working out for Disney

[HouCuseChickie]

No real working out this week, unless you want to count cleaning yesterday. My husband gave the kids some unrealistic expectations with chores and got nasty about them possibly not finishing, so I stepped in. I normally wouldn't, but you can't expect them to work in 4-5 hours of cleaning when they had 3 days of softball games with us outside the house from 6am to 8pm and fundraisers, a ton of school time and school work, and practices...not to mention him getting the younger one to play video games with him for several hours during a little bit of downtime. My new meds are messing with my sleep, so I got up around 4:30 am and started cleaning. I finished up the rest during my lunch, minus a few bathroom chores I left for the kids for after school. Today has been work and trying to storm prep. Monday, I didn't wake up early like usual because the older one has to attend class in person for softball...and class starts at 7:25am.

I think I've done the majority of the prepping I can possibly do. I've even made three trips to the store today for everything I forgot. Praying that the worst stays to our east like the models are predicting, praying that we don't have any damage or injuries, and praying for all those who aren't so lucky. A night landfall is scary and it's coming in around high tide and likely in some very low lying areas.

 

[Figgy1]

***Somehow, I doubled my replies. It's all the same, I think...except for the last picture, which is a map vs. a squirrel



Come to think of it, the kids did get excited about Yellowstone's squirrels since they aren't the same as our local variety.

Aside from what I think was a baby bighorn, we've never seen them in Yellowstone. Still, I know plenty of other people have. At the bottom, I'm going to try and paste a pic of a map a park ranger put together for us showing best spots to find certain animals. Hopefully you can see enough of it for it to be useful.

Makes sense to spend some extra time in Cody. I remember seeing the Irma. I believe we got ice cream at the saloon next door/across the street from the hotel. I looked at it for lodging, but I think the bed situation was an issue. We thought about going to the museum before heading into Yellowstone, but everyone was eager to get into the park. So, we skipped it. It gets decent reviews though and it looks like it would be interesting.

I totally hear where you're coming from on cooking during vacation. We've stayed a few places with full kitchens and on the rare occasion that we use them, it always makes it feel like less of a vacation. It's part of my reluctance of planning too heavily for food in our room for our February Disney trip. Plus, prime rib at a restaurant sounds a heck of a lot better!

That makes sense with the town name. I mapped it and it looked like we were still a few miles from Wapiti, which sits between Cody and YNP. So, I guess it was still Cody for a while after where we were.

I had seen the story about the woman getting it twice. Apparently she had a mild version of the strain circulating in her part of the world, fully recovered, traveled and came back with a different strain, but also asymptomatic this second time. There are so many unknowns and this raises more questions. The intel circulating in the US on the vaccine keeps pointing to multiple doses being required and some are wondering if we'll need some kind of annual or periodic booster even after that. It's anyone's guess. But yeah...travel may still be restricted and derail plans. I agree that they can't ban things forever. I obviously don't want to see anyone get sick, I don't want to see people die, and I don't want healthcare systems overwhelmed, but if there's no end in sight...I think we have to find safer ways to live with it and ultimately open up things like borders for travel. I know not everyone agrees with that and that's fine.

We took our chances with Artists Point and other areas around the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone/the falls. We figured we were staying in that area, so we would have more chances to get there than anything else. I want to say we tried going to these spots after lunch one day. It took several rounds of circling, but I got a spot for Artists Point. Some areas were closed for construction, other areas were a bit easier for parking, and I was never able to get a space near the brink of the lower falls during the trip...which is too bad, because I think that's one of the coolest things in the park.

As for park hours, stores and dining areas will have set hours, but the park gates and areas are open 24/7 as far as I know. In 2005, we did a private photography tour with a ranger and our meet up time was before 6am. I recall having to get an early start in the dark back to Jackson Hole that same trip and no restrictions on the way out either. I remember stopping around West Thumb or Grant as the sun was coming up for sunrise pics. So, getting out early...as long as you're good with the driving...is fine. Oh...and I've still never seen a bear...any kind of bear...in any park or wild area!

