4th August, 2017

Yes, we are still here. Indeed, I am typing this in Las Vegas at half time whilst watching the English Premier League – and it is not yet 8.00 am! We are off to Death Valley soon, but I will try to catch up on a few days of our travels.

Well, I think I left you in Cody after our great trip to Yellowstone Park at near enough to midnight. So today was our day off and we went into Cody for a bit of shopping, mostly windows as prices are not too brilliant at present. We had a quick look at the Irma Hotel, named after Buffalo Bill’s youngest daughter. Very wide streets, lots of souvenir shops and art galleries and places to eat accompanied by the thud, thud, thud of Harley-Davidsons cruising up and down.

Now, the whole purpose of the trip has been to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of my great great grandfather, William Frederick Cody, aka Buffalo Bill. For the genealogists of you out there, he had 4 children, two of whom died young – his son, Kit Carson Cody at about 5 years old and one daughter, Orra, when she was about 11 or 12. That left two daughters, Arta and, 18 years younger than her, Irma (and no, I don’t know where they got the names from!). My grandmother, Arta Clara, known as Clara, was Arta’s daughter and she also had one brother. Clara married my English grandfather, Frank Hamilton Benn in 1910, when she was 19 and he was 42 (!). They had 3 children, one of whom was my father. Hope that all makes sense!

So, the first event was a picnic in the evening. It did take us a little while to find it, but we made it eventually and met up with the myriad cousins from both sides of the Atlantic. The Benns were well represented with 3 of my 4 sisters there and my brother, my first cousin and two of his children, and two of my nieces as well as various partners and spouses making some 23 in total. And then there were the American descendents of Arta and those of Irma making up another 31. Luckily my cousin, Michael had provided us with a brilliant family tree and we were all equipped with name tags! No photos from the picnic, I regret, or from our trip to the Silver Dollar Saloon (featured above!) afterwards (probably just as well!).

5th August, 2017

(Now writing this just before heading for the airport to come home!)!

It was an early start for many of us as there were a number of activities planned for our first full day of the reunion. Our little party set off up the valley for about an hour to go zip lining. Caroline, being pregnant and Chris, having done it before, opted out, but there was still a merry and enthusiastic band who got equipped and trucked up to the start of 5 lines down what in winter is a ski slope. Great fun, though over quite quickly, but a lot of laughs and screaming! The last part was where you walked off a ledge, attached to a cable. One’s whole instinct was not to do it, but we all did, though cousin Kimberly almost had to be pushed!

Close by is Pahaska Teepee, which was a hunting lodge and hotel that Buffalo Bill built as a stop off on the way to Yellowstone which was opened in 1905 and was the site of a barbecue lunch for the reunion. Very picturesque. The building itself is very original, all wood and had some 24 bedrooms. We were joined by the rest of the party, some of whom had been on a two hour horse ride. A wonderful lunch, lots of chat and a series of generational photos of descendents, one of which I attach below.

It was then back to Cody, a rest at the motel, before our next engagement, a dinner in the Museum followed by the Dan Miller Show, featuring lots of very well-performed country and western numbers.

A full and excellent day. Some repaired to the saloon, most went to bed!

6th August, 2017

Another early start with a scrumptious breakfast at our host’s house before heading off for some white water rafting. It was great fun, relatively calm, though with just the right amount of splashing and shipped water and wet clothing. Sorry, no photos as I did not want to risk the camera.

A quick change back at the hotel as we had an appointment at the museum (the Buffalo Bill Center of the West) at 1.00 with a personal tour of the vaults to look at some of the artefacts that don’t make it into the displays the whole time. We were even able to handle some of them, once attired in white gloves of course, including his Winchester rifle and one of his Stetson hats. As you will see, we were also shown boots, saddles and some of his outfits. The one below, that was obviously not worn by him, was the wedding dress of his daughter, Arta, my great grandmother, which my father had donated to the museum. Arta and her husband Horton Boal both died at the ashes of 37 in 1904 and 1902 respectively when my grandmother was between 12 and 13.

