Parkin' It in Park City & Big Teets

 

Enticed by family, food, fun, and fishing, the family decided to change their itinerary to include a visit to Kirsten’s cousin’s, (the Muscat’s), new condominium in Park City, Utah.  What a beautiful place.  And we were pleasantly surprised to find Kirsten’s cousin’s the Blackshear’s there as well.  This was quite fortunate as we didn’t get to spend very much time with them in Florida.

Have I got your attention?  Well I was raised on ‘em – but these mountains we visited next were named after ‘em.   That is the Grand Tetons.  Some Frenchman decided it would be a good idea to name these pointy mountains after a woman’s breasts.  They sure are grand…

We didn’t spend a long time in this area as we were anxious to get to Yellowstone National Park.  But, this was sure a beautiful area.   Our campsite was practically right on Jackson Lake overlooking these grand mountains. These Tetons sure are beautiful.

Catching all those trout in the Provo River in Utah gave Dave the bug to fish again (as you can see from the first picture).  Unfortunately, the lakes and rivers of this area would not be as productive for catching fish.  But, they sure were beautiful spots. Here Dave fishes the Snake River. 

He claims it was too high to catch fish and only good for rafting.  But, then again, Dave has a lot of fishing excuses…

We were not only anxious to get to Yellowstone National Park, but we were also interested in getting away from the swarms of mosquitoes that would descend on us each evening and again in the morning.

I was happy to stay in the camper away from the mosquitoes on this day as the family visited Jackson Hole.  Here they stand in the town green under an arch of elk antlers.  Not to worry as in all of this blog no animals were harmed to create any of these pictures.  In fact, a local Boy Scout Troop collects the antlers when they are shed by the elk in the nearby preserve.

So, I will write again from Yellowstone National Park where I hope to find less mosquitoes and as much beauty.

Big Wet Kisses, Mookie, "The Bloggin' Dog"

While here the boys, Dave and Caleb, did some action park adventures with their relatives. 

Here is the teenager boy's only chair.  They would attempt to launch oral liquid projectiles at the woodchucks spotted below them.

The fun included a zip line, a mountain coaster, and an alpine slide. 

Dave enjoyed all but the beginning of the alpine slide which threw him off on the first turn. 

It did the same thing to Faye. 

Below, Dave and Faye commiserate over their boo-boo’s.  I made sure to lick Dave’s wounds thoroughly to speed the healing.

The next day, while Kirsten and her cousin’s spent some quality time together, Dave and the kids went with all of the boys to fish the storied Provo River.  Dave and the kids gave the group casting lessons the day before and Dave tried to put them where the fish might be.  Caleb and Anika didn’t want to show off in front of their relatives, so they let everyone else catch fish on this day.  They did enjoy being out on this beautiful river with snow capped mountains in the distance.

Here is Connor with one of the Provo’s newer residents.  Hey, I said they all caught fish – I didn’t say they were all of size.

Here is Tony multitasking while fishing.  Other than Dave he did catch the most fish, some while on his cell!  Well, he has to pay for that sweet new Park City condo somehow.

And Dave would stay behind to fish a few hours after the family left.  He caught six of the Provo’s beautiful wild Brown Trout.  Here is one of them.  Dave assures me that had the fish not curled back its tail it would be about 6 inches longer…

This will be the last we will see of Kirsten’s cousin’s on this trip…or will it…?

Big Wet Kisses, Mookie, “The Bloggin’ Dog”

(See Below for Big Teets:  The Grand Tetons)

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Big Teets

Have I got your attention?  Well I was raised on ‘em – but these mountains we visited next were named after ‘em.   That is the Grand Tetons.  Some Frenchman decided it would be a good idea to name these pointy mountains after a woman’s breasts.  They sure are grand…

We didn’t spend a long time in this area as we were anxious to get to Yellowstone National Park.  But, this was sure a beautiful area.   Our campsite was practically right on Jackson Lake overlooking these grand mountains. These Tetons sure are beautiful.

Catching all those trout in the Provo River in Utah gave Dave the bug to fish again.  Unfortunately, the lakes and rivers of this area would not be as productive for catching fish.  But, they sure were beautiful spots. Here Dave fishes the Snake River. 

He claims it was too high to catch fish.  But, then again, Dave has a lot of fishing excuses…

We were not only anxious to get to Yellowstone National Park, but we were also interested in getting away from the swarms of mosquitoes that would descend on us each evening and again in the morning.

I was happy to stay in the camper away from the mosquitoes on this day as the family visited Jackson Hole.

Yes, that is one of four arches around Jackson's town green made of elk antlers. But, not to worry, as with all of this blog, no animals were harmed to create this blog nor the pictures in it.  In fact, the local Boy Scout Troop collects the antlers shed by the elk in the nearby preserve. 

So, I will write again from Yellowstone National Park where I hope to find less mosquitoes and as much beauty.

Until then, big wet kisses, Mookie "The Bloggin' Dog"

Yo-Yo-Yo It’s Yosemite in the house…

Actually, it was the Eastman’s in the house of Yosemite National Park.  Dave and the family report that Yosemite is as spectacular as billed.  Unfortunately, this was again one of those un-dog-friendly parks.  So, I spent most of the time back home.  Luckily, it was a nice campground and site.

I overheard a discussion in the car whereby Dave and Kirsten gave control of the itinerary to the kids for the three days they were in the vicinity of Yosemite.  I was a bit concerned at first but realized they did have the whole family’s interest in mind as they chose their activities.  The first day they decided to head to the very crowded but beautiful Yosemite Valley.  They visited the village and hiked out to the Lower Yosemite Falls.  

After that they enjoyed lunch during which they had another wildlife close encounter.  Kirsten wants to know what this critter thinks it's going to get from them. 

While Anika just has no clue as to which way is up (or down).

And then the family set off for Mirror Lake.  That first picture in this post was taken there for obvious reasons.  This lake is normally dried up this time of year.  At Mirror Lake Caleb found yet another inanimate object from which to again jump into the water.  

Anika found a nice beach to create castles, rivers and ponds. 

The following day the kids chose to spend more time in the water (big surprise).  So, the family went on a calm full-day rafting trip down the Merced River.  This is the same river, together with a few glaciers, that carved the Yosemite Valley.  It might not have been as cold as the river in Sequoia N.P. but it was reported to be awfully close.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and this picture of Kirsten sure demonstrates exactly how cold this water was.

The family sure looks like they were paddling in a picturesque setting.

And here they are in action:

The last day of the visit to this region the children chose to stay at the campground and hit the pool for just about the entire day. 

Now we are off to see Kirsten’s Cousin Laura for now the third time on this trip.  And I couldn’t be happier, as I will get to see my good friends Autumn (canine) and Chandler (human/ dog lover).  Dave and the kids hope to show Tony and the boys a little about fly fishing and landing some trophy Provo River trout while at the Muscat’s house in Park City, Utah.

Big wet kisses, Mookie, “The Bloggin’ Dog”

A Bit About the Pyros: The National Park Service

Sorry for the interruption for the public service announcement – but I thought you should be informed that the National Park Service (NPS) are a bunch of pyromaniacs!  Almost every park that we have accessed has had some of what the NPS calls prescriptive burns.  Their goal is to manage the forest so that any fuel for a fire is burned prior to any non-manmade fire starting and going out of control.   Wildfires are a major concern in the West.  However, I am a dog, and even I know that the forest has been managing itself for millions of years.  So, what gall it takes for the NPS to believe that they will do a better job than nature?!