If you want to see a bear be in my yard about 7am EDT tomorrow

 

[Figgy1]

No real working out this week, unless you want to count cleaning yesterday. My husband gave the kids some unrealistic expectations with chores and got nasty about them possibly not finishing, so I stepped in. I normally wouldn't, but you can't expect them to work in 4-5 hours of cleaning when they had 3 days of softball games with us outside the house from 6am to 8pm and fundraisers, a ton of school time and school work, and practices...not to mention him getting the younger one to play video games with him for several hours during a little bit of downtime. My new meds are messing with my sleep, so I got up around 4:30 am and started cleaning. I finished up the rest during my lunch, minus a few bathroom chores I left for the kids for after school. Today has been work and trying to storm prep. Monday, I didn't wake up early like usual because the older one has to attend class in person for softball...and class starts at 7:25am.

I think I've done the majority of the prepping I can possibly do. I've even made three trips to the store today for everything I forgot. Praying that the worst stays to our east like the models are predicting, praying that we don't have any damage or injuries, and praying for all those who aren't so lucky. A night landfall is scary and it's coming in around high tide and likely in some very low lying areas.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[Figgy1]

I'm still not allowed to work out Somebody please send me a get out of boot free card. Thank you

 

[Songbird76]

The place in Dubois looks neat and relatively easy to get to from the parks. Looks like you drive down into Grand Teton and cut over around the Moran junction.

When we were going through my FIL's stuff, we found some old albums from his mom and I recall a picture of her in Yellowstone and she was feeding a bear...or something like that. Of course, that was the norm back then. Now that bears aren't used to being fed, it seems most attacks are from bears being startled and protecting their cubs. Of course, some is also the people being ridiculous. It's amazing how stupid some people are with animals.

Wow! What a Yellowstone story for your mom. Thankfully nobody was hurt and the point was conveyed before anything bad could happen. I've seen a number of people come back with bear pictures and a number of bear sightings posted to boards while we were there, but we just weren't in the right place at the right time. It's also partly the heat on our last visit. The bears usually go up to higher elevations in the park when it's hot like that.

If things are more normal when you go, you can also head into a visitor center and a ranger should be able to help guide you.

I had my husband print off some Wyoming and Yellowstone maps yesterday so I can mark things down. I found a map that shows where to find specific animals in the park, so I can write those things in. And then I can figure out the handiest route to take, once I know all the sites we for sure want to see, etc. Without listing the Yellowstone sites individually, I have a 2 page list of places to go in Wyoming/South Dakota. And now we MIGHT add one or two in Montana. There's an overlook just over the Wyoming/Montana boarder that looks beautiful, and then we're still debating on Little Bighorn. I'd LOVE to drive west to Anaheim and do a couple days at Disneyland, but it would take 2 days to drive there, and 2 days back, meaning with 2 park days, it would take a week. If I want to have any time with my brother's family, I don't know that I want to lose that week. I figure we'll have 4 weeks. So if it takes us a week to get to Yellowstone, 4 days there, and then another 3-4 days to get back to Cheyenne, that's already half the trip. I'm not sure it's realistic.

 

[Songbird76]

No real working out this week, unless you want to count cleaning yesterday. My husband gave the kids some unrealistic expectations with chores and got nasty about them possibly not finishing, so I stepped in. I normally wouldn't, but you can't expect them to work in 4-5 hours of cleaning when they had 3 days of softball games with us outside the house from 6am to 8pm and fundraisers, a ton of school time and school work, and practices...not to mention him getting the younger one to play video games with him for several hours during a little bit of downtime. My new meds are messing with my sleep, so I got up around 4:30 am and started cleaning. I finished up the rest during my lunch, minus a few bathroom chores I left for the kids for after school. Today has been work and trying to storm prep. Monday, I didn't wake up early like usual because the older one has to attend class in person for softball...and class starts at 7:25am.

I think I've done the majority of the prepping I can possibly do. I've even made three trips to the store today for everything I forgot. Praying that the worst stays to our east like the models are predicting, praying that we don't have any damage or injuries, and praying for all those who aren't so lucky. A night landfall is scary and it's coming in around high tide and likely in some very low lying areas.

Cleaning can be a pretty good workout! Mopping floors and scrubbing bathtubs are particularly hefty in my experience.

Stay safe! The said on our news this morning that Laura is a Cat 4! I hope it misses you!

 

[Songbird76]

I'm still not allowed to work out Somebody please send me a get out of boot free card. Thank you

Why aren't you allowed to work out? Is it not completely healed? How much longer do you expect to be stuck in the boot?

 

[MinnieM123]

I think I've done the majority of the prepping I can possibly do. I've even made three trips to the store today for everything I forgot. Praying that the worst stays to our east like the models are predicting, praying that we don't have any damage or injuries, and praying for all those who aren't so lucky. A night landfall is scary and it's coming in around high tide and likely in some very low lying areas.

