Escape to the Wild (Day 14 – Goodbyes)

I went to visit the wolves again today for the last time.  They were already up howling into the fading night.  Their song sounded as sad as my heart…it was a fitting goodbye.  I will miss them, and I will miss this place.  Maybe if I stayed here long enough, this place would eventually get old and boring.  But I’m not sure that it would.  And even if it did, I think that time would be a long way off.  There is something primal here that tugs at me; something about the simplistic beauty that calls to my heart.  Sometimes I think that humans have overly complicated things in this life.  We have distracted ourselves from what we were meant to do.  I mean it’s funny how the simple things, when they’re the right things, can be more satisfying…more relaxing and peaceful…than all the things in the world I had left behind.  So, you tell me, which one seems more like the life I was meant for?

I know that my wife is sad about leaving as well.  Usually, she is past ready to be home by this point, but not this time.  We were both so burned out by our life.  We really needed this vacation, and we’re not really in a rush to get back to what’s waiting for us.  Time away is never long enough, but we have tried to squeeze every drop of enjoyment out of every day.  So, now we pack and head home.

We made the long drive back to Bozeman.  As we pass familiar sights, it seems like so long ago that we were here.  The Riverside Grill slides by on the right.  Buck’s T-4 Lodge whooshes by on the left.  So much has happened in the last week.  Has it really only been a week?!  Wow!  In my mind and memories, it’s been much longer than that.

We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, so we grabbed a terrible lunch at the only restaurant.  After we got boarded, we had a 45-minute delay before finally taking off.  Apparently, the weight calculation computer was malfunctioning, so they had to do their measurements by hand.  Of course the delay meant that we didn’t get out of there before the impending storm struck the area. 

It was the…worst…takeoff…I have ever experienced.  The turbulence was rough, and the plane was all over the place…and that was before we had even left the runway!  The plane literally felt like it was twisting and sliding across the runway.  When the pilot finally managed to get off the ground, it was only one wheel at a time, and the plane was leaning at a dangerous angle to one side.  Just after we were wholly in the air, there were moments when the resistance would cease, and the plane would suddenly drop.  I felt like I was floating for a second, right before I was free falling out of the sky.  The lady next to me had the vomit bag out, and I started to think that that wasn’t a bad idea.  I always said that a bus was going to get me, I just never thought it was going to be an American Airlines Airbus!

We are finally home.  That word, “home,” carries mixed emotions.  I like our home, but right now there is a symbolism tied to it that I’m not eager to pick back up.  It represents the routine, the rut.  I will try, like I do after every vacation, to carry my newfound peace forward into my life.  God showed us amazing things on this vacation, and I can only pray that He’ll continue to show us amazing things now that we’re back in the city.  Or more that our eyes are open to see the amazing things that I’m sure He’s been showing us all along.  If there’s one thing I have learned by my time in Yellowstone, it’s this…

Keep your eyes open because there could be something exciting and amazing around every turn of the road.

Escape to the Wild (Day 13 – Howl)

For the last couple of mornings, I have been getting up early and going out to enjoy the crisp, chilly morning air.  Yesterday, while on my walk, I heard a faint howling echoing down the empty streets.  I slowly followed the sound until I identified the source.  Unfortunately, it had stopped by the time I had gotten there.  At the end of our street is the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center.  They rescue animals that would otherwise be euthanized, and people can go there to get an up-close and in-person view of some of the more elusive and dangerous natives of Yellowstone.

The howling I was hearing was coming from several gray wolves in an outside enclosure.  I decided to get up again this morning and try to catch the wolves song with that hope that they did it every morning.  As I trudged down the street in the 20-degree air, I was greeted with only silence.  I started to panic that it was a one-time thing, but I decided to go anyway.  As I crept up toward the chain-link fence, I found a pair of golden eyes staring back at me from the other side.  A gray wolf, although this one was completely white, was watching me with curiosity from the other side. 

I stood there, peering through the cracks in the fence, admiring her sleek beauty when another wolf came out from behind the rocks.  This one was multiple shades of gray and white, and he was bigger than the smaller female.  All of a sudden, he lifted his head up, stretched out his neck, closed his eyes, and started to howl.  It was a high-pitched mournful sound, almost sad.  Pretty soon, the white joined in, and then other wolves from surrounding enclosures that I couldn’t see.  Each with their own unique pitch, as if each was adding his or her own unique voice to the song.  Some were not even howls at all, but merely barks and yips.  As each instrument in a symphony plays a different part, so each wolf lends his voice as he feels moved.

As the sun crept up over the distant mountains, I was reminded of that scene from City of Angels where the angels gather on the beach every morning to welcome the day.  The morning being the time when everything is new and fresh, when they feel closest to the Creator.  So, they gather to listen to the music of the day being created and to lend their voice to its song.  This is how I felt standing there watching and listening to the wolves howl.  That they were lending their voice to the song.

Part 2.

Well, today is our 2^nd 14^th wedding anniversary, so another happy anniversary to my beautiful wife.

It is our last day in the park, which has filled us with both sadness and urgency.  We are sad to be leaving a place that has become comfortable and familiar to us.  We have our routine here now, and it will be hard to have to get back into the old rut.  We feel urgency, because we want to make sure that we squeeze every possible drop that we can out of our experience here.

Not really having anything on the plan, we decided to head back to the Upper Geyser Basin.  The last time we were here, we only saw Old Faithful and didn’t take the time to walk around and see the other geysers, pools, and springs.  We arrived right after Old Faithful had erupted, so we decided to go see the other attractions first.  My wife really wanted to see the Grand Geyser, since it’s supposed to be absolutely spectacular when it erupts.  Unfortunately, it only erupts once a day, and it wasn’t going off until around 8 p.m. tonight.  We had similar luck with the Castle Geyser.  About the only one we got to enjoy was “Spazzy,” the Spasmodic Geyser.

While walking to and from the other geyser area, we came across a bison that was throwing a temper tantrum.  Apparently, someone had gotten too close while trying to take a picture, and he didn’t like that.  So, he was sulking in the trees, refusing to look at anyone.  The park ranger was shooing people away from him, giving him a time out.

We made it back to witness Old Faithful blow its top again.  I was almost arrested for throttling a man to death when he decided to stand up right in front of me, so that he could take a video and picture at the same time.  He was a Japanese man.  We have had a terrible experience with the bus loads of Orientals touring the park.  They are rude, pushy, inconsiderate of your space and position to take pictures, and they talk incessantly and at high volumes which sometimes scares away the animals.  I was able to move over enough to still get the geyser at its peak, which saved him.

We talked to a park ranger at the information center, and he told us that we might be able to see wolves in the Lamar Valley, so we decided to attempt to drive all the way there.  Lamar Valley is on the opposite side of the park from Old Faithful, and the direct road through Dunraven Pass is closed eight months of the year due to excessive snow.  So, we had to drive all the way around through Mammoth Hot Springs.  It took us a little over two hours, but we finally made it.

On the way to the Lamar Valley, we stopped off at the Petrified Tree.  It’s a descendant of the ancient Redwoods and was petrified in the volcanic eruption that shaped much of Yellowstone.  A large portion of the trunk of the tree is still standing and stands as a monument, hundreds of years old.

