meinen Reisen MY TRAVELS mijn reizen mes voyages meus cursos mis viajes minhas viagens mo taisteal mine rejser mina resor i miei viaggi

On Tuesday, we made our way down to the Grand Tetons. Two days earlier, the road would have been closed. When we were driving to Colter Bay, we saw two grizzlies. I think they were around 2 to 3 years old. They were large, but everyone stays a long ways away and has long lens camera. Colter Bay always has many memories. It was fun to see the general store again. The bay actually will not have water in it this summer maybe due to a drought. We have stayed many times in the Colter Bay tent and tent-cabin area, but it was really nice to stay in a cabin due to the weather. We found Grand Teton to be much more expensive than Yellowstone as Vail Resorts operates GTNP and Xanterra operates Yellowstone. We drove down to Jackson a few times. The Jackson Hole airport is closed until mid-June which combined with gas prices and the cold weather kept a lot of people from coming. The road from Moose to Jackson (Moose-Wilson) was closed most of the week, so it was tough to get to Teton Village. We really stayed near Leek’s Marina and we explored Two Ocean Lake at night. We saw a few moose on Two Ocean Lake road and one was quite close. We ordered a pizza online at the marina one night. As were approaching the entrance road was blocked by rangers, due to bear activity. Andrea asked if we could get our pizza and they allowed us to drive quickly down the road. I was able to get some pictures. We took our time eating and when we came out a Grizzly and 3 cubs were walking across the road as we were driving out. I got some decent pictures. It was pretty neat. We also saw a lot of kits who were born near the Colter Bay laundromat. I think they whole area was just preparing still for the summer crowd, so scaffolding was up on Jackson Lake Lodge, etc., but I still prefer that to large crowds. We left early Saturday morning and made it back to Burlington Sunday night.

I think we were a bit early heading out to Yellowstone this year, but we did get to see a few baby animals and while it was busy, it was not packed. We made it to Cody and went to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. It is Smithsonian-affiliated and you can tell. It had 5 museums dedicated to art, Plains Indians, guns, Buffalo Bill, and nature. Andrea had never been there before. The next day I checked the roads and the road into Yellowstone was closed. We had reservations at Mammoth that night, so we drove around the outskirts of Yellowstone up to Livingston and into Gardiner. It was rainy, but we mainly saw snow on the ground from previous snows. Mammoth might only be 6,000′ elevation while some of the passes approach 10,000′ elevation. We had a cabin in Mammoth which was great. The outside was rough, but the cabin had heat which was needed as it probably was in the 30’s during the night. We took it easy in Mammoth the next day to let the temperature get a little warmer. As we drove down to Old Faithful, we saw coyote. At first, we thought he was coming towards us, but he was going back and forth from a dead beaver. It was interesting to watch. He would head to the beaver, but once he got enough attention from cars, he would back off for a while. We saw him go between the beaver and his perch a few times. As we approached the west entrance road, cars were backed up from Old Faithful. It took us about two hours to get 16 miles due to what could have been 6 to 10 bison. We thought it was odd that that few bison could cause that big of delay. It could have, but we later heard a 25-year-old woman got gored by a bison near Old Faithful which could have led to delays too. Down in Old Faithful, we checked into our cabin and walked around. We saw a lot of snowmen and saw Old Faithful erupt a few times. We ate at the newer lodge and had a nice trout dinner. The next day, we went to a lot of sites that we missed when the East Entrance was closed including the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the sulfur/mud pot area. We also saw a black bear.

Now that I can work remotely, we went out the Black Hills in late May. It was really nice to see our favorite places. We did visit the Presidential Wax Museum which I highly recommend. It was probably one of the most inexpensive things to do on the entire trip… maybe $10 to $12. It was well done and presented history in a neat way. It is in Keystone about 1 to 2 miles from Mount Rushmore. The new Bison Center in Custer State Park had opened that Friday, so we were able to walk through that near the Buffalo Roundup area. It was free and well done. It had just the right amount of information presented. The bison calves were still little, so it was fun to see them too.

In May, we visited Melissa in Ankeny and went to “Pella Tulip Time.” The tulips were really nice as they were in full bloom. It is a nice festival the city hosts. I would say if you are expecting their traditional Dutch food, it is limited. Later in the weekend, we went to the parade which was interesting and neat to see. We also went to Reiman Gardens at Iowa State with Melissa. It was really nice and well done.

Bald Eagles at Lock & Dam 18

We went to Disney over New Year’s. We had a great time with a lot of fun events. We went to NYE on the 30th at Magic Kingdom and NYE on the 31st. We saw Pat Sajak and the Candlelight Processional on the 30th and celebrated the last days of Holidays around the World. Coming back from Magic Kingdom, the monorail went through Epcot and we saw all the vehicles taking the trees down. On the 1st, we went to the Iowa game which was so much fun… even though we lost, it was a great game. The Kentucky fans were so nice and we talked to many in the parks. The parks were pretty busy, so we upgraded to a water park and mini-golf pass. We went to Typhoon Lagoon almost everyday and we golfed a lot.

