.
.
.
May 25, am, ~ 8 a.m.
Pic link for the first 2 days:
Horray, I'm 65 & I HAVE Medicare!!
'Sitting in the living room at Teton Club, Teton Village. 'Expecting Juliet to awake any minute, so I'll come back to this later, after a morning visit to the hot tub with my 2.7 year old granddaughter.
I flew to Idaho Falls on Saturday, with a stop in Boise. Hertz was expecting me. A rainy day, as I drove northwards on the Yellowstone Highway, I found myself in a full-blown snowstorm. May 22--I was expecting early summer conditions in the Rockies!
I didn't know better, so, instead of staying on the longer, lower route along the Snake River, I took the shortcut over two passes to Jackson Hole, via Victor. While snow was on the roadway, tires were keeping lanes of blacktop visible and it didn't feel slippery. It was slow over the first pass, with a super cautious driver setting the pace. Even so, it was only about a 2-hour drive from Idaho Falls Airport to Teton Village.
I arrived at Teton Club to find Helena in the lobby. From Palm Springs, she flew in to Jackson Hole on Friday and camped out in the snow at nearby Jenny Lake! While Teton Club had an open 3-bedroom suite, they would only drop their nightly rental rate from $450 to $360. Rather than spend $ on a smaller place, Helena decided to save her money for eating out, pitched her tent and has the experience to brag about (All the Peace Corps/Ecuador people coming this week are 62+, which means we all get the huge senior discount for entrance fee to the national parks). Slightly different weather than back home in Palm Desert, where Helena is a PA in a dermatology clinic.
As I was checking in and sorting out how to divvy up all FIVE 3-bedroom suites, retired international banker, David Wilson walked in. He flew from Portland, Maine. His wife needed to stay home for a grandchild's recital. Jim Mullins, recently retired from the Montana Highway Department and nursing (or not!) a seriously swollen finger, from helping a friend build a house, arrived in time for a late dinner, driving in the snow from Helena, Mt. Lynn (they met at Peace Corps training in 1970—Lynn was Jim's Spanish instructor) had important job happenings she couldn't extricate herself from to be here. Jim and David were both volunteers with the land surveying program in the Upper Amazon of Eastern Ecuador, trained at Dot.S.Dot Ranch by yours truly. Helena was a sola Gringa traveling thru Ecuador in 1969 when Milton (for the 2nd year a reunion no-show. This time, the finale of wife Stephanie's teaching career is the reason) informed her of the pending purchase of Fundo Estalin (so-named by Guillermo, the would-be Marxist we bought it from), renamed by us Hacienda Buena Karma, AKA, per South American Handbook, 1970 edition, the “hippie commune at Misahualli”, hereafter referred to simply as “the farm”. Today it is an ecotourism lodge -
These days it’s fancy Misahualli Amazon Lodge--
https://www.misahualliamazonlodge.com
Alas, we didn't manage to retain any ownership rights. Helena and Ira were the only 2 of the 10 of us farm buyers on the title. In the early 70s, when we had scattered our own ways, Helena sold the farm to Esperanza's family, Esperanza being the Ecuadorian bride of a PC volunteer.
After a cold, wintry Saturday, we awoke Sunday to beautiful, blue sky. The 4 of us (Helena, Jim, David and I) piled in to David's rented Subaru and headed north in to Grand Teton NP. We stopped to take pics of an owl and her young in a huge nest up a pine tree, then on to lovely Jenny Lake for more pics, arriving at Signal Mountain Lodge in time for a wonderful brunch, with an awesome string of Teton peaks to gaze at, across Jackson Lake.
We continued northwards in to Yellowstone NP, with frequent stops to take pics of rivers, waterfalls, elk, bison and geysers. We hiked part of the way up to Point Sublime, above Artist Point, on the South Rim of the Yellowstone River Canyon. Not the magnitude of the Grand Canyon, but very colorful and rugged. I made everyone bring swim suits, in hopes of again soaking in the boiling (Gardner) river, below Mammoth Hot Springs, at the northern entrance to Yellowstone. But, it was going to be an additional 3 hours of travel so I wisely, if sadly, abandoned that overly ambitious objective. We followed the North Canyon Road westward, turning south to Old Faithful. We had time to roam through the lodge before find a seat for the eruption at about 7 pm, preceded by a herd of bison coming right behind the seating area a couple of minutes before the eruption. It was an impressive eruption, but our blue sky had disappeared. The white, cloudy sky behind the plume made it less dramatic. I hope to get back on a blue sky day.
We reached Jackson Lake Lodge at dusk, for a great meal in their dining room overlooking the marshes by the lake, where a lone moose was grazing in the distance. David was designated driver and got us back after an hour of driving in the snow. A long but enjoyable day. If David said it once he said it half a dozen times: “I'll be back”. Alas, not this trip. He had to fly home Tuesday, to make it to an aunt's birthday later in the week.
Arriving back at Teton Lodge about 10:30 pm and exhausted, we didn't check in with Ira and Lisa until Monday morning. They drove from their home in Barstow, Southern Californian desert. They were farm buyers, lived in Quito back in 1969, where Ira worked for CARE, having formerly been one of the very first PC volunteers—Colombia 1961.
Again, pic link:
https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipM7KVRhzm5KFSTaz1ud_KnxFmbuLsWNAFwS7Du4
1 comment:
Wish I could of been there. Looks beautiful! and the best part, free healthcare, well kinda.
Post a Comment