Migratory Musings

Sunday, August 24, 2014

R&R on the Rhine - Memphis to Amsterdam

A tale of a cruise on the Rhine River:
R&R on the Rhine - Memphis to Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Viking Bestla
R&R on the Rhine - Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Kinderdijk
R&R on the Rhine - Cologne
R&R on the Rhine - Marksburg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Upper Rhine Valley
R&R on the Rhine - Rudesheim
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg and Speyer
R&R on the Rhine - Strasbourg
R&R on the Rhine - Black Forest
R&R on the Rhine - Colmar
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 1
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 2
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich to Memphis

This spring I was fortunate enough to be able to take a Rhine River cruise with a group of friends. Since they all live in another city and I'd be traveling seperately from them anyway, I used frequent flyer miles to book myself business class flights on United, Lufthansa and US Airways. That meant I got a lie-flat seat for my trip to Amsterdam (our port of embarkation) and an older-style recliner seat on Lufthansa on the way back.

The flight to Houston was on a 1-cabin regional jet but that was the last time in economy on this trip. I arrived in Houston and went to the international terminal and to the United Club to wait for my overnight flight.

I was pretty disappointed in the club. Almost nothing in the way of food save some carrots & celery with dip and crackers and cheese. The club was quite crowded though I did find some high-top tables available and, I thought, that was great because they had plugs right by the tables. Sadly, the tables were empty because the plugs didn't work. After finishing my snack and water I moved to the business area of the lounge where I at least found an empty desk where I could make one last check of my email and recharge my phone.

I don't recall hearing any flight announcements the whole time I was in the lounge and certainly there was nobody coming around to notify folks when it was time to head to the gate. I guess I shouldn't be surprised but it was disappointing. But I kept an eye on the clock and eventually made my way to the gate.

I timed it very well and only had a brief wait before boarding began. In short order my ticket and passport were checked and I was on my way.

The crew was terrific and the horror stories I'd heard about longhaul crews for US-based airlines was completely off the mark as far as everyone I dealt with on this trip. While I'm sure the bag of chocolates I brought them didn't hurt, they were super nice to everyone, at least that I saw.
I had a pillow and blanket waiting for me at my seat when I arrived and an amenity kit tucked beside the seat. I was hoping for pajamas but I guess I'll have to wait for a first class flight for that!

Though it was early, dinner was served shortly after takeoff so that we could get as much sleep as possible before we arrived. I had a nice dinner of short ribs and got to top it off with a design-your-own ice cream sundae. That's one of my favorite desserts in the air or on the ground.

I managed roughly four hours of sleep, which wasn't great but far better than I'd have done in economy. I awoke about 45 minutes before the breakfast service started so I had time to pull myself together before the lights came on.

Walking from the plane to Customs I spotted an ATM and pulled out my trusty Charles Schwab card to extract some Euros from the machine. When you have one of these cards you pay no ATM fees anywhere in the world and the associated checking account is interest-bearing, free and even has electronic bill pay. Quite the deal in my book.

Because I'd made a pit stop on the way to Customs there was a bit of a line when I arrived at Immigration. But I was through in probably 20-30 minutes and still arrived at the baggage carousel before my luggage did.

Then it was off to find my ride to the ship...which was a tale in itself.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Summer in Yellowstone - The Last Days

Other posts in this series:
Summer In Yellowstone - Getting There
Summer in Yellowstone - Sunday Morning
Summer in Yellowstone - Sunday afternoon & Canyons lodging
Summer in Yellowstone - Mammoth Hot Springs and the Lamar Valley
Summer in Yellowstone - The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Summer in Yellowstone - The Last Days

And finally it was Wednesday and time to leave. We'd planned to get an early start, knowing we had a long drive ahead of us. Yet we both woke up earlier than planned which meant we could get a jump-start on our day. By 6:30 we were out the door in the 29F weather (hasn't this place heard of summer?!) and on our way. Since we hadn't yet had a chance to check out the scenery we left the park by taking the road to Grant's Village and had breakfast there. The food was much the same as in the dining room at Canyon Village but it was nice to have a change indoor scenery.

We drove out through the park and made several stops in Grand Teton when we saw more breathtakingly beautiful scenery like this:

The Tetons overlooking Jackson Lake

We hated to leave but it was time to get on the road back to Salt Lake City. We had a great time at dinner with our friend S and her family who invited us to their home. The next day before our flights we were able to have lunch with S and our friend J one last time. Then we were off to our respective cities, another great vacation ended.

Summer in Yellowstone - The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Other posts in this series:
Summer In Yellowstone - Getting There
Summer in Yellowstone - Sunday Morning
Summer in Yellowstone - Sunday afternoon & Canyons lodging
Summer in Yellowstone - Mammoth Hot Springs and the Lamar Valley
Summer in Yellowstone - The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Summer in Yellowstone - The Last Days

We'd waited until our last full day in the park to visit its second-most famous attraction, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, because we wanted to be sure we had a sunny day. We were so glad the weather report turned out to be right because even though it was still a bit cool, it was beautifully sunny.