The Lamar Valley and the mountains around it were amazingly beautiful.  We were shocked that we hadn’t come over here before.  As we were gawking at the scenery, we almost missed the coyote walking down the road.  We stopped to take his picture as he went off the side of the road, chasing something to eat.  His coloring was very pretty…a camouflage mixture of orange, brown, black, gray, and white.  We watched him hunt for several minutes before he finally trotted off down the road.

We next stopped at the Soda Butte Cone, a striking thermal cone near Soda Butte Creek.  As we stopped to take some pictures, we ran into another couple that were gazing out at the fields and mountains across the creek.  We learned from them that on several trips to Yellowstone, that they had seen bears in this area.  They were hoping to catch one again.  We told them that we had come up here to find wolves.  So far, both of us had been disappointed.

By this point, it was getting late.  We didn’t figure that we were going to see any wolves today, so we headed back.  A few miles down the road, we found a large group of cars pulled over on the side of the road.  All of the people had binoculars or telescopes and were peering off into the distant trees.  We stopped and asked them what they were looking at, and one guy told me that there were three wolves over there…a gray and two blacks.  We couldn’t see the wolves with the naked eye, but someone mentioned that the park ranger on the hill behind us might be able to tell us more about them.

We climbed up the hill to talk to him, and he was not only kind enough to explain about the wolves, but he also let us look at them through his telescope.  At first all we could observe was some black lumps laying in the grass.  But as we stood there, a grizzly bear suddenly came out of the trees right into the middle of the three wolves resting area.  The wolves, completely not intimidated by the bear, walked toward it and started circling it.  The park ranger was describing the scene and explaining that neither side was showing aggression.  It looked more like curiosity.  He again let us look at the scene across the creek, and we were finally able to see the wolves and the bear. It was a still a little blurry from that far away, but we could clearly make out their shapes.  I would still like to see a wolf a little closer, but my wife said that we’re counting it.

Interesting Fact:  The park ranger that we were talking to about the wolves was none other than Rick McIntyre.  Ranger Rick is famous inside the park as the “Wolf Man” for his years spent observing the behavior of the wolves within and across the packs.  He knows more about the wolves of Yellowstone than any other person.

Escape to the Wild (Day 12 – Depth)

Well, today is our 1^st 14^th wedding anniversary.  So, Happy Anniversary to my beautiful wife, and thanks for sticking with me this long.

Since we missed out on Norris Geyser Basin yesterday, we decided to try it again today.  Before we headed over there, we decided to go to Canyon Village first.  So, after grabbing some sandwiches at the Book Peddler, we were on our way.  Many of the roads around that area are closed, so we had to park at the Visitor Center and hike over a mile through the woods to the Grand View observation area.  This observation area is part of the North Rim that runs along the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is a deep gorge cut into the mountain with the Yellowstone River running along the bottom.  The Grand View observation point is near the highest point of the canyon which is around 1200 feet above the river below.

My wife wussed out and wouldn’t go near the edge to look at the canyon, so I braved it alone.  Some nice people agreed to swap pictures with me, so I would have proof that I was there.  We headed down the North Rim trail to the Lookout Point observation area where we caught our first glimpse of the Yellowstone Lower Falls.  There was an offshoot trail that headed down to Red Rock Point, a 260-foot descent into the canyon that afforded a better view of the waterfall.  Again my wife wussed out, so I hiked it alone.  The descent wasn’t too bad.  It consisted of a series of switchbacks that zig-zagged down the side of the canyon to an observation point at the bottom.  The ascent was killer.  With an average grade of 9 degrees and a max grade of 23 degrees, my calves were throbbing by the time I made it back to the top.

After my wife administered CPR to me to revive me, we headed back through the woods to the visitor center.  We decided to eat the sandwiches we had brought before heading over the geyser basin.  As we munched on our cold grilled cheese sandwiches and Cheetos, a huge raven flew down and stood by our table.  I tossed him a couple of Cheetos, which he scarfed down greedily, and then some of the crust off of my sandwich.  He hopped up on the bench next to me, and I noticed that he had orange Cheeto cheese on his beak.  I decided that if he couldn’t eat without being such a mess, then I’d have to cut him off!

After that we headed over to the Norris Geyser Basin.  This basin holds the Steamboat Geyser, which has the distinction of being the world’s tallest active geyser.  During major eruptions, water can be tossed up to 300 feet into the air.  Unfortunately, the last major eruption was three years ago, and the geyser is so unpredictable that a major eruption can happen anywhere between four days and fifty years.  We did not see a major eruption today.  However, we did see several minor ones, so we’ll take it.

The tour around the back basin to see the various geysers, hot springs, and thermal pools is about three miles.  Honestly, I wouldn’t really say that it was worth the hike, but my wife liked it. I think she enjoyed the names more than anything.  You have the Puff ‘n Stuff Geyser, the Black Hermit Caldron, the Green Dragon Spring, the Blue Mud Steam Vent, the Porkchop Geyser, and the Vixen Geyser.  Of all of these, the Vixen Geyser was the most violent and feisty.

Exhausted and worn out, we head back to town.  As we were driving along the river, I spotted a white and grayish-brown bird sitting in a tree.  We turned around and went back and were blessed with a sighting of an osprey, or river hawk.  It was mostly white with grayish-brown wings and a brown stripe along the side of its head.  Unfortunately, when I got out to take its picture, it took off down the river.

We grabbed dinner at The Buffalo Bar again, me with my chicken fried steak and my wife with her bacon cheeseburger.

Escape to the Wild (Day 11 – Maul)

Today was not a good day for my wife and I, so we didn’t even get started until well after lunch.  We ran by the Canyon Street Grill for a 1950s-style lunch and then headed to the park.  We were going to try to make it to the Norris Geyser Basin, but we decided to stop at the Artist’s Paint Pots first.  This area is a collection of thermal springs of various vibrant colors.  Underneath the surface of the water, you can clearly see dozens of vent holes, which make the springs look like painter’s palettes.

As we made our way down the ice and mud-spattered path, I came around a bend and was face-to-face with three grizzly bears!  We made eye contact, and I immediately froze.  There was a tense moment when we were both sizing each other up, trying to figure out what the other one was going to do.  I motioned to my wife to stop.  That’s when the bears decided to head down the trail the other way.  (My wife later asked me what I would have done if the bears had decided to challenge me.  I said that I guess I would sacrifice myself, so she’d have a chance to get away.  Of course, I would have also taken an opportunity to get the charging, snarling mother grizzly bear on film.  I may not have made it, but I would make sure that I captured that last moment with my camera.  Hopefully, someone would come back and get it.)  I followed, slowly and apprehensively, not wanting to run into them again.  Around the next bend, I saw them again, but this time they were disappearing into the trees along the trail.  We made it back to the parking lot just in time to see them walk by an opening in the trees.  It was the same mother and her two cubs that we had seen yesterday. My wife made a comment that we keep seeing the mother and cubs, but never see the father. I told her that the males are more solitary creatures, choosing to show up during mating season and then going off again. They’re like deadbeat dads!

Along with several other couples, we all headed around the corner, tracking the bears across the fields.  Pretty soon, there was a traffic jam of cars pulled over, trying to catch a shot of the bears way out in the field.  And to think that once again all of those people had me to thank for scaring those bears out of hiding, so they could get that once-in-a-lifetime picture.  While we were standing there waiting for the bears to come out from behind some trees, we started talking to this woman and her daughter.  She had just celebrated her anniversary last Saturday.  We really liked them, and it was fun to swap stories about our vacations so far.

