Sunday, July 27

Friday, July 25

Astonishing Yellowstone National Park

Thanks a million Tamari!!!
When we started planning our travels, we were on the verge of skipping Yellowstone and Grand Teton, to avoid the long drives involved. A major factor in our decision not to skip these parks was a suggestion by Tamari that we shouldn’t, and we are oh so thankful for this advice!
Tonight is our fourth night at Yellowstone, and we could easily spend an additional week in this marvelous park, the first national park to be established, whose size is about half the size of the state of Israel.
I, in my ignorance, expected mostly a big bunch of geysers and a lot of wildlife roaming relatively dry terrain. These, by themselves, are definitely worth the visit, but Yellowstone has so much more to offer, that it’s probably the most pleasantly surprising destination we have visited this summer. Good thing we didn’t bother to read every detail about every park in advance ;-)
The scenery is very diverse, containing lakes, beautiful rivers, magnificent waterfalls, heavily forested areas, snow-capped mountains and lush green meadows. Each of our four days in the park was wonderful, and it seems as if we couldn’t ask for a better visit. I should mention that my parents have joined us, and having a couple folks for whom Yellowstone was the first National Park to visit made the atmosphere even merrier.

We had a magnificent hike in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, concluding with the awe-inspiring Lower Falls. We visited several geyser basins, enjoying the surreal feeling of the earth bubbling everywhere around you. We spotted a lot of wild life, including a Grizzly Bear and a Black Bear. We waded in the “Boiling River” (north of Mammoth Hot Springs), where freezing river waters mix with very hot sulfurous spring water - warmly recommended (literally...). We attended the world-famous periodic eruption of Old Faithful; and although you’re surrounded by hundreds of other tourists, this is something not to be skipped.

But above all stands the pure beauty we’ve experienced today. The kind of things you get to see only once in a long while, intensified by the fact that very few visitors get to share this unique opportunity. There are many well-marked and heavily visited board-walks in Yellowstone, one of which traverses the “Midway Geyser Basin”, a few miles north of Old Faithful. The main attraction in the area is a large round pool, named “Grand Prismatic Spring” that gets its name by virtue of exposing a terrific blend pf colors. However, from the ground (e.g. the aforementioned board-walk) you only get a very limited view of the pool and its colors. Thanks to a kind ranger at the Visitor Center, we knew better. A nearby trail allows you to climb a steep hill. Few things would pay off as much as the somewhat-strenuous uphill and words can’t effectively convey how astonishing the view from above is. Gazing from the top of the hill, you get a picture so beautiful that it almost seems like a Photoshop fake. The middle of the pool is blue, surrounded by a green strip (thanks to bacteria in the waters), in turn surrounded by a yellow strip (sulfur), in turn surrounded by a brownish-reddish strip with sun-like arms (possibly a result of iron deposits). The whole pool is covered by hazy vapors, surrounded by a beautiful valley and majestic mountains and (today...) capped by clear blue sky. We all spent at least an hour on that hill, admiring the beauty that only nature can produce. See photos below.
















Bottom line - traveling is great ;-) If you get a chance, visit Yellowstone!
Giora

Traveling With (Grand)Parents

A few days ago, my parents joined us and will be traveling with us for 2.5 weeks. The fact I’m writing these lines at night from a lounge, drinking cold beer with Anat (our first date since who knows when…), gives the sense of having two more adults with us.
Indeed, staying 7 people in the same tent (or hotel room, which happened to be the case for us in Yellowstone – see my planned posting about camping here...) takes some flexibility from all parties, but as far as I can tell everybody is happy.

For my Mom, spending time with her granddaughters seems to be a dream come true. So much so, that I suspect the destination wouldn’t matter much, but Yellowstone being so beautiful certainly makes it even more enjoyable for her, not to mention for my Dad.
Noga and Hadas are thriving, with grandma’s constant attention and endless patience. I guess that by the end of this part of our travels, they’ll memorize all existing bible stories, skillfully told in the right manner by their grandmother.
And Maayan is being very friendly (as opposed to her reluctance during their last visit in April), which for my folks could alone justify a trip to the US...

As for Anat and myself – did I mention we can peacefully sip our morning coffee?!
Giora

Traveling With Kids 2

I previously referred to traveling with kids, and how different it is from traveling as a young couple. Several characterizations can be made, such as food being a central theme (try convincing an 18 months old she can wait a couple hours for dinner…), or the transition from a backpack to a packed mini-van. The latter turned my clinging to my sophisticated light-weight-burn-on-every-liquid-fuel-in-every-altitude cooking stove into a joke. After experiencing the bulkier (but more than sufficient) propane stove, Noga had a clear-cut definition of my MSR stove: “oh, I see, it does the same thing but takes much more work, right?!” ;-)
Giora

Thursday, July 17

A lovely chill in the air

I am writing from the living room of our hostel, which is a graceful wooden structure set up on a cliff right on the border of Rocky Mountain National Park. There are heavy wooden rocking chairs and sofas, wagon-wheel chandeliers, and antlers on the wall. It's chilly enough for a sweatshirt. Outside the sound of the rushing stream, tumbling down the mountain side, is as loud as air-conditioning, even with the windows closed.

Today we took a wonderful 4 mile hike. We drove way up into the park, to the aptly named Alpine visitor center, at an elevation of 11,000 feet, or about 3500 meters. We could feel the altitude on our way up, as we emerged above the tree line, through the sub-alpine habitat and into the alpine tundra, which is an open meadow dotted with thousands of tiny flowers at this time of year. The first part of the hike took us through this scenery, and afterwards we started descending towards the trees (and the mosquitoes). There were still some patches of snow on the ground although it was fairly warm outside. And the sound of the snow melting and the water trickling or rushing down followed us the whole time. The trail actually crosses the continental divide, so some of that water was headed east and some was headed west. All around us were the peaks of the "never summer" range, covered in snow that does not melt year round.

I was carrying Maayan in the backpack today, to give Giora's back a well-deserved day of rest. We started out singing, with her insisting on me holding her feet and me insisting that she doesn't pinch my arms, which she understood pretty quickly. Then she fell asleep and I could feel her weight shifting on my back as I walked. When we entered the forest I had to keep a good pace going, because the moment I stopped walking we were surrounded by bugs that didn't seem too impressed by the insect repellent we had on us. So I was ahead of Giora and the older girls, and then Maayan woke up and started exclaiming "Mayi, Mayi" which is ostensibly her word for water (mayim in Hebrew) but can have a pretty wide extension. Today it referred to the streams we passed, but also to snow, trees, mountains, sky, clouds and who knows what else. The best part was at the very end of the trail, when we reached a small lake, and she was so excited she hollered "wow, wow" and was pointing all around. It's amazing how much she has grown over the last four weeks, and I feel that I can really see changes in her from day to day.

This is the first really lush scenery we've encountered on this trip, and it is a very dramatic change from the desert. Both have their own beauty and can hardly be compared, and I'm glad that our travels are taking us through such different places, with more still ahead of us. I know that we've covered quite a lot of distance, but I'm still a little surprised at how variable nature and weather can be.

Anat

Wednesday, July 16

Beautiful Colorado

Last week we said goodbye to Utah, which we enjoyed immensely, and headed back to Colorado. For the most part, this concludes the desert portion of our travels.

Colorado is wonderful, and boasts fairly diverse attractions.
From Moab, Utah we headed to the newest National Park, “Black Canyon of the Gunnison”. This park contains a massive canyon created by the Gunnison River, with amazing vistas and very accessible overlooks. The magnificent cliffs and roaring river 2000 feet below reminded me of a dark and gloomy sorcerer, the kind seen in “Lord of the Rings”. There is a very steep semi-trail going all the way down to the river, and we contemplated risking the climb down and up. However, a ten minute lecture by the park Rangers, assuring us that even without kids this is an extremely dangerous endeavor, convinced us to take the more conservative (though less exciting...) trails. Maybe next time...
Another interesting aspect of our stay was the very rustic campground. Due to limited water supply in the park, not only showers were out of the question, campers were also asked to avoid dish washing, tooth brushing etc. I personally enjoyed camping nevertheless; though as a family I’d say that 2 nights in such a setting were our upper limit, if not beyond it.

On the way to the Gunnison we stopped in the “Colorado National Monument”, without really knowing what it was. We were surprised to find a relatively big park, with very impressive canyons and rock formations. It was somewhat reminiscent of Arches National Park, from which we had just come. We didn’t budget the time for the 23 mile drive through the park, but were told that it’s magnificent. I definitely recommend visiting the place, but if you decide to do so, and visit Arches on the same trip, I’d recommend flipping the order, as it pales in comparison to Arches.

Our next destination was “Rocky Mountain National Park”, from where I’m writing. Mostly in order to limit the driving per day – we’re not good with long drives, and we try to avoid them whenever possible – on the way from the Gunnison we decided to stop in a town called Glenwood Springs. Generally speaking, touristy towns with pricy hotels and sparkly outfitters and gift shops are not our cup of tea, but this one was a very pleasant surprise and we enjoyed our 2 nights there very much.
For one thing, we stayed in a lovely hostel, which reminded us a lot of our New Zealand travels. In general there aren’t very many hostels in the US, surely comparing to Europe and New Zealand. This simply isn’t a very common accommodation option around here. And finding one that is lovely and cozy is especially hard. We love staying in hostels, both as cooking is feasible (and easier than in campgrounds), and because of the much more abundant and close interactions with other guests and the staff. But this probably deserves a separate posting.
Glenwood Springs is famous for its hot pools (which we skipped) and has a small adventure park (which we should have skipped in retrospect), but we’ll remember it mostly for a fantastic day of biking. Simply put, we’re very amateur bikers. Most of the rental options, not to mention adventurous mountain biking, are obviously not for us. Thus, our biking options are fairly limited, and the setting around Glenwood Springs seemed as if it was designed especially for us. The rental shop shuttled us to the beginning of a very well-maintained bike trail that winds through the gorgeous Glenwood Canyon. Even the weather seemed as though it was set up precisely to our liking, with a clear day that wasn’t too hot.
The ride was mostly a mild downhill, allowing Noga to ride her own bike, and the views were simply breathtaking. The narrow canyon accommodates a highway (Interstate-70), the Colorado River (at some places still and reflective, at others swift and vigorous), a railway and a bike trail. The construction was as nature-considerate as possible, making for tunnels and complex bridges (second most expensive highway in the US), and the canyon was preserved in its magnificence and beauty. Few places could allow us, as a family such an inspiring bike riding. Maayan and Hadas, in the trailer behind me, were happy and enjoyed both the views and dipping their feet in the frigid Colorado River midway. Anat and I were reminded of how much fun biking is, and Noga was ecstatic, with that huge ear-to-ear smile you get only when you do something for the very first time. Indeed, we all were impressed to see her riding more than 22 km, enjoying every minute.

This was the kind of day that makes traveling as a family unforgettable!

Giora

Sunday, July 13

One more note about Las Vegas

Anat has previously (forcefully) expressed her opinion about Las Vegas. I saw the cartoon below, with a gambling machine instead of a generic PC, on a T-Shirt in Vegas.
It PRECISELY captured my feeling after seeing those casinos...
Giora

New photos

We finally are staying in a hostel with Internet access...
New photos are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/MesaVerde and http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/Arches
Cheers,
Giora

Wednesday, July 9

Hello from Moab, Utah

Sorry for the prolonged silence, we've been without internet access for the last week or so. Thanks so much to everyone. it was great to hear all your news and goings on!

So since we last posted we passed through the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona, and then arrived in Mesa Verde National Park in the South-Western corner of Colorado. Mesa Verde is home to ancient Native American Pueblo remnants, which were abandoned in 1300. The most impressive are cliff dwellings - whole communities built in rock alcoves created by water springs. The park's focus is on the culture, archeology and history of these communities, and less on the surrounding nature, though the setting is also impressive with deep canyons and high cliffs. This was refreshing change, adding another dimension to our trip.

The way to explore the park is to join guided tours lead by park rangers. We explored three cliff dwellings this way and learned a lot about the ancient people, from their size (much smaller than today), their diet (corn, beans and squash mainly, from lands they farmed on top the mesa), and their spiritual practices. It was interesting for us the adults, but the girls absolutely had a ball. They asked the rangers endless questions, ranging from questions by Noga regarding the division of labor between the sexes and exactly how the dwellings were constructed, to inquiries by Hadas regarding whether the people engaged in war (they didn't) and exactly what they used to wipe after doing their business (the ranger speculated on oak leaves...). Maayan didn't ask questions, yet, but kept her parents busy and in constant vigilance to make sure she didn't dive head first off a cliff... Another aspect which led to great enjoyment was the fact that the dwellings are accessed through steep trails and the tours also involved climbing up some tall ladders (up to 30 feet / 10 meters) and crawling through tunnels in the rock.

Since leaving Mesa Verde we've come to Moab, Utah, which sits on the Colorado river and is the access town to Arches National Park, which we've been exploring for the last couple of days. The park is very very accessible, with numerous gracious stone arches just a short hike off the road. And surprisingly, so far we haven't ran into big crowds. There are also many adventure activities here in town - river rafting, extreme mountain biking and so on, but we'll be skipping these on the current trip, and focusing on the beautiful nature in Arches.

Hope to update more soon,
Anat

Wednesday, July 2

New pictures, and request

First and foremost, we've uploaded some new pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/ZionGrandCanyonAndLakePowell

Second, we're curious to know how all of you are doing. Both of us have the feeling that communication has been fairly one-sided, because we've been posting in the blog and not corresponding individually. So we'd be really happy to hear from you all - you can either comment here in the blog (if you don't mind your comment being open for everyone to read), or send us email:

giora.unger@gmail.com
anat.prior@gmail.com
nogi.unger@gmail.com
hadas.unger@gmail.com

Love and hugs,
Anat