Day 24 LAST DAY

On the morning of our last day Joe took Dan fishing and Mary took Josh and Ali swimming. Then, after we were bowled over by the gas prices at this "last gas before Yosemite", we found a secluded little swimming hole with a waterfall and cliff diving area.

After a few stops along the way we arrived home safely in Sunnyvale.

Welcome Home!

Kids in Front of Falls at Swimming Hole

Kids at Swimming Hole

Dan with his catch

We're not making this up!

Day 23 continued

After Bodie, we headed into Yosemite and essentially drove across the park without stopping. Everyone had been to Yosemite a couple times and the park was hot and crowded. So we made one stop at Olmstead point took a little hike and some pictures, then drove on through.

Joe and Mary at Olmstead Point, Yosemite

Kids at Olmstead Point

Day 23

We spent the night in a resort just outside Mono Lake. When asked what to do around these parts, the front desk suggested a tour of Bodie, CA, a real ghost town. It was founded during the California gold rush and hit its peak in the 1880's. After that it was downhill until 1932 when 95% of the buildings burned down in a fire. The remaining 100+ buildings including homes, taverns, salons, government buildings are still standing today. It's a really cool place in large part because you can just roam around and peer inside buildings. We also read about the "Curse of Bodie" which strikes anyone who takes artifacts from the site. Joe had everyone remove all the pebbles and dust from their shoes just in case. We did take some nice pictures in Bodie--hopefully we won't be cursed. You can read all about Bodie here.

Kids in Bodie

Wagon in Bodie (Sepia)

Inside the Miller House, Bodie

Outside Miller House, Bodie

Miller Plot Bodie Cemetery

View of Bodie

Days 21 and 22

After the caves we did a lot of driving for the next day and half. We wanted to stop in Warm Springs, NV but when we got there all we found was an abandoned Bar/Café and some roaming cows. So we pressed on to Tonopah, NV and stayed at the RV Park behind the Ramada Inn. Since this was Nevada there was a smokey casino and accompanying cheezy restaurant where we had dinner. The pecan pie was good though!

Not many good pictures from these days so below is a retrospective on wild life Joe did get during the trip.

Running Jack Rabbit, Bodie Ca

Doe behind Jenny Lake Visitor Center, Grand Teton National Park

Grazing Bison, Yellowstone

Cow in Warm Springs, NV

Sea Gull near Mono Lake

Mule Deer on North Rim Trail, Yellowstone National Park

The Raven, Nevermore! Grand Tetons

Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel, Grand Tetons

Day 21

Great Basin National Park does not get the PR that say a Yosemite, Yellowstone, or even Grand Tetons get. With a name like Great Basin and a location like the dead of Nevada not far from a military bomb test site, the expectations we're pretty low. But once we got over a hill in the middle of western Utah, suddenly we saw 13K foot snow capped mountains ahead. Besides the mountains, Great Basin is known for Lehman Cave--according to the brochures, one of the top three most "decorated" caves in the world. Apparrently, decorated means numbers of features like stalagmites and stalactites. The 90 minute tour of the cave was indeed cool (literally and figuratively) and amazing.

Josh and Ali inside Lehman Cave

Pond Inside Lehman Cave

Day 20

On the way out of Salt Lake City we thought we'd take a float in the Great Salt Lake. Like many other naive visitors, we put on our bathing suits and found a state park right on the shore. What greeted us was a boarded up mostly closed visitor center and a long walk in the sand to the lake. As we got closer and closer the stench of who knows what got worse and worse. Finally, as we approached the shore what we thought was some brown algae that lined the shore was millions of tiny brown insects. We saw no one who actually ventured into the water. Oh well. We forged on and ended the night in Delta, Utah just outside of Great Basin National Park.

The Great Salt Lake STINKS!

Days 18 and 19

After kids day we drove to Park City, Utah, which is a jewel of a town nestled in the mountains east of Salt Lake City. It's mostly known as a ski town, but pretty fun in the summer too. They have a whole resort including a tram that takes you to the top of a hill and a summer "alpine" sled ride that feels like a speeding bobsled complete with high banked walls.

In the evening, Jim Dreyfous and family invited us over for a swim and dinner. The pool was a refreshing reprieve from the Utah heat (approaching 100). The kids had fun jumping on the trampoline, playing baseball and searching for snakes. And the parents used Google to debate esoteric topics like the oldest living species of bird (apparently cranes). Thanks Dreyfous's for our first home cooked meal on the trip and especially for the new s'more recipe using melted Valrhona chocolate--yumm!

Rosalie and Geralyn Googling

Jake Dreyfous, Josh and Dan munching on chicken and lemonade

Everybody on the Park City Tram

Day 14 Photo Phlub Day

Day 14 (slightly out of order we know) will forever be known as the Photo Phlub. Yellowstone is a place where there's lots of wild life and wild life is well...wild and unpredictable. Amateur photographers must be ready at all times because opportunities are fleeting. This wasn’t Joe’s day for photographic preparedness. The streak of bad luck started as we entered Yellowstone, a female moose crossed the road and her baby was stuck on the other side. Here isn't the once in a lifetime photo because Joe left his camera in backpack in the way back.

Mother Moose and baby...NOT

Elk Phlub

The following day (14) on the way to Mammoth Hotsprings, we stopped at the famous Painted Pots, which had all kinds of cool geothermal features. But the highlight was seeing our first Elk close up--like 10 yards away as we were walking up the trail. Joe clicked a couple times and then realized his SD card was not in the camera so none of the pictures would be recorded. Ouch! After getting up to the pots, he remembered that his Treo could take some pictures and then finally realized that his SD card could be put into his digital camera (Joe’s a little slow thinking these days). As we went down, that old Elk was still there, but really far away. This picture doesn't quite have the same affect. See it?

Distant Elk (circled in red)

Bear Phlub

Continuing our route to Mammoth Hotsprings, Joe decided to move the just taken Painted Pots pictures to the laptop. A telling traffic jam was ahead. Usually, a traffic jam at Yellowstone means “large mammal sighting”. As it turns out, below the road were a mamma black bear and her cub meandering down an embankment to a small lake. They both jumped in the lake and frolicked there for a few minutes. Joe used his powerful optical zoom to snap four or five great shots of the event with the digitized “click” sound coming from the camera every time. But yes you guessed it, in all the excitement Joe failed to move the SD Card from the laptop to the camera AGAIN! How many times does this guy have to touch the stove before he realizes he’ll get burned? So here isn’t the picture of the mamma black bear and her cub.

Not a black bear and cub

Bison Phlub

Next we went to Old Faithful where the Photo Phlub is well-documented below. After watching the geyser blast, we had dinner at the Old Faithful Inn nearby. There was a few minute wait so Joe decided to take his PC from the “Live Blog” back to the RV. He asked for volunteers to join him—Dan and Josh decided to come along. As we were heading into the parking lot, a woman in front of us said, “Look at that!” And amazingly a 2000 lb bison was walking right through the parking lot and in fact was moseying right behind our rig not more than 50 feet in front of us! Joe whipped down all the stuff, ripped out the camera and OUT OF BATTERY! No picture again. We watched the bison casually pass down a small road on the right side of the lot, went into the rig and then remembered again that the Treo might be able to get some kind of picture. So we carefully ventured out and went down the path the bison had just gone down and a car had followed it so the picture was tough to get. The bison was actually sandwiched between that car and another that had come the other way, so we were thinking it was time to leave. We turned around and a second bison just as big was following us down this little roadway not more than 20 yards from us! Yikes! If we keep on going we have a trapped bison down there and no way to get back to the restaurant until the second bison passes (or is there a stream of them we have no idea about). Luckily there was a dirt path that went off into the woods (we didn’t know where) and we just started running! One of the boys said, “Daddy I’m scared” and Joe said “I am too!”. When we got comfortably away from the second bison we waited for him to pass by our path and took this one single picture with the Treo that you can’t even see the bison in. While we don’t have the pictures in digital form, the image of that 2000 pound prehistoric looking buffalo following us down the path will be burned into Josh, Dan and Joe’s brains for some time.

There's a buffalo way down at the end of this path

KIDS DAY!!! (Day 16-17)

Kids Day is a true Sipher Family tradition. There's "Mother's Day" and "Father's Day," but nothing that celebrates children! The first kids day began in 2001 when our family went to Spain. The kids were disappointed that they had missed 4th of July, so Mary and Joe created a day where the kids got to do what the kids wanted to do.

The Kids Day of 2005 began with a hike around Jenny Lake at the Grand Teton NP. We took a boat across the lake and hiked up to Inspiration Point. Although that did not count as part of the 24 hours where Ali, Dan, and Josh had control, it was still part of our day. The true beginning of kids day was when we arrived in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The first stop was for Dan and Josh at the Hole Internet Zone, following a stop for Ali at Gap. Next on the kids' list was dinner. The family dined at the Cadillac Grill. Ali, Dan, and Josh chose to eat a Strawberry Chocolate Cheescake, Chocolate Mouse Cake (this was infact our dinner not our dessert), and Homemade Potato Chips. Then, we headed towards Hagen-Daz for Mary (this was the only thing a parent decided to do). Our RV spot had Cable TV Hookups (for the first time) which allowed the kids to catch up on some TV watching. We were so caught up in it, that Dan and Ali stayed up until 1:00 AM.

Because our 24 hours weren't up until 3:02 PM the next day (Day 17), the kids still had their way. Breakfast was a bowl of Milk Chocolate Mouse, but lunch was even more extravagant. We were like kids in a candy store as we scanned the aisles of Albertsons for the best things we could find. We didn't even have to ask if we could have something because the answer was always, "YES." Here were our meals:

Ali: Lunchable, Cookies, Minishrimp, Starbucks Blended Creme

Dan: Caramel HoHos, Cookies, Starbucks Blended Creme, Snickers, Minishrimp

Josh: Lunchable, Cookies, Minishrip, Starbucks Blended Creme, Caramel HoHos

All of us ended kids day with an aching stomach, but it was worth it!

(THIS POST WAS WRITTEN AND EDITED BY ALI)

Live Blog at 8:26

To Read the Live Blog As It Happened Scroll Down To
"DAY 14 LIVE BLOGGING EVENT"

Well, the old Geyser didn't disappoint, but Joe did. At 8:12pm, Old Faithful shot up gallons of hot water and steam hundreds of feet into the air. And Joe snapped four great shots right at the height. Unfortunately, the SD card for the camera was left in this laptop so they were "blanks". Joe quickly popped in the SD card in time to get the photo below. Well, that's live blogging for ya!

Old Faithful Blowing (a little after peak)

Live Blog at 8:11

Another teaser at 8:09. The crowd gets excited and then quickly disappointed. The anticipation is killing us!

Live Blog at 8:08

We've seen some sputtering of the old geyser, but it seemed like an appetizer...we hope! The crowd is hushed some concerned because they thought it was supposed to go at 8:05. They're losing faith in Old Faithful.

Old Faithful at 8:05 Mountain Time

Day 14 LIVE BLOG EVENT

We know we haven't blogged day 13 yet (or all of it), but it's day 14 and we happen to have 4 bars of Sprint coverage sitting at Old Faithful in Yellowstone. So being the geek that Joe is, we decided to post live from Old Faithful. By our best estimates Old Faithful should blow around 8:10 Mountain Time. It's still brewing here at 8:02.

Note, if you happen to be online right around now. Hit "Refresh" on your browser to keep up with the blogs.

Day 13

Before heading out to Yellowstone, we took a spin around Craters of the Moon National Monument. We ended up going on a stroll through some very cool lava caves. It was warm and really windy above the caves and cold, damp and very quiet inside the caves.

