Family Adventure

The excitement continued until the very end. Catherine’s family was flying home into the yet undetermined path of Hurricane Debby. Thanks to an eastward turn of the path of the storm, they made it just fine.

On the other hand, Elizabeth’s family, along with Mary Lou and myself had a 40-minute layover in Minneapolis before heading to Atlanta, and in their case, on to Dothan. Our late departure from Rapid City, South Dakota put that connection in jeopardy, and we all knew it.

The plane to Atlanta was boarding just as we landed. To our surprise, there was a Delta employee waiting as we exited the plane. He took us and two of our grandchildren down on the tarmac where a waiting Porsche whisked us to our connecting plane, using all the tunnels and shortcuts on the runways. Kudos to Delta for the best customer service ever.

One the other hand, the rest of the family had to run a mile in the terminals, lugging their luggage behind them. They made it but had to check their luggage to Dothan because all the overhead compartments were full.

We were already in Auburn when we got a call saying their connection to Dothan was still delayed. They rented an Uber and headed to our house arriving before midnight. Their luggage made to Dothan sometime after midnight. Could it be possible that the best and worst service from Delta could occur at the same time?

Nevertheless, our family trip to Cowboy Country was a complete success and who can ask for anything more. In addition to the Grand Tetons which I mentioned last week, we explored Yellowstone. Old Faithful did not disappoint. All our rooms faced the famous geyser which was a little over 100 yards away. I kept my window open because the old lodge did not have air conditioning and I wanted to hear the rumble and roar of the eruption every 90 minutes through the night.

We explored the geyser basins where we saw mud pots, steam vents, hot springs and more geysers, some much more impressive than Old Faithful. Along the way we continued to see all sorts of wildlife, including bears, elk, moose, bison, antelope, foxes, coyotes, eagles and ospreys.

The old lodge at Yellowstone was as incredible as I remembered from a half century ago. We met numerous Auburn people walking around the expansive space, thanks to the small AU on my shirt, including a couple of Tigers on their honeymoon.

On our way out of the huge park we visited the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and some beautiful waterfalls. Nature outdid itself in this part of the world.

Our pace picked up as we had more ground to cover. We stopped at Buffalo Bill’s original hunting lodge before spending the night in Cody, Wyoming. Of course, we had to attend a rodeo there, which occurs every night for three straight months.

On to TA Ranch, an 8,000 acre spread that has a rich history. Everyone but me rode horses at this visit. I had promised my orthopedic surgeon that I would forego the trail ride before he replaced my hip only two months earlier.

We spent the next night at the Ucross Ranch, an amazing, beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere. On that night, the kids from all the different families finally bonded as they played kickball until the sun had gone behind the mountains.

On our last day, we visited both the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore. Both are inspiring and completely different. Mount Rushmore was just as I remembered it on the mountain. We had ice cream at the visitor center which used Thomas Jefferson’s original recipe for Vanilla. Do you know the difference between Vanilla and French Vanilla ice cream?

That evening was spent at the K Bar S Ranch, where we finally had both air conditioning and television. Not a single kid watched TV, though, as they once again played kickball until dark.

The reason we like traveling with Tauck Bridges is their tours are designed for multi-generational families. Some kids were traveling with their grandparents, others with their parents, and still others like us, with three generations in tow.

The west is a kaleidoscope of landscapes and colors. You could fill multiple scrapbooks with the many pictures we took of all the beautiful things we saw. Yet I will remember the bonding time with my children and grandchildren most of all.

A family adventure to cowboy country. It was all we hoped it would be.

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