Cool Stop #8: Scenic Overlook at Mile Marker 142 off Interstate 90 in Washington

Posted on July 8, 2013 by hennacornoelidays

Again, there is something, to be said about the unexpected. While driving from mountains (Cour d’Alene, ID yesterday) to mountains (Mt. Rainier National Park later today) you go through quite a bit of desert. Although greened here and there by irrigation, what the eye sees is mostly brown patches and yellowed bits of earth. After about two hours of this landscape (and with Corey and Henna both engrossed in the world of Hunger Games) the road suddenly offered turquoise to go along with a generous helping of plunging ridgeline. Deciding to get out of the car and walk along the paved trail overlooking the Columbia River was an easy decision and even my partners agreed to put their books down. It was an exposed dry heat (mid 90s with no shade anywhere) but it still felt cool to wonder at the edge of the earth and then peer down at this great western river. Noel

Notice the wind turbines in the deep background

Noel’s Cool Spot #7: Montana Valley Book Store (Alberton, MT)

Posted on July 6, 2013 by hennacornoelidays

The thing about this place is location, location, location. Sometimes things are just about where you expect them (like a good French restaurant in Wicker Park). And other times the thrill is coming across the familiar in the most unexpected place.

Montana Valley Book Store (Alberton, MT)

So there we were, a few miles west of Missoula but several cultural paces away from that fun loving college town. Henna was mostly recovered from the stomach flu but just to be on the safe side we chose the road better traveled (Interstate 90 instead of Route 12 heading toward Mount Rainier). Amongst the road signs (no shortage of places to buy guns and fireworks here) was one advertising for a used book store. Intrigued we turned off the highway and headed a few miles north into small town Montana. Not sure what to expect we were pleasantly surprised by the large used book store (over a hundred thousand used books!) housed in an early 20th century building that was once a small butcher shop.

Jennifer Fredette surrounded by her books

Inside we had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer Fredette whose in-laws first opened the book shop in 1975. A native of Long Island, she moved to Montana with her husband eight years ago (assumedly to take over the family business). Jennifer is also a self-taught photographer and some of her work can be found on Facebook (facebook.com/MountainPearl). I was happy to browse among the books and it took Henna just a few minutes to add to her growing car based library (next summer we might pull something to hold all the books). The open road never felt so literate. Noel

A few shout outs: While resting at the Missoula KOA we made a few friends. First off are Carrie and Letty who communicated with me as best they could despite me knowing only about twelve signs. Luckily Corey was able to supplement my meager vocabulary and we hope they and their adorable dog have a great time in Seattle. We also want to give a shout out to “Fiddlin’ Quinn.” They came in late and left early, but from my quick conversation with them this morning it appeared that they too are crisscrossing America this summer. Unlike us though, they are engaging in a little busking along the way. You can check them out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iszgXnrJ_6Q or on their website fiddlinquinn.com. We also greatly enjoyed the attention given to us by the fine folks at the Fact and Fiction book store (http://www.factandfictionbooks.com/) as well as the film centric camera shop The Dark Room (http://darkroomofmontana.com/ ) both of which are located in beautiful Missoula. I am writing to you now from a hotel room in Coeur d’Alene, ID and Henna is looking her chipper self.

Henna on the mend

Cool Spot #6: The Carousel for Missoula

Posted on July 5, 2013 by hennacornoelidays

We ended up staying another night in Missoula and the carousel may be the reason why. No matter how many times she rides the darn thing she wants to get back on again. How many times can you spin around in a circle before hurling? My limit is two (and then don’t feed me anything for a little bit after).

Missoula, MT

Created by artist Chuck Kaparich as a gift to Missoula it was first offered to the public on May 27, 1994. It is just 75 cents for children and $2.25 for adults (no charge if you are just standing next to your kid). We might have spent over a thousand dollars on tickets. Probably not, but the $50 annual pass (which I laughed at when I bought my first ticket) may have actually been the way to go. Oh, and here’s the fun thing, each time around you are encouraged to grab plastic rings coming out of a dragon’s mouth. The last ring is brass and guarantees the winner a free ride later. This, by the way, was the inspiration for the Lord of the Rings series (Noel’s fake fact of the day).

Reaching for the brass ring

In case you haven’t caught on, Missoula is a pretty cool place. Besides the welcoming family attractions like the park next door to the carousel that is littered with wooden fort like/ easy to get lost in climbing blocks and the nearby children’s museum, the town is set in a truly beautify valley. The locals and tourists both seem to spend a lot of time floating on the river and the college gives the place a decidedly liberal leaning and intellectual air. There also seem to be festivals almost every summer night with the action mostly centered at Caras Park (which is adjacent to the carousel). In fact, everything about the place screams “stay!” a week, a month, a lifetime. But 40 is a big number and I owe it to you, Hennacornoelidays Nation, to move on. Tomorrow we ride. Noel

Note: Almost immediately after writing this Henna lost her lunch. She feels much better now, but maybe nine year olds have a limit too.

