Presidents and Tetons and Bears (Oh My)

First bears.

This is a picture of my 12 year old father approaching a Yellowstone grizzly bear in 1956.

And behind that bear is her CUB. So, no - not at all dangerous or anything. Epilogue: he lived to tell the tale. And the bears ate the food he offered instead of HIS HAND. While I am really looking forward to following my grandmother's footsteps by taking my own three children on a cross country road trip, bear feeding will not be on our agenda.

We will be spending some time in National Parks though - specifically, Grand Teton National Park and Mount Rushmore National Park. We'll only have a full day in each so I'm going to have a set itinerary for both.

Luckily, a high school classmate saw my posts and sent me some great information about her own family trip to South Dakota. They had a lot more people involved and rented a cabin, but we'll probably just find a hotel/motel for a couple of nights (any suggestions?) The activities she listed included three days worth of scenic drives, towns to explore and monuments. Here are some of the options I'm considering for our one day.

Mount Rushmore - obviously. I think we'll leave that for the end of the day though, as I keep hearing that you HAVE to view it at night. I've also heard that you HAVE to view it at sunrise. But if I had to pick, getting my three children up before dawn would not be my first choice.

I got that image from the Visit Rapid City website. As a past meeting planner, I like to start with the Convention and Visitor Bureau websites for basic location information (and, in this case images, as I assume they won't sue me for using them to promote their city and send traffic to their site...hopefully). I find that a combination of CVB websites, word of mouth suggestions and random Google searches generally gets me all the information I need. I also like the Visit Rapid City Things to Do page. Perfect for clueless South Dakota travelers like me!

I think we'll drive along the Needles Highway (Highway 87) as we make our way to Mount Rushmore.

Another borrowed image from Visit Rapid City, of course. Sadly, our car looks more like this:

Minus the reindeer antlers.

Back to the trip... I think my kids would also really like to see the Crazy Horse Memorial. So that might be a morning activity. My friend said they did a horseback ride there that took them past the memorial. So that's another option. She recommended the company they used, Rockin R Rides, saying they were great for beginners (which would be us!)

One last image from Visit Rapid City. This website certainly has been good to me...maybe we'll stay there!

If I had to add anything else (though two monuments, a scenic drive and a potential horseback ride does seem like a lot), I'd also like to check out Deadwood (once home to Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane). Apparently, they do a Western reenactment for kids in the middle of Main Street. Me from 10+ years ago doesn't understand this at all. But she doesn't have children who LOVE hokey tourist attractions!

Another scenic drive would be the Wildlife Loop Road. The actual "wildlife" we might see includes bison, deer, elk, coyotes, burros, prairie dogs and eagles. I think I'll just have to map all of this out to see what itinerary makes the most sense!

I may know very little about the Mount Rushmore area, but I know EVEN LESS about Grand Teton.

Thorough research (i.e. one Google search) brought me to a Top 10 Summer Activities list on Jackson Hole Traveler. So many outdoorsy possibilities...but I think I can immediately rule out anything involving rafts or fishing. While I'm willing to go outside my comfort zone to give the kids some new experiences, I draw the line at anything that may conclude with me falling into a lake. So rafts, canoes and kayaks are definitely out. I might brave a sturdier vessel though. Boats do make me nervous, but last summer I managed to enjoy myself on a  pontoon ride around San Diego bay. This lake looks pretty placid right?

Image courtesy of (surprise!) Jackson Hole Traveler. Of course a boat ride would be much better if this was involved...

...but something tells me it won't be that kind of boat.

The scene in that first (nonalcoholic) image is of Jenny Lake and a boat from Jenny Lake Boating. I'm sure there are a lot of other locations and boat company options to investigate - but this certainly looks nice. AND affordable at $19/adult and $11/child for an hour cruise around the lake.

Wildlife tours also look fun - but the one that Jackson Hole Traveler mentions (Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris) is $130/person for a half day. That's definitely not in our Grand Teton budget. We could always just go for a hike and take our chances with the bears... The Grand Teton National Park website has a page that lists a number of hiking options (all FREE!)

There is another GTNP page for horseback riding. Funny how this activity keeps coming up in my idea lists, as I have never before expressed a minute of interest in riding horses. Must be those Grand Canyon mules. I will have my picture taken on a large animal if it's the last thing I do! Or more likely, not.

