Somehow the other night I ended up reading through a few months of old blog entries. It was interesting, because they were from several years ago. I wrote a lot more often, but shorter and with less pictures, and while I was basically no more neurotic than I am now, I was overly concerned with my diet and exercise…now I’m eating well and exercising but not stressing over it (it’s delightful!) and mostly trying to enjoy being active and healthy! I wrote a lot about class teaching—at the time I was teaching at a variety of different places and totally stressed out, but still creatively full of ideas, which sometimes I feel like I lack today—I have spent this week so far trying to be fully committed to my students in their lessons (I’ll explain more in a bit). And lastly, I baked more often than I do now, which I really should change…I have a few old bananas in the freezer to make banana muffins with and I should just do it.
Being fully committed to my students: after teaching a student for awhile it’s easy to get a little lazy about technique points or allowing them to get away with things that at first I might have been very picky with. Part of that is how the students SIGH and roll their eyes, or worse, get upset, when I correct them. Sometimes after correcting the same thing (i.e. bow hold issue) over and over without it really getting fixed I feel like I need to give the student a break or they might murder me. But then sometimes that break becomes more than one lesson, or two lessons, and I realize wow, I haven’t bugged so-and-so about his-or-her bowhold for a long time, and it’s really holding them back, but I’m hesitating to do it because I know that it won’t be fun for them in the moment, or even for the next few weeks or months. But in the long run, it WILL make them a better violinist. And so this week (and last, too, and for many in the future) I’ve been really dedicating lessons to do those painful things, making the students work on their difficulties, and I will continue to do so, to be a more annoying teacher than perhaps I have been. I’ve been thinking long and hard about my long-term teaching and studio goals, and while I appreciate that most of my students enjoy their lessons and enjoy the violin, I want them to enjoy it more the way I do. The better you can play, the MORE enjoyment you get from it!
Outside of teaching, this has been an excellent week musically. My quartet is busy rehearsing Beethoven Op. 59 #1 and that’s been wonderful, and the past two evenings have been full of Bach for this weekend’s concert with Bach at the Sem. It’s so wonderful to play such beautiful music, and I love playing with the Bach group because the conductor is very demanding and insists on very particular phrasing. I enjoy the challenge! (Things to remember while teaching.)
Though…part of my ongoing blog theme is writing these posts acting like I’m opening some new door or doing something different, when I really just keep doing the same things! Life goes in phases, and when I’m in a new phase things seem fresh and new. That being said, I feel like I’ve been in a little bit of teaching rut, so I’m trying some new things to get out of it. My other thought is that I really should try to do some writing and get something else published in one of my association journals. Or work towards becoming an MTNA certified teacher? I know, I’m always pondering things to do to make myself busier and less stressed out, but I don’t want to be stagnant in my career.
I know, reading about me pondering my life goals and decisions is probably not the most interesting…but it’s interesting to me, and perhaps to you if you are a musician or simply spend too much time pondering and wonder if you are abnormal. In my opinion, you are totally normal!
I miss being in the woods. Is that weird? And honestly, my current mattress is so terrible that sleeping on a camping pad isn’t that much worse…plus I just really loved going to sleep and waking up hearing all the outdoor sounds. I don’t even recognize myself since evidently I’ve become one of those outdoorsy people, but I’m embracing it, and having gotten out of town for a bit of the weekend is definitely helping my mood, my ambition, and my mindset. (Maybe I’ve changed more in the past few years than rereading old blog posts made me realize?)
So tell me about your life. How have you changed in the past few years? Is there anything you can look at and say, yes, this has stayed the same, but this has changed? Am I asking you questions in summary as if this blog post made cohesive sense, when we all know that isn’t true? Leave your answers in the comments 😉
And here we are at Part 7 of the Road Trip Summer 2015 Trip Recaps. Did I say trip too many times? I’ve been procrastinating this post, and I’ll be honest: I haven’t finished writing about it by hand either (I kept a notebook journal on the trip) so I have pictures, short notes for each day, and my memories to rely on here. I’d better get something written, haven’t I? Eyewitness accounts are notoriously unreliable!
