The Boy (scouts) Are Back In Town

When school is out, that means band is done, and the boys now have time for moving ahead in Scouts -- completing service hours, merit badges, and rank advancements.

One of the first things that happened this summer was Flag Day ceremonies in June at the Elks Lodge. The boys get to each carry a flag and hold it during the ceremony that tells about the history of the flag. There's only two cub scouts in this photo, the rest of the really young boys are brand new to the Troop. Was my Kevin ever this small as a boy scout?

July also meant Kevin preparing to run a Court of Honor, and finishing up his Personal Fitness requirements.

Nana (Jessie) celebrated her 94th birthday this June as well. A big lunch was brought in and enjoyed under the trees at the Workman-Temple homestead next door to her home.

RJ celebrated Fathers Day and his birthday with a combo gift this year - a new blu-ray player. Anything that can make his movies clearer and sharper is guaranteed to be a big hit.

Kevin and his troop went to Lost Valley camp for a week at the end of June/beginning of July. There he and Thomas cranked out 3 Eagle merit badges and one additional badge, along with a bit of goofing off and having a grand ol' time. Maybe go back as a camp counselor next year to earn some car money??

One of the requirements needed for Life is to teach younger scouts a new skill. There was a First Aid merit badge weekend in July, and Kevin went along to help teach - knocking out that requirement along with some service hours.

I brought Jacob and Matt over in the evening to hang out with the troop for dinner in the 95 degree heat. Even though Jacob wants nothing to do with Scouts, he jumped in and helped with the dishes after dinner that night.

Only spent TWO DAYS at the beach this summer -- it has just been too cold! I know we are wimps to anyone north of central California, but if it's overcast half of the day, we aren't gonna sit and the beach just to shiver.

Thomas, Kevin, and Devon are here showing off their buffed bodies.

One of the last activities before school started was a car wash fundraiser for the troop. Ms Davis hates to cook, but she showed up and BBQ'd the hamburgers and hot dogs like a pro. Michael Edgar is here hamming it up with her.

With six merit badges, 7+ service hours, and teaching other scouts, Kevin is ready to go for his Life board of review in December. First has to get through the hurdles of another marching band season, but he is in a good place!

Matthew sailed through the Traveler achievement, the Map/Compass and Family Travel belt loops with our trip to Yellowstone. One more achievement for him, a couple of campouts to go, before he is ready for Boy Scouts in the spring.

Time to direct our attention back to school work and band and tournaments and the crazy-ness that goes along with all that. See everyone from BSA in December!

The Yellowstone Trek - day 5

...actually, the end of day 4, and then day 5.

The last night in WY (actually, our first night in WY, since we officially stayed in MT) we went out to a local steakhouse in town. I grabbed one of the pamphlets that told about the local history of the town - it was a Pony Express and a Union Pacific railway stop for many years before the interstate came through. We talked about going on a ghost tour of the town, but decided maybe not-- we didnt want any visitors following us home that night.

The meat was melt in your mouth fantastic, with a side of big baked potato and veggies, and the boys all had fun. Actually, they were smiling cause I mentioned they could go swimming afterwards.

The view from outside our hotel - neat geologic formations surround this town, completely different from where we had been that morning.

The town had a bunch of sculptures along the main drag, and we got out at the boys insistence to go ham it up with some of them. We never saw bear in Yellowstone, so why not here?

Day 5 dawned with us driving south to Flaming River Gorge national monument, on the border of Wyoming and Utah. The drive south from Green River was boring as all getout, until all of a sudden you come upon this flaming gorge:

Mom! Mom! We gotta stop so we can take a picture next to the dinosaur sign!! Oh, alright. We were pretty close to Dinosaur national monument, too, but we didnt swing by there as I heard the visitor center was closed for renovations.

We had taken a vote earlier in the morning at breakfast - do we head south an hour to see Flaming Gorge, and then head back up north an hour to I-80 and over to I-15? Or do we continue on south on a two-lane road for most of the state of UT and see the back ways? Popular vote was the back highways -- grandma Elta would be proud!

Along the way at one point, we got stopped by another herd of wild animals. Not bison, but cattle this time. I swear they were being wrangled by the Marlboro Man.. The kids didn't know who I was talking about (thank goodness!).

Most of the day we were winding through a mixture of deserts, forests, and steep grades up and down mountain passes. We spent the time counting those cows again, and seeing who could guess the closest time from the lightning up ahead to the rain hitting the windshield. There were three different stretches of scenic road that we drove through, and I would do it again someday.

We had lunch somewhere in the middle of the state, and pulled into Cedar City, UT that evening right around dinner time. We took a poll and decided that popcorn and candy while watching Toy Story 3 was a way better dinner than dinner out somewhere else.

The next morning we planned to hit Cedar Banks and a tiny bit of Zion National Park, but the rain and flash flood warnings decided our fate for us. We zoomed back through the little corner of AZ, on to Las Vegas, Barstow, and finally home that afternoon.