Ali, Josh and Dan inside a lava cave at Craters of the moon

Day 12

Today was another late start and afternoon drive. We got to Craters of the Moon National Monument just in time to cook a wonderful dinner of grilled New York strip with sauteed onions and mushrooms in a reduced pinot noir sauce plus a lovely salad made from vegatables purchased from an Idaho fruit and vegatable stand. After dinner we took a quick hike on a trail near the campsite. See the photos below.

Cool Lava Flows in Craters of the Moon

Mary walking through a lava flow

See the profile of the old man? His nose is pointing to the mountain in the background.

Our campsite right in the middle of a lava flow inside Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho

Day 11 - A study in Duct Tape

This day was pretty boring--a late start and lots of driving from central Oregon to Boise, Idaho. Since we had requests for "inside" pictures of the RV, we decided to focus on a theme--duct tape. Joe once heard that all you really need to fix anything is duct tape and WD-40. We haven't used any WD-40 yet, but the duct tape--now that's a different story. See pictures below. (Note, for those cringing at the duct taping of the beautiful aluminum Virgin Boomtube, we have Goo Gone at home to get off all that sticky stuff).

Sliding door latch continued to slip--until a little duct tape did the trick

Dan's shoe needed some adjustment--duct tape solved the problem

Multimedia Center (including Virgin Boomtube EX)--secured with layers of duct tape

Bottom of Long Matches Box--duct taped shut

XM Radio--solidly duct taped to the tray table

Day 10

The Crown Villa "Resort", the RV park we stayed yesterday night, was phenomenal! It was by far the best place we stayed at so far, and probably the best RV park we ever will stay at. First, there was a man driving a golf cart who escorted you to your spot and helped you back into it. "I like it better when my husband backs me in because I can yell at him, but I can't yell at you!" Mary teased the escort. The park was so fancy, they had a "Clubhouse Reception," massages, hotel style bathrooms, high-pressure showers, cable TV, and high-speed wireless internet. When we woke up in our dreamy RV park, we headed out to explore Bend and landed in Old Mill Shopping Center. There we found the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, makers of the "frozen cheescake", which is even better than it sounds because it is dipped in warm chocolate and put on a stick. Next, we drove to the Clyde Holiday RV Park, in Central Oregon. There we spent our night eating Joe's vegetable rice stir fry and watching Meet the Fockers. We soon learned this movie was definetely NOT for children under the age of 13 (it was rated PG-13).

Entry to Crown Villa "Resort"--Notice the "Reception Club House" sign

Day 9

The highlight today was Crater Lake. Oh my! This is an incredible sight. As Mary pointed out, it's like the Grand Canyon--you have to see it to understand it. These pictures don't do it justice. Note, there is no color retouching on that blue water. That's pretty much what it looks like!

Panorama of Crater Lake

Dad and Kids in Front of Crater Lake

Unbelievably Blue Crater Lake

Mom and Kids on the way down to Crater Lake Shore

On the way down to Crater Lake Shore

Day 8

We just completed our first week on the road, and we crossed our first border today. The Sipher Family and their RV are officially in Oregon!

Early in the morning, the boys did another round of fishing. Because of their lack of bait, they used pretty yellow flowers. As you probably already figured out, they caught nothing. Later that morning, we had brunch at the Fish Hook Bar & Restaurant. Then, we were on the road again. Our final destination was Crater Lake, our second national park. According to Joe, we had our best diner tonight: chicken fajitas cooked over the open grill with home made guacamole, sautéed onions and peppers and margaritas for the adults. After dinner, the whole family played a rousing round of Monopoly inside as it was cold and rainy at Crater Lake. The game was quite interesting. At one point, Joe was a “poor-man” and had only $5 of cash on hand. Later on, he had around ten $500s. Before that, Dan was “mister-rich” who had a total of $3,500. He went out, though, when Joe made him pay $1,500 after landing on Park Place (the second best property). Joe ended up winning --his final cash holdings were too high to count--not really we were just too lazy and had to go to bed. Good night!

Campground Jousting at Crater Lake