Grand Tour

We spent most of the month of July on the Mainland with Greg and his two buddies, Hanam and Shinji. First to CA, where we hooked up with Valerie's parents, Nonie and Boyd. Then by Amtrak to Salt Lake, and by car/truck to Arimo, ID, site of Valerie's family's farm. From there V & I drove to Yellowstone National Park for a few days with Greg, Hanam, and Shinji, before the whole lot of us headed back to the Bay Area. Home a couple nights ago. Herewith some of my favorite pics.

 

Greg and Shinji enjoying the cultural life of Salt Lake City.

We drove up to Park City, UT, where we spent the day checking out the ski lifts and, and of course, the local skateboard park. Here is a view from a lift.

 

While we were in Salt Lake, we drove out to Kennecott Utah Copper Bingham Canyon Mine, which is the biggest man made hole on earth and pretty clearly named by someone other than a poet. It used to be a mountain, but now it's a hole about 4000 feet deep, and 2 and a half miles wide. It's visible from outer space. I thought that when they are done extracting ore, those terraces would make a smashing housing development. Just needs trees and some water at the bottom.

If you are wondering whether the terraces are big enuf for houses, those two little dark specks on the road in the lower left quadrant are dump trucks which each carry up to 360 tons of ore.

 

 

We went shooting up at the farm in Arimo. Here Hanam makes a water bottle fly with a shot from the Ruger model 77 in .22. The bottle is just above the plastic plate.

Shortly after we drove thru the West Entrance to Yellowstone, Valerie snapped this pic of two eagles on their nest. There were stern signs ordering us to keep driving lest gawkers disturb the birds, so she had a rush job of unlimbering the camera and grabbing this one. Turned out nicely.

 

We stayed at the Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge at the North end of the park, and came across this grizzly fellow a bit south of there. S/he was hard to miss: scores of people had their cameras pointed at him/her. Grizzlies are hard to come by, so seeing this one pretty close up was extra neat.

 

Unlike grizzly bears, the park is lousy with bison: you can expect to see lots of them.

 

There is a rumor going around that if you visit Yellowstone without taking a picture of Old Faithful, the Department of Homeland Security will lock you in a cell with Charlie Manson and Dick Cheney. So here's the proof, guys. Waterboard someone else.

 

After watching Old Faithful, we checked out Old Faithful Lodge. The lobby is pretty neat.

 

Back in Arimo, we all went out for dinner one nite at the local truck stop diner. Hanam had some fun with his food.

 

Naturally, all the major food groups were on the table.

 

 

That's Waitress's, not Copy Editor's.

Here's a view of part of the wheat farm, SE from a high point on Arkansas Road, which runs thru it.

 

 

Pre-bread:

 

This is also from Arkansas Road. It's a nice high spot with 360 degree views. This is the one west.

 

Back in CA, we went on a walking tour of the Haight-Ashbury district. Our tour guide, Izu, was a long-time resident. Here are her shoes:

 

So much for Give Peace a Chance:

 

The guys went skateboarding, while Valerie & I trekked thru the street people in Golden Gate Park to the Japanese Tea Garden. I liked it a lot.

 

Here are some Japanese maples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually we flew back to Hawaii. It was a great trip, and I am also happy to be home.