Hoping the hurricane fizzles out long before it reaches your area.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I had my husband print off some Wyoming and Yellowstone maps yesterday so I can mark things down. I found a map that shows where to find specific animals in the park, so I can write those things in. And then I can figure out the handiest route to take, once I know all the sites we for sure want to see, etc. Without listing the Yellowstone sites individually, I have a 2 page list of places to go in Wyoming/South Dakota. And now we MIGHT add one or two in Montana. There's an overlook just over the Wyoming/Montana boarder that looks beautiful, and then we're still debating on Little Bighorn. I'd LOVE to drive west to Anaheim and do a couple days at Disneyland, but it would take 2 days to drive there, and 2 days back, meaning with 2 park days, it would take a week. If I want to have any time with my brother's family, I don't know that I want to lose that week. I figure we'll have 4 weeks. So if it takes us a week to get to Yellowstone, 4 days there, and then another 3-4 days to get back to Cheyenne, that's already half the trip. I'm not sure it's realistic.

You could always fly into California and drive to Wyoming or fly out of California, then you could get to Disneyland.

 

[Figgy1]

Why aren't you allowed to work out? Is it not completely healed? How much longer do you expect to be stuck in the boot?

Thank you for asking 2 more weeks fingers crossed

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Cleaning can be a pretty good workout! Mopping floors and scrubbing bathtubs are particularly hefty in my experience.

Stay safe! The said on our news this morning that Laura is a Cat 4! I hope it misses you!

Hoping the hurricane fizzles out long before it reaches your area.

Thanks everyone! We were lucky. It's always scary when you're in the cone for a storm and then have it get close enough to appear on local radar...especially when you're banking on it to make a turn. You just never know but it's better being on the western side... we only got some showers and a few rumbles of thunder. It's possible we could see a little bit of rain scoop down from it tomorrow, but even that's in doubt. I know some people are actually angry that we didn't get hit, which is absurd. So, you spent some extra time and money preparing and possibly even evacuating. It's still better than weeks without power and catastrophic damage. We evacuated in 2008 for Hurricane Ike...came back to minor roof and fence damage and 3 weeks without power. I have a friend with family in Lake Charles, LA and some of them have really bad home damage...one of which is not currently livable. So, I'll take being spared. Thanks again

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I had my husband print off some Wyoming and Yellowstone maps yesterday so I can mark things down. I found a map that shows where to find specific animals in the park, so I can write those things in. And then I can figure out the handiest route to take, once I know all the sites we for sure want to see, etc. Without listing the Yellowstone sites individually, I have a 2 page list of places to go in Wyoming/South Dakota. And now we MIGHT add one or two in Montana. There's an overlook just over the Wyoming/Montana boarder that looks beautiful, and then we're still debating on Little Bighorn. I'd LOVE to drive west to Anaheim and do a couple days at Disneyland, but it would take 2 days to drive there, and 2 days back, meaning with 2 park days, it would take a week. If I want to have any time with my brother's family, I don't know that I want to lose that week. I figure we'll have 4 weeks. So if it takes us a week to get to Yellowstone, 4 days there, and then another 3-4 days to get back to Cheyenne, that's already half the trip. I'm not sure it's realistic.

I found this site that might help. https://naturalatlas.com/posts/yellowstone-wildlife-hotspots-1478 Hayden Valley is another wolf spotting area that I don't see on here, but this might help.

It would be fun to try and work in a Disneyland visit. Like @ajrwdwgirl suggested...maybe fly into CA and do a back and forth. Alternately, Salt Lake City or even Las Vegas might be good options and you may save a little $ on taxes/rental vehicle that way. I guess it all just depends on how much driving you want to do and how much time you want to devote to each location.

 

[Songbird76]

You could always fly into California and drive to Wyoming or fly out of California, then you could get to Disneyland.

Hrmmmm....I hadn't considered that. I did look up some alternative routes today. If we drive from Evanston, instead of the West yellowstone gate, it only takes about 12 hours...totally doable in one day with 2 drivers. But I don't know how M and A will feel about that long of a drive. But if it only takes half a week instead of a whole week, it might be a possibility. I've never flown into CA before....the only issue is driving back. We won't end up anywhere near Evanston, which is the furthest southwestern Wyoming town. I want to go to state fair in Douglas, and it looks like that's in the middle of August, which means that would be at the end of our trip. This year's was August 11th- 15th, which going by those days of the week would put next year's at the 10th-14th. That would give us 2 weeks when we got back home to get rid of the jetlag and get back on schedule before school starts back up. But it would take us another full day to drive from Douglas to Evanston. I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion! It might be cheaper...flights to LA are usually cheaper than flights to Denver, I think. I'll have to look!