Why am I procrastinating so much? Well, other than the fact that life and work are happening here…it’s because after Yellowstone the trip was a letdown. It had to happen. Everything we were doing was just so awesome, and then we left Yellowstone and headed east, and mentally we knew we were heading home, and honestly, no offense to the entire TripAdvisor South Dakota Forums, but Custer State Park and everything around Mount Rushmore is just not as awesome. Sorry!
But I am procrastinating EVEN MORE.
We left off with leaving Yellowstone. Louie and I decided to drive the Beartooth Highway after leaving Yellowstone. Charles Kuralt called it “the most beautiful drive in America.” It took us WAY up high, and there were tons of switchbacks, and I was mostly terrified and Louie had a great time driving it.
Some gorgeous views along the way!
It was cold and windy at the top, and it was a neat drive. I’m glad we did it. After that, we ended in the town of Red Lodge, Montana, which looked cute, but the first few hotels we looked at were full, so we made an online reservation at the “Western Inn” in Lowell, WY, and off we went. We’d decided tonight was a hotel night, and couldn’t wait. We also wanted to eat dinner at a restaurant.
(Along the way Louie took some pictures of sheep.)
We made it to the Western Inn. Lowell was a very small town, and the Western Inn was a little…well, there were bikers out and it looked like a pretty run-down, rent by the week type of place, and for approximately $45, we kind of expected it. The room was clean enough looking, though very out of date, and the owner also seemed to run a diner out of the lobby called the “Cauc-Asian” diner (she was of Asian descent) though, we couldn’t figure out how the diner worked. We ended up eating dinner at a restaurant called the Brandin’ Iron, and I had fried shrimp with fries, and we split apple cobbler for dessert. That and a few cold beers had never tasted better. And the Brandin’ Iron was amazing in so many ways, especially if you are looking at it from the point of city slicker snobs like Louie and I are 😉
Now, the other thing to know is that we hadn’t managed to get a shower in since our first night in the Tetons. We must have smelled amazing, and looked good too. After dinner I was able to enjoy the most desperately needed shower of my entire life. Seriously, it was amazing. And I slept really well in the bed.
Day 15: We woke up and considered trying to eat at the Cauc-Asian diner but I freaked out because it smelled odd and I just didn’t really understand how it worked. We also desperately needed to do laundry, and then get to the Devil’s Tower and then to Custer State Park in South Dakota, so I was having a stressed out day and was having a hard time with it. We got muffins at a gas station for breakfast and then headed east. On the way east we drove through the Bighorn Mountains which were really nice, though we were getting sad that we were nearing the end of our mountains. The whole time we’d had a Garmin hooked up for navigation and it kept track of our elevation. For days and days we’d been at over 8000 feet, and then up to nearly 11,000 feet, and suddenly we were getting lower and lower.
We found a laundromat around lunchtime and managed to do laundry while getting tex-mex and also grocery shopping in Buffalo, WY. The cashier at the grocery store was quite interested in our sparkling water, and she couldn’t believe it didn’t have high-fructose corn syrup.
Then it was time for the Devil’s Tower. We’d had started listening to the podcast “Serial” but once we got to the middle of nowhere, truly, that’s where the Devil’s Tower is!
We enjoyed walking around it and not being in the car for a little while, but we still had nearly 2 more hours to go until we got to our campground reservation at Custer State Park so we didn’t spend too much time there.
We did spent some time photographing prairie dogs.
The best part of the National Parks, with the possible exception of the amazing scenery, is all the wildlife.
It was dark by the time we got to Custer State Park. I’d made a reservation for two nights at Grace Coolidge Campground, and there wasn’t a place to check in—it was just “show up at your campsite”… and somebody was in ours. It took awhile to find it in the dark, and there was a truck parked in it and people had a fire. We verified with another camper that we were looking at the right site (she had come out to see what all the lights were about) and I guess I’d said, darkly, “so those are the people who are in our site!” The man came over and apologized and said he thought it was first-come, first-served…we’d made our reservations over a month prior! And the signage was clear. He said they would clear out as quickly as they could, so we drove around for a bit to give them space, but it was raining off and on and we were getting nervous, so we headed back. Both of us felt bad kicking this man and his wife out of their site—they were in the middle of cooking dinner too—but the fact was, the signs were clear that if you didn’t have a reservation you needed to call, and it was only about 9:30 pm, not midnight, and we did have the reservation. Sigh. It was hard to feel quite as nice about our campsite knowing we’d had to kick somebody out for it. We made a quick dinner ourselves and a little fire and then enjoyed the nearby creek sounds as we fell asleep.
Day 16: Today we wanted to hike up to the tallest point in South Dakota, Harney Peak. I’d read it was a difficult hike and might take us 5-6 hours. We got a slightly later start than usual, by about 3 hours and decided that was okay, and we were just worn out and tired from our vacation. (Life. Hard.)
We drove on the “Needles Highway” to get to the trailhead. It was a crazy drive, with all these rock formations and some one-lane tunnels through rocks.
The hike was nice. It ended up being only about 3-4 hours, and wasn’t nearly as strenuous as we’d thought. Granted, we still got passed by the young and the elderly as I’m a slow hiker, but we felt in pretty darned good shape!
Louie did a bit more exploring at the time while I rested on my laurels.
After finishing our hike, the other thing I really wanted to do was drive the Wildlife Loop in the park. Since we were done with our hike early we decided to go see the town of Custer (we’d both been to the area in the past, Louie more recently, and we just decided against Mount Rushmore and some other things in order to do different things than he remembered). Well, overall Custer was an awful town, but we stopped at Ester’s Sausage House, at first for coffee, and maybe dessert, and then decided to have beer and sausage instead (obviously more logically) and also bread pudding.
Towards sunset is the best time to see wildlife, so that’s when we hit the Wildlife Loop. One thing that is crazy is that there are these wild burros roaming around, but they are actually tame (they are descended from burros that used to carry people up to Harney Peak in the past but were set free at some point) and go up to the cars! People feed them (this is a case of where feeding animals is okay) and they are pretty pushy, actually. But cute.
We didn’t see too much other wildlife other that the burros and more prairie dogs and were getting disappointed…we did see where a young burro had gotten stuck in a horse pen, away from its mother and were a little upset, so we stopped at the next ranger station to tell them (so they could let the baby burro out), and then the next thing we found were…
Bison!!! And a good old-fashioned bison jam (also sounds like a delicious product to spread on toast, no?). Smaller in scale than at Yellowstone but no less delightful. It was our last bison jam and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Interesting fact from my diaries of the trip in 1991 with my family: we saw bison at the exact same point then.
After that we returned to our campsite for more dinner and relaxing. Overnight it started to rain…
Day 17:
We awoke to pouring rain. We both stayed in the tent as long as possible, but realized that yes, we did need to leave by noon, and at some point had to pack up. Originally we’d thought maybe we would do another hike in Custer, or something else, but we checked the forecast, and the Badlands were supposed to get a lot of rain the following day, so we decided to leave and try to see them before the rain ruined everything there. It was not fun packing up in the rain!
On our way to the Badlands (about a 2 hour drive) we saw a bunch of pronghorns! They are kind of like antelope, and we were excited to see them.
I’d made a reservation at the KOA White River. As a child, the KOA campgrounds were my favorite so I thought it would be fun to stay in one for old-time’s sake. I was also worried (originally) that it was going to be too hot and sunny in the Badlands National Park campground, and having a place with shade would be nicer. It turned out I shouldn’t have worried about that, but having showers and nice bathroom facilities was nice! We set up our tent, had lunch, and then headed to the Badlands, about 10 minutes away. This was definitely a “free”visit on our America the Beautiful pass (Devil’s Tower was another one that was covered). The clouds threatened, but we managed to see a lot of things.
We started with the Notch Trail. As a kid I had been too scared to go up this ladder on the trail, and as an adult I was pretty scared, but I figured if I could climb the stairs on Uncle Tom’s Trail at Yellowstone this was no big deal. On our way BACK to the car a pair of pronghorns ran by us, over the formations and around the corner. It was so neat to see how fast they moved.
We drove around the Badlands Loop next, and stopped at a variety of overlooks. It was cold and windy, which was definitely a surprise, but the views were still really beautiful.
We saw a bunch more prairie dogs, and a small pack of goats (that blocked the road) and a lone bighorn sheep, though we didn’t even realize it at the time and thought it was a male goat—it was neat to realize it was a bighorn sheep since that was one we hadn’t “checked off” yet!
I wanted to drive on the Sage Rim Road, which is a gravel road where the bison and other wildlife/views are, but it was sadly, closed due to too much rain. According to the ranger too many cars had gotten stuck so they closed the rain. Disappointed, we headed back to our campsite.
Our little tent on the last night of camping. Notice how Louie likes to put the hatchet into a stump. We made a lovely fire and had a typical meal and just enjoyed being outside for the last night.
Day 18:
We had awoken several times during the night to some terrifying storms. Lightning and thunder and wind like you wouldn’t believe, and I was relieved that the tent survived and that we didn’t have to evacuate or something! I didn’t know if there was a tornado warning system, or something like that. I was glad we’d gotten to enjoy every night with dinner and a fire outside, but man, packing up all of our wet tent parts for the second day in a row wasn’t that fun. We got the car loaded up—the rain had mostly let up, and we drove through the Badlands on our way to highway 90.
The rest of the trip that day was uneventful. We finished the Serial podcast, and decided to try to get to Kansas City. We’d originally planned to eat at a restaurant Louie recalled, La Bodega, but their hours online weren’t correct and they were closing as we arrived. We ate at a nearby Mexican restaurant called El Pueblito and had wonderful margaritas and shrimp tacos, before checking into a suite at a 4 star hotel, the Crown Plaza, that we found on Priceline for around $75. It was…a bit nicer than our previous hotel. We walked to The Yardhouse, a nearby pub, for a nightcap before turning in.
Day 19:
One of the reasons we got our room for so cheap was the fact that the hotel was under construction. Around 9 am we awoke to loud construction noises…but we decided to relax, order room service, and enjoy the amenities (including a wonderful shower..) until nearly noon when we had to check out. From Kansas City to St Louis is about a 4 hour drive…and then we were home. Safe and sound.
The end! I’m so proud to finally have finished my trip recaps, even though I feel like I rushed this one—sometimes you just have to sit down and WRITE. Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions or comments let me know.
I never would have thought I’d say that after a weekend of backpacking. In fact, I never thought I’d go backpacking (where you hike with all your camping gear, and then camp in the middle of nowhere) but part of being in a “new” relationship means you try new things. Louie got a bit jealous of all the people that were backpacking in the National Parks, so we decided to plan a little backpacking trip here. Nothing too fancy, and just one night. We invited a bunch of friends, and finally managed to convince two other people to go… a bunch of stressors here and there almost made us cancel on more than one occasion, but we decided to forge ahead and I’m glad we did.
We decided to hike an out-and-back from Taum Sauk State Park to Mina Sauk Falls and then a little ways along the Ozark Trail, find a nice place to camp, and then head back the next day. I had a backpack with a sleeping bag, sleeping pad, change of clothes, extra layers and rain jacket, food (lots of pbj, trail mix, and bars), 3 liters of water, various first aid stuff, water treatment, headlight, and a few other things. Louie had our stove and tent, and his own clothes, sleeping gear, and a few other things. We were with his brother Julian and our friend Jim, neither of whom had been backpacking before either. (Louie had gone once before, and a very similar trip to this one—in fact, he realized as we went along it was basically the same trip, except we camped further along). We also brought the dog, Mackenzie.
Mackenzie didn’t seem to realize she was being photographed. She also didn’t bring a tent, backpack, water, or ANY of those things! Silly dog made us carry her food for her too…but we figured it was worth it for the intrude warnings AND seeing her have a wonderful time in the outdoors.
The park was about 2 hours drive from St Louis, and the day ended up being cooler and a little more overcast than we thought. We started hiking around 1 pm, and took the right fork to get to Mina Sauk Falls. The “Falls” were basically non-existent, and all of the views were foggy though…but we enjoyed the scenery anyway, especially as it seemed finally autumn was here and the leaves were turning. (I would have said fall was here but with “the falls” that seemed confusing. And here I am saying fall and falls anyway…sigh…)
Trying to perfect our explorer poses. (Side note, I think my waist band is too high, anybody know? Maybe that’s why my shoulders hurt so much?)
I didn’t take too many pictures, because I was mostly focused on my footing! The hike was QUITE rocky and steep, especially once we continued from Mina Sauk Falls down towards the Devil’s Tollgate (which I definitely referred to as the Devil’s Tailgate by accident on at least one occasion.) When we climbed down to the bottom of the falls area (the most difficult part of the hike) we saw a little campsite on the left. We didn’t realize there would be a variety of makeshift campsites along the route, complete with fire rings—even though it seemed that making fires wasn’t allowed, there were fire rings. We didn’t want to camp yet, so we kept going, and passed another campsite right before the Devil’s Tailgate (note: I actually typed that by accident…) which Louie suddenly remembered he had stayed at before. We were tempted, but it was really close to the trail, and we thought maybe we’d find more if we continued along.
That’s the Devil’s Tollgate. Not THAT frightening, really…but really cool. This was definitely the coolest hike we’ve done in Missouri!
Finally we were getting a little impatient to stop. Our packs felt heavy (how do people do this? I suppose we overpacked/didn’t have them adjusted well? My shoulders ended up really being sore, but they do from my regular backpack too…?) and we were ready to relax and enjoy the woods. Just before we were tempted to turn back to the campsite we’d passed, we found another, even better one, with a large flat area for a few tents and a big log to sit on near a fire ring made with rocks. It was perfect! The only downside was that the creek was totally dry, but we had plenty of water with us (it wouldn’t have been so much, actually, but it wasn’t too hot so we didn’t need as much.)
By this point Mackenzie was exhausted. I think we’d been hiking between 2 1/2 and 3 hours (the same for miles, oddly)—not much in the greater scheme of things—but a long way for us backpacking newbies!
We set up our tents and then looked for firewood (we were tempted by the fire ring, even though we weren’t sure it was legal, why have a fairly used ring, plus it was pretty damp all around so we felt good about a fire.)
Louie and I returned to the tiny orange tent for this trip since it was much lighter than the larger one we’d camped in in August.
We made boxed red beans and rice for dinner and added “textured vegetable protein” to it for extra protein/calories. We’d decided that everybody was in charge of their own snacks/lunch/breakfast and such but dinner could be one thing. After dinner we just sat around chatting and discussing gender equality and various other important manners!
Oh, and we hung up a backpack with all the leftover food. It probably wasn’t bear safe, but we figured it would keep smaller critters (and large black dogs) away from it while we slept. Louie figured out how to manage this.
Notes: 1) We had definitely passed some hikers earlier in the trip, but once we set up camp we didn’t see another person until the next morning. 2) As it got dark, it got pretty scary on occasion, trying to figure out what various strange noises were! Mackenzie wasn’t sure what to think of all of this and the rest of us weren’t either 😉 but we never got too freaked out. The moon was HUGE and basically full, and kept it from being too dark. 3) We’d passed a couple that said they saw some wild boar/feral pigs (?) earlier in their hike so we were a little worried about those and, for some reason, coyotes.
We all awoke several times during the night. It rained lightly and between that and all the weird noises (mostly insects, but probably birds and snakes and raccoons too) and rustling from everybody tossing and turning, I didn’t sleep terribly well. Also not having a pillow didn’t help…but it was still fun to be outside, and we’d had a great evening hanging out and a lovely hike! So morning broke, and we got up, made coffee (instant!) and packed up, and off we went, back towards the car. The rain made everything a bit wetter, and some of the rocks we had to climb over were a bit scary, but my pack was lighter (I actually ran out of water—I’d shared a bit, and one thing we did learn was to make sure to tell any future hiking companions how MUCH water to bring—Louie and I each had 3 liters, more than anyone else) so that helped. I had a wooden walking stick for awhile too, that Jim had been using but he gave to me when I was struggling too much…next time, I am bringing my walking sticks, no matter.
We finally made it back up the top, and made a slight detour to the highest point in Missouri (we’d missed this on the day before while going down the trail.)
Being very weird and pointing at the sign…
Looking a little more normal, albeit tired!
So there you have it. Approximately 5-6 miles round trip hike, quite short by my usual standards (ha!) and some parts were really technically difficult, especially for a Missouri hike. Overall I had a wonderful time and learned a lot about how to prepare for any future backpacking, though I am (unlike most people on the internet)far from an expert. I will go backpacking again, though now Louie is talking about taking an overnight bike trip somewhere…the thing is, we have a lot of good gear for hiking/backpacking already, and not great biking gear (I really need a better bike, first off, that fits me better, and we don’t have any panniers!), but that’s a worry for another day. We do plan to try to backpack another part of the Ozark Trail the next time we can both get away for an overnight and wrangle some friends with us for entertainment and company, so I’d say the trip was a success.
Saw this guy when I came home, and now I’m gearing up for the workweek (Bach at the Sem!) and looking forward to October.
I went to Trader Joe’s today and WHOA it was all decorative gourds, and pumpkins and all the products you can imagine with pumpkin in them. (I used to be obsessed with pumpkin spice lattes, but now that I mostly work from home I rarely buy coffee out…I guess I’m saying I will probably have one at some point this season, but I tend to save my calories for other stuff than lattes these days! Sadly.)
I did buy pumpkin ravioli, and considered a few other things. Pumpkin waffles, pumpkin butter, and pumpkin biscotti looked quite interesting. Pumpkin spice cookie butter looked awesome too, but probably a bad idea. If nothing else, I should make my homemade pumpkin bread that I love! I don’t think I made it last year, so it’s well overdue. I used to bake more than I do these days, and I keep meaning to change that. I suppose I practice and teach more than I used to, but it’s not like I don’t have some extra time. (Right now, for instance, because while it’s Friday night and I’m sure I should be out doing something fantastic, Louie is doing homework and we are resting up for a little backpacking trip this weekend. Tomorrow morning we must get a decently early start…and last night we went to Gringo so…)
We are going backpacking in Taum Sauk State Park with a few friends. I’ve never been backpacking before (where you carry your camping supplies on your back) so I’m a little terrified, but I had a fun time camping with Louie for three weeks in August, so I’m sure this will be fun too. (It’s not Colorado or Wyoming though, sadly.) (And I promise I am at some point going to finish telling you about the August trip and sharing pictures…but it’s harder because everything after Yellowstone isn’t as fun!)
This week really flew by. I did a few social things (yay!) and had some nice meals out (Layla, Sameem, Gringo) with friends. I had quartet rehearsal and decided to learn the Bach C Major Sonata for my recital with Jen in the spring. I joined a new music federation with the idea of having some of my students play for a festival in the spring to motivate them more (ALWAYS the trouble!). I ran 9 miles yesterday after having a bit of knee pain earlier in the week, and felt great after it.
I got distracted and starting reading some of my old blog posts. I sometimes worry I am in a teaching rut and am not being creative enough to inspire and motivate the kids, or that I start getting used to seeing some of their bad habits and get tired of bugging them all the time. I’ve been trying to review each student in my mind before the teaching day and remember some important technique points to focus on (or make careful notes, so that I stay consistent) but I don’t know if I am as fun of teacher as in the past…one of my students told me awhile ago that I need some new games, and I never have gotten around to doing much with that idea! I need to attend an institute or workshop next summer, if I can swing the money, to get inspired again.
I was reading a blog about teaching the other day, and about how we as teachers are constantly comparing our studios to other people’s studios, and perhaps feeling like we are falling short, but that they are OUR STUDIOS, and not anybody else’s. And therefore they are ours to run as we please and how we see fit, and that we can do what we think is best and with the approach that we want, and that our students will appreciate and respect us for being the teacher than we are (or not, and then they will find other teachers, and we will get new students who will.) It doesn’t help when I’ll have students come in telling me what their orchestra teacher needs me to work on with them…I don’t work for their orchestra teacher. I work for me. If I am trying to meet somebody else’s invisible and impossible standards, and especially if those standards don’t align with mine, then yes, I will feel like I’m a bad teacher. If I’m trying to meet MY standards, then I’ll feel like a bad teacher too 😉 but I know what my standards are, and I know that they are what I firmly believe in and want to work towards! I am not even halfway through my teaching career, so there is time ahead to learn and grown, but I must remember that I have already been teaching for over 20 years, and playing the violin for over 30 years, and I certainly have a fair amount of expertise in both!
I do feel like many of my blog posts lately are about me trying to build my own confidence up! I don’t know if I’m being too hard on myself, or allowing other people to bring me down? Or just forgetting that what people project on the outside isn’t necessarily what they have on the inside (comparing my inside to their outside?) Or that I feel too dependent on other people and their opinions? The problem with being self-employed is that it often all feels like it can fall apart…which is ridiculous—it can’t fall apart all of a sudden. Even if one person decides I’m a terrible teacher or violinist there would be a dozen more who thought I was fantastic!
So, I went “full nerd” the other day and bought this book:
I’m working hard on getting all of my students up to the levels they should be on their scales (often it’s like pulling teeth, and I haven’t gotten everybody involved yet, but I will, because, gosh darn-it, scales are important to being able to enjoy playing the violin) and I figure this book might give me some great ideas, while improving my own technique. I also own “Basics” by the same author, and would love to eventually get his other books too, because while Basics is very overwhelming, I’ve learned some really interesting exercises from it as well.
I don’t have any good cat pictures to share at this time, but there’s a fun cartoon I’ve seen on the internet.
Oh, and the animals are doing basically okay. Chloe, the white cat, is having some trouble with a scab related to having fleas, but we are hopeful that she will heal up soon. I’m worried to leave her for an overnight trip, but we will be gone for only a bit longer than 24 hours really and someone will be stopping by. Mackenzie the dog is more energetic than she had been, after starting some thyroid meds, and Oistrakh, aka the Fatness, aka Dr. Oysterman, my tortoiseshell cat that I’ve had since 2002, since she was a little kitten only 5 weeks old…she is thinner than ever (in a good way!), and though she is still pretty mean to the other animals, she doesn’t hiss quite as often. All of the animals are getting old, but hopefully they still have many good years left. An old friend from my time in Charlotte (Alex) once said, pets are little tragedies just waiting to happen.
And on that note…do you have any plans for the weekend? Am I the only musician who is often filled with self-doubt and assumes other people are harshly judging her?
I figured that it was fitting that the Brahms Piano Quintet was on the radio as I drove home from quartet rehearsal this morning (yay, we are finally back to regular rehearsals!) since we are working on getting booked to perform it in the spring.
It’s the time of year for planning and preparation—lots of practicing and putting things on the schedule, slightly less actually doing them, as I keep writing about here, though from day to day things actually end up feeling quite busy. We’ve had a lot of stuff going on with the pets lately and various vet visits for diabetes, thyroid issues, and now fleas…so that takes up a fair amount of time! I know I don’t always use my time the most wisely, but I know that I am not alone, or there wouldn’t be so many quasi-interesting things to read about on the internet!
So, since I last blogged quite a lot of fun things have happened, and lots of teaching and practicing and rehearsals as well. (One with a didgeridoo player!). I’m holding pretty firm at 37 students right now.
Friday night we went for Mexican food (this is pretty standard, if not Thursday, then Friday, or both) to a place I love called Lilly’s. They have great food, tasty margs, and a little salsa bar with lovely decor. I got a picture of the fiddle player.
Sorry, it’s a little blurry. I didn’t want to be obvious about the picture. Terrible blogger!
I played with the Metropolitan Orchestra of St Louis over the weekend. They rehearsed at the First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood where I have played many times, but I’m always impressed by the stained glass!
Saturday we went to the Symphony and saw Josh Bell play Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole. Totally weird piece for somebody to be playing, but it was a very enjoyable performance. This was the first of our subscription series and we liked our seats.
At intermission they were giving out free champagne for a toast by David Robertson. We ran into quite a number of people we knew as well and had a very nice time overall.
After the concert we had a few chocolates that Louie’s mom had brought us from her recent trip to Spain (sadly we were not invited along, ha!).
We almost felt bad eating them! They were, however, delicious.
Sunday ended up being filled with some cat/vet issues and our hopes to go for a short hike were spoiled. That’s okay—this weekend is our backpacking trip and I’m sure it’ll be fine without a practice hike. Luckily all the pets are doing, well….better now! and are fully medicated. Poor guys.
And then Monday I was going to do my long run (9 miles) but my knee was (is) acting up and I decided to rest instead. I hate bailing on long runs especially, but I realized since it was hurting just to bend it walking (who knows what happened) I should rest it. I’m hoping to be back to running Thursday morning but I won’t push it. I know how this goes! It’s the same as how it’s often smart to take a day off of practicing violin when my wrists hurt rather than force through and end up in more pain. That lesson took a long time to learn, but I’ve mostly learned it now…mostly!
And now I’m listening to some music on spotify—listening to a CD I own actually. My old teacher, Bill Preucil, playing with the Cleveland Quartet, Beethoven Op. 59 #1, and I’m feeling like I am such a lousy violinist! I must try to feel inspired rather than depressed 😉
Our plan for the day was to sightsee along the “upper loop” of the figure 8. We headed left out of the campground, and boom! BISON.
That was from the car.
We could probably have spent hours there watching them and photographing them, but Mammoth Hot Springs seemed a long way away, so we continued on our route.
Here’s something I didn’t know to think about: road construction. After we started onto a part of the road we hadn’t been on the day before, we found ourselves in road construction, and how. There were two parts that were one lane roads, which meant we had to wait on a flagger. One of them we waited for a very long time. Our day was not looking up to be very exciting, as mostly we seemed to be waiting in traffic.
Finally we were clear of it all and able to make a few stops.
Some scary roads, but really great engineering!
Oh, and we learned that not everything that has a stripe down its back is a chipmunk. We learned this the awkward way, by arguing with another couple…so ground squirrels don’t have stripes on their faces, only their backs, and chipmunks have them all the way up. Good to know. It was even more awkward when we ran into them at the next stop, after having checked our field guide and verified…oh yes, they were correct.
Anyway. We finally got to Mammoth, and parked at the Upper Terrace parking lot.
I’ve read that people didn’t like Mammoth as well as other places. It wasn’t the case for me: I was simply blown away by this area. And like the other thermal features, the springs here are constantly moving and changing, even from day-to-day. I found the entire experience to be fascinating…the way that the water trickles and makes these crazy looking terraces and steps, and how it happens gradually over time.
The trees especially are interesting, how the springs just take over and kill the tree, but the tree often just remains standing. What a funny planet we live on.
We followed along the boardwalks, heading down to the Lower Terrace eventually. It was a hotter day than we had experienced since leaving Boulder, so I was definitely glad I’d brought my backpack with the water in it.
When we got to the bottom of the hill, we decided to walk over to the Mammoth Hot Springs Visitor’s Center. There’s a little village around there, with a hotel, restaurants, and even some private homes, which I guess are from quite some time ago. Creating the National Parks sometimes meant that land was already “owned” before the park was created, I guess.
I paused here in my writing and did some internet research on this, but didn’t get very far. I know our maps and guidebook said there were private homes there, but as to who owns them, I couldn’t find out. Or maybe private as in, not open to tourists but people who work at the parks live in them. That might make more sense. I just don’t know!
We saw this elk hanging out at the terraces of a spring that is currently not active. That could change at any time though!
We decided to get lunch at the “Terrace Grill” which was really just a fast food restaurant. We hadn’t eaten out for some time and the thought of making another pbj wasn’t super appealing to us. We got fish sandwiches, black bean burgers, fries, salad, and fruit. The whole thing was fine, and more expensive that anywhere NOT in a park, but totally fine. It made me sad for people who didn’t have picnic lunches most days though, and I was glad that mostly we didn’t have to eat the National Park food! It was a nice change for lunch though, and the coffee was pretty good too.
After lunch we had to walk back UP from the Lower Terrace to the Upper Terrace, to where our car was parked. This would have been a nicer walk if it weren’t so darned hot!
But we made it back, and then did a quick little drive through a loop of MORE springs.
All in all, I found Mammoth Hot Springs to be really interesting and unique, of course!
Next our plan was to continue along the upper loop, but we actually took a wrong turn out of Mammoth and headed into Montana for a bit, BUT it worked out well because we saw more elk! I didn’t get pictures of too many, but we saw dozens of them.
We found our way back to Mammoth then, and had to do mildly annoying things like drain the cooler, get more ice, that sort of thing. Camping is hard work sometimes! And then more sights…the afternoon wasn’t super exciting, but we saw a few neat things.
For instance, the Petrified Tree. Right before this we took an ill-advised drive on a gravel road—it was one-way, and right after the turn we realized we shouldn’t have done it but it was too late. So we got to the Petrified Tree and were tired and exhausted and SOO hot…and it was a petrified tree in a cage! