• Worked our way out of Yellowstone toward Jackson, Wyoming and the Grand Teton National Park (yes..wait for it….another STAMP!!).  Glenda mentioned that the translation of the Grand Tetons is Big Tits so we will, of course, refer to it from now on as the B.T.  Before exiting Yellowstone we had time for one more loop around the geysers and other hydro thermal features and one last facial at Thumb Geyser Basin.

• We hit the B.T. only 5 miles or so south of Yellowstone yet the landscape already looked different.  More fall foliage, dramatic mountains (B.T.’s) springing up from the lake.

• Hit Jackson proper (population about 1800) and looked for a hotel.  Found this leather chair, buffalo, manly-cigar-type of fancy hotel that had a room with 2 giant king beds.  So here we are.  Headed back out in search of moose.  Sorry to say, no moose yet but more incredible bison herd sightings.  Beautiful dusk lighting too!

Jersey Junction

It seemed like again there would be no Jersey connection but we finally met a fellow restaurant patron dining at the bar next to us.  Terry lives in Vermont, has lived on Montana and other places.  Terry worked hard to come up with his Jersey experience bypassing, thankfully, his several times on I-95 in refinery world, and landing on a bike race he competed in through Harriman State Park and the Palisades.  He mentioned a beautiful view of NY and the Hudson and had a pleasant memory of it all.  Yes, a pleasant Jersey experience!  We rest our case.

Theme of the Day:  Gorgeous scenery

Up next: Jackson again and the search for a moose sighting!!

• On our way back we looked for Mr. Beaver and couldn’t find him but we found his handiwork and his friend.

• Back into Jackson for a walk about Town Square and some shopping.

Sue and Glenda getting into the western theme!!

Sue’s mom and her friend getting into the western theme circa 1953!!

Jersey Junction

In our shopping, we met a store clerk who was born and raised in Clifton, NJ then Pompton Lakes, NJ.  She married and moved to Lynbrook, Long Island and then decided to bolt to the far west in 1970 with her 2 kids and a sawed off shotgun in tow.  She left her Harley dealer hubby to follow and set up their new life 15 miles outside of Jackson.  She now shows no signs of her former Jersey or LI life…not even an accent is left.

We also met a very friendly store clerk originally from Minnesota with a good friend here in Jackson, an artist, from Maplewood, NJ….a close enough junction.

Theme of the Day: Photo Safari

Up Next: Salt Lake City and Sue’s friend Nancy!!  wooo hooooo!!

rust

Jersey Junction

Yay! A self-evident Junction; we stayed with transplanted Jersey people. Had a great dinner, discussed Mormon Utah, and learned that the Mormon caffeine ban does not apply to Coca-Cola because it is a cold beverage and the ban seems to be on warm drinks only. Whatever. Nancy and George love it here and they are now confirmed Utahns (yes, that’s the term). Many thanks to them for a great stay.

Theme of the Day: Colors – all along the way, starting with a visit to Dr. Blue (really, that was his name :))

Up Next: Eureka, Nevada

• Arrived in Eureka, crossed to the Pacific time zone here and crossed into another world as well.  Pretty sure this is the most remote place we will stay in.  We are in the Best Western here and our fellow travelers and fellow diners at the one local eatery are quite the sight.  Here is who we saw: mine-working, dusty, steel toe boot clad, giant mountain men; a pair of older toupee-wearing gay motorcycle men; a gray-haired local couple holding holding hands and saying grace before dinner; a table of Mexican workers; a possible Euro tourist with fancy shoes; a hipster with a cap, weird rubber shoes and a most unusual pair of pants that we swear would fit in at Williamsburg, Brooklyn now; a pair of men who seemed to be on some sort of business trip…what business there might be for them around here we haven’t a clue;  a couple of local men wearing both belts and suspenders.  All in all, a whole new world here.

Eureka!

Jersey Junction

We have driven some 4,000 miles away from Jersey only to find ourselves in the Newark Valley.  Somewhere in between Ely, NV and Eureka, NV lies, yes, Newark.  Here’s a picture.  Does anything look familiar?  Can you see the Rock in the distance?