The bears meandered off into the distance, so we decided to head back.  Since it was late, we decided to forego the geyser basin and just head back to town.  My wife wanted to stop in one of the turnouts and enjoy the sunset.  While we were there watching the sunset and ducks, one of the fly fishermen came up the bank to his truck.  When he saw us, he said, “Where’s your poles?”  We laughed and said that we were just spectators.  We struck up a conversation with him, and found out that he had just sold his business after 45 years, and he and his wife were talking a month-long tour across America.

Later, we grabbed dinner at The Slippery Otter, so we could have soup and salad.

Escape to the Wild (Day 10 – Encounter)

We found out in the morning that the road to Mammoth Hot Springs, which had been closed for construction, was finally open again to the public.  So, we decided to head up there before it closed again.  We stopped at the Woodside Bakery to grab some sandwiches and head off into Yellowstone.  To say that the day unfolded like an unimaginable dream would be an understatement.  There is no way that we could ever have planned or even thought up what was about to happen.  I asked God to show us His wonders, and He came through above and beyond!

Just inside the park entrance, we pulled over, so I could take a picture of what looked like an eagle’s nest high upon the mountain.  At the time, I didn’t realize that there was a bull elk walking through the field in front of me.  It was a good distance off, but I had been waiting to see a bull, as all we’d see so far were cows.  So, after snapping a few pictures as he walked in the morning sunlight, I had an idea.  I asked my wife to stopped a little ways up the road, so I could hike through the forest and get in front of him.  I had to literally squeeze between the young lodgepole pines, which were so thick and close together that they snagged on my clothing as I passed.  After a couple of minutes of squeezing between trees, trudging through the snow, and leaping across fallen trees, I finally came to a little clearing on the top of the hill.  Immediately to my left was a small herd of cows.  They looked completely surprised to see me pop through the trees, not so quietly I’m ashamed to admit, but they didn’t run off.  They just stared at me.

All of a sudden, within a hundred feet of my right, I heard an elk bull bugle a warning call.  I hadn’t even seen the other herd, but apparently they had seen me.  A group of cows and fawns emerged from the trees and began to scamper down the hill, followed by a huge bull elk.  He stopped, looked right at me, bugled again, and then raced down the hill to catch up with the others.  I was sad that I scared them off.  I hadn’t meant to do that, but it was an exhilarating experience to be that close to them.  After squeezing back through the trees, we headed on again.  At the very next bend in the road, there was a group of cars stopped on the side of the road with people all crouched down taking pictures of something in the field below.  As we slowed down, I noticed that they were all looking at the fleeing elk herd that I had just scared.  So, all of those people should thank me for giving them that experience!

Our first planned destination was Gibbons Falls.  It’s a neat waterfall that cuts through the mountain and then fans out before plummeting into the river below.  They have an overlook built, so you can view the waterfall from above as it cascades down.  The morning sunlight was just right to shine on the rushing water, and a rainbow arched in front of the falls arrayed in all of its colors.  We took a few minutes to just enjoy the roaring sound of the falls before moving on again up the road.

That was when we were blessed with our next unexpected encounter.  A very large group of cars were parked along the road and in every pullout.  We stopped, because this usually means some sort of animal sighting.  A crowd of this size could only mean something rare and special.  We joined the throng of people staring across the river, cameras trained on a splotch of trees.  Piecing together the murmurs, we learned that a grizzly bear sow and her two cubs were hanging out on the other side of the river, eating and enjoying the morning sun.  We found a good spot and waited.  It took about ten minutes for us to catch our first glimpse before they disappeared in the trees, and even then it was only the back and backside of the mother.  We moved further down river, following their path, and caught a few glimpses of the cubs, chomping on some grubs.  The grizzlies kept moving down river, and we kept following until they finally made a brief appearance right in front of us.  The mother bear was big with a head the size of a car tire.  The cubs, who someone said were about one year old, were pretty plump and fluffy.  One cub was the grayish-brown of a grizzly, the other was dark, dark brown almost black.

After that the bears changed direction and headed back up river.  So, again we all followed, when all of a sudden they lumbered down the hill toward the river.  So, we watched them as they walked along the river bank in full view, the various shades of grayish-brown on display in the sunlight.  The cubs dashing ahead as the mother slowly brought up the rear.  Then, the cubs would stop to explore and play, while the mother would stop to dig up and eat something from the ground.  Slowly, slowly they made their way along the river and then up the mountain.

We weren’t sure how we’d ever top that once in a lifetime opportunity.  We had heard people say that they had been coming to Yellowstone ten years without ever seeing a bear, and we saw one on our first time.  We stopped next at the Beryl Spring, which is the hottest thermal pool in Yellowstone.  While not a large pool, it was releasing an enormous amount of steam into the cool air.  From there, we stopped to scarf down our sandwiches and then off again toward Mammoth Hot Springs.

When we got to Norris, we found ourselves in a traffic jam as a herd of bison meandered across the road.  One bison went out first and stood in the middle of the road.  She just stood there, not moving, looking completely uninterested.  Slowly, slowly the other bison walked across the road, but that one didn’t move.  We figured she must have been the crossing guard.  When about half the herd, which was really large, had made it across the road, another younger bison stopped next to the crossing guard, and the crossing guard walked on across the road.  That younger bison then stood completely still in the middle of the road while the rest of the herd crossed.  We assumed that she must have been a crossing guard in training.

While the road to Mammoth Hot Springs was open, it still had construction on it.  So, we got stuck in a long line of cars, sitting and waiting for 45 minutes for our turn to drive down the one-lane road past the construction.  Many heated words and honks were exchanged between our car and the pilot car, which was doing 2 mph.  We finally made it through the construction and nearly drove right by the Mammoth Hot Springs.  They were not exactly what we were expecting.  For one thing, they were almost completely dried up.  They just looked like a big white hill.  The hot springs are divided into terraces that feature different pools and structures, each one unique.  My favorite was the Mound Spring.  It had many different formations of limestone and thermophile that made it fascinating.  Not to mention the slow stream of water cascading down the surface would ripple and glint in the sunlight.  The sound was peaceful and calming, like a waterfall pouring into a small brook.

We moved on up the hill to see some other terraces, when all of a sudden I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.  I grabbed my wife to stop her, as a grey fox bounded out of the snow right toward me.  He veered off behind a hill, so I pursued him down the walkway.  He ran straight at the walkway, dived under it, and then kept going on the other side.  His fur was a beautiful mixture of reds, grays, blacks, and whites.  He seemed unperturbed by my presence as he disappeared into the brush.  It ranked up there with the bear for coolness factor.

On a whim, my wife wanted to drive through the small town of Mammoth Hot Springs, so we decided to make a quick tour and then be on our way.  We no sooner entered the town, then we saw two huge bull elks eating grass near a café.  We pulled over to watch them, having never been this close to them before.  All of a sudden, the bigger of the two bulls charged the other one.  They locked antlers and began to have a shoving and twisting match around a small bush.  The park ranger that was there with us said that they were just hose-playing.  This might be a real fight during mating season, but that was long over.  The more we watched them circle and shove each other, the more they looked like two brothers wrestling in their parents living room.  As they played, they made these high-pitched grunts and yelps.  This went on for several minutes, until one of them lost interest and walked off around the corner to find some grass that wasn’t trampled down by wrestling elk.  We were amazed by the enormity of these bulls.  Their backs were level with the top of the cars they were passing, and their antlers stuck up past the roof of our SUV.