We then went round the museum – or at least some of it as it is BIG! There are in fact 5 parts to it – one on BB, one on the Plains Indians, one on weapons, one on art and one on nature. Guess which one I went round first! Can you spot the family likeness (no, nor can I!).

And finally, to round off a fun-packed day, we grabbed a quick and excellent burger at the Silver Dollar before heading out to an evening at the rodeo. We had allocated seating and were introduced to the crowd (not individually) and settled down to some bronco riding, some lassoing competitions, races and bull riding (mostly falling off!). Nice one of my great niece, Lucy on the bull!

Ok, time to post this (we are now at Oakland Airport!). I will try to finish the tour from back home in Blighty.

3rd August, 2017

Val correctly pointed out that we had not had a rest day in the whole trip, so I condensed the two days planned for Yellowstone into one long one. In many ways it makes sense if you are getting there from Cody as it is a good two hours to get to the Grand Loop Road (try and stay in the park, though it comes at a price, or at West Yellowstone). So we set off after a hearty breakfast at the Best Western Sunset Inn (courtesy of the owner, my cousin Bill) and drove through the valley heading west, past the Buffalo Bill Dam and Buffalo Bill Lake in the Buffalo Bill State Park and on to the entrance and beyond.

Our first stop was Canyon Village and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone with its Upper and Lower Falls. A must-see is the view of the latter from Artist Point, which, as you can see below is more than simply picturesque.

You can walk down to get better views of the falls themselves, which is what we did starting with the Upper Falls. The object in the water we were told was a dead bison…

Now, there has been a bit of family folklore for many years regarding the Lower Falls as, on our visit of 2000, by the time we got to them, Val, Claire and Caroline were simply too exhausted to trek down to see where the water rushes over the edge before falling some 300 feet below and Chris and I, who did make the journey down, whenever exhorted to admire some other scenic or spectacular sight have always agreed that, whilst it was indeed good, you really should have seen the Lower Falls. So today was the day when we could prove it. It was a long walk down and a tough walk up, especially at the altitude we were at, but well worth it (as we told them it would be!).

Breathtaking! It really felt as though you would be drawn over the edge. I am not sure I completely captured the double rainbow, but I hope you get the general idea. It was pretty breathtaking walking back up again too!

A quick look at Tower Falls on our way to our next stop and, happily, some bison. They are big animals!

The whistle stop tour took us north to the top of the loop and then west to the next major sight, missing a few minor ones en route, but time was of the essence. So we found ourselves parking by the Mammoth Hot Springs, another geothermal spot, but of a different kind to West Thumb of the previous day. If you want to know how it was different, then may I refer you to at least Wikipedia as I have to admit that I am not up to speed with the subtleties of the subject. They are fascinating and rather beautiful, not least in the magnificent colours and textures you see. Here is a selection! The birds peeking out of their hillside nests looked like some sort of swift or swallow.

And finally, we made our way south to the other western corner of the Grand Loop Road to see the world-famous geyser, Old Faithful. It was, by now, about 7.15 in the evening and we still had about two and a half hours of driving to get back to Cody, so we were hopeful that OF was going to live up to its name. So it was something of a disappointment that as we parked the car and Chris sped to his much–anticipated loo stop that he sped back and announced that it was already spouting. We dashed to see what was effectively the end of its performance and thought about how it would have been useful to have been there some 5 minutes earlier as OF settled back to its usual existence.

Still, we had not come all this way to miss out and it is faithful in doing its stuff, so we decided to wait for the next one, which happened about an hour and a half later. We filled the time with a bit of shopping and some supper and took our seats for the main event. Nick, Caro and I did a quick circuit of the viewing area and it was a shame we did not have enough time to view the whole site as there was plenty of other activity. What was good was that the sun was going down and the colours and light were fantastic. And, of course, it gave me the chance to take some sunset shots, without which my blog would not be complete!