Newark

Theme of the Day: Empty spaces

Up next: Tahoe, perhaps.

p.s. We forgot to mention when we were in Wyoming that Wyoming is the largest producer of bentonite in the world.  Bentonite is the major ingredient in cat litter.  We left the cat litter capital of the world behind.  Just sayin’.

p.p.s. Glenda had Tater Tots for dinner 🙂

Today’s wildlife sighting: lizard

Petroglyph

Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs

Glenda at the Hickison Overlook

Sue at the Hickison Overlook

• We stayed on route 50 and headed to Austin, NV pop. 300.  We stopped at the Austin post office for stamps and were treated to quite a long conversation with a local.  He started the conversation by asking us about the postal rates–perhaps we looked like USPS employees?  And as the primarily one way conversation rambled we learned he is not an original local.  He called himself a” prune picker” aka a Californian.  But he has been in Austin since he graduated high school and he has definitely had many years on him since then.  He did recommend an alternate route off of Highway 50 that turned out to be a good recommendation.  We stopped for lunch at one of the two restaurants in town, looked in a rustic gallery/jewelry shop and drove off past our new friend and a woman sitting in front of a store on the main drag.  He gave us a big wave on our way.

** Here’s where he really endeared himself to me–discussing how his wife finally kicked him out after he told her one too many times that her hair was too short and her ass too fat.  He said this while comparing her hair to mine but tried to smooth it over by indicating that my ass wasn’t that fat.  He also mentioned that he had been hit on the head 3 times at his work which may have contributed to his unchecked outbursts.  Maybe.

Wildlife sighting:antelope

Salt flats

Bust…

• We continued on our way through Fallon, home of the US Navy “top gun” Air Station.  We saw a plane flying around there too.  We also passed by Sand Mountain, a giant sand dune sprouting in the desert not far from the Navy Air field.  We are always crunched for time and I’m sorry to say we missed both the Red Light Prostitution Museum and the Bra Chandelier in Virginia City, NV.

Sand Mountain

• Made it to Reno and checked into one of these casino hotels with bargain rates.  Still a lot of casinos here are abandoned–we are looking at an abandoned high rise hotel from our window.  Similar to the towns along route 50, it’s a boom and bust situation–silver, gold, lead, gems mined created booms in the 1800’s and early 1900’s but it was over in a flash.  Looks like Reno may have experienced some of the same.

Jersey Junction

Back to our talkative “prune picker” who also taught us another term: “rubber tramp” for one who sleeps in his car, meaning what he did after the wife threw him out.  He mentioned that one of the 300 souls who live  in Austin is originally from Jersey.  Amanda is Portuguese and may be from Newark (he didn’t recognize the town name but we figure it’s a good guess).  But how she ended up here in Austin NV?  Who knows?  We didn’t get to meet Amanda but she’s out there!!

Theme of the Day: Boom and Bust

Up next: Lake Tahoe

p.s. Shout out to Nevada bureau of tourism…the lady at the welcome center gave us a CD to listen to with info about Nevada.  It was really good and informative about these little towns along the old Pony Express route.  Best thing we got from any of the states so far!!

Virginia City

Sue with the Old Keystone Head Frame

• The trip to Virginia City was 7,000 feet up a windy, scary road. Now, back down on the other side, through Silver City, Carson City and, ultimately, to South Lake Tahoe, CA. A new land full of pine trees and the big, beautiful lake.

Lake Tahoe

• Based on a friend’s recommendation, we headed to Pichetti’s wine tasting on the main drag of South Lake Tahoe. Good wine and our hostess, a former flight attendant, was friendly and chatty, another new BFF.