From what we saw – everywhere that prescriptive burns had occurred one of two things happened.  First, the fuel that was removed was quickly replaced by more fuel from all the dead limbs and trees the NPS had created with their burns.  Or second, the NPS had lost control of their prescriptive burns and caused a wildfire that burned far more than they intended and they caused the very thing that they were trying to prevent.  But, as a consolation – the NPS did put up some nice signs trying to explain what can happen with prescriptive burns…and oh yeah sometimes we lose control.  Not an apology in site though.

Now, in Sequoia National Park, they claimed that fire was a natural part of the needs of the giant sequoias.  Excuse me, but I must return back to my argument before that the forest has been managing itself for millions of years.  These trees are thousands of years old.  They seem to have been doing awfully well before the NPS came along and started creating fires for them.

The results are ugly.  Almost every where we have hiked or driven there is some portion of the forest that is burned out.  It leaves an ugly site:  fallen, burned and blackened trees.  And where there have been active prescriptive burns, like this one in Sequoia National Park

it creates an unbelievable amount of air pollution.  We could not only smell but often would cough going through areas of this smoke.  The smog created by these fires was worse than we saw hanging over Los Angeles.  That’s pretty bad – Dave said that LA’s smog was worse than he had seen in Mexico City and that is some of the worst in the world.

So, doing a cost benefit analysis on the work that the NPS is doing it seems like the costs of doing these prescriptive burns far outweigh the benefits.  But then again that is just the opinion of one dog….

Big wet kisses, Mookie, “The Bloggin’ Dog”

A Pleasant Surprise…from Sequoia National Park

I’ll get to that pleasant surprise in moment.  But, first, a little about a pleasant surprise from Yosemite…connectivity that is!  We found that our campsite did have some limited free internet access:  an hour that is.  So I will type fast – which is not that easy with these big paws of mine. 

Now to Sequoia National Park which was a natural jewel of a surprise.  Dave said that had he known the extent of the beauty and the variety of wilderness experiences available, he might have booked us a longer stay in this park.  That is, if it weren’t for the road construction…more about that in a minute.

 Our campsite was one of the best in the park.  And, the family voted it the best on our trip so far.  The facilities were pretty poorly maintained.  I only know this because Dave actually made me sit in there while he did his business.  I guess this is only fair considering how many times he’s seen me do mine.

When we first arrived we were a bit surprised to find a little tiny parking space that would barely fit our camper, let alone our car too.  But, once we parked the camper we realized that this was only a small portion of our site.  It also included a palazzo if you will, an elevated courtyard. It would be where we spend most of our time.  It included a fire-pit that was framed by large boulders on one side.  In fact, there was a field of large boulders that extended up the hill from the site for almost one hundred yards.  Caleb and Anika made many a fort in these rocks.  It is also in these rocks that we would find this mule dear and a mate grazing for most of the first evening we were there. 

I will admit I had a weird reaction to this deer, perhaps latently and belatedly instinctual.  This buck had been grazing some 30 yards from our fire where we cooked dinner for most of the evening.  And then when darkness fell, we found it nestled in a group of rocks about 50 yards away and there we thought it would stay.  For the 3 or so hours of its local grazing I ignored it. I might have glanced in its general direction a couple of times.  But, it received nary a bark nor even a sniff while it was in my neighborhood.  That was until later when Kirsten would hear it munching.  She shown her light on it and found it about 10 yards away from where we all sat.  And still, I ignored it.  The moment struck me almost ½ an hour after that when Dave had decided to loosely tether me.  I was swift upon my attack.  But alas I listened to the shouts of commands from Dave and Kirsten when they advised me to stand down.  I did give that young buck a good scare though.

Oh yeah, and Dave wanted me to mention there were the big trees in the park:

Here Caleb attempts the assent of one of the largest trees in the world as Anika takes the low road.

Here is the largest tree in the world.

Dave on the other hand decides to insult this giant sequoia.  This will teach Dave for giving Caleb a camera.

Anika takes over the camera for this beauty shot of D ‘n K.