It was getting late, and we had a long drive back to the entrance of the park, so we headed back.  We got stuck in the construction traffic again going the other way, and then it was home free.  It was pitch black before we made it back to the gate, so I asked my wife to pull over in one of the turnouts by the river.  There were a million stars in the sky, something we don’t ever get to see in the bright lights of the city…layer upon layer…as far as the eye could see.  As we stood there looking at the beautiful array of stars scattered across the bluish-black sky, we started to hear bugling in the distance.  The call of one elk bull was answered by another directly across the river from us.  Back and forth they called to each other.  The night was so quiet that we could even hear antlers clacking in the darkness as two bulls wrestled with each other.

We finished our night by grabbing a pizza at Pete’s Pizza and heading back to the hotel to eat it.

Escape to the Wild (Day 9 – Steam)

Today, we went back to Yellowstone.  We decided to grab some Subway sandwiches and take them with us, so we wouldn’t have to leave the park once we were there.  Shortly into our drive, we came across another group of cars pulled over to the side of the road, watching another American Bison herd graze on the short, golden grass sticking through the patches of twinkling snow.  We got caught in the line of traffic, and the herd decided to cross to the other side of the road, so at one point, we were completely surrounded by bison.  (Interesting fact.  People erroneously refer to bison as buffalo.  But the term “buffalo” only refers to Water Buffalo or Cape Buffalo, neither of which exists in North America.  What we know as “buffalo” in North America are actually the American Bison.  It’s fascinating that this fallacy has been handed down through the years from generation to generation.  You can find it in many historical references, for example in the song “Home on the Range” and in the term “Buffalo Soldiers,” used to describe black men fighting in the Civil War.  We even ate at The Buffalo Bar last night, which has an American Bison as its logo!)

A little further on, we stopped at a little thermal pool near the river, and I spent some time combing the snow for animal footprints.  I have never told anyone this, but I have secretly always wanted to know how to track animals, like the Indians used to do…using footprints, scat, and other signs of passing.  I found several trails leading through the snow to the river that looked like deer or sheep and a couple of paw prints that looked like coyote.  I could be completely off, but I had fun anyway.

Next, we went to Ojo Caliente, a thermal pool aptly named the “Hot Eye.”  It had the most beautiful blue-green color formed by the bacteria on the bottom of the pool.  The water was pouring off into the river, creating a steaming waterfall, which was kind of neat.  I spent a little time tracking the bison footprints and scat along the river.  I also stopped to watch the trout swimming in the river, because the water was so clear that you could see all the way to the bottom.  Every once in a while, they would jump out of the water to catch a bug just above the surface.  A couple of times, there were ten to fifteen of them jumping out of the water at the same time!

After that it was on to the Grand Prismatic Spring, which has been a dream of my wife ever since she got that calendar of national parks in the United States.  The spring was kind of a disappointment, since there was so much steam coming off of it that you couldn’t really get the full effect of the various colors that lend themselves to the name.  The other issue is that the walkway has you at ground level with the spring, so you can’t see it very well, especially with the sun glinting off the water.  Someone said that it’s easier to see and visually more striking in the summer when the air isn’t so cool.

Don’t get me wrong, the whole area is beautiful when taken as a whole.  The bacteria mats are a variety of colors and display wondrous patterns that almost look like artwork.  Also, there are several other thermal pools that are just as beautiful and easier to see.  The Turquoise Pool and Opal Pool are a little smaller, but are very striking because the water is so calm and clear. 

The Excelsior Geyser Crater is pretty cool.  It was formed by a geyser that was first observed in the 1800s, exploding randomly 100 to 300 feet into the sky (compared to the Old Faithful Geyser, which shoots 100 to 180 feet into the sky).  The eruptions were so violent that they sunk the area around the geyser and damaged the internal plumbing.  The last known eruption was in 1985, but was very small in comparison.  The geyser now functions as a thermal pool, discharging 4,000 to 4,500 gallons of water per minute into the nearby Firehole River.

From here, we made our way to the last destination of the day, the Old Faithful Geyser.  The geyser is such named since its eruptions happen at fairly regular intervals, as mapped by a mathematical formula.  Within a margin of error of plus or minus 10 minutes, Old Faithful will erupt 65 minutes after an eruption lasting less than 2.5 minutes or 91 minutes after an eruption lasting more than 2.5 minutes.  We were about 45 minutes early for the next eruption, so we toured the visitor center and then enjoyed the wisecracking of the guy sitting next to us on the bench by the geyser.  When dormant, the geyser sends out a continuous stream of steam into the air that wafts gently across the Upper Geyser Basin. 

At almost exactly the time predicted the geyser started to shoot up a small stream of water.  With every passing second, the stream of water got higher and higher, building on itself, until it was shooting 140 feet in the air.  Thousands of gallons of water were discharged into the surrounding area.  The eruption only lasted a couple of minutes, but it was amazing!  We would definitely go to see it again.  (Interesting fact.  Back in the 1800s, when Old Faithful was first discovered, people used to put dirty laundry over the vent of the geyser.  When it would erupt, it would eject the clothing thoroughly washed!  Of course, they probably had a hard time finding it again, having traveled hundreds of feet in the air and more hundreds of feet away from the geyser vent.  Apparently, cotton and linen fabrics fared better than wool through the process.)

It was getting late, so we decided to head back.  On the way, we stopped at the Fairy Falls trail.  About midway down the trail, there is an offshoot trail that goes to an overlook of the Grand Prismatic Spring.  We thought we might be able to get a better view of the spring and the colors if we were above it.  The hike was a bit treacherous over loose snow and ice, but we made it just as the sun was going down behind the mountain behind us.  The view is amazing, and definitely worth the hike, but we were again thwarted in our attempts to truly see the colors of the spring.  There was so much steam rising off the hot pool, that it completely obscured the colors below.  We may just have to try again at another time of the year.

Back in the car, traveling down the road, we were treated to yet another American Bison herd blocking traffic.  One particular bull was standing to one side of our lane, eating the grass on the side of the road.  When he raised his head to nonchalantly look at the cars he was blocking, he had snow all over his snout.  I think it lent to his laissez faire attitude.

One more care pileup further down the road happened as an elk herd was crossing the road.  The elk are more skittish than the bison, and the loud, not-very-subtle people jumping out of their cars and running across the road scared them off.  We only caught a glimpse of the elk, leaping and running through the golden grasses toward the river.

Tonight, we had dinner at the MC Lounge (Madison Crossing).  It’s a higher-priced, fancier restaurant that’s only opened for dinner.  My wife had the Pan-Seared Idaho Trout, and I had the Romesco Shrimp Pasta.  The trout was a ruby-red trout with a creamy citrus sauce on top.  The shrimp pasta was a combination of shrimp, tomatoes, asparagus, and garlic in a romesco cream sauce.  Both were very good, but due to the exorbitant prices, I don’t think we’ll be eating here again.

Escape to the Wild (Day 8 – Breathtaking)

We packed up today and moved down to West Yellowstone, MT, so that we could be closer to Yellowstone National Park.  The town of West Yellowstone is small, but neat.  It’s sole purpose seems to be to cater to the constant stream of tourists going into the park which is literally a three-minute drive from anywhere in the town.