Zion, Bryce, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon - you're all on the slate for another road trip....which may or may not be before a return to the lands up north.

The Yellowstone Trek - Day 4

The last day in the parks, and we finally take our token picture with the Yellowstone sign. Only because it was 8am and no one else was there hogging it!

This was a meadow we drove through first thing every day, and the morning clouds were just so neat on the horizon. Thunderstorms were heading our way, we made it just in time.. One day I want to return, and just sit by a river and soak in all the quietness that we don't have in LA.

On our pass through the south loop the first time, we skipped by this turnoff. Today we stopped and I jumped out to take a look. Wow - right off the road is all this beauty, and we drove right by it the day before. What else is out there that we missed?

We continued on, on to Grand Tetons National Park. (You know, the green one on the map, just south of Yellowstone.) Have always wanted to visit this park, too, and now I really just want to go back!

We had packed up the maps in the car earlier that morning, but I mean, how hard is it to get there? Just follow the signs! Well, I took the road that went due south instead of the road that veered to the southwest. Spectacular sights on the road, but not the close up ones I was thinking of. We drove all the way to the southern end before catching the road that goes up by the Snake River. Doh!

After trekking our way back north (shh, dont tell anyone we were backtracking), we stopped at Jenny Lake, right at the base of the mountains. Kevin was conked out in the car, but the other two boys got out to mug for the camera.

Spectacular clouds and bright blue sky against these mountains - I took a TON of pictures! The boys climbed over the wall here and down the embankment to the shore of the lake. I was too tired to complain at this point, and figured they needed to get their legs stretched. I did get tsked tsked at by a passing German tourist, though. Oh well.

We continued our trek for the day, down to Jackson Hole... past cool cabins, the Elk Refuge, and into the town of Jackson. Yet another place I want to return to! We stopped for gas, ice cream, and a short walk through the town center. Lots of neat shops that reminded me a little bit of Big Bear.

A gorgeous sunny day, and I can only imagine how it would all be with everything covered in tons of snow and twinkling lights in the winter.

The drive on to Green River, WY, took us out of the mountains, and down across prarie - through very aptly named "Big Sky Country".

The Yellowstone Trek - day 3

Our 2nd day in this park, and we started out early... so early, that Matt still had not put on his shoes when we saw our first bison of the day munching on his breakfast. Actually, Matt didn't want to put his shoes on any time he was in the car - something brought up every time we stopped.

This family of deer was out grazing on this little island in the river, which was great until they started to head off toward the folks on the shore. The folks start running toward the deer, like they are going to pet them or something! It was neat that we saw them, but who knew what would happen if someone got too close.

Jacob and Kevin showing off all their handsomeness.

We drove up the road toward a geyser basin, and made a bathroom pitstop. Right there, hanging out with us, was another family of deer. By the time we left, more folks coming up to see how close they could get. Close is great, folks, but not when the momma gets defensive! This is like an enormous living museum - look, but don't touch! Stupid people. (Man, do I sound like my mother?)

Continuing on up the road, we are heavy into geyser country now. It was neat to look out and see steam rising from multiple points on the horizon, wherever you looked. Even neater was no fences or rails or man-made structures - just wide open spaces.

Jacob had sprained his ankle by this point, but he was a trooper and walked around as much as he could to see things. Some areas allowed you to walk around by the geysers, and were only marked by rocks and a small warning sign.

Old Faithful was one of the reasons we came all this way, so we definately had to stop. Fortunately for us, we found a close parking spot, we didn't have to wait too long, and we found these perfect seats. None of that sitting out in the open under the hot sun for us, the Old Faithful Inn had rocking chairs on the porch, in the shade, just waiting for us. Very neat to sit there and soak in all the history around us while watching the most famous sight around.

We continued on to Yellowstone Lake, a ginormous body of water, the largest alpine lake in North America.

Further up the road, we run into a traffic jam. I was suprised that while we saw folks, it wasn't jam packed like I expected. Of course, jam packed to me is not being able to move through crowds at Disneyland. Hundreds of square miles here means everyone was spread out more! Anyway, we had learned by this time that if you run into cars that are stopped on the road, some type of wildlife is nearby. But we couldnt see anything here for awhile.

Turns out it was a large herd of bison that were on the side of the road. Both sides of the road. And in the road. Rangers were there as well, mostly making sure the citi-fied crowds didn't get too close. These things were the size of a small car! We had plenty of opportunity to take pictures and hear them breathing through the car windows. We waited for some to pass, a car or two would drive thorugh, then more came across the road... all over the space of a half hour or so.

Another highlight of the day was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We parked and hiked along this little trail right along the rim of the canyon, looking straight down hundreds (thousands) of feet. An absolutely gorgeous site, and sight, but not one I felt that any of us needed to experience any closer than that.

We finally headed back toward the hotel, having driven for miles, and having soaked in a ton of scenery. I really wanted to dip my toes in a river, but we still had road construction to get through before dinner. That evening we cruised through the little town of West Yellowstone and had a meal of BBQ pulled pork sandwiches.