Before Christmas break, with Joseph done at Michigan three days before the other boys were done, Dad and Joseph both flew to Montana, met at the Bozeman airport, and drove down to Yellowstone Park for two solid days of winter adventures.
We stayed in the gateway town of West Yellowstone, one of the coldest, snowiest towns in America, which was relatively deserted. The winter season had just started on December 15, which means the park roads have re-opened (after closing at the end of the summer season in October), but essentially only to tour guides leading snow coach and snowmobile trips. We did one of each trip in our two days, with a hike tagged on to the snowcoach day.
Our Snowcoach tour was the first day, to the Upper Geyser Basin, including Old Faithful. Joseph and I split off from the tour for a bit more than an hour to hike through the basin, which was amazing in winter, including seeing the Riverside Geyser go off while we went by! We also saw Swans, Bison, and Coyotes. We had a wonderful guide for our journey chugging through the park.
Day Two was Snowmobiling, and we went forty miles each direction to the Yellowstone Canyon area, seeing Lower Falls, Upper Falls, and the Rim. We saw Swans, Bison, and Coyotes again this day, as well as an Elk and an Eagle. It began snowing while we were snowmobiling through the higher elevations, adding to the atmosphere but also making it a bit more arduous.
Lots and lots of great photos - here are a few of the notable ones:
Outside our snowcoach at a rest stop. The tiny vehicle fits eight plus the guide.
On Sunday, December 16, the long-awaited ski season began with a trek to Crystal Mountain. It was a bit stormy there, though not all that cold so it was a mix of snow-and-rain at the base and snow-and-ice at the top. It was also a bit windy, so many of the lifts were closed, making the few that were open (mainly Forest Queen and Chinook) all the more crowded. But Dad, Jack, and Henry still got in some good ski runs to ease into shape for the season!
John went on one of his regular trips to Charlottesville, a quick trip at the start of the month. He got to go to a basketball game to see the #4 team in the country easily handle the Morgan State Bears. And with the weather beautiful he took a quick detour out of his work to go up to Monticello, thirty years after working there for a summer!
Right after Thanksgiving, John travelled to Madrid on a short trip to visit one of the Amazon teams there. While he was only there for less than two days, he got a little bit of time in to see some of the sights. It's an old city with a bit of character, and a few large public squares.
A Spanish specialty - churros with a cup of very thick chocolate that the churros are dipped in. Delicious, though very rich!
Joseph came home for Thanksgiving late on Wednesday night and had a quick long weekend home before flying back early Sunday morning. It was filled with usual activities - Issaquah Turkey Trot on Thursday morning, Rodgers Bowl on Thursday afternoon, of course a turkey dinner, and then we got our tree on Friday morning. It was a rainy weekend, so rather than braving the mud to cut our own tree down, for the first time in a long time we just bought it on a lot. There was also lots of sports over the weekend - Virginia basketball won their holiday tournament versus Wisconsin, but a disappointing football weekend - UVA lost to Virginia Tech in OT on Friday, and Michigan was crushed by Ohio State on Saturday.
