It's Autumn, and I Like It!

Most everyone seems to have a favorite time of the year. Some people like spring because everything is fresh and new after a long winter. Some people prefer winter because of all the opportunities to participate in winter sports. Most of my friends seem to prefer summer, for it's warmth and long daylight hours. They love the beach and things like that. I do not. My favorite time of the year is fall. Partly because it signals the end of summer (which happens to be my least favorite season). But mostly because I just like pretty much everything about it! Cooler weather, frosty mornings, trees changing colors, harvest time, apples and pumpkins, hoodies, hunting season, the smell of wood smoke in the air... Ah, glorious fall...

As I mentioned before, I am well aware that not everyone shares my fondness for the autumn season. But I figured I would still be able to find some sort of fall-celebrating poem to share alongside of my fall photos here on the blog (and there are LOTS of photos...). I'm sure there are some out there, but after I glanced through poem after poem that talked about everything dying in fall, and the wind singing a funeral song for the trees (or something along those lines), and the way the poets felt sad because it was fall and the glory of summer was gone... I kinda gave up. So instead I searched for happy quotes about autumn and those were easier to find... so here you go! :)

"I loved autumn, 

the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there 

just for the beauty of it." 

- Lee Maynard

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." 

- Lucy Maude Montgomery

North Fork, Shoshone River, Wyoming

Pilot and Index Peaks, Absaroka Range, Wyoming

(It's pronounced Ab-sor-ka, by the way.)

Tentatively identified as Spotted Tussock Moth caterpillar, Yellowstone National Park

"Autumn... the year's last, loveliest smile." 

- William Cullen Bryant

Bison, Yellowstone National Park

Lewis Lake, Yellowstone National Park

"Fall is awesome." 

- Me

Willow Flats, Grand Teton National Park (next 4 pictures)

Find the bull elk in the picture above.

Find the cow elk in the picture below.

"Autumn is a second spring 

when every leaf is a flower."

- Albert Camus

An inviting trail, Oxbow Bend area, Grand Teton National Park

 

"Autumn carries more gold in its pocket 

than all the other seasons." 

- Jim Bishop

Aspens in the fall (my favorite!), Oxbow Bend area, Grand Teton National Park

"I like fall. I don't like it. 

I actually love it. I like leaf piles." 

- Mountain Girl

Oxbow Bend (Snake River), Grand Teton National Park

(next 4 pictures)

"Um... like a frog bouncing into the water." 

- Little Mr.

Random photographer (Ha ha... hi, mom!), Cunningham Cabin area, Grand Teton National Park

(next two pictures)

"I like fall because of 

the cooler temperatures and the hunting." 

- PJ

 Magpie, perfectly timed

Mormon Row homesteads, Grand Teton National Park

"Otch! Ush. O yah." 

- Little Miss

String Lakes area, Grand Teton National Park (next 4 pictures)

"I like it because you can 

do art projects with fall leaves." 

- Biker Dude

Lewis Falls, Yellowstone National Park

Lewis River, Yellowstone National Park

 

"Delicious autumn! 

My very soul is wedded to it, 

and if I were a bird I would fly about the Earth 

seeking the successive autumns." 

- George Eliot

Geyser, Yellowstone National Park

 Yellowstone Grizzly! If you want to see more pictures of bears, and of Yellowstone, you'll have to check back here next week! 'Til next time...

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; 

wisdom and power are his.

He changes times and seasons; 

he deposes kings and raises up others.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning."

- Daniel 2: 20-21 (NIV)

Back in Business

I have been a bad blogger.

It has been over a year since my last post. I don't have any real reason for it - just took an unscheduled break, I guess. I have had many ideas for posts over the last year. Even started writing a few. Even had one that was all written and edited and ready to go and I just didn't get it posted. I have missed writing, though. Now that the busyness of summer is over, school has started, and the weather is steadily changing as we head deeper into autumn... it seems like a good time to "get back on the horse", so to speak.