Pichetti’s

• Back to our “green” hotel and off to dinner at the local golf course (our flight attendant/wine hostess’ recommendation). Nice outdoor tables with a view of the golf course and the lake. Here is our picture taken by a tipsy, former, 1970’s, casino photographer’s helper (so she said). We think she thought we were a couple (look at the hand pose).

antique condoms

Theme of the Day: Red Light, Green Light

Next Up: Yosemite National Park and a stamp 🙂

• We made it to the East Entrance of Yosemite and wow!!  What huge granite mountains face us!! We wound our way to the middle of the park first and then ultimately to our hotel closer to the South Entrance.  En route we saw many sites:

Their Jackets read: Dykes on Bikes… a happy group had just posed for pics

• We took in the movie about Yosemite at the visitor center and then drove toward our hotel.  We stopped first to view El Capitan, the big iconic granite rock face.  We saw several groups of climbers scaling the face of El Capitan.  This can take several days we were told and the climbers must carry loads of equipment, food, water etc.  They apparently sleep on the rock face hanging on there somehow.  Sound fun???

Climbers in red along the crevice.

Jersey Junction

We finished snapping photos of El Capitan and walked back to our car where a couple of climbers were packing up their truck.  The husband noticed our Jersey plates and admitted he was originally from Princeton.  He was so nice, filling us in on things to do in the park.  His wife answered Sue’s many probing questions on the details of rock climbing including the climbing up and down plus a short discussion of the bathroom situation and waste removal.  The husband drew maps for Glenda on how to travel through the park and other interesting things to see outside the park.  Such a nice, friendly couple!  Of course he was from Jersey!!!

Theme of the Day: ROCK n Roll

Up Next: Another day in Yosemite!

• We arrived at the Mariposa Grove and had a view of a few of the huge sequoias from the bus. We hiked through the grove and saw even more spectacular trees. Glenda’s personal favorite was the California Tunnel Tree and Sue’s was the Grizzly Giant Tree.

Sue and the Grizzly Giant

Glenda with the roots of the Fallen Monarch

Big tree

More big trees

• Here are some tree stats:

• We are now pseudo-experts in pine tree bark and cones. Here is a pine cone still life – enjoy!

Do you recognize this body part from the TV show “Person of Interest”?

• The giant sequoia produces the smallest pine cone – who knew?

• For an afternoon hike, we decided to explore the Wawona Meadow. What poor signage Yosemite people! We were launched up a steep road incline for miles – only to turn around and go back to square one and find the Meadow road, soft and flat, was on our left. We managed to go half way on this path for some wildlife sightings: blue birds, mule deer, yellow-bellied marmots – but no bears or bob cats.

• We are staying at an in-the-park hotel, one of two in the whole 3.4 million acre park.  There are 2 restaurants and 1 bar here so we headed to the bar.  Here we met Joe and Charlie who are on a boys’ dirt bike/motorcycle adventure from the Grand Canyon west to Yosemite and Southern Cal where Charlie lives.  Joe is from Boston, complete with the accent!.  We are heading where they have been and they are heading where we have been so we exchanged travel info.  Here are Joe and Charlie with their dirt bikes loaded on the truck.  Charlie also introduced us to reader glasses with LED lights on the side..perfect for map reading in the dark.  A must have!!!!

Joe, bikes, Charlie

Charlie, Glenda, Joe

Sue looking otherworldy (to match the landscape)

• Before leaving the Valley of Death, we had to venture to the lowest point in North America – Badwater – 282 feet below sea level. Since we have been living at 3,000 feet above sea level, Sue was very concerned about the bends. Needless to say, we were very careful coming back from our plunge – bends free!

• Back on the road for the 2 1/2 hour jaunt to viva Las Vegas. Our GPS freaked out in the middle of State Line Road, just beyond Death Valley Junction. She (our GPS) would have us take a sharp right into the middle of the desert – no road in sight. Fortunately, Glenda’s (the navigator’s) brain decided not to direct us into a desert field and we pulled over instead to regroup. A minute later a great big tour bus came by. Ok. We followed the bus through Pahrump, NV. Say what?

And they make fun of Weehawken???

• Viva Las Vegas! Staying at Ceasar’s Palace. Hard to believe earlier this afternoon we were in the desert and now we are in tacky Sin City, just a couple of hours away. People watching here is as good (maybe better?) than taking in the dramatic desert or mountain sites – just harder to take pics. Here are some people/things we saw:

Busloads of Chinese tourists

Bellagio fountains doing their thing

• So far, gambling not so successful but we have manana.