Cool Spot #5: The Mother of All Hot Spots

Posted on July 4, 2013 by hennacornoelidays

And I am not talking about some bar in Lincoln Park. This hot spot is pretty darn hot. Like coming from the molten core of the earth hot. I am referring to, of course, the caldera better known as Yellowstone National Park. Old Faithful, crazy traffic stopped to look at some bison sleeping by the side of the road, and a million or so visitors that hardly ever bother to leave pavement; all of this is made possible by a hot spot trapped deep in the crust of the earth.

That giant caldera known as Yellowstone National Park

Here’s something I bet you did not know about the hot spot. It’s on the move. 11 million years ago it was a few hundred miles west of where it is now. That is about the time it exploded and caused a bunch of prehistoric rhinos, camels, and horses to choke to death on the ash in north west Nebraska (see Ashfall Fossil Fields). I figure in about a billion years it will be under Chicago. I also figure the Cubs will still not have won a world series. Maybe they will have a 13-0 lead in game 7 of the World Series with one out to go and then…boom, super volcano and no one bothers continuing the game.

Nope, they didn’t catch anything

In case you are wondering it has not been all geo-thermal hotspots here. We also had a pleasant drive through the Ruby Valley (between West Yellowstone and Missoula, MT where I am typing this), made a few new friends (hello Carlee and Carrie, sorry if I misspelled either of your names), and ended up having coffee with the backpackers we met on the way to Lake Solitude (the ones who recently quit their jobs). We also managed to score Cub tickets from two cool guys camping next to us and then forwarded them on to our house sitter. To all our family and friends, have a happy 4th of July! Noel

Old train at Nevada City, MT

At one point Henna made 4 baskets in a row!

Did not feel like paying money to go inside old MT prison- in use from late 19th Century until 1979

Taken within the small city/ college town of Missoula, MT (Awesome place)

In Missoula on the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

Hike’s # 2, 3, and 4: Wind River, Taggart and Bradley Lakes, Lake Solitude

Posted on July 4, 2013 by hennacornoelidays

Did I mention that these trips move fast? Well, they do. And if some of you were worried that I would not reach my goal of 40 hikes for this trip, you can stop worrying. I will catch you up as best I can below:

Hike #2: Wind River hike in Dubois, Wyoming.

We had origionally planned on heading straight into the Tetons, but as usual we were lured by the beauty of a place and decided to pitch our tent. The specific lure of Dubois Wyoming, a cute town along route 26 with a few mountains separating it from the Tetons, was the wind river. I am a sucker for a quaint rolling river, that will lull me to sleep inside my tent. After setting up for the night, we took a walk along this river, albeit along a paved trail, (I do not plan to discriminate what I call a “hike” on this blog). We dipped our feet in this frigid river and made plans for buying an inner tube to dip into future rivers along our travels. On mine and Noel’s first trip together, we had rolled into this town at 11:00 p.m. only to battle the winding road down to Jackson hole in the pitch dark. We are wiser now, and have learned to listen to what calls us to stop.

Hike #3: Taggart and Bradley Lakes, Teton National Park

Although we have frequented this park many times, there is always something new to mix in with our old favorites. As we are all friends here, I can admit embarrassingly, that sometimes at Hennacornoelidays we make quick judgments’ about things. We have been known to mistake a busy trailhead along the main road in a national park as the “easy” hike those other tourists do. But, we were eager to get in a hike, and took a chance. As always, we were wrong about this being an “easy” tourist hike. We soon realized that us flatlanders were out of shape, and this 5 mile hike was a great start to getting us acclimated to the thin air and elevation gain. This hike took us from the meadows that lay at the foot of the Teton range, with the main road in plain site, to rise up over to rest at a glorious lake. We found our own secret rock along the edge, dipped our tired feet while one of us took an almost skinny dip. The plan was to then follow the loop up to Bradley Lake and back to the safety of our car. Well at least that was the plan. We did begin the ascent up to Bradley Lake, yes more climbing, but about half way there, Noel spotted a baby black bear cub about 20 feet ahead on the trail. And if we’ve learned anything from hiking it’s that if you spy a baby black bear cub, turn slowly, drop any plans you had and head back the way you came. With our hearts pumping, we arrived at Taggart Lake, to learn that folks we had passed along the trail coming towards us had heard growling…but they obviously did not think that was relevent. But, all’s well that end’s well they say, and I’m glad that we once again learned to not judge a trail by it’s presumed easy accessibility. This one made our heart pump for more than altitude reason, good lesson learned.