We recently took a couple of trips up to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, plus my parents and my brother and his family came out for a visit (Yes, all at the same time. We had FUN!). With all that, plus the regular day-to-day stuff, I have given my camera quite a workout over the last couple of months! Um... yeah... We're talking nearly 1,400 photos since the beginning of September. I may have a problem. I may need help - help buying a new memory card (or two)! Haha!

On our first trip down to the Tetons this year, I wanted to find the Moulton Barn. You've probably seen it before, even if you didn't know what it was called. Calendars, posters, screen savers... the barn with its unique shape and the mountain range rising up behind it is an iconic image of the Tetons. I've wanted to get down there and get my own photos of it for a while, but it seems like every trip we run out of time to actually find it. We used to (as newlyweds) head through Yellowstone and down to the Tetons on day trips and feel like that was totally doable, and that we generally had plenty of time to see and do what we wanted to. Traveling with four young kiddos changes things up a bit!

This time, however, we found it! We looked up directions online, and it was actually pretty easy to find. And there was a lot more than just the one barn to look at, too. There are actually several old homesteads remaining at that spot. All together it is called Mormon Row (as it was a Mormon settlement), and it's located on Antelope Flats Road outside of the Moose Entrance to Grand Teton National Park. The area is actually nicely developed with a couple parking areas, a bathroom, and a nice walking path. I was a bit surprised by it, actually. The pictures I'd seen of it made it look much more rustic and remote. Just goes to show you that a picture can be deceiving! There's even some sort of guest cabins or something back in there too.

Here's that old, iconic barn:

We didn't go down there just once this year. We actually returned for a second time while my family was in town visiting. Here's the same barn just a few weeks later:

I love fall.

Here are a few other snapshots from the area (combined from both trips):

We have started our third year of homeschooling this year, and we used our first trip down to the Mormon Row homesteads as a school field trip. We spent a good bit of time walking around the area and talking about what it would have been like to have lived on a homestead. The homesteads here were built around the 1890s. After we got back home, the kids drew a picture of a homestead. The older kiddo also wrote a short essay about what life would have been like for him if he had lived on a homestead back then. It's always a bonus when a vacation day can double as a school day. :)

On our second trip we also checked out another old structure - the Cunningham Cabin.

This cabin was built in the 1880s. Imagine waking up to this view every morning!

There was a nice little walking path to check out. Not to mention the gorgeous views! And there happened to be a small herd of elk just across the way that we watched for a while, too. (You can see them below.)

A couple of gorgeous days in the Tetons! I've got more pictures to share, too. But they'll have to wait for another post. Be sure to check back soon!

The End of Summer

Today on the blog I'm taking you to a new corner of Wyoming. I guess I'm playing tour guide! We went to Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site for a camping weekend. But before I get to all the pictures... a story:

I've been so excited for school to start this year! We are continuing our homeschool journey, and as such I've spent several weeks this summer choosing and shopping for curriculum, planning and preparing. Recently I also went and purchased school supplies. I had so much fun picking out notebooks, rulers and index cards! I really had to control myself from going overboard and buying a bunch of stuff we didn't need – like a protractor for my preschooler. I always liked school myself... and school supply shopping for my kids is just the best. My favorite purchase - I am so pumped that I found a left-handed scissors for the Biker Dude!

(Uh oh, I think my nerd is showing.)

We started school this past week, but before we could get down to business we had one last summer-y weekend planned. Our church family headed out of town for a group camping excursion – the first of what hopefully becomes an annual event. Honestly, I wasn't originally looking forward to it. The thought of tent camping with a 2 ½ month old baby was less than appealing to me, to say the least. But! Some good great super-fantastic! friends of ours offered to lend us a camper for the event, and that changed everything.