We went to lunch at the Slippery Otter Pub.  The food was good, but nothing special.  The bartender slash waiter, Bo, was very nice.  He even sat down at our table with a map of the area and marked out some places of interest for us.  He seemed to really love sharing his passion of the area with us. (Funny Story: My wife ordered a Caesar salad for lunch. While we were waiting for our order, she started to curl her nose in disgust. I asked her what was wrong, and she said that she smelled rotten vegetables. She went on to add that if that was how they cooked the food here, then maybe she should rethink the salad. I couldn’t help but snicker, because the rotten vegetable smell was actually me and my dissatisfied stomach.)

We decided to take a short jaunt into Yellowstone just to check things out, and we’re totally glad we did!  On the short drive from the entrance to the Fountain Paint Pots, we had an up-close encounter with several species of wildlife.  On one bend of the road, we saw several people pulled over on the side of the road taking pictures of something.  We pulled over too, and saw a bald eagle sitting in a tree across the river…majestic and fierce with the afternoon sun glinting off his white and brown feathers.  He appeared to be looking for fish in the river, as well as watching all of the people taking pictures of him.  I have never seen a bald eagle in person, and it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. 

A little further on, we ran into another large group of cars pulled over on the side of the road and realized that an American Bison herd was crossing the road, stopping traffic.  We got out of the car (even though we weren’t supposed to) and took pictures.  We were maybe 50 feet away from them, but they didn’t seem to care.  In addition to the various bulls and cows, adorned in all sizes and shades of brown, there were several calves in the herd too.  One bull was bellowing at all of the people, warning them to keep their distance.  This was the first time that my wife had ever seen a bison, so she was positively giddy.  I think this one experience made her whole vacation.

We went a little further to the Fountain Paint Pots, a geyser area so named for the various colors of the mud.  We enjoyed the geysers, but it was maddeningly cold, made colder by the arctic wind whipping across the plains.  The walkways were also hard to navigate as they were covered in a treacherous layer of ice.  Also, both of our cell phones decided to die at the same time, so we decided to head back to the hotel.

On the way, we spotted some elk eating by the river; their large, shaggy bodies silhouetted in the setting sun.  They were some distance off, but still close enough to clearly see their tan bodies, whitish backsides, and chocolate brown heads.  They moved slowly and gracefully along the riverbank, as they grazed on the golden grasses.  It was so peaceful to watch them.

Tonight, we went to The Buffalo Bar for dinner.  It was packed, so obviously it’s a happening place.  Everyone was there to watch the various sports games going on around the country.  We managed to find a little table in the corner, and we had a waitress named Amanda.  She was awesome; very outgoing and spunky.  My wife got a nachos appetizer, and I kid you not, this thing was a foot and a half long.  It was piled high with chips, cheese, chicken, olives, tomatoes, and sour cream.  She only made it through half before she waved the white flag.  I got a chicken fried steak with double mashed potatoes and garlic bread.  It was a fun night.

Escape to the Wild (Day 7 – Snow)

Today marks the halfway point of our vacation.  It also marks the second leg with us on our way to Montana and Wyoming.  So, after a nice morning with Jamee, we were off to Bozeman, MT.  The flight was uneventful until we started our descent into the airport, which is when we hit some very high winds.  The plane was tossing back and forth violently as the pilot tried to maintain control, landing hard but successfully.  As we left the airport, we were greeted with a heavy snowstorm, blanketing everything in a thick layer of white. 

The road to the hotel winds through the Gallatin Range, a beautiful part of the Rocky Mountains, covered in a blanket of green lodgepole pine trees dusted with the recent snow.  The highway picks up the Gallatin River and follows it all the way up to Big Sky.  The looming mountains, the swift-flowing river, and the blowing snow made for a beautiful scene.

Buck’s T-4 Lodge leaves a lot to be desired.  The rooms and interior look cheaper than portrayed in the photos.  We could probably make do, but it is also about an hour away from Yellowstone National Park, where we intend to spend the majority of our time here.  So, we’ll be canceling the rest of our stay and looking for something closer to the park.

For dinner, we went to the Riverside Grill, which serves Texas-style barbeque.  The view from the restaurant looks out at the Gallatin River, and we got to watch the snow fall as we ate our food.  The food was pretty good.  The sweet tea was amazing (it could have been withdrawal, since this is the first sweet tea I’ve had in a week)!  It was so good, I put away two 24-ounce mason jars of it, and got a glass to go.  Needless to say, after the food and the exorbitant amount of sweet tea, I was miserable.  So, here I sit moaning while I catch up on my writing.

Escape to the Wild (Day 6 – Fear)

This morning we decided to attempt the drive up Pikes Peak before we left for Denver.  At 14,115 feet above sea level, it’s not the tallest mountain in the Rockies, but it’s definitely the most-visited.  Named in honor of explorer Zebulon Pike, who tried and failed to climb the mountain in 1806, Pikes Peak is one of 53 fourteeners in Colorado.  The drive takes about an hour to reach the summit, taking you along a winding and twisting road with sheer drop-offs, as you climb over 5,000 feet from the base to the top.  For two people that are afraid of heights, this was one of the worst ideas in the history of the world!

But I was determined not to stop until we made it all the way.  So, we kept driving…mile by snowy mile.  The temperature dropped 25 degrees along the ascent.  When we finally made it, I had to unpack my winter gear from my suitcase so I could walk around.  Unfortunately, my wife got altitude sickness and was forced to remain in the car, so I explored the summit alone.  The wind was unbelievably strong, and I thought for sure they were going to close the road.  But it didn’t matter, because we had made it.

The trek down didn’t take nearly as long, as my wife channeled her inner Mario Andretti, and we raced down the road taking switchbacks on two wheels.  All-in-all, we spent about two and half hours on the mountain.  We headed to Manitou Springs for lunch, stopping at Marilyn’s Pizza for a couple of greasy, gigantic slices of pizza.  While there, we chatted with the teenagers working in the restaurant.  One of them was telling us that the population of Colorado had increased dramatically over the last couple of years.  The rise in people was due to the legalization of marijuana.  Ironically, the crime rate in Colorado was on the decline during that same period.  When my wife inquired as to why, one of the guys replied, “I guess it’s because everyone is chillin’ now.”  I guess that makes sense.

After that, we headed back to Denver to meet J, R, and E for dinner at 3 Margaritas.  It was a nice evening of visiting, reminiscing, and enjoying our friends…topped by a tour of R and E’s new house.

Escape to the Wild (Day 5 – Wild)

Based on a recommendation from…well everybody, including the entire staff at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo today.  And this is where we found the first gem of our trip.  The zoo is actually built up in the mountains with a starting elevation of 6,714 feet.  So, a lot of the enclosures consist of elevated areas, rocky outcroppings, and natural land formations to make the animals feel more at home.  I know what you’re thinking…seen one zoo, seen them all.  I hear you…I was skeptical at first too.  So, what makes this zoo so special and worth my rating of a vacation gem?  It’s the animal interaction level.

I have never gone to a zoo where you get to interact so closely with the animals.  The very first attraction after walking in the front gate is a giraffe feeding pen.  They have built elevated platforms, so you’re actually standing eye-to-eye with the giraffes.  You can buy lettuce from a booth, and the giraffes will actually eat it right out of your hand.  I can officially say that I have been licked by the long, black tongue of a giraffe now.  We were so enamored by this, that we kept going back and buying more food.  Literally, spending lettuce on lettuce.  One guy near us commented that he couldn’t believe he’d just spent $20 on lettuce, and his girlfriend replied, “Yeah, but it was totally worth it.”  I couldn’t agree more.