And then we settled down for our 8.45 performance. It tried a few tantalising experimental sallies and the crowd got excited, but these were merely teasers until finally it gave it up. In all it’s glory. The sun had set by now, but there was still plenty of light and it is something worth seeing.

And then, finally, it was time to drive home, which was surprisingly quick as I did not have to stop once for some 120 miles following the same car almost the whole way. We got back at 1100, but it was well worth it as it had been a truly memorable day.  I leave you with the moon!

More soon!

2nd August, 2017

Oh dear, this is getting worse and worse as I type this in the morning of 8th August. It has been really busy what with trips, driving and family reunions. So, to ensure I am still not catching up with this at Christmas, I will try harder to get the act together,

Well, we left Rexburg, quite early after a MacDonald’s breakfast (not as bad  as I feared) heading east initially and then south with the Grand Teton mountains on our left looking hazy in the sun. We feared that the views might not be so good, but we were wrong as we skirted the southern edge of the range and headed north past Jackson and into the Grand Teton National Park.

A quick word about the word Teton, the name some French explorers gave to the pointy mountains as it reminded them of a certain part of the female anatomy, though it may have been some time since they last saw one as the likeness is not perhaps immediately obvious. I leave it to you to judge. They are very photogenic, so don’t worry, there will be some more views of them in this blog.

We had been driving some hours, so it was time for a walk, which we did alongside String Lake, one of the smaller lakes in the park. Lovely temperature for walking and stunning views.

On we drove northwards towards Jackson Lake and a fairly impressive dam.

And more fabulous views across the water…..

We were now heading for the famed Yellowstone Park, driving through forests and past waterfalls, with sadly many trees suffering from past fire damage. Everyone still in good spirits though!

We were merely passing through the southeast corner of Yellowstone on our way to Cody, but we still had time for one visit to the West Thumb geothermal area. As I am sure you know, Yellowstone is still a vast active volcano, though the active parts are thankfully only manifested in geysers and hot springs. These are fascinating though and I only wish I had a better understanding of them. The colours and smells were spectacular as were the views over the massive Yellowstone Lake, which at 7,000 feet up is the highest alpine lake of its size, I believe.

And views of some of the party (still unable to behave in a photo!) and the lake…..

Time was pressing and we still had a two hour drive to Cody, but it was a wonderful evening and the drive out of the park and down the Shoshone River was a bonus in the evening light.

And so we made it to our home for the next few nights. We went out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and immediately ran into my first cousin, Michael and our hosts and more distant cousins, Bill Garlow and his daughter Lindsay, which was a nice coincidence to round off a wonderful day.

Tomorrow – the Yellowstone Marathon!

1st August, 2017

Right, here we go again, desperately trying to catch up, so excuse me if this one is a bit light on text, but I am hoping the pics will do the talking.

First up, let me fill you in with the tale of our Dodge Grand Caravan and in particular, its front right tyre. The clever technology had informed us that this part of the vehicle was a little low on air, so we filled it up a couple of times on our travels – not as straightforward as it might seem as the air pump things over here don’t seem to have a built-in gauge to tell you when to stop, so it was a case of putting some in and seeing what the onboard readout said. Anyway, it seemed to be going down rather more often than it did before, so we filled it up again the night before on the way back from the Thai restaurant, but come the morning it was really low, so we had to do something else. So our first job was to contact Enterprise Car Rentals at Hailey Airport about 5 miles up the road, who directed us to Les Schwarb Tires. There was a bit of a wait, but that gave us a chance to have an excellent breakfast just down the road al fresco.

