1. The Backstory

How we came to travel west again

I have written in other places some of the details for my quest to revisit the places Mother and Father took me in my youth and to let my charming bride Mary, She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) see for herself these marvelous places. Not quite Don Quixote but there are windmills nonetheless,

We were never hearty travelers. We had friends with a place in Hilton Head and would go there for a week. After fifteen years this got stale. No matter how wonderful Oyster Reef is, you can only play it so many times. Then the folks started charging for the place and we just quit going.

In 2013 we decided to take a cruise. Our big problem and anyone who has ever cruised understands this: we don’t drink very often, we don’t gamble, and I buy all my watches from my personal jeweler Alan Terry in Jackson. We enjoyed the stops the ship made. I will remember forever how nice a tour we got from Jeff Pinder in the Bahamas and the tour of Ernest Hemingway’s house in Key West but getting there wasn’t any fun.

I have always loved trains. As a child we frequently took the train from Chicago to Glenwood Springs. When we would go in the winter father would get in the large heated pool then jump out into the snowbanks surrounding them. I remember the old railway service with linen and silver. In the 80’s I oft traveled to Apple via the Zephyr, and took SHMBO on her first train trip to California for our honeymoon. It was slightly marred because the Cardinal engine ran out of fuel in Indiana. This unexpected six hour layover didn’t dampen the memory of fifteen feet of snow on Donner Pass.

When I survived my second major head and neck cancer surgery I realized I had all these places to show Mary. Places I wanted to go back to. I can relate to Henry VIII lamenting in the Tudors that one thing a King can’t buy is more time on Earth. Mother had always been this icon, full of ideas, full of inspiration and when she got Alzheimer’s that all washed away. It was gone. For my own purposes I wanted to remember smiling with a glass of bourbon on the veranda of the Many Glacier Hotel. I wanted to relive going out on the Yellowstone boardwalks at dawn so we could see Grand Geyser. Hear in my mind her stories of Father and her driving all-round the west. Putting my hands in the wagon ruts at South Pass remonstrating me to remember the tens of thousands who had suffered getting this far and those who never lived to tell her tale.

Last year Glacier was our destination, and SWMBO marveled at the view from our veranda at Many Glacier just as Mother had. I immediately began planning the next excursion to Yellowstone.

I wish I had kept a journal as a child. My memory is I was in Wonderland three times. The first was 1959 before the Earthquake because I can remember how personal the news of that was when it happened. I believe the next time we visited was 1963 and mother lamenting the loss of the old Canyon Hotel. My memory of that trip was her screaming at Father near Dunraven Pass regarding the drop off.

In 1968 is the year I went out with her geyser gazing and her little geyser notebook. I also have a memory of a hootenanny at Old Faithful. I marveled how the old kids, those working at the park could have so much fun singing. The worst memory was on the last trip. There was a bear jam, and some fool about ten cars up held a sandwich out the window of his car. Not for long actually as the bear ate the sandwich and the hand.

SWMBO loves wildlife, a weakness of Glacier but strength of YPK. It became a focus for this trip. I love photography so animate or inanimate makes no difference. We enjoyed the boat rides at Glacier so wanted to make sure they are part of this journey. Xantera’s food does not match the scenery surrounding there service, but formal meals at Lake and Old Faithful are on the dance card. We loved the Red Bus Tour to Logan Pass at GPK so YPK versions were added. We are not hikers but rather “strollers” (short distance little elevation change) and included those in the plans. Although the itinerary would be detailed it could be changed at any time for any reason.

Starting with some Deja vu stops we planned only to get as far as Champaign – five hours – the first night. We could spend the morning packing and leisurely get started. The next day I wanted to stop in Yates City having taught school there for five years in the seventies with a 4 PM arrival in Galesburg to catch the Zephyr.

The journey would be by train with a renter. I broke my 20 year no fly rule for the cruise, and even though the anxiety was nowhere near the 1980’s I think I will take the train, thank you very much. Although EB was delayed last year, we got another steak out of it and enjoyed every minute of it. The California Zephyr (CZ) seems to be the train of struggle this year. Track work in the Rockies re-routed it and floods in God’s Country (aka Iowa) delayed it but not to my dismay. The 11 PM arrival in Salt Lake City had me make a hotel reservation with picking up the renter the next day. If it was running more than five hours late I could call and cancel the hotel and just sleep in the roomette. Not the best but very workable.

The quickest route from SLC is to West Yellowstone but because we were going to Grand Teton later I made my great circle start at Lake. I see no added pain in driving to Madison then cutting across the hill to Canyon and down to lake. The Virginia Cascades were burned in my memory for some reason and had to be included. Another pass through the Hayden Valley shouldn’t be that painful. I remember Mother relishing the meal at the Lake Hotel, and even though we couldn’t get a room (12 months out ) at the Hotel, we took a cabin and a dinner reservation as solace. If we could make it to Storm Point in time for the 4 PM Ranger Tour it would be a plus.

Day two would start off with a scenic cruise (aka boat ride) on Lake Yellowstone then back up the Hayden to the Southern Rim. Box lunches (something Mother always advocated) would allow us to eat on our timetable picking the backdrop for whatever sandwich they provide. Wildlife would get a shot at the end of the day with the formal “Lamar Valley Wildlife Excursion.”

The next morning would start with the North Rim, again acquiring lunches and heading toward Roosevelt. An early arrival was planned to catch the “Old West Dinner Cookout” which a colleague of mine actually worked for two summers. The only morning I wanted a five AM start was the next, as we would drive out through Lamar and along the Beartooth to the Vista turnout and back. The early worm photographs the bird, bison, bear and whatever else wanders along. The day would finish at Mammoth.

There is an interesting loop trail at Mammoth which would start the next day. Road Work to Norris would eat at least a half hour of the time, so the Journey to Old Faithful had nothing hard and fast. I scheduled the “Twilight on the Firehole” tour for that night as well as the OF Dining Room. OF day two would cover whatever we missed on the first.

Departing to Grand Teton the following day would be leisurely with several strolls near Coulter Bay on the radar. Making the 2:45 Ranger Tour at Mentor’s would be nice, then just a good meal. Our last GT would start with a Breakfast cruise then work back down towards Jackson. The final day of the trip entails a return to Salt Lake via several Oregon Trail sites. My hands are going back in the wagon ruts. The late (3 AM) departure doesn’t thrill me but two days on the Zephyr plus the ride through the Canyon does.

All of this planning relied heavily on the talents of Judy and Candy at AAA in Jackson (OH) whose talents have served me all these long years. I have developed a trust and admiration for their work and the AAA membership fee each year gets the most bang for my buck of any recreational dollar spent. They have taught themselves Amtrak and do it well.

I devote what some might consider an abnormal amount of research in the planning of these adventures. As I do at work I plan as if the trip were a funnel. I want to consider all of the possibilities, outlining them in fairly specific detail, so I know what I want to do. A fifteen mile leg of the Grand Loop might have ten stops although I might only actually visit at three of them. This allows me to funnel the data into an eventual plan.

Technology has played a role in my life for a long time. This summer I am excited to compare the performance of the $30/day Gaper Guide as opposed to the $5 Gypsy Yellowstone app. Both are highly touted as travel tools providing narrative and direction of those things worthy of a view or a stop. I doubt neither can be as detailed as Bohanan’s Yellowstone Mileposts but time will tell.

Each journey starts at Trip Advisor. No better lay of the land is presented than the numerous Trip Reports. A file is opened where I cut and paste the highlights as preparation for the detailed itinerary. The snippets get organized by place and give me a good lay of the land. This is how I paint the picture of those faint memories from long ago.

The beginning is what I want to see. Old Faithful (duh) Grand Canyon et. Al. This then provides an idea of how long I need to spend in a location and where is the best place to stay, in terms of proximity. Soon a 10,000 foot view emerges with a start and an end and a rough idea of what happens in the middle.

National Park venues need to be booked a year out if you are sincere in the accommodations you want. I missed the Xantera boat of being thirteen months out and only got half of my first choices at the twelve month mark. Not a deal breaker and in some ways some pleasant surprises. Trip Advisor reviews and asking questions in the Forums hone the edge on the blade. Because I travel by train I have to figure out the logistics of Amtrak relevant to my plans but those reservations can only be made in an eleventh window. Combined with my good friends at the Amtrak Unlimited Forum I work out rail oriented details. As an example I thought it best to leave and return Amtrak at Emeryville for my 2016 travels to Yosemite. Several AU folks pointed out that Sacramento would serve me better so indeed I followed their suggestion.

With the reservation game plan, Judy works her magic. I add other venues, such as an extra day for South Pass / Oregon Trail this summer. I think the perfect trip is ten to twelve days, so begin to spread things out. Glacier ended up being seven days, but two of those nights were solely to match the Amtrak schedule. This year is a tad longer, six nights in YP and two in GT with a day tacked on at the start for Old Home Week and one night burned waiting for the train in Salt Lake. It will take fourteen total days but all at a leisurely pace. Remember there needs to be time to set up the folding chairs and just look at the bison.

This year is fairly straight forward, out and back but next years’ soiree combines two stops with two different approaches. Two just “get there” I could leave Flagstaff, bustittue over to the San Joaquin then up to Yosemite. I will take a little longer, go all the way to LA so I can take the Coast Starlight north to Sacramento / Yosemite. It may make the journey a little longer but also worth the time and the extra expense of a sleeper to enjoy the Pacific Parlor car.

This highlights one of my maxims: I am only doing this once. It means something to get a room at the Many Glacier hotel with a veranda. It was like $60 more a night for this, but after SWMBO saw it once, it was worth it. Conversely I chose to spend our nights at the Lodge at the Falls in Yosemite at half the rate of Ahwanee. We can go over there and enjoy dinner just as we can walk from the Old Faithful Snow Lodge to the Inn and go ooh ahh. At $250/night it still isn’t Tom Bodett leaving the light on.