Hootie Blog

Now for a little "blue" humor

Saturday we left Jackson and went down around Salt Lake City, Utah.  We went to Miller Motorsports Park for a Nascar Grand National West race.  Noah liked the races but he is such a chick magnet,  I think he liked hanging with his new friends better.  (No that is not the "blue" humor part)

We stayed the night at the track and left Sunday morning.  First stop, Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  Yummm, grits!  Then we mosied on down into Las Vegas, sin city, and the RV park at Circus Circus.

Now for the blue part, we got tickets for The Blue Man Group.  After a quick dinner at Circus Circus (our golf cart shuttle driver warned us NOT TO HAVE THE BUFFET!), we took a taxi ride to the Venetian for the show.  The boys were quite impressed with the difference in casinos,  clientele, and the Venetian also smelled alot better than the Circus Circus.  Our tickets were for the very last row, but that was okay.  We decorated ourselves with paper and settled in to watch the show.

The boys loved it!  Noah hooted and laughed the whole time and didn't even need to wear earplugs!  Ian said it was the best show, movie, anything, he had ever seen.  Afterwards they had their pictures taken with the Blue Men and the band gave them autographs and guitar picks.

A quick tour by the canal shops to see the gondolas, another taxi ride and we were back at the Circus Circus.  We toured through the adventure dome, played a few games and won a few treasures for Hannah, before we called it a night.

Now we are headed home and excited to see everyone!  See you soon.

Water Sports

  Ian and Noah went swimming in the Firehole River.  Here are a few Pictures.   They climbed up river and then rode the current down the river.  Both boys had a great time. 

Today we went rafting in Jackson, WY, in Grand Teton National Park.  Here are a few more pictures.  Once things started getting wet, I had to put away the camera. Fortunately, no one fell out of the boat.

Rush Hour Buffalo

Download july2007yellowstone_166.mpg Yesterday, we experienced a whole new type of traffic jam.  Hopefully the video will post okay and you can get the experience too.  We actually were stuck behind this 2-animal jam for a good 20 minutes.  Download the attached file and see what I mean.

Bears! We saw bears!

Yesterday, we went into the park, and finally saw bears.  A mama grizzly and her two cubs!  They were down in a little meadow beside the road.  We were so excited!  We watched them play (from a safe distance). 

We also saw the eagle family again.  Two coyotes, one walking right down the middle of the road, and more elk and buffalo.

Noah's Day at Yellowstone

Yesterday we went and saw a movie about Yellowstone Park.  It was an IMAX movie.

After that we went into Yellowstone Park.  We saw old faithful and we saw most of the geysers.  We also saw buffalo, bull elk and other elk.  We saw two eagles and their nest.  One of the eagles was on a tree eating something.

We also took a little hike.  On the hike we saw a little geyser and mud that bubbles and things that steam.  It smells real gross.

Old Faithful was huge.  It goes off about every 90 minutes.  There were alot of people to watch it.

I love Yellowstone.

Fly Fishing on the Madison River

This morning the boys went fly fishing.  We arranged for lessons and a guide.  I tagged along just to make sure nobody floated off downriver (like I could have saved anyone!).

Harold, Ian and Noah all looked like pros in their waders and boots.  Our guide, Jeff, was terrific.  All of them caught fish, rainbow trout, brown trout and the native white trout.  Noah was disappointed not to see any cut throats (?).  I learned that "Good Drift" is a fishing term, the snakes here aren't poisonous and insect repellant doesn't repell all insects.

The fishing is catch and release, so we might have to have Buffalo Steaks for dinner.

Southern Polite

On June 23, my sister, Marti and I took our grandmother (93)to South Carolina to visit our dad.  We also took Sarah (16) and Ian (14).  Our flights were great and Nanny was treated like a queen.  In Hartsville, Nanny stayed with Dad and Linda while Marti and I, with the kids, stayed at nice nearby hotel.  Linda's daughter, Cheryl, is living with them right now and she was a great hostess.  She made Nanny food at all hours and the kids called her "Fun Aunt Cheryl".  It was also good to see Dad's friends Phil and Diane and Bob and Marcy.  Stephanie, our other stepsister, lives in Hartsville with her husband, Ben, and son, Ryan.  We had a nice BBQ with them and enjoyed visiting.

A sidetrip we took was to Charleston.  This historic town is very beautiful and we understand what Linda meant by a "Charleston Garden".  Our trip out to Fort Sumter was fun and educational.  Marti and I stayed the night in Charleston while everyone went back to Hartsville.  She and I took a walking tour the following day, and I read signs to my heart's content.

Our trip to Hartsville was great and hopefully some of the "Southern Polite" has wiped off onto our "California Attitudes".

We're on the road...again...

Well Noah turned 7 this year and finally is on vacation with Grandpa Hootie and I.  Along with Uncle Ian, the four of us are on the road.  Right now we're in Blackfoot, Idaho fueling up before our last few miles into West Yellowstone.  Aside from possible engine overheating and getting lost on a gravel road, along the railroad tracks, under the freeway bridges, in the dark, it's been uneventful so far.

With my navigating, I'm sure we will work up some more adventures soon.  We'll keep you posted!

Hey Lucy, We're Home!

We returned home from our 31 days of seeing the country, on Saturday afternoon.  Gee how time flew, of coarse, we missed everyone.  Here is a partial list of souviniers:

1. New Mexico - Native American Beadcrafts
2. South Carolina - Everything Peaches
3. North Carolina - Discount Tobacco Products
4. Virginia - Fireflies, but they don't glow anymore
5. Washington DC - Miniatures of the Washington Monument
6. Philadelphia - Copies of the Declaration of Independence
7. New York - I Heart NY Tshirts, Various statue of Liberty statues, $5 Designer Purses
8. Massachusetts - Boston Baked Beans, of coarse
9. Maine - Lobster Claws and other shells collected at the restaurant we had dinner at
10. Niagara Falls - Souvinier Rain Ponchos
11. Ohio - Postcards of Drew Carey's Birthplace
12. Illinois - Amish Dolls without faces
13. Iowa - Corn
14. Nebraska - More Corn
15. Colorado - Elk Jerky
16. I can't remember where we got the Jackelope!

Can't wait to find out what we brought you?

Latest Update

A little update.  We had gone on a factory tour of Holiday Rambler/Monaco, to see how they made our coach. After the tour, Ian and I played Bingo with the old folks, and one of the ladies taught Ian to play cribbage. The fantastic service techs were able to fix the steering problem and gave the motor home a clean bill of health.  We left Indiana and Camp Monaco on Friday morning.
Friday night we stayed in Lincoln, Nebraska.  We saw the corn Husker's stadium and had midwestern Mexican food.  I don't recommend it.  Timing was perfect, as the Good Guys were having a giant hot rod show at the Lincoln fairgrounds.  After dinner, we parked downtown and watched all the hot rods and muscle cars cruise the boulevard.  There were some great cars and we are even more excited to finish the 31.
Saturday afternoon we arrived at Estes Park in Colorado.  It is very beautiful here.  The weather is perfect, hot in the sun, chilly in the evenings and now and then the perfect blue sky clouds up for a little rain, then the sun comes back out.  Almost like Hawaii, except for the extremely high altitude, thin air, no ocean, ....,
Ian is having a great time.  He can fish all he wants ($7.00 a day limit 3) in the lake here in our campground.  He has also fished in the stream.  The trout was delicious and we are hoping to bring some home.  (I even bought a license yesterday and caught one myself.
Last night we went on a wildlife search.  We drove around looking for bear, elk, deer, whatever.  We saw two rabbits, one coyote, a delk (we weren't sure if it was a deer or an elk) but no bears.  Then we saw more elk, more deer, still no bears.  Finally we came up on a whole herd of elk, probably about 50.  We were watching them, when one of the large bucks (?) (big antlers) got a large piece of plastic stuck on his antler.  He went nuts.  Starting circling and the whole herd stampeded into the forest.  It was really cool.  Probably as good as seeing a bear.  The elk have also wandered through our campground, but no stampede and only a half dozen or so at a time.
We are heading home tomorrow morning (Friday) and plan to be home Saturday night.