All was well and we were soon on our way out of Hailey (birthplace of Ezra Pound, by the way) and heading for our big stop of the day, the Craters of the Moon National Monument. This is just a bit west of Idaho Falls and is a large and rather incongruous area of land (83 sq miles) that was the subject of a great deal of volcanic activity 15,000 and 2,000 thousand years ago.  There are lava flows, cinder cones, lava tubes and spatter cones aplenty with black basalt everywhere. The temperature the shade was pushing 39 degrees, so it was a warm visit to say the least. The good news is that you can drive the 7 mile loop road and then nip out for a quick view of some of the sights.

Our first stop was to see the North Crater Flow Trail, a nice short one that gave you an excellent taste of what the area was about. The rocks look a little bit like enormous elephant droppings, as I hope you can see from the photos.

Next it was up the Inferno Cone (great name), a stiff walk in the heat, but worth it for the view from the top. Note the panorama one with two Nicks!

Our final stop were the caves formed by the lava tubes, due to the sides and top hardening faster than the flow beneath, thus forming a cave. There were a selection to explore,  but we chose the Indian Cave, which was the most accessible. A bit of a walk to get there (half a mile there and half a mile back) and a bit of a scramble once inside, but definitely worth it. The colours were astonishing and it was wonderfully cool and even had a resident pigeon.

Warm work, but a fascinating experience. We headed west for our overnight at our AirBnb in Rexburg at the Raspberry Garden, which was a well appointed apartment with some of the highest beds we have ever seen. It must have been about four feet off the ground and was so high that Val, having gone to the loo in the night, could not get back into bed and had to wake me up to pull her up the side. We then collapsed in a fit of the giggles to the extent that the kids woke up. It was funny though!

We were now finally able to do some washing, much needed and while one of the loads spun round we headed for a so so supper at an Applebee’s. It did the trick and was nice and quick which meant we could have a game of Crazy Whist in which Caroline excelled herself by not only winning, but by predicting correctly every single hand. An amazing feat.

Ok, that still came out quite long. I will try to do more tomorrow as we venture into the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone!

31st July, 2017

We slept well and feasted on another wonderful breakfast. It was a real shame we had to head off as there was plenty to see, not least the hummingbirds that I tried to photograph but which were rather elusive unless sitting on a branch! A few more hours and a lot more snaps and I probably would have got a good one.

Tony had suggested that we turn right when we got to Salmon just a few mile south of him and detour 20 miles along the Shoup or Middle Fork of the Salmon River as the views were worth it and he was right. It is one of the top rafting rivers in the US with enthusiasts taking 6 day trips down it. It was certainly impressive and it was tempting to carry on on a massive detour, but as ever time was against us. A few photos to give you a feel of what we saw. As you can see, I have mastered the panorama button on Val’s new camera!

We rejoined the 93 and on and on we went, winding our way alongside the seemingly never-ending Salmon River, through Elk Bend and Challis before taking a right towards Stanley, between the Salmon-Challis and Sawtooth National Forests. Our guide book, our rather old guide book, had said that Stanley, an old mining town (or city!) was worth a quick look, so we turned right into it, but to be honest, it did not seem to be that enthralling (my apologies to any Stanley residents reading this – maybe we missed the good bits), so we pulled over and reset the GPS/satnav for Bellevue. This proved interesting as the blue line indicating the direction took us on towards Idaho City and Boise. Ok, thinks I, this must be an alternative route to the Highway 75 we had been on before and the road was excellent and quick. 15 miles on, the GPS woman tells us to turn left. Interesting we all agree, as this seems to be a picnic area and although the lonely loo was a welcome relief, it did not actually seem to lead anywhere else.

The answer was that we had set off from Stanley when the car had been physically facing that way and the GPS felt this was the first opportunity to turn around without actually engaging reverse! What was a surprise was another car also entered the picnic area, turned around and left without stopping, so either they had the same GPS problem or they saw that the loo was occupied (what are the chances of that, they were probably thinking) and headed off elsewhere.