Henna and Corey on our own rock!

Hike #4: Lake Solitude, Teton National Park

To be quick, this hike is an old favorite of ours. Noel and I initially back packed this hike almost 14 years ago. Then when we first took Henna here we travelled only part way. Last year we got just a bit closer. This year we had originally planned to back pack it with Henna. After realizing that we were not in mountain climbing shape just yet, we decided to go lighter, only carrying our food along. As we reached the place that we stopped at last year, and 2.7 miles from the beautiful Lake Solitude (all up hill), Henna decided we needed to continue. And then again, higher up the trail as we encountered a volunteer on the trail, to which he said something to the effect of knowing your limitations, Henna again turned and left him and her parents in the dust. When we finally made it to Lake Solitude, on the other side of the mountain, we all knew our painful descent was well worth the trip. Such is life I think.

Below is a poem that Henna to elouquently wrote about this hike.

Lake Solitude Trail

Switch backs, switch backs few.
To inspiration point whew.
Hidden water fall
In a canyon, wow.
At Lake Solitude, oh my!
Whew what a long day.
There is still more to go.
Feet hurt on way back.
Oh no catch the boat or else
we go two more miles.
We have walked 15 miles.
It was all worth it
We also saw a moose too.

Henna

Corey

Cool Thing #4: Remembering How Cool People Can Be

Posted on July 2, 2013 by hennacornoelidays

People rock. A few roll, some tilt, but mostly people rock. They rock in the red and the blue states and everywhere in between. I think we (especially people like me who love to argue almost as much as they love watching politics) tend to lose sight of that.

Not in Illinois anymore

Anyways that is what a fellow traveler said. Him and his wife are traveling America like us but with a couple of extra kids (they have three children age 2 through 7) and the family dog. Oh, they also are also traveling by bike. The dad has the dog and food and other incidentals, mom has the three kids on a type of tandem bike. The youngest can’t quite reach the pedals so he sits strapped to her back. We came across them at a park in Dubois, WY. Like a magnet they drew us in and in a short while we were trading stories while Henna played with the other children. We also asked them a lot of questions which I am sure they answer several times a day. The short of it is that mom quit her corporate job due partly to office politics and the dad is a pretty handy guy who, among other things, built their bikes. They tell their story a lot better than we do on their website thefamilyride.com

Thefamilyride.com

A couple of days later we met other corporate drop outs while hiking to Lake Solitude. That was yesterday and we are hurting pretty bad from the effort . Toward the end we met a structural engineer and his wife who decided to quit working for a while. They said they met others on the hike doing the same. Which leaves me thinking, are we doing it wrong it in America? Whereas most European countries have a minimum of six weeks of vacation a year (and shorter work weeks in general), most of my neighbors and friends are lucky to have two weeks. Maybe that is why there is so much resentment toward educators who mostly have the option not to work over the summer. A lot of the good, like the family ride people and the hikers I met yesterday, are just burning out and our society is the worse for it.

No pain no gain

One more thing: there was another guy I met here too. Alone, he spends his summers camping in his modified van (with solar panels that keep the extras running when he camps). From what I can gather he spends a lot of time alternating between drinking Coors and mountain biking. He told me that he is 61 and spends every day just “pounding it.” The night after our death march of a hike, I called out to him on my way to the lake with Henna. “Man, we pounded it today”. Henna thought I was nuts. Noel

I also want to give a shout out to our former neighbor here at Signal Mountain Campground, Kyle (or as he prefers to be called “The Preacher Neighbor”) and his very sweet and nice family who did not bat an eyelash when we told him of our non-religious views. He also seemed genuinely interested in what I am reading Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by the awesomely witty Christopher Moore. Hope we get to camp next to you soon (and I am not just saying that because you owe me a beer).

Cool Stop #3: Ayers Natural Bridge, WY

Posted on June 28, 2013 by hennacornoelidays

Ayers Natural Bridge

I know this trip is getting good because the daily distances covered are getting shorter. Today we planned on getting to Grand Teton National Park (the chestiest of all the National Parks) but only made it as far as Dubois. Something about a rodeo tonight and camping alongside the Wind River made going on impossible. Yesterday we hoped to travel from Fort Robinson, NE to Dubois, WY. Again, we didn’t make it. Instead we pulled off the side of the road to check out Ayers Natural Bridge. As followers of this blog might know, we are suckers for natural bridges. Until yesterday my favorite was in Southern Illinois. Now it is down a paved but lonely and often too narrow road that stretches about eight miles off I25 just a tad east of Casper, WY. From what I can gather, the bridge used to be on private property but was donated to the county a while back. There is no entrance fee and no camping fee either. Just lots of swimming and fishing on the stream that runs directly under the bridge. We thought we were going to camp there but as the day wore down we decided we wanted to get a little closer to the Tetons. So instead we camped in what seemed like a parking lot (but with a nice pool and showers and wifi). This KOA has the same and we are feeling a bit spoiled. Noel

The First Hike: Ashfall Fossil Beds

Posted on June 28, 2013 by hennacornoelidays

Alright, I know that Noel already posted…but these trips tend to keep moving quickly along, and we must post when we get the chance. I write this from a KOA in Casper Wyoming just off Interstate 25, on a bed of gravel with the stars so close I wanna reach out and grab em. I digress. I wanted to share my first hike of the trip, my #1 of 40. So here it goes.

We were visiting the amazing Ashfall fossil site, and Noel had heard about this great hike that one of the rangers was quoted as saying, “I would hike this every day if I could”. Okay. Great. So we signed the log book saying that we were on this hike. Noel noted that no one had taken this hike in three days. Warning sign. So after our first attempt to find the beginning of the trail failed, we viewed the bones, only to then locate the beginning behind a wooden gate. The trail was nestled within the tall prairie grasses of Nebraska, and the trail often was very hard to discern. But we plugged ahead, as the landscape was so beautiful, it really was. We bush wacked our way through the trail, following along with the trail guide that corresponded with numbered post signs until I heard Henna scream! “Spiders!” ” Tiny spiders are crawling all over me!”. Well, Henna wasn’t too excited about this hike to begin with…it was humid, muggy and buggy, so naturally I dismissed her freak out…until I saw them. Those tiny spiders she was complaining about….I found one on my leg, but it wasn’t a spider. It was a tick. Okay. Now I could either have told Henna the truth and freak her out more, or put on my mom poker face and lie (and at the same time make it kind of fun!) I chose the latter, and pushed her on as I flicked ticks off my shoes, legs and kept one eye on my daughter in front of me. Well, when we finally got off the trail, hot and red faced, I checked her and myself…and then I told her the truth about them spiders. Ugh!

Run!

Well, after de ticking both Henna and I after the trip (I actually found one later the day crawling up my face…while I was driving), I contemplated that hike with life. I won’t bore you, but I realized that life is kind of like that hike. Sometimes you’re going along, enjoying your self…when wham! You’re hit by something that really sucks. And you can let that affect you for a very long time by keeping you from doing things that you want. I was totally freaked out by those ticks…they got in my head and I questioned what the heck we were out here doing! Seriously. But as I sit here tonight, and those ticks are far behind I realize that in life you got to plug ahead, no matter if it scares you so bad you want to give up. I’m glad we kept moving forward, even as Noel thought I was loosing my mind while I continued to check both Henna and myself for ticks days later. Ugh. But I’ve made it these 40 years by moving forward, never going back. And I continue to keep doing just that. Corey

Cool Stop #1: The Seneca Street Saloon in Webster City, Iowa

Posted on June 27, 2013 by hennacornoelidays

Seneca State Saloon in Webster City, IA

What is it about Iowa and cities? Sioux City, Iowa City, and Webster City (where I woke up this morning refreshed and ready to really begin this milestone trip). Hey Iowa, real cities don’t bother calling themselves cities. New York City does, but only because it is in New York State. Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia are cities. Webster City is a nice but small dot off route 20. It is a city like the hill at North Park Nature Center is a mountain. But in Webster City I did make my first of at least forty cool stops. Let me present to you the Seneca Street Saloon.
The Saloon has Mills beer on tap (made by and for Iowans), worn out wood floors, posters of forgotten sporting teams decades old (like a high school wrestling team from 1992), endless fish caught and deer shot playing on the television over the bar, and thirty cents buffalo wings on Monday. Pizza, two draft beers, a dozen buffalo wings, and an order of fries with a generous tip; $30 (and they only take cash). Sitting in oversized booths were Webster City firemen (the firehouse was next door), families, men in camouflage, and three tourists from Chicago. The bartender served everyone with a smile and for the first time that day we felt at home.