 

[Songbird76]

I tried to price out flights to see if it would be cheaper to fly into Cali, but because borders are closed, no flights are going, so you can't even get a quote. There are no planned flights at all. This could make planning significantly more difficult. Can't make flight arrangements, so can't determine when I'll be where. Can't make reservations for anything without flight arrangements.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I tried to price out flights to see if it would be cheaper to fly into Cali, but because borders are closed, no flights are going, so you can't even get a quote. There are no planned flights at all. This could make planning significantly more difficult. Can't make flight arrangements, so can't determine when I'll be where. Can't make reservations for anything without flight arrangements.

You might be able to look at a historical flight estimator online to get an idea of price.

 

[Songbird76]

You might be able to look at a historical flight estimator online to get an idea of price.

Wow...wildly different results! Amsterdam to Denver is historically around 800-900 dollars according to this, where Amsterdam to LAX is about $1200-1300. Dusseldorf Germany to Denver is also around $1000, but Dusseldorf to LAX is under $700 average! Maybe when the borders open and flights start going again, I'll have to check Dusseldorf to LAX.....that would save us a ton! Even paying for gas to drive to Wyoming and back, it saves a couple hundred bucks per person...so about $750 for four of us, and I doubt it would cost that much for gas! Thanks for the tip!!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wow...wildly different results! Amsterdam to Denver is historically around 800-900 dollars according to this, where Amsterdam to LAX is about $1200-1300. Dusseldorf Germany to Denver is also around $1000, but Dusseldorf to LAX is under $700 average! Maybe when the borders open and flights start going again, I'll have to check Dusseldorf to LAX.....that would save us a ton! Even paying for gas to drive to Wyoming and back, it saves a couple hundred bucks per person...so about $750 for four of us, and I doubt it would cost that much for gas! Thanks for the tip!!

You could also look to see what the cost would be for flying into lax and out of denver then you wouldn't have to drive all the way back to California. It might change the cost of the rental car too to drop off in a different locale.

 

[Songbird76]

You could also look to see what the cost would be for flying into lax and out of denver then you wouldn't have to drive all the way back to California. It might change the cost of the rental car too to drop off in a different locale.

It's a lot more expensive to drop the rental car at a different place. We did that on our first trip from the Netherlands to the US for my mom's burial. We flew into Chigaco, since the burial was in Illinois, then drove to Wyoming and returned the car in Denver when we flew out. But if I remember correctly, it was several hundred extra to do that. And you end up with a travel day each way even if you fly, because you have to get to the airport early to get through security, then the flight, etc. Might as well drive it and save money. Besides, with the drive, you can stop and see stuff along the way, have better food, etc. We'll compare prices for sure though....who knows what travel costs will look like next Summer?

 

[Figgy1]

Hrmmmm....I hadn't considered that. I did look up some alternative routes today. If we drive from Evanston, instead of the West yellowstone gate, it only takes about 12 hours...totally doable in one day with 2 drivers. But I don't know how M and A will feel about that long of a drive. But if it only takes half a week instead of a whole week, it might be a possibility. I've never flown into CA before....the only issue is driving back. We won't end up anywhere near Evanston, which is the furthest southwestern Wyoming town. I want to go to state fair in Douglas, and it looks like that's in the middle of August, which means that would be at the end of our trip. This year's was August 11th- 15th, which going by those days of the week would put next year's at the 10th-14th. That would give us 2 weeks when we got back home to get rid of the jetlag and get back on schedule before school starts back up. But it would take us another full day to drive from Douglas to Evanston. I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion! It might be cheaper...flights to LA are usually cheaper than flights to Denver, I think. I'll have to look!

You may also want to look into flying into NYC/Newark NJ and then into Denver. I know It's cheaper to fly from Europe into those airports than most others in the US they also have good domestic fares due to business travel. or at least they did I know a few people who saved money by doing that your mileage may vary

 

[Figgy1]

Today I went to to the farm market and cleaned them out. So far I've roasted a bushel of peppers, have a couple of jars of horseradish fermenting, destemmed and chopped kale for smoothies and made beans and greens.