I also had a personal encounter with the big, daddy male of the giraffe population.  Khalid was being kept separate from the females, for obvious reasons, and he was making his way over to a bucket to eat some grass.  As we walked by, the grass dropped out of his mouth right on me.  So, I scooped it into a pile and held it up to him (even on an elevated platform, he was towering two feet over me).  He gently ate it right out of my hand.  It was the coolest thing, because nobody else was around, so it was just for me!

From there, we made our way around to the other African exhibits.  Like the new meerkat babies, which were so little and curious.  Or the African elephants, which were sticking their trunks straight up in the air to pull grass from a bucket hung up in the tree.  While everyone else bustled past, racing from exhibit to exhibit only spending a few seconds looking at the animals, my wife and I took our time soaking in each animal…just standing and watching.  I have never enjoyed a zoo so much, as I did taking time to see the animals for their individual personalities and quirks.

The path wound around to the Australian exhibits next, where we had another amazing up-close encounter.  We got to pet a wallaby!  She was sitting there by the path eating a leaf, and she let us walk right up to her.  I was stroking her back and scratching her face, and she stopped eating the leaf…holding it halfway to her mouth, closed her eyes, and just enjoyed being caressed.  It was absolutely amazing!

After the Australian exhibits, we decided to have lunch at the zoo café.  We got our food and went out on the patio to eat and enjoy the gorgeous weather.  Wandering around freely between the tables were about a dozen peacocks, gobbling up anything thrown their way.  I enjoyed feeding them my wife's French fries.  She was terrified with them getting so close.

From there, we headed to the monkey pavilion, where my wife had an up-close encounter with a two-toed sloth.  Apparently, breaking from the normal habit of sleeping throughout the day, the sloth decided that she was hungry and crawled across the trees strewn above our heads to get to the feed box.  My wife was enamored with watching her eat and interact with the zoo staff.  She was even more enamored to find out that because of the slow metabolism of the sloths, that they only poop once a week.  Can you imagine that?!

The next area boasted a moose that likes to stand in the water and soak his feet, two magnificent pacing mountain lions, and two trouble-making grizzly bears.  Emmett and Digger are adopted brothers, who were put into the care of the zoo, because they kept wreaking havoc in the neighboring towns.  We got there just in time to watch the zoo staff feed the curious grizzly bears.  The pair grabbing their feet, sitting back, and doing yoga poses for handfuls of fruits and vegetables!

The last section we ventured into was the Asian exhibit, and there we were given yet another treat.  The Amur tiger was feeling very playful and proceeded to put on a show as he tried to get on top of a plastic barrel floating in his little water hole, rolling and biting until the barrel submitted.  After he had conquered the barrel, he attacked a big red rubber ball floating around as well, wrapping his muscular arms around the ball and attempting to pop the ball with his sharp teeth.

After that it was time to leave, as the zoo was closing.  So, we made the jaunt back down the mountain.  In the car ride, we discussed how amazing it was that God had made each animal, adapting it to its purpose and environment.  The power and beauty combined within their skin is awe-inspiring.  We spend so much time avoiding and fearing the animals, that we never really take the time to see how amazing they are.  It was the best day at the zoo that we have ever spent.

For dinner, we had a light dinner at The Cracker Barrel and called it a night.  Tomorrow, back to Denver.

Escape to the Wild (Day 4 – Majestic)

Well, today turned out to be absolutely beautiful.  The sky was clear, the weather was cool but not cold, and everything looked fresh and rejuvenated after the snow yesterday.  So, we decided this would be the perfect day to go to the Garden of the Gods.

Garden of the Gods is a free park displaying massive, free-standing rock structures in various shapes and formations.  The rocks are composed mostly of white limestone and red sandstone, giving them a stark contrast to the greens and browns of the surrounding area.  Over the years, the rocks have split and fallen (in some places), leaving impossibly-beautiful shapes behind.  The walk around the park on the main trail is only about 1.5 miles, but you can definitely spend several hours here, admiring the formations and gazing out at the surrounding landscape.  Off in the distance, Pikes Peak looms over the park with its snow-capped peak, lending a majesty to the whole area.

Our favorite formations were the “Three Graces” and the “Cathedral Spires.”  The “Three Graces” look like three hands, side-by-side in prayer.  From the side, the slender fingers slope up into the sky with a small gap in between them.  The “small” gap is large enough for two people to walk into it side-by-side.  The “Cathedral Spires” look like the flying buttresses of Notre Dame with thin pillars rising up next to a large, central rock and horizontal rocks connecting the pillars to the larger rock.  The delicacy and grace of these formations is what makes them intriguing.  These are rocks…huge, lumbering rocks…but they somehow manage to be these beautiful works of art without a human’s hand ever touching or shaping them.

We grabbed a quick lunch at Panera, because my wife had a craving, and then headed to Manitou Springs, CO to see the cliff dwellings.  The cliff dwellings are a line of houses cut from and constructed into the cliffs by the Anasazi Indians.  These particular dwellings were apparently moved to this spot over a hundred years ago in order to preserve them.  They’re small, but well-done.  They give you information on each structure, and you can actually climb into and over everything.  It makes it more real when you can actually stand inside and touch the structures.  The Anasazi were very small people, so a lot of the openings were too small for me to climb through, so I just had to stick my head through the opening instead.  We have several pictures of my backside sticking out of the hole, since my wife thought that was funny (we should never give that woman a camera, I swear).  It didn’t take us long to complete this, but that’s okay, because it was late in the day, and they were closing anyway!

For dinner, we did a throwback to our days in Missouri, and went to HuHot Mongolian Grill.  It was just like we remembered, and I went to town in there, eating a plate and a half of food before my wife had even eaten her first!  I’m usually the slowest eater at the table, but not tonight…not tonight…I loves me some HuHot (or as the GPS calls it, “Hu-hoe”)!

Escape to the Wild (Day 3 – Quaint)

We did get snow today.  It started off as a light dusting, but it picked up into a full-blown snow storm by lunchtime.  When we finally decided to leave the hotel and venture out into it (my wife was content just to sit and watch it through the window), I had to brush the snow off the car.  I had flashbacks to Missouri and when we first moved to Texas.  It felt weird, and good, to go through those motions again.  I have missed the snow.

Neither of us were feeling well today, my wife with her back and me with my stomach, so we decided to put Garden of the Gods on hold and take a jaunt over to Old Colorado City.  It’s a quaint, little city just a few minutes away from Colorado Springs.  We concentrated on the main strip.  It is lined with cute, little shops that have all types of crafts, souvenirs, and art…lots of art.  They have a whole Art Walk that takes you from shop to shop to see works by local artists.  Even some of the buildings had beautiful murals painted on the sides of them.  It gives the city personality.

We ate at The Mason Jar, which touted traditional, American fare.  The place had a warm, rustic feel inside with wood paneling and a fire cracking in the large fireplace.  The staff all looked artsy and edgy with piercings and tattoos, which seemed out of place in the setting, but they were all extremely nice.  My wife settled for a hot tea, a soup, and a salad to warm up.  She said it was excellent.  I decided to try the daily special, which was a slab of meatloaf and a pile of mashed potatoes stretched across two pieces of soft bread and smothered in a dark, mushroom gravy (yes, I willingly ate fungus).  It was good, but the meatloaf wasn’t the best I have ever eaten.  But then, meatloaf is an acquired taste, since everyone makes it differently.

Still, it filled us up to an uncomfortable level.  So, we both decided that it would be a good idea to walk the strip to digest (personally, I just think my wife wanted to shop).  Despite the chill in the air, the day turned out beautiful.  The day was brisk, but not unpleasantly so.  The sun came out later in the day to warm things up.  The snow didn’t stick around very long at all.  All in all, it was the perfect way to kill a couple of hours before we headed back to the hotel.

Tonight, we ventured out to a restaurant called Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar.  The décor was industrial and modern with a heavy music influence.  The menu featured choices like the “Bacon Cheeseburger on Steroids,” the “Magic Mushroom,” the “Bad Ass Burger,” and the “Pittsburgher.”  My wife got the “Magic Mushroom,” which featured four different types of mushrooms over an Angus-beef patty.  I went with the “Pittsburgher,” which featured garlic-spiced ketchup and shoestring fries over an Angus-beef patty.  Both were huge and delicious.  After stuffing our faces with the burgers, we decided to splurge and get an Oreo shake for dessert.  Needless to say, we’re miserable this evening, but would do it again…no regrets.

Escape to the Wild (Day 2 - Relaxation)

Not much to report today.  I got up four hours before everyone else, and I decided to spend the quiet time writing.  It’s amazing how the words will just flow out of me, when I don’t have distractions or obligations to address.  I find it relaxing and peaceful, like finding something you were always meant to do, and it just comes about naturally.

All in all, we had a pretty lazy morning.  My wife got up late, getting some much-needed and overdue rest, and then we all went to brunch at Benedict’s.  I got the Denver omelet, because what else would you get in Denver, CO, and my wife got eggs benedict, because what else would you get at a place called Benedict’s?!  We passed several hours just talking and catching up with Jamee, relaxing and enjoying each other’s company.  Sure, we could have rushed off to do something touristy, but it just seemed right to spend some time relaxing instead.

Eventually, we made our way down to Colorado Springs, CO.  But we turned off for Devil’s Head Trail on the way.  The drive up the mountain to the trailhead was a narrow, extremely curvy, dirt and gravel road.  My wife was gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles the entire time, especially when a car would come flying down the other way, forcing us to the very edge of the road.  She decided to be overly cautious, driving around 5-10 mph the entire way, and we barely made it to the trailhead before sunset.  Since it was getting dark, and my wife had a sudden case of altitude sickness, we decided to just turn around and head on without hiking the trail.

The trip back down the mountain took about one-third of the time.  My wife was like a woman possessed.  I saw that familiar gleam in her eyes, when we started to pick up speed.  She was no longer afeared, and we careened down that mountain in record time.

We checked into the hotel, got settled, and headed over to Old Chicago for a deep-dish pizza and a football game.  The Texans were being creamed by the Chiefs, and I got to experience it in eight-TV-surround-picture in the sports bar upstairs.  The pizza was amazing.  We both highly recommend the Chicago-thick crust.

We’re supposed to get snow tomorrow, so that ought to be interesting.  I guess we’ll see what we wake up to.

Escape to the Wild (Day 1 - Incursion)

Today, we flew to Denver, CO to begin our much-needed vacation.  The last couple of weeks, well months, have been rough.  The demands of work and life have been mounting for both my wife and I until they had reached unbearable limits.  We were burned out long ago, but had managed to hang on to the dying embers of life until we could take it no more.  So, we packed it all in and flew away.

We’re staying with one of my old college roommates tonight, JT.  He has been gracious enough to open his home to us, and it has been great to see him again.  It’s sad when you start to measure your encounters with people in years, but life and distance will do that to you.  We only have this one night and tomorrow morning with him, but we’ll take all we can get.

The trip to Denver was short and uneventful.  The packing and getting out of the house less so.  But in over fifteen years together, my wife and I have never managed to leave for a trip on time or without drama, so I think it’s important that we continue to keep that streak alive.  JT had made dinner reservations for us at a place called Ophelia’s, which was an old brothel turned into a restaurant, bar, and youth hostel.  The décor was dark and racy, a throw-back to days gone past.  The food was different, edgy, and not really something I would probably try again.  But the company was amazing.

JT had invited a couple of his friends along as well.  Justin and Ashley formed the other parts of JT's three-person dinner group, and they complemented our party perfectly.  Justin was easy-going and interesting.  Ashley was sassy and out-spoken.  We passed the evening in companionable conversation, before heading to another place for dessert.

JT had found a place that served Thai, shaved ice, called Snowlab.  The restaurant itself was just a little hole-in-the-wall place near an Enterprise rental place.  There wasn’t much in the way of food around it, and it was a small place, so you really had to know it was there to find it.  The food was sort-of like a sno-cone, but the ice was softer and fluffier than normal, more like the texture of ice cream, but less creamy and more delicate.  The ice was also flavored with things like Coffee, Green Tea, Strawberry, Avocado, Banana, and Oreo.  Then you added the toppings and the syrup drizzle.  We all tried something different, so we could share and get the full experience.  Some of us less adventurous, like my wife with her strawberry ice, with strawberry topping, and strawberry drizzle.  Some of us more adventurous, like me with my green tea ice with Oreo topping, and chocolate drizzle.  And some of us downright crazy, like JT with his avocado ice, dragon eyes topping, and mango drizzle.  It was very good, and we would definitely recommend seeking it out to try it.

The evening wound up shortly after that, since I wasn’t feeling well.  Seems my allergies managed to board the plane too, and I have a splitting headache.  Apparently, altitude sickness can also turn into an issue up here, so we’ve already been trying to drink a lot more water.  Tomorrow we’re off to Colorado Springs, but that’s tomorrow.  Tonight, I’m bushed.

Birthdays Done Right

At the beginning of 2003, I bought a brand new, black Chevrolet S10 pick-up truck.  It was the ZR2 edition, so it had the jacked up tires to make it more manly.  It was a small truck, but it was the perfect compromise between the height and utility of a truck and the maneuverability and convenience of a car.  It was my first brand-new car, the first car I had bought for myself, and I loved it immensely.  I named him “Onyx,” because every car should have a cool name.

A few months after buying the car, I drove up to College Station, TX and took my then fiancée out for her birthday.  I decided to surprise her with a nice dinner at Red Lobster (the restaurant she was always bugging me to take her) and a scenic drive out in the country.  College Station was sort of remote, so without too much effort, it was possible to drive far enough away from the city to get away from the lights and see the stars.  Everything was going according to plan, and we were on our way out to my favorite little deserted road to look at millions of stars splayed across the night sky, when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.  The moment I realized what it was, I started screaming, because well…there was nothing else to do.  It was moving too fast for me to react in any other way.

A second later a deer slammed into the side of my truck.  That’s right, in a twist of the usual story, a deer hit me instead of the other way around.  The doe crossed six lanes of traffic, bounced off my truck, flopped over in the road, and lay stunned.  I immediately pulled off to the side of the road to assess the situation.  I was standing there looking at that poor deer struggle to try to get up, wondering what I could do to help her, when I heard a deep, thrumming noise approaching from the left.  A moment later a big, jacked-up truck with four-foot tires broke through the darkness and ran right over the deer.  There was a faint squishing sound, and then it was all over.  I guess in retrospect, it was a blessing in disguise, because she was probably suffering immeasurably.  With no way to help her anymore, I turned to see the damage on my truck.

My left front fender and wheel well were completely crushed.  So much so that the fender was actually bent back onto the tire, rubbing and scraping across the tread.  The left side of the hood was crumpled.  The front bumper, left headlight, and grill were shattered.  In one moment, that deer had completely immobilized my truck.  I called the emergency number on my driver’s license, and a police car appeared a few minutes later.  The officer took an accident report, called me a tow truck, and then offered us a ride back to my fiancée’s  apartment. 

So, our night ended up with us in the back of a police car.  And I say that if your birthday does not end with you in the back of a police car, then you’re not doing it right.  But maybe do it for having fun, instead of being target practice for a suicidal deer.

The Life of a Divorced Child

When I was two years old, my parents got divorced.  I can’t say that I remember anything that was  going on in the house or with my parent’s relationship at the time.  If I did, I have long-since repressed those memories.  So, as far as I’ve known, I have grown up my entire life with two households.  My parents agreed to joint custody, so my brother and I entered into a complicated life of being shuffled back and forth from one parent to the other.  The arrangement was logical, I suppose, so that neither of our parents had to be away from us for too long, but it was brutal on my brother and I.

My mother got the odd months – January, March, May, etc.  My father got the even months – February, April, June, etc.  I’m not sure how much thought went into that at the time, but it did ensure that my mother got us for Mother’s Day, and my father got us for Father’s Day.  Also, we spent one major holiday (Thanksgiving and Christmas) at each of their houses.  In addition to trading months, we were also shipped back and forth every other weekend.  They lived relatively close to each other, so the drive wasn’t so much of an issue.  It was the life itself that was hard on us.

When we went to one parent’s home, we left behind the life we had at the other.  Our friends, our toys, our routine…all gone.  We entered a new world with different friends, different toys, and different routines.  The only consistent thing was our school.  After years of doing this, and essentially growing up like this, you get used to it.  My friends eventually learned the routine and early on would plan things based on if it was a month when I’d be around.  But my friends didn’t stop living just because I was gone for a month.  So I often found, especially as I got older, that they had moved on without me, developing different circles of friends and doing things without me.  Some stopped even asking, because it was too much of a hassle to plan around my schedule.  I found myself becoming more and more isolated.  I tried to connect with people at both houses, but connection takes time and consistency…neither of which I could provide.

My parents didn’t really seem to understand this or how hard it was.  Maybe they expected us to have the resiliency of youth.  Maybe they thought we were coping just fine.  Maybe they didn’t think about it at all; so caught up in their adult lives and getting even with each other, that they never stopped to consider what it was doing to the two innocent kids caught in the middle.  To be fair, we never really told them.  My brother and I complained about it with each other, but we never really brought it up to them.  I’m not sure it would have made much difference.  What could they do?  They were trapped in the cycle too.

Life went on like this, until I was thirteen.  My brother, who was three years older, decided that one day he wasn’t going back to my mother’s house.  He was finally taking a stand for himself…for his life…for consistency.  He was choosing to live permanently at my father’s.  Needless to say, this did not go over well.  My father tried, to his credit, to get my brother to go.  But what can you do with a sixteen year-old boy who has made up his mind?  You can’t forcibly drag him into the car (although I do remember my mother yelling that my father should have done just that).  So, on we went without him.  My father driving ever closer to the inevitable battle that he knew awaited him on the other side, and me sitting in the back, terrified at the wrath that would be unleashed and the backlash that would consume me in its wake.  And just like that, with that one decision, my brother changed my entire world.  Life was in upheaval.  The routine changed.  Everything changed…and not for the better.

I won’t go into the fight that transpired between my parents when we got there.  I’m sure you can imagine it just fine without it being described.  But I will say that I was right to be terrified.  In her anger, my mother inadvertently made my life a terror.  I don’t think she meant to intentionally be hard on me.  I know that she was hurt by my brother’s actions, not just the action, but the significance of that action as well.  In her mind, it meant that my brother was choosing my father over her, and that rejection hurt more than anything.  I see that now, but I didn’t see that then.  Back then, I walked on eggshells, because I never knew when I’d set her off.

It wasn’t only my mother.  I changed on both sides.  I look back at that time, the hardest of my entire life, and I see how it shaped me.  I became more introverted.  I kept more to myself and became more watchful.  I had to learn an entirely new way to think about and approach situations…to manipulate them to my advantage without giving anything away…to dance the dance.  I became more conniving and sly.  I’m not saying this was a good thing, but I can see how I became this way.  For three years, I traversed the waters alone.  My brother had abandoned me.  The one person who could empathize with my plight was not only gone, but his removal of himself from the situation had actually made it worse for me.  I was now the sole recipient of the negative attention, the housework, and the pawn between my parents.

This went on for three years, until I was also sixteen.  Then, I made the hardest decision of my life, and I decided to stand up for me as well.  I chose to also live with my father permanently.  But unlike my brother, I faced my mother and stepfather with my choice.  I sat there on that fireplace, and I took every word.  I endured every question and accusation.  It was horrible.  Understandably, they were upset and hurt.  But I was made out to be the bad guy for choosing to correct a situation that I never asked to be put into in the first place.  Sure, I could have chosen my mother’s house, but by this time, I had no friends in the area.  I had no social life in the area.  It was the formative years, when you’re evolving your identity and your circle of relationships, and I chose the place that was going to help me foster those.  It wasn’t about my mother or my father.  It was about me.  It was what I needed to do for myself.  After fourteen years of being something that my parents selfishly used against each other, it was finally going to be about me.  It should have been about me, and my brother, all along.  But if someone else wasn’t going to make that choice for me, then I’d make it for myself.  So, I did. 

I paid the price, in full.  I endured the wrath.  I had paid it for my brother, who was too much of a coward to pay it himself, and I paid it again for me.  I kept going to see my mother and stepfather, every other weekend.  When I went off to college, I still went home on the weekends to see them.  I continued to be there, in their lives.  They weren’t always warm to me, especially at first, but it got better.  I think when they realized that I wasn’t going to abandon them like my brother did, that it wasn’t something personal against them, that they started to let me back in.  I think it also helped when I went away to college.  By that point, I wasn’t choosing anybody at all.

Ironically, I ended up having an amazing relationship with both my stepfather and my mother.  The one with my mother, which I still enjoy, is better than it’s ever been.  At some point, we moved past all of that, and became even closer.  That is not the ironic part.  The ironic part is that even as I grew closer to my mother, I grew further away from my father.  Somewhere around five years ago or so, the tables began to tip the other way.  I guess you can never truly have that perfect balance.

I look back at my life, especially those fourteen years, but even the aftermath of the next seven or eight, and I can see how I was being shaped as a human being.  I see where my negativity, suspicion, and manipulation evolved.  But I also see where my maturity, bravery, and loyalty evolved.  I still fight the first three, and I still have the last three.  And through the years, I have developed other qualities to help temper and compliment those. 

It was a hard life.  A life I would never choose for anyone.  It definitely wasn’t the best childhood that I could have had, but it wasn’t the worst by any means.  I mean I got two amazing stepparents out of the deal, which I wouldn’t trade for anything, so it couldn’t have been all bad.  I don’t think God chooses bad things for people, but He is there to help turn them into something good.  I was too oblivious to realize it at the time, but I see now that He never left my side throughout all of those trials.  He was constantly shaping me, lovingly helping me, and sometimes carrying me.  I don’t know how I would have made it without Him.  In a word, I’m a survivor.  I have come through the fire, and I’m still here.