bantams

The Big Yellowstone RV Trip

• Read below for a summary of our summer vacation to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.
• Click on an "Previous Posts" links at left to jump right to that day's post.
  
• Posts are in reverse chronological order below.
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• Click on any of the included text links to learn more.
  

Jackson Hole

The Jackson Hole KOA actually looked a little better by day, but a KOA RV park just the same. We got ourselves cleaned up and drove the few miles up to Teton Village (Jackson Hole ski resort) to meet Jill, Andrew, Madeline and George White. We took a nice hike up one of the main ski runs which gave us a beautiful view of the mountains, village and surrounding valley. It's been pretty hard to find a bad place to hike or just look around on this trip. After an hour or so hiking we drove down into Jackson to visit the National Museum of Wildlife Art which was amazing. Take a look at that link to get an idea, but even the building itself was a work of art. The kids had a blast in the museum's Children's Discovery center which made the outing very enjoyable for the whole crew while one adult stood watch with the kids while the rest toured the galleries.

From there we went into town for some lunch at the "New York City Sub" shop which did the trick before a little shopping around Jackson. The highlight was definitely the Images of Nature Gallery, full of amazing photos by Thomas D. Maglesen.

At about 4 it was time to say our sad good-bye's to the Whites and hit the road for the first of two big legs on the trek home. We got to Provo, Utah about midnight for our final KOA visit of the trip. The sewer connections at the Provo KOA are not to be missed.

Colter Bay, Lake Leigh, down to Jackson

A pleasantly slow and late morning today.

We made some simple breakfast in the trailer and then mosied over to the visitor center to meet the Whites and make some plans for the day. It turned out to be yet another that would not disappoint.

We took an easy hike out to Swan Lake in Colter Bay area and after only about 0.5 miles we got to the edge of the lake and came upon a mother moose with two mooselets (OK, "calves") ankle deep in the lily pads munching away. They were about 100 yards away or less, I think, so we got a great long look at them. As we were watching, an osprey (large eagle-like bird) came swooping by and landed in a tree across the lake (narrow lake, so pretty visible). It then came swooping down not far from the moose, grabbed a fish out of the lake and then circled around two or three times as if to show off. It's wing span looked to be six feet or more as it rose up over the trees and went out over the bay.

We grabbed a quick lunch and then went out on a 90 minute boat trip on Jackson Lake. There was a ranger on board who gave a "fire and ice" talk explaining about the fires in the area that have helped to shape the scenery, as well as the geological and glacial activity that have created such a dramatic mountain range rising almost straight up from the valley floor. This picture is of Mt. Moran with a view of the "Skillet Glacier" in the center of the photo.

We took a drive down to lake Leigh, just north of Jenny Lake and had another short hike with the Whites. There was a very brave deer that was milling around the picnic area sometimes less than 20 feet away. The weather started turning and it was time for the Sheehys to head down to Jackson Hole for the night. We're staying at another KOA, this one a few miles from the Jackson Hole ski resort.

We'll be spending half day tomorrow in town of Jackson with the Whites and then we start our big trek back to LA (overnight somewhere in Utah, then the rest of the way to LA on Sunday).

Any trepidation about the RV was misplaced. It's been easy to drive, convenient for sleeping, eating and as an alternative to hotels in many ways greatly preferred for this sort of trip. The new hybrid model we rented got about 40 miles to the gallon on the highway which was great (if we happened to be on a 40 mile downhill run that might be true, reality is somewhere south of 10 miles per gallon, I think). But we always have everything we need close by and the kids feel nice and at home all the time. Dragging it up here and back from Los Angeles was no picnic, but otherwise it's been an unforgettable trip for all of us!

Grand Teton, Rafting and Wagon Trips

We missed our alarm and had a rushed exit from the "RV Resort." (they may have been taking liberties in their title, I'd have to rank it a full star below the four seasons. We were only there about 9 hours, though, and their electricity and sewer holes seemed about the same as the rest of them).

Elsa and I made it to our Wagon Ride drop off by 7 AM and were riding off with Cowboy Evan by about 7:30. We had a chilly but pleasant ride through the woods for about 90 minutes to a nice site by the lake where the cowboys made us pancakes, eggs, hot chocolate and cowboy coffee. If you can eat it with a fork, that's cowboy coffee. I was picking grinds out of my teeth all day :)

We saw some huge and beautiful sandhill cranes in the field on the way out and in flight on the way back. Elsa slept on my lap most of the ride back, recouperating from her late night and early morning. But she loved the cowboy pancakes and ate about half her weight's worth.

While we were doing that, Julie and the older girls took a float trip down the Snake River. I'll let julie fill in some of the details later, but it was an incredibly memorable trip for them. The pictures help paint the picture, but the bufallo picuture was not taken with a long lens, just our little pocket digital. They could hear them snorting.

We had a nice 2 mile hike around Colter Bay in the afternoon and then hosted Jill, Andrew, Madeline and George at the Colter Bay RV park(ing lot with trees). Actually this site was the best so far, actually in the woods and very short walk to the Colter Bay attractions. Julie made some great carne asada with fixings.

After dinner we walked over to the amphitheater at the visitor center on the bay and listened to Ranger Jodi tell us about Coyotes and a little about wolves by comparison. The coyotes up here are quite a bit larger, fluffier and darker then the ones we have in LA, so they're often mistaken for wolves up here, even by the experts.

A fox came trotting up out of the woods just as the ranger was finishing her talk. Everyone pointed and said "there's a coyote." Jodi kept her chin up, but clearly her 45 minutes was wasted on some of us.

Off to bed!

West Yellowstone and Grand Teton

We had a wonderful day in the town of West Yellowstone Montana where we took it easy before our drive down to Grand Teton national park. We started with a stop at the West Yellowstone Ranger Station where the girls were awared their Junior Ranger Patches in recognition of their completion of Yellowstone's Junior Ranger program.

Then we visited the Grizzly Discovery Center. It's a museum and rescue facility where they had some great exhibits on grizzlies and black bears and had a few live grizzlies that had been rescued from zoos or the wild. We got to seem them have their feeding and a good romp around in their big pen area. Very impressive animals. Unfortunately we didn't see any bears in the wild.

The drive down to Grand Teton was beautiful. Most of it through Yellowstone and then out the south entrance into Grand Teton. The first view of the mountain range across Jackson Lake on the drive down was breathtaking.

We had an amazing dinner with the Whites at Jackson Lake lodge with a view out over the lake across to the mountains.

A nice stroll after dinner on the nearby trail treated us to some elk and moose grazing in the valley below.

Then off to the rv stop for a relatively late arrival, especially for the girls.

Old Faithful. Join Jill and Andrew and...

Today was another awesome day in Yellowstone.

After the late dinner in Hayden Valley last night we got back to our camp site pretty late. But the girls were already tucked in and asleep for about the last 90 minutes of the drive back, so not too bad for them.

It got pretty funny early this morning. We set our alarm to get an early start over to Old Faithful. Alarm went off around 6:45, we got up, threw on some clothes and were on the road about 7:00. The girls kept sleeping the entire drive over to Old Faithful , a little more than an hour . Maybe you had to be there, but I was cracking up when they woke up with no clue where they were or even what day it was. Did you know that Yellowstone contains 60% of all of the planet's geysers?

We saw Old Faithful erupt around 9 AM, then found Jill and Andrew White and their two children Madeline and George over at the Old Faithful Inn (click for more on the 100+ year old iconic national park lodge). We'd been planning to meet them, but with no cell phone service we were happy to finally meet up. After a nice, but slow, breakfast at the hotel we went back out for round two with Old faithful then hit the road on the way to a gentle hike for the whole gang.

We stopped for lunch at a non-descript picnic site along the way and as we were about to pack up to go Andrews sister-in-law came running over. They had been picnicing about 50 feet away. Neither Andrew or his brother knew the other was going to be in Yellowstone, so this was a pretty amazing event (they both live in Virginia, Yellowstone is a 2.2 million acre national park well over a thousand miles from their home, and we stopped at some random picnic area with no particular attraction to it, so almost spooky).

We had a fair amount of rain so did a lot of driving, saw another beautiful hotel (the Lake Yellowstone Lodge) and stopped there for some coffee. We saw a moose on the way and that was pretty cool.

From there we took the kids to a ranger talk about the bald eagle at Fishing Bridge and that was very interesting (I was proud of Kirsten's knowledge of the selection of the Bald Eagle as the national symbol. Kirsten informed the group that Ben Franklin was against it, since it's primarily a scavenger, and instead favored the wild turkey. Now you know, too.)

Hot dogs on the drive back tonight, the kids are tucked in, I'm picking up the laundry at the launderette here at the campground (julie did it all, I'm just picking it up so I could get on the Internet.)

Off to Grand Teton tomorrow and hopefully I'll have some time to write some more and get more pictures up. These first posts were all rushed and I'm trying to get back to home, tin home for some shut eye.

I think you can post comments, so feel free.

First Day in Yellowstone

Well we finally made it and within about a mile inside the park entrance it was clear it was all worthwhile.

We pulled over at the very first turn out we came to, on Madison River, to let the kids get out and run around. A bald eagle came flying by and landed up in a tree on the other side of the river.

We also saw a lot of large "scat" and made some guesses as to what large animal had left it. (we now think it was Elk or maybe Buffalo.

We continued on to a ranger station in Madison for another little hike and came upon some Elk grazing by the river.

On from there to Firehole, a river fed by some hot springs that made it warm enough to swim. The three older girls and I were able to take a gentle float around a bend to where Julie and Elsa were waiting with some warm towels. We never thought we'd be swimming in a river in Wyoming, so this was an unexpected surprise. We also quickly discovered the sudden luxury that our little aluminum apartment offered. We had our suits and towels with us (and as it turns out, even the kitchen sink, which has also come in handy several times a day on the road).