I think that's more than enough to consider. But feel free to tell me if you've been to either of these areas and have fabulous recommendations to make! I will only draw the line at bears. And small boats. But if a glass of wine is offered in either scenario, I may be persuaded...

Danger Island, INDEED

This week, I've been working on nailing down the dates and locations of our summer road trip...which actually means: this week I've been busy working (for my paying jobs) but have found a few minutes here and there to think about how I should really nail down the dates and locations of our summer road trip. Maybe this weekend? It will happen!

In the meantime, I have a funny honeymoon travel story to share. Chris and I went to Spain - specifically the Costa del Sol. Look - aren't we all young and cute and free of child-induced wrinkles?

That picture was taken with a pre-iPhone, Year 2000 DISPOSABLE CAMERA. We brought several left over from our wedding tables and used up the rest of the "film." No digital images were generated from that honeymoon...I think there were a total of 50.

Anyway... As a city person, I could only take so much of the pool and the beach before I demanded a day trip. This story is about that day. It was originally posted on my blog, The Big Piece of Cake in 2009 (though I've edited it for this site because OH MY GOD SO MANY WORDS I USED AAAAAALLLLLL THE WORDS).

Enjoy!

Sunny Spain, Danger Island and International Abductions

In September of 2000, Chris and I got married and then flew to Spain for a two week honeymoon in Andalusia. We stayed in Malaga, Marbella/Puerto Banus and Seville. And while we were in Puerto Banus, we decided to make a quick trip to Great Britain.

Yes – you read that right – we left the sunny beaches of the Costa del Sol so that we could enjoy a cool, overcast day in the city of Gibraltar. This British territory shares a border with Spain, and was just an hour drive from our hotel.

Our hotel was beautiful, but after a few days relaxing by the pool with a book, I got at little bored. So that morning at breakfast, I pulled out our trusty Andalusia book and said, “I’m tired of looking at topless German supermodels at the pool – I have to have an activity today.” And while Chris probably didn’t quite agree about the topless German girls, he was happy enough to leave the hotel to have a little adventure.
One of the reasons that we selected Gibraltar was that we would get to enjoy a drive along the coast. It was a beautiful day and the hour long cab ride felt more like minutes as we took in breathtaking views of sun sparking on sea.

Then we saw “the rock.” It’s almost shocking to see Gibraltar looming on the horizon. It is literally a giant rock under an ominous looking cloud. We immediately dubbed it, “Danger Island.”


While it’s not technically an island, it does kind of look like one as you’re driving down the coast.
I won’t go into detail about our arrival at Danger Island (where we brushed elbows with armed soldiers), or the time we spent there (purchasing hand stitched lace pillow cases and hearing jokes about Monica Lewinsky from the locals). This particularly story is about our drive back.

When departed Gibraltar later that afternoon, I was very ready to put my shopping bags at my feet and close my eyes. Between the walking and the overcast sky I was feeling rather sleepy, and within minutes of entering the cab, I had dozed off.

At some point I felt sun on my face, and peered out from under my sunglasses to see that we were in fact, back in Spain proper. But the expected view of sun sparkling on sea had inexplicably been replaced by green hillside vistas.

While groggily trying to make sense of this new scenery, I realized that my husband was engaged in an animated conversation with our cab driver. Unfortunately, I don’t speak Spanish – so if I wanted details on where exactly we were going, I was going to have to ask Chris to translate.

Right before I sat up and announced my confusion though, the city girl in me held out a cautionary hand. Something wasn’t right. I mean, we were being chauffeured by the Spanish equivalent of a gypsy cab driver, and we were obviously not taking the familiar route back.

My first thought was that it might be a short cut. But in researching our day trip, we did look at a map which clearly showed the coastal road was the most direct route. I may be map-challenged, but Chris is practically a human GPS system. So he would know that we were taking the long way.

I had to conclude that we weren’t going back to the hotel – or at least not directly. And the fact that Chris and the cab driver were now BFFs indicated that they had made a decision to…well, I wouldn’t know would I? Because I was asleep when that decision was made.