We sped back to Stanley and regained the 75 once again reunited with the Salmon River (that should have been a clue!) and headed for Bellevue all the way to the source of the river and over the pass at Galena Summit (8,501 ft) and down through Ketchum and Sun Valley. Both are the ‘playgrounds of the rich and famous’ being ski resorts in winter and golf and outdoorsy sorts of stuff in the summer. Ketchum was where Ernest Hemingway shot himself dead in 1961 and where he is buried.

The photos do not do the scenery justice, sadly, but they will give you some impression. Just think of them as much, much bigger.

We eventually made it to our next motel, the High Country Inn in Bellevue, Idaho and gave Val a treat of some Thai food! Not the best in my opinion, but at least she had a fix of Asian cooking to keep her going for a while.

And so to bed!

30th July, 2017

Well, the usual seems to be happening as I am typing this up from Cody on 4th August, but it has been THAT busy, as you will see.

We had a truly superb breakfast at the Lonesome Dove Ranch (warm granola among other bits and pieces), packed the car like veterans and headed south through Kalispell and on to Bigfork at the top right end of Flathead Lake and the Wayfarers State Park, which Shivonne had picked out as a good spot for a bit of activity. And she was right! We discovered that you could rent kayaks by the hour, so we picked out 3 of them, got snug in our life jackets and launched ourselves out onto the lake. We did not feel confident enough to take the camera with us, but we did manage a few photos before we set out….. I have no idea what Caroline was doing with her paddle!

I initially wondered if an hour would be enough time, but after about 10 minutes I was starting to think it was going to be way more than enough as my arm muscles started to tighten. Val and I made quite a good team, though it helps to paddle in time with each other!

We had a bit of a swim, dried off in the 30 degree sunshine and much enjoyed the fresh air and not being in the car. Some photos of us having fun! And no, I don’t know why my offspring can’t pose sensibly…..

After showers, recommended to prevent ‘swimmers itch’, we hit the road again, driving down the east side of the lake and rejoining Highway 93 heading south past Missoula for the Bitterroot Forest. As ever the scenery was stunning, the weather hot and sunny and the road long and winding, but we pressed on to our next overnight destination, the 100 Acre Wood B&B. This had been a rather last minute booking as I seemed to have had something of an aberration on the dates and had got the booking wrong for our stay in Salmon as originally planned, so we had cancelled that one and booked into what proved to be an absolute gem of a place.

We were met by Dawn and Tony, the owners though for some reason best left unexplored, I thought it was Don and Kevin – the former perhaps understandable due to the accent, but I have no idea where Kevin came from. The house is in a lovely setting in the valley with hills and mountains and a small pond.

The rooms were large and very comfortable too, so we were a happy bunch before heading off for supper up the road. Well, most of us were happy, but Chris had rather overindulged at our Dairy Queen lunch stop on, in particular, Mountain Dew and ice cream, so he did not join us for what proved to be a very good Mexican restaurant called the Broken Arrow. We brought him something back and he seemed a little better. Some of us took a short constitutional round the pond until forced in by the mosquitoes.

Another great day completed, a few pounds heavier, some beautiful scenery and great music on the various playlists (Caro had put together a special one for the trip) – all in all a terrific trip so far, with more to come!

29th July, 2017

We slept surprisingly well at Sears Motel despite the rather basic accommodation and wandered over the road to the cafe for an excellent breakfast of omelettes with all the trimmings. We were now practised in the art of loading the car and we were soon on the road again and heading back towards Kalispell.

There was nothing particularly planned for the day, so we drove round Glacier Park on Highway 2 and headed for Whitefish where we parked and walked about the town. Whitefish is decidedly upmarket and caters for the skiers in the winter and the vacationers in the summer. Lots of chic shops with prices to match (and that is not simply because of the lousy exchange rate!), so it was decidedly window shopping only. An attractive town – or city? The US seems to call even tiny places city and we went through one recently that only had 94 inhabitants.