Sooo... there we were, getting things ready so that we could leave the next day. The kids were already in bed and PJ and I were packing the camper when I asked him to go downstairs and bring up something we needed. He wasn't down there for more than two minutes before he started yelling for me to come and help him. I'm all, “What do you need my help for? I just sent you down there for one little thing.” “Just come help me!!!” he insisted, with quite an urgent tone in his voice (which, yes, that is just a nice way of saying that he yelled a little). Anyway, I get down there and discover the reason for his insistence - which was that our basement had gotten water in it (because of course that would happen the night before we want to leave for vacation...). There wasn't any standing water, thankfully, but the water did puddle up around your feet as you walked across the carpet. The room that flooded was my sewing room/storage room, so there were a lot of boxes and storage totes and miscellaneous items that we had to move. The water also went under the wall of that room and into our school room area, which meant that I had to tear apart nearly everything that I had spent so much time carefully preparing for our school year – just three days before it was supposed to start. (Ugh!!!) Once the heavy lifting was done, PJ got the wet vac out and vacuumed something like 15-20 gallons of water out of the carpet while I went upstairs and got back to packing. I was ready to call the camping trip off, I was so frustrated, but we turned a big fan on the carpet overnight and then left it to dry unassisted the next morning while we went to...

...Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site!

Oh. Nearly forgot. Can't leave yet. I hadn't been feeling good for a few days, and wasn't getting better at all, so I decided to go to Urgent Care that morning. Thankfully there wasn't a long wait, but they did end up putting me on antibiotics. So that was another unwelcome addition to our trip to...

...Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site!

(Yes, we can finally go. Wait. We can go - after we get gas and stop at the store and get lunch and feed the baby and... Good gracious, this leaving thing is taking forever!)

So. Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site. Never heard of it before. Never even knew it existed. Wyoming still has plenty of surprises left! We drove out into pretty much the middle of nowhere and followed a couple of tiny little signs.

Landscape near the entrance.

Went down a gravel road and came upon the entrance to the park which led us into what felt like an oasis. There was a cold stream full of trout and a large number of trees of the deciduous variety in a little valley surrounded by rocky bluffs.

 View from our campsite.

 Beautiful trout stream ran through the whole campground.

The campground was meticulously maintained with nice grassy sites and the cleanest, best-smelling pit toilets I've ever encountered (they used “forest” scented hanging car air fresheners). The campground was busy, but not totally full.

One of the available campsites.

Oh! And there was this – while we could drive just a short distance down the road and get cell service, there was no service after we passed through the entrance to the campground. This only added to the “oasis” feeling. There were no ringing cell phones disrupting the peace, and the only thing we watched in the evenings was the campfire. It was rather nice to be disconnected for a couple of days.

The kids were in their glory – spending all day outside, running around with their friends, riding bikes, playing in the creek, making s'mores... It was the first time that we'd been camping in a few years, and the first time ever for Little Mister and Little Miss. In fact, last time we went, Mountain Girl was just a little over a year old and we went tent camping at the beach. (Sand + little kids + tent... hmmm, maybe there's a reason we didn't feel like going camping there for a bit...) Anyway, they absolutely loved it. In fact, I think we all had a pretty good time.

We had a young man who wanted to be baptized in a creek, so we did that on Sunday morning. It was definitely a highlight of our weekend! We also enjoyed a little walk around the campground on a nature trail, an outdoor church service, horseshoes (until they broke) and ladderball, omelets-in-a-bag (just ask if you want the instructions for them – they're really good and a simple way to feed a large group), campfires and lots of s'mores and conversation.

 Nature trail.

Nature trail.

Cactus and wildflowers along the nature trail.

 Nature trail.

Oh, and if you're wondering why the place is called an “Archaeological Site” rather than a State Park or something else, it's because of the petroglyphs (which you can view quite easily on a large rock face right by a parking area) and I guess they also did some archaeological excavations there as well.

 Petroglyph area.

It was a nice, refreshing weekend – even if it was dampened just a bit by the knowledge that we had to deal with the basement when we got back home. The carpet was still a little damp, as we expected, so we turned the fan back on to get it all dried out. The good news is that there has been no more water coming in, and we're pretty sure we know what happened, so everything should be all taken care of now. I was determined to start school despite the mess, so we've been working around it. Things have been going well, even if they are a bit cramped and a lot disorganized. Hopefully soon we can move the furniture back where it belongs and get everything all situated the way that it was before.

 Wild sunflowers of Wyoming.

"He lets me rest in green meadows;

he leads me beside peaceful streams."

-Psalm 23: 2 (NLT)