At this point City Girl started fuming. What the hell was Chris thinking? This stranger could be a criminal for all we knew. To let him drive us into the hills of Spanish no man’s land and to not even consult with me about it was inexcusable. I would NEVER agree to this. What if he planned to take our credit cards and passports and then leave us miles from civilization. He could be a serial killer. He could be planning to sell me into white slavery. We didn’t know anything about this guy! City Girl was irate. I was a little frightened.

So I decided to feign sleep while I worked out what could possibly be going on. And soon enough, we seemed to have reached our destination. The cab pulled up to a small group of buildings and parked in what could only be described as a rural ally.

I sat up an started to ask Chris, “exactly what the hell is going on?” But I never had a chance. Within seconds, my companions were out of the car and too busy talking and laughing to give me any explanation. Chris barely glanced over his shoulder as he said something about coming in with them and that we would “only be a minute.” Whatever that meant.

City girl and I huffed as we picked up every bag in the cab and dragged them over to the big wooden gate through which the two men had disappeared. There was no way I was leaving all of my beautiful lace napkins and pillowcases in an unlocked cab with open windows.

I’m not sure what I was expecting to see when I followed them in, but we seemed to have entered a courtyard. To my right were rows of kennels and cages. Dogs barked and birds squawked at our intrusion, and flies buzzed around my head. The general effect was something like a barnyard pet store. Directly in front of me was a paddock with a huge brown horse – apparently, the source of all the flies. On the left was what looked to be the side wall of a house.

Our host had opened a door to the house and gestured for us to stay where we were, saying something that seemed to indicate that he’d be right back. Again, there wasn’t time to interrogate Chris about where we were, let alone why we were there. Before I could open my my mouth (which was already agape), the man was back, now holding a box.

He looked at me and asked Chris something in rapid fire Spanish. Chris looked in my direction, then laughingly shook his head and held up his hands, saying something that involved the words “no” and “gracias.” I couldn’t imagine what he thought I didn’t want – but I was happy to finally hear Chris say “no.”

Then it suddenly came to me. It was so obvious what was going on, I couldn’t believe that I didn’t figure it out earlier. Oh my god – he’s trying to sell us drugs.

But before I could begin to puzzle out why Chris would have even agreed to this detour trip, I was being ushered back to the cab. In a cloud of unintelligible banter and every fly previously stationed on the horse’s butt, I followed.

Safely back in the car and surrounded by my shopping bags, my anxiety began to fade. City Girl was back and mapping out the tirade the Chris would hear as soon as we were alone. At this point, I was certain that we were in fact, on our way back to the hotel. And I let out the last vestige of the breath that I was holding when that sparking sea came back into view.

We finally arrived back in Puerto Banus, and the minute the cab pulled away I rounded on a happily waving Chris. “What on earth were you thinking? WHY did you let him take us to that, that…whatever that place was? Did he try to sell us drugs?“

Chris just stared at me in utter bafflement and said, “What?"

Exasperated, I ranted, “that weird farm-like place! What were we doing there? He came out with a box and asked you something. Then you said, ‘no.’ Was he asking you if we wanted to buy drugs?!“

Still dazed, Chris said. “He asked if you wanted a ride on his horse. And we stopped there because his radio had died and he needed to pick up another one. That’s what was in the box. I figured that you were sleeping and we weren’t in a big rush to get back, so it wasn’t a big deal. He didn’t charge us for the extra time or anything.“

Oh.

Well – that didn’t sound quite so bad, the way he explained it. I may have overreacted just a little bit. But I’m still a city girl at heart, and don’t assume that I’m safe with a stranger – no matter how nice they may seem.

I doubt we would encounter a situation like this again – and now that we have kids, Chris would be far more likely to take a conservative view of friendly strangers with cars. But either way, I like to think that he would remember my feelings on the subject, and at least give me a vote the next time.

We were newlyweds – and with every year of marriage, you get to know each other better. I now know that Chris is a good judge of character, and would never have put us in a situation that seemed like it could be dangerous. And Chris now knows that I prefer to be be informed of what’s going on – AND to be asked for my opinion before it is assumed.

But Chris did get one thing right all those years ago… You couldn’t have paid me enough money to sit on that fly-covered horse. Especially if it meant that I’d have to abandon my shopping bags.