We feasted at Chick a Fillet (I may have got that wrong). Tasty enough, but the pounds are definitely starting to show! Chris went to Boot Barn and treated himself to a very fancy pair of proper cowboy boots so he should be looking the part when he is in Texas later in the trip. Nick and I found a free plastic bow and arrow range and had fun trying to hit balls floating on jets of air. It was not as easy as it looked!

We then set off for our accommodation for the night, just outside Kalispell, at the Lonesome Dove Ranch, where we arrived mid afternoon. This was a bit of a different experience as we were all sharing the same cabin and all basically in the same room, as you can see.

We were located in the middle of the ranch with a rather scruffy bison and lots of horses scattered about. Very idyllic, though we pretty much crashed out on arrival until it was time to go to supper. Nick did try his horse whisperer act (I found one of them lying down on its side soon after, which was a bit of a worry, but it still seemed to be breathing). There horses seemed friendly enough!

Supper was a short drive to a local pub, but Val was feeling a bit tired, so we left her resting in the cabin and tucked in to a variety of pizzas and other fare. We are getting seriously close to scurvy with the lack of vegetables, but no teeth have fallen out yet! We took Val a vegetable pizza back and started a game of Crazy Whist until eyelids started to droop. Val and I had the massive bed in the middle of the cabin and the kids were on the mezzanine floors, which looked a bit challenging especially if you sat up quickly and banged your head on the ceiling!

A quietish day, but fun and we were well rested for the adventures ahead!

More soon.

28th July, 2017

We set off after the free breakfast in the Aero Inn, an interesting affair as there seemed to be about 12 of us but only about 8 chairs, so there was a fair amount of lingering expectantly like a round of musical chairs in the hope someone would vacate their spot. It was very much do it yourself with all the plates and cutlery being disposable plastic, but they had Cheerios, so Nick and I at least were happy. Chris worked out how to make his own waffle (can you make yours waffle?) so he was a happy and fairly full bunny.

Our destination today was the wonderful Glacier National Park adjoining the Canadian border. First stop was a very upmarket supermarket for some provisions and snacks and then off we set. It was about an hour to West Glacier Village and the entry to the park. Chris very kindly agreed to drive and after a few practice turns in the hotel car park and some coaching by our resident US expert Shivonne on some of the finer points of driving in America, he safely got us to the park and onto the Going-to-the-Sun Road, a 50 mile drive through some of the most stunning scenery in the world. Our first stop was the Visitor Centre to find out what we should aim to see and for a team photo.

Next stop was at Lake Macdonald where we all piled out of the car and walked down to the water’s edge where we took photos, played ducks and drakes and indulged in some serious selfies. The light was brilliant and the view breathtaking as you can see from the photos below, I trust.

We stopped briefly at the Lake Macdonald Lodge, which proved a wonderful old wooden building and which had a number of furry friends to boot.

We had decided on a short hike, nothing too strenuous, but something to give us a taste of the Park and the Trail of the Cedars seemed to fit the bill well, with a boardwalk, some interesting trees and a nice tumbling stream of an almost electric blue colour. The usual posing from the kids…….

We did try to do another hike at Logan’s Pass, but the car park was full and we abandoned the attempt. A shame as it is where you cross the Continental Divide – which would have been the high point of the whole trip as Nick pointed out! There were still many photo opportunities, as you can see!

A truly breathtaking visit and one we have done before, but it was still worth a second one. We spent the night at a motel in East Glacier, Sears Motel, who actually pride themselves on the basic facilities on offer (no air con). The shower we had did leave a bit to be desired, but it was not bad despite the ‘saloon’ doors it sported and the bed was comfy enough for someone who was still getting over the effects of jet lag.

We found that East Glacier is something of a tourist spot with prices to match, but we did manage to dine at a good Mexican restaurant, Seranos, which Shivonne, who is an expert, felt was pretty good. A quick game of Hearts before bed and our thoroughly enjoyable day ended.

Apologies for the delay in publishing this. The usual problem of having too much fun! More soon.