Near the end of the trip, we went to the race expo. We were a little nervous for the half-marathon, but it wasn’t so bad… actually quite fun.

As I get all Federal holidays off, Andrea and I made our way to Walt Disney World on Veterans Day. It was our first flight in 22 months! We got a r/t ticket for $68, but that was the only good deal of the trip. We rode the Magical Express one last time as it is being discontinued in 2022. We stayed at Pop Century. When we arrived we took the Skyliner over to Epcot and met Bev. We went to Club Cool and tasted new Coke flavors from around the world. We walked around the World Showcase and stopped at a few kiosks at the Food and Wine Festival. We had tuna poke, an impossible burger, and ate at the China quick-service. We saw the new Ratatouille ride in the back of France and we saw the show, which replaced IllumiNations, called Harmonious. It was nice seeing Bev again.

On Friday, Andrea had to work, so I went to Epcot via the Skyliner and rode Test Track and Soarin’. I walked around a little and then went back to Pop Century for lunch. Andrea ordered Hawkers from UberEats and it was amazing. After lunch, we went to Magic Kingdom which was packed. We barely did anything. We rode PhilharMagic and saw the new Coco scene and we ate a creme cheese pretzel and then left. We walked around Contemporary and had dinner at the Polynesian. I had Walt’s chili. The recipe was from the 1950’s. It was mainly cheese and beef. Afterwards, we went back to Magic Kingdom to see the new fireworks show, Enchanted, but it was hard to see as it was so busy.

On Saturday, we woke up early and went to Animal Kingdom. We decided to fall for their trap and pay for Flight of Passage. If interested, read up on the new Genie+ and Lightning passes. The system is evil, but it we caved and it worked well for us, but cost us an additional $25. We were able to ride Dinosaur alone and barely had to wait for the Safari. We were the first batch of people to draw at the Animation Experience at Conservation Station. We walked through the Exploration Trail hoping to see the new baby gorilla, but we did not. We did see a lot of animals though. Around 11 a.m., we were able to go use our lightning lane to go on Flight of Passage. Afterwards, we went to Saratoga Springs and found Worms ‘n Dirt! I love that. We walked to Disney Springs and walked through some stores. We went back to Pop Century for lunch where we shared pot roast which was really good. Then, we went to Epcot. We rode Soarin’, went back to Club Cool, and walked around the festival again. We paid to go on the new Ratatouille ride which was just ok. We came home Sunday after walking 32 miles at Disney in those 2.5 days!

We went back to The Black Hills the last week on September as I was able work remotely. We stayed in a yurt at a KOA in the Badlands. It was neat as were able to see the sunset and the sunrise. We fed prairie dogs, ate at Wall Drug, and made it to our hotel near Custer. Each night we ate somewhere in Custer State Park. We ate at Blue Blue Lodge one night. We had picnics near the Custer State Park Visitor Center, Stockade Lake, and Mount Rushmore. The Buffalo Roundup was Friday, so I took the day off and we woke up around 6 a.m. to go see it. A tire showed low air, so we filled it up in the morning. The Roundup was interesting. There were a lot of people from all over the United States. It was about an hour and a half late. It was somewhat anti-climatic, but it was neat to see the buffalo come over the hill. The governor of South Dakota rides a long with the other horse riders. Andrea found a cabin at the State Game Lodge campground, so we booked that for Friday night which was really nice. We were able to walk over to the art fair and balloon glow. The art fair was really neat. It had a lot of western products and pictures. We went for lunch and went back at night. In the morning, the tire was down again. A couple from Missouri heard us asking if anyone had a pump and they helped us fill our tire. We were able to make it to a Wal-Mart in Rapid City where they found the tire had a tiny screw in it. It was able to be repaired. It took around 3 hours, so we missed driving through Spearfish Canyon, but we were thankful that it was only 3 hours. We headed back to Iowa afterwards. Although the Buffalo Roundup was a dud, the rest of the week was really fun.

Other Fall pictures:

While I like to think we did not go anywhere due to the virus, it was more the process of me getting a job took a while. I started the interview process in mid-June and started my new job in late July. Andrea and I did go to Fargo to see the city. It was best city I have seen in a while, but it was really flat and it did not have many trees. The airport is not efficient either. The rest of the summer we did a lot with my aunt and uncle and Pixel as you can see in the pictures. Work took up a lot of time. I also took a lot of pictures around SE Iowa for my Microsoft Teams background.

Andrea met friends from church camp in June in the Black Hills. We went to the Corn Palace, the Badlands, Wall Drug, Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore, and Deadwood.

Here is a video: