Foreign Affair Sailing

We had a wonderful time renewing old friendships and making new ones at the Seven Seas Cruising Association Annapolis Gam which was held at the Maryland Yacht Club.  It was a wonderful setting and the club members were very welcoming.  The seminars on a wide range of topics were particularly good.  The banquet was served to a full house and the fellowship superb.  Nigel Calder was the keynote speaker and provided us with a humorous and informative narration of his earliest days as a cruiser.  His experiences made it clear that even the smartest among us often make dumb mistakes.  His latest book, Shakedown Cruise:  Lessons and Adventures from a Cruising Veteran as He Learns the Ropes, is a must read for anyone interested in cruising.  It is a fast, humorous read filled with anecdotes that provide not soon to be forgotten lessons of value to the cruising sailor.  Once again, the Gam was a special weekend of fun and learning in a wonderful setting.

We took some of the grandchildren to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival.  It was a great sunny day and not too hot.  We had a fun time exploring the fair grounds.  The highlight of the day was the jousting and turkey leg snack.

On our last day on the road, we stopped at the Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters in what is today Florence, Nebraska.  Thousands of Mormons were forced to leave their settlement at Nauvoo, Illinois because of religious persecution.  They began their journey westward in 1846 and established Winter Quarters on the banks of the Missouri River not far from Council Bluffs, Iowa.  The settlement was quickly constructed and well laid out.  Brigham Young organized wagon companies and sent them on their way west in the spring of 1847.  Many of these Mormon settlers eventually arrived at Salt Lake City, Utah.  Thousands others followed their lead.  In 1852, over 10,000 Mormons arrived in their expanding settlement on the banks of the Great Salt Lake.  The Mormon Trail Center is dedicated to educating visitors on the history of the Church of the Latter Day Saints and the role of its members in settling the West.

We got up early so as to be able to take in the first tour of the gold mines under Lead.  The Black Hills Mining Museum provided us a great education on the evolution of hard rock mining in the Black Hills.  It was interesting to compare how gold was extracted in the Yukon Territory and Alaska with what was being done in South Dakota and Wyoming.  Gold mining continues in the area around Lead even today; however, the industry employs significantly fewer people than at the height of the early gold mining days.  Our guide was a retired miner and gave us a very informative and fun tour as we were the only two people on the first tour of the day.  We passed on the opportunity to pan for gold as we had already done so in the past and we had many miles to travel.

We left Broadus on another sunny day and drove to Devils Tower before heading to Lead for the evening.  It was another interesting drive.  The sun shining on Devils Tower made it particularly spectacular.  We made a quick stop at the Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood to visit the gravesites of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.  We had a buffet dinner at one of Deadwood's historic hotels.  Today these hotels advertise as casinos and slot machines dominate the gambling action.  Our lodgings in Lead were in a house built in 1910 which was under renovation (or reconstruction).  Part of Lead are settling due to sections of the mines under the town beginning to cave in unless they are shored up.  None of the floors in the house we spent the night in were level and the owner said plumbing had to be replaced as pipes broke at times due to the house shifting.

We spent the morning learning more about the early settlement of the West at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.  The Center is actually five museums co-located on a beautiful piece of land.  The Buffalo Bill Museum contains numerous items which were the personal property of Buffalo Bill and his family.  It is equipped with state of the art exhibits to include an automaton of Buffalo Bill telling a bit about himself as he welcomes visitors to his museum.  The Plains Indian Museum educates us on the cultures, traditions and values of the various tribes which inhabited the Plains.  Its extensive holdings and full scale dioramas help visitors reach a better understanding of the Native people's life on the Plains.  The Cody Firearms Museum is probably the most extensive collection of firearms in the country.  The museum does more than just exhibit weapons.  It addresses the need for weapons and development of firearms.  Many of the items on display are very rare.  Even those who have little interest in firearms will find this museum worth a visit.  The Draper Natural History Museum and Whitney Western Art Museum round out the Center.  We could have spent and additional day at the museum but had to move on to Broadus for the evening.

We departed Driggs, ID and spent the morning in Jackson visiting the various art galleries and stopping for lunch at the Cowboy Bar.  It was definitely a throwback to the 1950's.  Old saddles served as bar stools.  Silver dollars were embedded in the bar itself and western memorabilia was everywhere.  They don't make them like this place anymore.  Refreshed and saddle sore, we headed out of town toward Cody, Wyoming.

We began the day touring Jackson Hole.  One of the interesting stops we made was the Mormon Row Historic District.  Several Mormon families settled in the valley as homesteaders.  Their farms were clustered along a stream which provided water for their livestock and crops.  Several of their homes and barns are preserved and information tablets describing their lives and settlement are maintained by the park service.  We made a stop at the Episcopal Chapel of the Transfiguration in which services were held for the vacationers of nearby "dude ranches".  It was a quaint chapel in the middle of nowhere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_of_the_Transfiguration

We came across Menor's Ferry and country store on the Snake River which was interesting.


We drove the valley the entire day taking in its beauty from various vantage points.

We traveled through Yellowstone National Park southward on our way to Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole and Cody.  We made a stop at the Lake Village and the Fishing Bridge Museum and Visitor Center.  We walked along the lake shore and toured the Lake Hotel where we took lunch before leaving Yellowstone behind and entered the Jackson Hole Valley and Grand Teton National Park.

