Yellowstone with Jutta – Day 3

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

The sky has cleared up down here at the Tetons, but that won’t draw us in from leaving for Yellowstone. While the amount of snow and cloud cover might change in these mountains, the very environment is a lot less likely to change as dynamically as that up north in North America’s largest caldera. During our visit earlier in the year, a ranger had pointed out how the fire of 1988 might have very well scarred the park but also opened up views that no living human had ever seen. Then there’s the hydrology that’s affected by snow, rain, and factors such as ground temperature due to the movement of magma or earthquakes that alter the plumbing within the Yellowstone ecosystem. This all suggests that the activity from week to week and season to season could be impacting what we might see on any subsequent visit. So, let’s go!

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

Here we are again at what was also our last stop on our way out of the park last May. The grand mythological status Yellowstone holds in my imagination makes the place even bigger and more exotic for me, I believe than for someone who might have grown up nearby. As a kid, this park was the place of wild nature, bison, bears including Yogi Bear who lived in Jellystone, Old Faithful, geysers, and mud pots like in Disneyland, but it was all a million miles away from Los Angeles in some place only certain fortunate people traveled to. It may as well have been on another continent. But here I am for a second time, not only in my lifetime but in the same year.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

With five full days to explore Yellowstone, the plan is to go slow, although this is a mode of travel that, as of yet, is unfamiliar to Caroline and me. While we had essentially three full days on our previous visit, I’m hoping that nearly double that will allow us to see just about everything in the park. Yes, I can be that naive, but my logic is that combined with the other days, we should start to approach having seen the majority of Yellowstone. So, seeing we passed it last time, we take the time to walk over and visit Moose Falls, and immediately, I’m thrust into the primordial forest where mists drift into the sunlight, filtering down to the primitive land as life is taking hold and trying to give rise to the future. I’m seriously enchanted and feel as though I’ve seen something profoundly special.

Jutta Engelhardt at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

After we explained what the Continental Divide is to Jutta, she wanted to stop for a photo to prove she stood on the hydrological line that delineates which way water will flow as it drops on the United States. On one side, the water will flow in the direction of the Pacific, and on the other, it essentially flows to the Atlantic, while some will also find its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

This is the world-famous Fishing Cone geyser at the West Thumb Geyser Basin. We’ve not seen this geyser in action so while it does emit a small amount of steam, we’ll have to take other’s word for it that it did spout water at one time. Today, it is considered a hot spring, but in its heyday, it could blast water up to 40 feet in the air (12 meters). It earned its name back in the 19th century when one could fish from its edge, and the popular story from back then was you could swing your catch right into the hot waters of the geyser and cook your fish without even taking it off the hook. Maybe a tall tale, but it sounds reasonable to me.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

Back in the 19th century and early 20th century, it was said that the waters of Yellowstone’s hot springs were so clear that you could see forever into their depths. From changes that are occurring below the surface to uninformed visitors tossing coins, sticks, rocks, and other debris into the hot springs and geysers, we are seeing changes to the park’s features where cooling can cause murky waters and/or changes to the bacterial chemical composition that influences the colors, vibrancy, and general health of the location that is being abused.

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

To stand in the steam, breathe the hint of sulfur in the air, and watch the mists drift off the hot springs, all the while safe upon boardwalks that have been built directly over and next to hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles is a luxury we get to indulge just by putting ourselves here in the park. Yet, this isn’t good enough for some people who cannot heed the warning signs that implore visitors to stay on the trails and paths to protect the fragile ecosystem. Okay, so I have to admit some guilt, such as when I reach down to touch a bacterial mat, because who doesn’t want to know what space chicken feels like? And no, I’ve not tasted it to find out if it tastes like chicken.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

Sparkling midday sun off the Firehole River while steam rises on this golden fall day and bison graze, oblivious to those of us who marvel at the spectacle of what should be normal. Just before arriving here to witness this serene field of majesty, we spotted a grizzly in the woods tending to a kill. Its meal might have been an elk, and there may have been a cub or two with the bear, but the whole scene was heavily obscured by the trees. As it was fairly close to the road we thought it a better idea to keep on moving before momma bear decided it needed to protect the carcass of its children’s lunch.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

Knowing that we are staying at the Old Faithful Inn, we decided to pass it for now as we’ll have a couple more opportunities to walk its basin, and so we are using the daylight to give Jutta a broad overview of the park, similar to what we’ve already had. The short road that follows the Firehole Canyon Drive ends near this small waterfall that is kind of out of sight behind the rocks, though you can get the idea of what’s there by the white water rushing by. Just after this photo was taken, Jutta stumbled and fell on her knee; this is becoming a bit of a tradition where my mother-in-law gives us a scare early in the trip. Fortunately, this was a minor misstep that didn’t create an issue at all.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

Anywhere else, mud is a nuisance, but here in Yellowstone at the Artists Paintpots, it is an art that comes with its own soundtrack as gas bubbles out of the hot frothing pit of doom. Doom because if you fall into any of these boiling traps, your time on this earth as a sentient being is probably coming to an end.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

Not all muds are created equally, either. With the thicker paste of this goop comes different sounds that are heavier. Curiously I wonder if these mud pots are also like quicksand that once you enter, even if it wasn’t a cauldron of seething hot death, would you be pulled into the depths never to be seen again?

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

If you look at the “sticks” behind Jutta and Caroline, you’ll see some of the damage done by the fire from 12 years ago. Just before the fire, you would be looking at a forest line and may not be able to see the horizon shaped by the hillside where the trees were standing. Over time, this will all grow back and future generations won’t be seeing Yellowstone in quite the same we are seeing it today.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

Here, we can get a good idea of what the tree line looked like before the fire. While many areas were dramatically affected by the clearing process of fire, some were unscathed. You are now at Gibbon Meadows after returning from the Artist Paint Pots Trail.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River near Canyon Village only get a passing glance, which is better than nothing, but it’s getting late in the day and we are only at the halfway point for getting back to the Old Faithful Inn.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

Long shadows of me standing on a bridge to take this photo give you a pretty good idea about just how late it is.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

There’s no recollection of exactly where we were when I snapped this photo, and that’s okay because there’s always more to see and another reason to come back, not only to this location but to Yellowstone in general. What an amazing reintroduction to this giant corner in the northwest of Wyoming, and yet we’ve only seen a tiny part of it so far. Time to check into our rustic room over at Old Faithful Inn and get some dinner at their beautiful restaurant.

Yellowstone with Jutta – Day 2

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

On this trip, we knew to head directly into the Grand Teton National Park and skip Jackson, Wyoming. Jackson is a beautiful small town for certain, but we are not here in winter for skiing, though if you notice the snow, you might think it’s almost time for that. We are well into fall and have timed this trip towards the end of the main season for Yellowstone, just as we timed our trip earlier this year to fall on the opening days of the park. We did this trying to avoid the larger crowds of summer travelers; I think we succeeded. We are again at Signal Mountain Lodge due in large part to its more affordable prices of the available lodging here.

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

While the clouds will stay with us for the better part of the day, they make for dramatic skies and great reflections off the water. They break up just enough to allow patches of sunlight to fall on the earth below and show us details brought out of the shadows. With only one full day here in the Tetons, we do not have enough time to head into those mountains, and in any case, the threat of weather could mean snow up in there, so it’s probably better we stay somewhere where Jutta will be more comfortable.

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

Something we hadn’t considered before coming up this way from Arizona was that we could rent a canoe or kayak to ply some of the waterways here in the park. Put on the list of things to do should we get so lucky to come up for a third visit.

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

The golden colors of fall let us know quite vividly that we are here at a much different time of year than our earlier visit.

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

Jenny Lake has a nice and easy trail that circles the lake, and a spur turns left to a serious hike back into the mountains. Lake Solitude is the destination of that serious 16.5-mile round trip hike and is considered one of the most beautiful in the Teton range. Pencil this one onto the list as well.

Caroline Wise and Jutta Engelhardt in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

Jutta and Caroline go slow and inspect nearly everything. If Jutta could catalog everything she sees, make notes of the names of people she meets, learn the mountains, and sing to the birds, I’m sure she could spend the rest of her life doing just that. Well, she’d also have to take a break from time to time to read her favorite weekly newspaper from Germany called Die Zeit.

Caroline Wise in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

At sea level on the beach in California, at Native American ruins in New Mexico, or on mountain trails in Wyoming, I think this woman who married me is just strikingly cute.

John Wise in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

I try to let the wife know to pay attention to the rugged peaks, sheer cliffs, trees turning to fall colors, and the sound of the mountain range, letting us listen in on its silence, but she insists on taking my photo. What the heck, nobody ever gets to take my picture unless it’s me.

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

Do you know the bugle of the elk? I do, and I can nearly imitate it, but I’d embarrass myself doing so, though it has made Caroline laugh more than once. If you thought the sound was deep and masculine, you’d be wrong, it’s sharp and squeals in nearly annoying tones, but it does get your attention. Maybe the females go for the pitch and the bull’s ability to project its voice far and wide.

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

Our day in the Tetons is coming to a close. It’s been relaxed and non-taxing, just as it should be for a 65-year-old proper lady who is also my mother-in-law. We had dinner at the lodge and tried to get to sleep as early as we could so we could wake early and start our drive north into Yellowstone.

Yellowstone with Jutta – Day 1

Caroline Wise and Jutta Engelhardt entering Idaho

Four days is all Jutta got to get over her jet lag. I’ve been waiting all summer for this moment as I schemed and tried to figure out how I could convince Caroline that we needed to return to Yellowstone National Park for a second time this year. Then I had a perfect idea, “We need to do this for your mom!” She thought this was a great idea, which made me wonder if she, too, had been dreaming about going back since our first visit back in May. In preparation for this, I got a new camera back in August and dreamt of the day when we would make our pilgrimage to Yellowstone. We flew into Salt Lake City, Utah, this morning and made tracks to breeze into the Grand Teton National Park as quickly as possible.

Los Angeles – Day 2

Caroline Wise at Huntington Beach, California

We stayed overnight at the Regency Inn in Huntington Beach (later changed to Best Western Surf City), which is where we spent our first night in America when we came over from Germany to get married back in 1994. So, while this woman might look kinda nerdy at other times, at the ocean, she looks downright sexy and cute.

Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California

This is the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California. This bulletproof Ford Lincoln was built in the 1960s and was used by Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan.

Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California

This is also the final resting place of our 37th president, with his wife, Pat Nixon, on his right. With this visit, it was time to leave for our 376-mile drive home to Scottsdale, Arizona.

Los Angeles – Day 1

Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California

We left Friday night in order for us to get an early start this morning as we are meeting up with our friend Mark Shimer again, this time for a visit to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. This is our first visit to this aquarium after our long infatuation with the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California

There are some beautiful exhibits here, and I can imagine that if I were a kid on a field trip, I’d fall in love with all things ocean.

Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California

I guess this finally answers the question once and for all if anyone else was wondering if fish had lips.

Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California

Jellies must be a universal display item in aquariums due to the weightless otherworldly floating tranquility they embody. Add some ambient music and mute the sounds from the rest of the aquarium, and the visitor nearly mind-melds with these gelatinous Medusozoas.

Mark Shimer and Caroline Wise on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California

Before those jellyfish were allowed to get their tentacles into our brains, we managed to escape for a visit across the water at the Queen Mary. From here, we parted company with Mark and started making our way back across Los Angeles.

Mission San Gabriel in California

Our first stop was at the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, where we focused on visiting the gardens.

Caroline Wise at Puddingstone Lake in San Dimas, California

From there, it was off to Puddingstone Lake at the Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas. When I was a kid, and my primary means of transportation was a bicycle my friends and I would pedal the 8 miles up this way to go fishing. This was a lot closer than the 15 miles each way when we’d push our bikes up into Los Angeles Crest Mountains north of Azusa or the 31 miles down Hacienda Blvd to Beach Blvd and Huntington Beach when we were feeling seriously adventurous. During our visits to L.A., I try to share with Caroline some of the sights I grew up with at the same time, trying to discover the places I never saw.

John Wise Sr. at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California

My father, who is now shorter, just had his left leg amputated though it was taken off below the knee, so it is longer than the right. He’s been on the “chipping away” plan with doctors starting by taking toes when gangrene set in years ago and then a bit more foot, the whole foot, the leg up to the knee, and then over the knee. At this point, you might wonder why he doesn’t start dealing with his diabetes in some sensible way. Well, first, he would have had to stop smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Once he finally accomplished that feat ten years after having his first and second heart attacks, he felt that his diabetes could be kept at bay with a strong will. Now considerably shorter than the six-foot frame he once had, he’s still not ready to deal with the ravages of diabetes and would rather live in denial. Visiting my father is difficult.