After swimming we caught Shaw hoisting the cup while swearing loudly on live television. Blood streaked down his cheek from an open gash. I was honestly just glad he was alive as I saw him earlier take a puck to the head from maybe three feet away then drop to the ice motionless. From the hotel lobby I thought I heard the fireworks going off in Edison Park. Noel

Cool Stop #2: Smith Falls State Park in North East/Center Nebraska

Quick, pronounce “Niobrara River.” I am guessing that if you don’t live in Nebraska you can’t pronounce its’ prettiest river. Coming in from South Dakota and meandering south with a western tilt, it is a lazy southern river trapped in the plains. Just west of Smith Falls State Park you can rent tubes, kayaks, and canoes then drift south assured that a packed bus will eventually bring you back to where you started. We passed but did take a four mile gravel road to the state park were we could have also camped right on the river bank. Instead we took a short hike to the base of Nebraska’s highest waterfall then played right under the cascading falls. Another small hike led us to the river and we cooled off in the water just like the cattle we saw all day by the side of the road. Come to think of it the passing river people might have resembled us in our cars. Moo.

Lazy summer day

Quick note: Not making the list of cool stops only because we wrote about it last year was Ashfall Fossil Beds. If you remember, Ashfall is the site of a former watering hole. About 11 million years ago a volcano blew up in Idaho (the source of this volcano, its “hot spot,” moves below the surface of the earth and is presently fueling Old Faithful and every other attraction in Yellowstone) and covered much of Nebraska in ash. The confused rhinos, three toes horses, camels, and other prehistoric creatures sought comfort in the watering hole before eventually dying of various ailments. The ash blew and blew and covered their remains then sheltered their fossilized bones from the crushing soil that eventually layered above them. The result is well preserved and more three dimensional fossils. The site was discovered in the 1970s and graduate students work the site under a giant awning/ barn, each summer. Every day they uncover something and at the visitor center a friendly student will happily show you something (last summer it was prehistoric poop). There also is a fun kid area and some hiking (Corey will share a story about that hilarious hike soon).

Fort Robinson State Park (Nebraska), where I am presently waiting for the ladies to wake up, also deserves a special shout out.

Ashfall Fossil Beds

We did pass on Seusical The Musical(last summer we saw Godspell at their Summer Stock Theater). We also met three generations camping near us and Henna played with the youngsters. I really enjoyed talking with the adults right up until they started talking politics. I had no idea that the government was sending armored carriers into major cities! And I think the correct pronunciation of the president’s last name is Obama, not Osama. Maybe they were a little on edge because of yesterday’s Supreme Court’s decision that will (hopefully) open the door for gay marriage. I will never know for sure though because I shifted the conversation back to Nebraska state parks. Noel

The Milestone Trip

Posted on June 24, 2013 by hennacornoelidays

Cheers from the road! Let me start by saying thank you for following us on our latest adventure. It keeps a piece of home with us knowing that you all are coming along with us, even if only in print. For many reasons we were all very excited about setting off this year; to name the important ones 1) getting back to the mountains out west and back packing for the first time with Henna, 2) having piece of mind that we have a wonderful house/cat sitter we fully trust at home taking care of kitties 3) and of course our love for the open road. Today, as we drove west across the corn filled Iowa terrain I was amazed at how much older Henna seems on this trip. She has always been a great traveler, but this year she is equally ready for what is to come, but maybe through more experienced eyes. This trip, at least to me, feels very much centered around our families’ very big milestone birthdays. For Noel and I, it was turning 40. For Henna it is turning 10 upon our return home. These birthdays make me very humbled by all the wonderful things we have seen and hopeful for the things yet to be seen. It seems a perfect time to reflect on life, slow down and remember. So in honor of these birthdays and our trip, we each will be highlighting different things. For me, I will be sharing stories from 40 hikes. Noel will be talking about 40 cool/interesting places of interest, while Henna will make at least 10 fairy houses. With each we hope to have a good story to tell to share with you while on this grand adventure.
Fare Thee Well,
Corey

Our own stick figure family

Hennacornoeli Days

road trip musings

Category Archives: Milestone Trip 2013

Cool Stop #8: Scenic Overlook at Mile Marker 142 off Interstate 90 in Washington

Noel’s Cool Spot #7: Montana Valley Book Store (Alberton, MT)

Cool Spot #6: The Carousel for Missoula

Cool Spot #5: The Mother of All Hot Spots

Hike’s # 2, 3, and 4: Wind River, Taggart and Bradley Lakes, Lake Solitude

Cool Thing #4: Remembering How Cool People Can Be

Cool Stop #3: Ayers Natural Bridge, WY

The First Hike: Ashfall Fossil Beds

Cool Stop #1: The Seneca Street Saloon in Webster City, Iowa

The Milestone Trip

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