Continuing on, we saw some bufallo, more elk, more bufallo, and on like that. The big RV windows afforded many false alarm bear sightings who the kids claimed to have seen in various states of exercise (climbing a tree was a favorite, though grizzlies don't climb trees).Next we went to The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which was very beautiful. I'll try to get another picture up, but here's one of the girls with the canyon in the background.
We went on for a great dinner in Hayden Valley. We just pulled the RV to the side of the road and cooked up some orange chinese chicken and rice while watching the sunset and the bufallo roam). The sunset was spectactular and then the girls were off to sleep for the drive back to the campsite.

Still... Off To Yellowstone

Sunday, July 30, 2006
Today, we got up bright and early because we had some serious ground to cover. Mom made everyone Danish pancakes. We hit the road at 7a.m. with Mom at the wheel. Thank goodness for our pull-through parking space. Mom was able to leave the campsite and town without hitting anything thanks to Dad's quickie RV training course. "Remember to make wide turns and don't clip the person in the lane next to you because you can't always see them!" I knew I'd be o.k. once I got on Hwy 15 because I didn't have to make any turnoffs for the next 316miles!

Off To Yellowstone!

Saturday, July 29, 2006
Today we left for our big RV adventure to Yellowstone! Our first campsite was in Cedar City, Utah. The drive was supposed to take about 6 hours, but when we got just outside Las Vegas, we were detoured off Highway 15. The whole fwy was closed in both directions. It took us about 11/2 hours to get back to 15 after a long detour! We found out later that it was due to a large propane explosion.

Our first campsite was in Cedar City, Utah. When we finally arrived, the girls were psyched to jump in the pool! Elsa is getting ready to learn swimming, but to keep up with her sisters, we got her some floaties at the camp store.

After swimming, we went back to our shady campsite, changed, and got ready for a fun bike ride. Kirsten spotted some cool bike cars to rent. All four girls jumped in, Kirsten steered and pedaled, with her wing girl, Katherine by her side. Emma and Elsa were in the front row. They took off like a flash and disappeared among all the R.V. campsites! Little doggies dotted the roadside. Kirsten commented on the tiny barbeque by each campsite. "It looks like a mailbox" Dad started to get the coals ready,with much difficulty. We had no starter fluid, but that didn't deter the barbeque master! Upon ripping up our used cereal boxes and old directions, with lots of tendering, he got it going. We were psyched and pretty hungry. Out came the bugers and dogs. Mmmm! For dessert, we headed over to "Sassy's Treats" for icecream and fudge. Forget the diet! By the time we finished dessert, it was time to catch some Zzzz's. Kirsten and Elsa got first dibs on the bed above the front of the cab. Katherine requested the former dining room table for her bed. In a few minutes we flipped the table, redid the cushions and voila, a comphy bed! Across from her, Emma's couch morphed into another bed. Mom and Dad had the deluxe suite in the back. The girls settled down rather quickly and started snoring.

Elsa's view of the day was: "I liked everything. Sleeping up top was neat. I liked playing in the pool with my new swimmies."
Emma's opinion of the day was: On the way to our campsite, we drove by the chocolate river. It looked like Willie Wonkers factory river. I liked seeing the rollercoaster on top of the Stratosphere hotel in Las Vegas.
Kirsten liked being in the RV in the beginning, but several hours later, she didn't. The excitement of the new experience wore off. I liked sleeping in the bed above the driver's seat. I liked the chocolate river along the way. It was so brown and silky and it was very curvy. I liked watching my dad try and get the barbeque started. We called him "Lord of the Flame" after that. We could sleep very well in the RV because it was nice and quiet.
Katherine is currently unavailable for comment because she is snoozing on the bench seat in the kitchen. She'll comment later.

Click for Kirsten's Blog

Kirsten Playing in LAFC Friendly

Katherine's Soccer Team

Dan starts up Freelanthropy

Dan started a new company called Freelanthropy (www.freelanthropy.com) that is providing a branding and communication tool that helps non-profit organizations to raise money online. It's a simple program that virtually any organization can use (schools, churches, shelters, research organizations, athletic groups, etc.) to supplement existing fundraising efforts to raise additional donation revenue. At the same time the program helps the organization to communicate with their supports and keep their cause top-of-mind. Check it out and let me know if you'd like to apply for any of the charities that you might be involved with.

Charitable Giving Study

You might also want to check out a Charitable Giving study that we conducted.

I recently ran the survey panel again for 2006 and am working on the analysis now. It's pretty interesting to see how much people donate to charity relative to their total income.

You can read more about the Charitable Giving Index here and look for the second annual report very soon. http://freelanthropy.com/pr20050316.html

http://www.freelanthropy.com/

Elsa's preschool outing.
That's her in front, far left (you can click the photo for a full-size image).
Hollins, Swarthmore, Princeton, Harvard class of 2024?

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