The canyon ranges from 800-1200 feet deep and 1500-4000 feet wide. It has two sections of falls, cleverly named the Upper Falls and Lower Falls. We took a ranger-led tour along one side and visited the other side ourselves. We hiked 600m down from the parking lot to get to the top of the Upper Falls. These falls drop 309 feet - twice the height of Niagara. It's the largest volume waterfall in the Rockies. It was gorgeous standing beside the top of the falls and then we turned to make the trip back up. While walking down we new it was steep but wow, was it a difficult walk back up. We were glad they had rest benches for ~~old folks~~ flatlanders like us!

The views of the falls and the canyon itself are just spectacular so I'll let the photos do the talking.

Upper Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Just below the Upper Falls

Further Down The Canyon

Summer in Yellowstone - Mammoth Hot Springs and the Lamar Valley

Roaring Mountain

Then we stopped by Sheepeater Cliff, which was named for the Shoshones who made wide use of bighorn sheep:

Sheepeater Cliff

We continued up to the Mammoth Hot Springs Visitors Center where we stopped to tour the small museum. There were some elk who wandered right into the grassy area across from the visitors center and just made themselves at home:

Elk at Mammoth Hot Springs Village

We took the drive out into the Lamar Valley, which we had been told had the best wildlife viewing opportunities. We had been told correctly as we saw pronghorn, mountain goats and an osprey on her nest. We even saw a bear very far away in the distance. I like how the park had multiple parking lots off the side of the road where wildlife was common. I was also appreciative of the aficionados who brought their massive telescopes out so that we could get a closer look at these animals.

Pronghorn in the Lamar Valley

We'd planned to stop for lunch at the Roosevelt Lodge but unfortunately it had not yet opened for the season. Word to wise: when in the park in early/late season check to be sure the restaurants are open. We were a long way from anywhere that served food and it was several hours (due to road construction) before we were able to eat.

The road from the Tower-Roosevelt area back to Canyon Village takes you over Mt. Washburn, the highest point in the park at just over 10,000 feet. It somehow seemed fitting that we'd drive through a small storm of snow flurries. It was mostly sunny but still those flurries gave it their best shot!

We decided to have a light lunch and then an early dinner. We toured the museum portion of the Canyon Village Visitors Center and went to a ranger chat that evening. For several years C has thought about perhaps becoming a ranger once she retires from her current job. But we learned that a lot of these rangers have advanced degrees in geology or other earth sciences. Not that she wouldn't be accepted - and I have no doubt she'd be terrific at it - but there are some very, very smart people guiding the public around these parks.

Summer in Yellowstone - Sunday Afternoon & Canyons Lodging

Grand Prismatic Spring

We took pictures as best we could but they really don't do the area justice. We hopped back in the car and slowly made our way to the Canyon base area, where our lodging was located. There was a bit of a line at the check-in. Being so early in the season, a number of the staff members were still new at their jobs and thing were moving a little slowly. But we weren't in any hurry so it didn't matter too much to us.

We were staying in a couple of the frontier cabins which are located behind the Canyon Lodge and dining hall. The parking lot was paved and nice but as soon as the road took a turn behind the lodge, all that changed. Numerous potholes and much of the asphalt had been replaced by gravel. Anyone driving a fancy sports car would bottom out repeatedly and even our rented sedan scraped bottom a few times.

Our cabin was pretty much as advertised. No TV, no Wi-Fi, small, but very clean. The bathroom featured a shower and toilet, with the sink out in the room. These cabins were arranged as two sets of duplexes, with a common deck area. At least in our cabin there was a connecting door to the other half of the duplex. As our room had two beds I suspect that the other room had a queen for couples to stay in and that families might choose to rent both halves of the duplex and open up the connecting door. The two beds we had seemed to be larger than twins but I'm not sure if they were actually full-sized. It would have been very difficult to sleep two adults in one of them.

The décor is dated but clean. The blankets were warm and the heat worked just fine. We were glad for that because our first night we went to bed with the windows open. It had been a gorgeous day though we knew a rainstorm was coming and the temps would drop. Well, drop they certainly did. C got up about 5 am to shut the windows as we were each shivering under our blankets. There's no air conditioning in the cabins but it's easy to forget you're at 7700 feet above sea level and nights cool off quickly. There are no hair dryers provided and I was glad I'd called ahead to check on that. There are only a couple of accessible plugs in the room, one over the mirror over the sink and another over by the desk. Seems a little odd there's not one between the two beds for an alarm clock but considering how old these buildings are, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

We had dinner each night at the Canyon Lodge, either in the cafeteria or the dining room. The first night in the dining room it took forever to get our meal, mostly because both the waiters and the kitchen staff were all still learning their jobs. After that we ate dinner at the cafeteria. But mornings we ate in the dining room and things seemed to flow a little better.

All in all we thought the Canyon area was a great place for a base of operations. The main roads in Yellowstone are somewhat like a figure-8, with Canyon being right at the center point. We were able to essentially take day trips on a piece of the loop and end up back where we started the day. I'd first thought of staying in West Yellowstone but I'm glad C convinced me to stay in the park. While we didn't earn any frequent guest points (the horror!) it meant a whole lot less driving each day since it's a good 45 minutes from West Yellowstone into the center of the park.

Oh and how can I forget the bison? When we saw our first bison as we were driving from Teton to Old Faithful, C got very excited and of course we had to get photos. I was a little amused because, having been to the park before, I knew what was in store for us the rest of the week. They're still amazing creatures, with those massive heads. I'd only seen them with their full winter coats which makes them look even larger. This time of year they were shedding and they'd rub against trees trying to slough off those winter coats. Sometimes I felt sorry for the young trees as those bison were rubbing with such force. Still, a bison walking down the road is not something you see every day and even though we soon got a bit tired of them, they are certainly something to behold.

Summer in Yellowstone - Sunday Morning

Mt. Moran and Lake Jackson

We continued the slow drive towards Yellowstone, stopping whenever we wished. Though it was June, there was still plenty of snow on the ground in shady areas of the forest. We stopped at Kepler Cascades on the Firehole River. We saw several beautiful waterfalls on this trip though each was different. With the fallen trees in the area, it made this one seem rugged and tough.

Kepler Cascades

Soon enough we made it to the Old Faithful Visitor's Center - and in a lucky twist, the geyser was scheduled to blast in about ten minutes. It was an absolutely gorgeous day with temperatures in the low 70s and a pretty blue sky. Can't ask for more than that when trying to photograph this beauty! I've visited on overcast days in the winter and you can't even distinguish the fountain from the sky in photos so I was glad we got such a pretty day. This was C's first visit to the park and I was happy things were going our way.

Old Faithful

Since it was lunchtime we decided to check out the dining room at the Old Faithful Inn. The inn has always been closed when I'd visited before in the winter, so it was nice to be able to try a different dining option. Inside, the inn has a massive stone chimney that's 85 feet tall and weighs 500 tons. It has an very large clock on one side and the whole rustic interior of the lodge is very appropriate to the location.

Chimney in the Old Faithful Inn

Our meals were excellent and, of course, we had to check out the gift shop at the visitor's center. Nobody's trip to a national park is complete without a postcard, a magnet and a calendar, right?

Summer In Yellowstone - Getting There

Other posts in this series:
Summer In Yellowstone - Getting There
Summer in Yellowstone - Sunday Morning
Summer in Yellowstone - Sunday Afternoon & Canyons Lodging
Summer in Yellowstone - Mammoth Hot Springs and the Lamar Valley
Summer in Yellowstone - The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Summer in Yellowstone - The Last Days

My friend C and I decided we wanted to spend a few days exploring the beauty of Yellowstone, the world's first national park. Luckily we decided well in advance because when we started looking in the fall of 2012 for lodging in the summer of 2013, there were already some days sold out!

We'd originally thought about going in May, wanting to try to go while school was in session but we found out the park doesn't actually open until the week before Memorial Day. Wanting to avoid holiday traffic we decided to head west on Saturday, June 1st. It would have been nice to have flown directly into Jackson Hole, WY, just steps from the park but it was cost-prohibitive. Instead we decided to fly into Salt Lake City and make the 6-hour drive. The benefit was that we could each have a non-stop flight and on the way back we'd get to touch base with a couple of friends who live in the area.

The flights were uneventful and reasonably on time so we grabbed our rental car and set out for the town of Jackson. Our phone's GPS systems directed us one way on the trip up and another way on the trip back. In both cases we were out in the middle of nowhere quite a lot and were glad for the long summer daylight hours.

We arrived in Jackson in the late afternoon and enjoyed our time walking around the picturesque town square. We didn't find anywhere there that we were just dying to try out for dinner so we hopped in the car and headed up to the ski resort.

We found the world-famous Mangy Moose was open so we stopped in and had a lovely dinner out on the patio. Even though I know Jackson Hole is one of the steeper resorts, seeing the slopes without snow made them look crazy-difficult. I've only skied here once, years ago, and I'd like to come back to see if I can do a better job on the slopes now than I could before.

After dinner it was back to town for another walk-around and we found a local ice cream shop. Since it was summer vacation, ice cream is practically a requirement, right? Of course we had some!
After a quick stop at the grocery for some snack items for the week it was back to the hotel. After getting up early for our flights and driving most of the afternoon, it was nice to finally relax.

The antlers are collected each year from the elk preserve just outside of town.
There are arches like this at all four corners of the park on the town square.