It is yet another beautiful day in Oceanside, in January (however that happens).
Eric, Marla and I meandered for seven miles in total today.
We parted ways with Eric for a bit to play cribbage at the beach.
My mom taught us to play cribbage at a very young age. Even though we don't play regularly any more it is like riding a bike.
Apparently beach cribbage it is not a normal beach time activity. I caught many surprised glances with smiles as people walked past. I don't know why more people don't play. The game combines luck with wit, and wit with luck.
Ice cream break at Mariposas!
They have the best homemade ice cream.
And we are back at it.
It is difficult to believe (even for us) that we sat and played for a total of three hours. Three games just flew by. It is so much fun.
A big thank you to Sir John Suckling, an English poet, who created the game in the early 17th century.
I actually started an I Play Cribbage Club at UCSD. Unfortunately it didn't ever really catch on, but I did try. Maybe I should have tried a different name, like the Suckling Club.
There is a stretch of land at the Utah/Arizona border that is amazingly mountainous and beautiful, rain or shine.
As it turns out, it was mostly rain.
In fact, it rained pretty much the entire drive home, bringing on the cold sweats every once in a while once again, as we lost friction with the road. It was humorous to us that we had terrible driving weather in the once place we were not expecting it, close to home.
Still beautiful.
Yikes, that is a lot of water.
We made it home!
We drove exactly 3,319.3 miles in fifteen days, which is further than the distance from Oceanside to New York.
What a super fabulous road trip.
I don't think we would have done a thing different.
As our trip comes to an end we will have to say goodbye to icy mornings, and Raya and Josh. When they went to work (barf!) we headed to Geraldine's Bakery (some of us are still on vacation...).
In retrospect having a high calorie breakfast isn't the best thing to eat before getting into your bathing suit. Hindsight is 20/20, so we will keep our hind out of sight while at Lava Hot Springs.
Lava Hot Springs are natural geothermal hot springs, with pools that range from 102° to 112°.
We didn't waste too much time getting into the 112° pool, partially because our time is limited. After an hour of enjoying the hot springs we pulled ourselves away and back into the Subaru, headed to Cedar City (the half way point) for the evening.
Ahhh, our trip is coming to an end! I am not ready for reality.
Crazily, we drove on this iced over road on purpose and unnecessarily.
Using the recommendation of Raya and Josh we took a loop from West that lead us by Earthquake Lake and eventually back to the same highway that we could have been on a lot sooner, headed to Idaho Falls. It was so beautiful, I was happy to ignore the feeling that my car was swaying left and right like there was no friction between the road and my tires and my perpetual cold sweat.
Like I said, it was worth it (mostly because we made it safely).
Earthquake Lake was created after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in 1959. Twenty eight people were killed and dozens of homes were destroyed. If you kayak through the lake you can actually see remnants of homes like chimneys and roofs (Eric has experienced it).
Ahhhhh, still icy!
Hypothetical question- if you pee at the continental divide, between two watersheds, where does it go? Follow up question- if you are peeing when a semi truck drives by do you stare at him as he stares at you?
This is the first time that my Subaru has experienced snow! So exciting for everyone.
West Yellowstone is very much a snowmobile town, which is something so foreign to me growing up in Southern California. News flash- People use snowmobiles as a mode of transportation.
Throughout the town the neeeneeeneeeneeeneee revving of snowmobiles is heard everywhere.
Neeeneeeneeeneeeneee.
While Raya and Josh worked for their second straight week in a row, Eric and I took Cali for a walk and then prepared for a four mile snowshoe.
Riverside Trail can be found directly across the street from the Dude Motel and the Round Up Motel, just two miles from the West Yellowstone entrance.
Although the land is contiguous with the park we didn't see any animals but it is a beautiful walk regardless.
It snowed all day today!
Not much, but nonstop.
BINGO!
Okay, not for us, but we did play, and it was fun nevertheless.
We played against over a hundred locals and park guides.
Guiding is a culture in itself.
I love coming to Yellowstone in winter, not only to visit with Raya and Josh, or to bask in all of the wonders of Yellowstone, but because it is a glimpse into this part of Raya and Josh's life, which is pretty hardcore, even if it is just two and a half months out of the year.
Yesterday, when we left Raya and Josh's after dinner, there was a 20% chance of us getting on her full tour today (on her originally scheduled day off). But that turned into a 100% chance at 7:45 in the morning, which gave us 45 minutes to be at Three Bears Lodge. Plenty of time!
Raya's 20% prediction was her being nice, our chances were much more slim. People don't typically cancel a once in a life time experience... but as our luck would have it, someone decided to go to Old Faithful instead, on a different day, which left one spot open for us.
So, here we go again!
We are so fortunate.
Today we are driving further than yesterday, a total of 110 miles, in the opposite direction of Old Faithful at Madison Junction. We are doing the Canyon tour which, full of different landforms and geothermal features.
Unlike yesterday it is not below freezing so there is no diamond dust like yesterday.
Although glittering ice crystals in the morning sun are gorgeous, you can't complain about being warmer in the snow.
Gibbons Falls, an 85 foot gradual fall.
Snowmobile selfie.
It looks closed but the Canyon Village Education Center is open during winter.
But handicap parking is really just snowmobile parking.
After leaving the visitor center we drove through Hayden Valley, my favorite area in Yellowstone in winter. It is flawless.
Where's Raya?
This is a mid-movement shot.
I would say I am talented, but it is hard to go wrong in Yellowstone.
Ansel Adams was just in the right place at the right time (with the right equipment and knowledge).
Lower Falls (108 feet tall) is half ice or half liquid, depending on how you look at it.
When we stopped at Norris Geyser Basin there was a group of people gathered around this snowcoach looking in rather confused. Come to find out that a raven got in through one of the tiny windows and was trapped inside, wreaking havoc. This picture is,of course, post havoc.
Winter looks good on Eric.
Glacial blue in geyser ice.
How is this color made in water? Yellowstone is magic.
You can see the same color popping out of the top of this pool.
