GO WEST, YOUNG MAN, GO WEST, BUT DON’T FORGET YOUR MOTHER!

And that is exactly what my son, Tom, did. I was allowed to go along for the ride, as an alternate driver. He plotted the whole trip, knowing that I am directionally disabled. He said he didn’t want to end up in Saskatchewan. Fortunately, we decided to pack all the prized paintings, oriental rugs, and breakable treasures into the old Toyota Camry, instead of entrusting them to the movers. Considering what happened to my files, Queen Anne chairs, and half my boxes, it was the right decision. Beware of movers…especially those who are friends!

Here are the two weary travelers:

We spent our first night near my old stomping ground in West Virginia, then moved on to LaGrange, Kentucky, near Louisville. This was the first time we had visited son Rob and his wife, Gwen, who have moved there from L.A. to start a whole new company related to the laser glow golf and glow gear business they created. You might also check out Rob’s recent YouTube video. The next night found us in St. Louis visiting good friends Lynn (of story teller fame) and Robert Rubright (of walking and breakfast book fame), and visiting the Grand Center Arts Academy, a free public charter school in downtown St. Louis, which was spearheaded by their son, Dan Rubright, Director of Arts and Community Partnerships.

We had planned to drop by relatives and friends in Denver and Boulder, Colorado, but the dire predictions of rain and flooding changed our minds, so we headed north, instead, to the wild country of Montana and Wyoming. This gave us the opportunity for a splendid two-day revisit of Yellowstone National Park. The Peterson family en masse had visited here in 1969, pulling a 17 ft. Yellowstone trailer and camping throughout the United States as we went along.

Here are a few of the highlights of our whirlwind exploration of this glorious park. We’re glad we hit it just days before the government shutdown.

This was the first view of the steaming hydrothermals

Cracked ground oozing steam

He wants nothing to do with us!

Made me think of a Japanese painting

Here’s what happens when cold water runs over steaming rock

Our first bison…stopped traffic

Tom heads for the precipice, just to scare me. And he did!

Not something you want to fall into….

Sometimes the park looked on fire….

And sometimes it was the most peaceful place on the planet.

The lower falls….

And how you get there.

Near the Yellowstone Grand Canyon the Yellowstone River plunges 308 ft. over the Lower Falls. You can see geysers spouting downstream. Half-a-mile upstream the Upper Falls formed at a junction of a lava flow and glacial lake sediments.

It’s a long way down….still the Lower Falls.

A colorful canyon.

Coming and….

Going. Forever fascinating.

Turbulence at every turn in the river.

The Upper Falls.

Yellowstone is still recovering from recent fires. The trees grow on their own. The cones require fire to open up and germinate properly.

Many walkways through the springs.

Magnificent desolation.

A peaceful scene as we depart.

Just so you know that I haven’t abandoned my theater addiction completely, I did see Big Fish with the fabulous Norbert Leo Butz  just before I left New Jersey in early September. He was phenomenal, but the show was a bit over the top, exhausting audience members who were more interested in the rather poignant story than the pyrotechnics of Susan Stroman.   Last week, right here in Langley, I saw a terrific production of Blithe Spirit, and every day brings another musical or dramatic event from symphony to comedy to feed the soul. I’m going to love it here!

This trip from Jersey to Washington was a big adventure. I now have a new appreciation of the vastness and beauty of this country and the fun it is to explore its nooks and crannies. Sometimes we lose touch with this in our eagerness to fly to exotic foreign lands. I’m a great believer in getting to know your own land first! We think we’re homogeneous and cut out of the same cloth. We’re not. Just open your eyes and ears and you’ll be surprised at what you discover.