Caleb was the brave one of the bunch (or craziest).  He decided to jump right into the river right near the campsite.  This is a river that is fed by melting snow from the surrounding mountains.  And this year they had record snow fall in the area.  So this water was still being fed by snow we could see on the mountains.  The family reported that it hurt to stand in.  It was definitely below 40 degrees.  But, there goes Caleb…

If it weren’t for the very poorly managed road construction that seemed to be everywhere in the park and ended up re-routing our attempted arrival by an hour and a half, and the fact that they woke us all up at 6:30 AM paving a parking lot in the campground that would probably be unused by the public; well then perhaps we would have sought out a longer stay in these beautiful surroundings. I certainly would have enjoyed the time to chase more deer.

Big wet kisses, Mookie, “The Bloggin’ Dog”

Barely North of the Border: San Diego, California

We came to San Diego to visit the final of Kirsten’s three cousins.  Here Anika hands Kirsten’s Cousin Jennifer the last of the three bottles of maple syrup that we brought from Vermont to give to these three.  So, we did it!  We completed the cousin trifecta.

Unfortunately, we visit Jennifer and her son Marshal also shown here, (along with Cousin Laura who just keeps popping up everywhere we go), at a tough time for their family.  Jennifer and Jackie Crowe’s son Weston had been cancer free for almost 6 years since his initial battle and was found in the last week to have two masses in his lungs determined to be cancerous.  As he just started his chemotherapy yesterday – the family was a bit preoccupied to be able to hang out with us much.  And this is how it should have been.  We missed them of course – but appreciated having this nice dinner with Jennifer and Marshall (and Laura).  But, their time needed to be focused on Weston.  We all have been thinking about and praying for Weston. (Yes, dogs can pray – remember what dog spells backwards!)

We still enjoyed our visit to this beautiful city.  And Jennifer gave us great beach recommendations.  We all had a chance to take our first dips into the Pacific Ocean today.  It was wonderful. 

I even got to frolic at this dog friendly beach called Del Mar. 

Look at me with my new dog friends.

We also went to the La Jolla Beach community where there were these dog-like water creatures.  They barked sort of like dogs – but they sure seemed slippery…

The campground we stayed in was very nice and only 8 miles from the Mexican border.  Dave in particular liked shopping at the local grocery store El Super where all the signs were in Spanish, Mariachi music blared over the grocery speakers, and where he got to pick up inexpensive treats grown just across the border including avocados, key limes, poblano peppers, and fresh cilantro.  Sounds like the makings for some yummy guacamole tomorrow.  I wonder how that tastes on kibble…  He also picked up a prickly pear cactus fruit – I have no idea what he plans on doing with that!

Well, we head north now to Sequoia National Park and then to Yosemite National Park.  Neither of these places have internet connections so it may be a while until I make my next post. 

So, until then…

Big wet kisses, Mookie, “The Bloggin’ Dog”

Vegas Baby!

Well, the title of this posting is about all of the excitement that you will get out of this family for their Vegas experience.  I think we all just confirmed that we are not into the bright lights and the spectacle that is Las Vegas.  The KOA campground was right on the Vegas strip at the Circus Circus Casino.  I did not get to see much past the camper for this portion of the trip.  Fortunately, it was only for an afternoon and evening.  Frankly, I was much more comfortable in the air conditioned camper than being out in the 100 degree heat in this campground that was not much more than a paved parking lot.

The kids did have some fun swimming in the pool and eating way too much at the all you can eat buffet in the casino.  Caleb ate 5 desserts!  Oops, I think I just violated the rule:  “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”.  The casino sounded pretty crazy – Dave said they had at least 20 different snack bars and restaurants.  They even had an amusement park in there with a full sized roller coaster inside the building.  Caleb and Anika both enjoyed the bumper cars.  Luckily they did these before their pig-out dinner.

Well, we are off for better temperatures near the coast and our first collective gander at the Pacific Ocean.

Big wet kisses, Mookie, “The Bloggin’ Dog