Today, we traveled along the western roads of Yellowstone NP with stops at Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, Fountain Paint Pot and Old Faithful.  All of the sights were impressive; however, the Mammouth Hot Springs travertine terraces and Old Faithful were the highlights of the day.  We only had to wait a few minutes after our arrival to see Old Faithful erupt.  We then joined a park ranger for a tour of the Old Faithful Lodge and learned of the history and interesting architectural features of the lodge.  After the tour, we had dinner at the lodge after which we again watched Old Faithful erupt.  It was another wonderful day in one of the most amazing locations in the world.  We still have much to see in the park and are looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

We made a brief stop to view the Sheepeater Cliffs  on our way to the Norris Geyser Basin.  The cliffs are made of columnar basalt which formed during a volcanic eruption.  These cliffs are named after a band of Eastern Shoshone known as the Tukuaduka (sheep eaters).  The Norris Geyser Basin was interesting; however, none of the geysers was up to our expectations compared to Old Faithful.  A 6 to 8 foot high geyser was the best we saw.  Still, it is amazing to see this geological phenomenon.  The Norris Geyser Basin Museum is an interesting structure.  It was built in 1930 and constructed of stone and log.  This rustic building is one of the first of many of this style which can be found built in our parks during the 1930s.  The museum is dedicated to life in the thermal areas of the park.

We began our first day in Yellowstone by entering at the Northeast Entrance and traveling along Soda Butte Creek, through the Lamar Valley and across the northern road to the Mammoth Hot Springs.  We were amazed at the number of buffalo grazing in the immense valley and stopped more than once waiting for a herd to complete their crossing of the roadway.  One can only imagine what the plains looked like when hundreds of thousands of these beautiful creatures roamed wild before the massive slaughter by buffalo hunters nearly exterminated the species.  We also saw a good number of prong horn antelope and mule deer grazing in the early morning.  It was a very pleasant drive.

We had a long drive from Missoula to Cooke City-Silver Gate which lie a few miles east of Yellowstone National Park's Northeast Gate.  Along the way, we stopped at Fort Missoula to tour the historic frontier fort and visit some of the other local attractions.  The site of Fort Missoula is now a living history park and includes exhibits and artifacts covering the 125 years since the erection of the fort in 1877 to protect settlers in the area during the Indian Wars.  http://fortmissoulamuseum.org/

The highlight of the day was our tour of the Crystal Gold Mine in Kellogg, Idaho.  Here we learned more about the process of hard rock mining during the 1880's.  The mine has an interesting history as it is unknown who developed the mine and it appears the miners attempted to hide the location of the mine by blasting down part of the hillside to cover the entrance.  One theory is that the miners where robbed and murdered while on their way to have their ore processed and obtain supplies.  The mine was hidden for over 80 years.  Its location was discovered when the entrance was exposed during the construction of Interstate 90 in the 1960's.  Today, the mine has been preserved as an example of early, hard rock mining.  We had a wonderful tour through the mine and furthered our knowledge of how gold was extracted and processed in the 19th Century.  It is estimated that this mine was the work of two to four men cutting through hard rock at the rate of a couple of feet per day.  Their tools and ore cart remained in the mine when the entrance was closed which supports the notion that the miners intended to return and re-open the mine.  As a result, the mine became a time capsule of the industry.

Once again, we had a beautiful day for our drive from Leavenworth, Washington to Hayden, Idaho.  Many of the wheat fields were being harvested.  Grain trucks were busy transporting the golden kernels from the fields to the silos.  We passed a large mound of grain on the ground as we passed Creston.  The vastness of the wheat fields found on the western plains of the US and Canada is utterly amazing.  The golden crop covers hundreds of square miles and is truly an ocean of grain.

We made a slight detour to visit the childhood home of Bing Crosby which is now located at Gonzaga University, his alma mater.  The home now serves as a museum which is filled with Crosby artifacts to include the Oscar he received in 1944 as Best Actor for his role as Father O'Malley in the movie, Going My Way.  Bing Crosby's career was long and record breaking.  He appeared in 104 films, charted 368 records and scored the most number one hits - 38 (Beatles 24, Elvis 18).  His recording of "White Christmas" is the most popular song and is a standard during the holiday season.  He was truly one of the greatest American talents.  It was a fun visit and brought back many memories.

We departed Seattle on another wonderful sunny day bound for Leavenworth, Washington.  The town has turned itself into a tourist destination by architecturally replicating a Bavarian village.  The Bavarian theme carries through to many of the shops and wine tasting is high on the list of things to do in Leavenworth.  We wandered Leavenworth's downtown area admiring the buildings until we decided to head to the tasting rooms to sample some great Washington wine (wein probieren).  We had dropped into two of the tasting rooms and left with a bottle of wine from each.  We went to Andreas Keller for dinner which was authentic (echt).  A skilled musician played and drank to the entertainment of all.  This was our second visit to Leavenworth and better than the first which was many years ago.  Once again, we had a wonderful, relaxing, early fall day to enrich our lives.

We stayed with our friend, Keith, in Seattle for a couple of nights before heading east toward home.  He suggested we take time to tour The Museum of Flight which is one of the largest and most comprehensive air museums in the world.  We were there for over 4 hours examining planes dating from the earliest days of flight to the most modern space craft.  It was a great way to spend the day.  We later enjoyed visiting with Brian who allowed us to store our car in a spot he had available while we were on our cruise tour.  We finished up with a wonderful meal at a Chinese restaurant not far from Keith's condo.  Tomorrow, we finally begin our journey back to Kansas and Missouri.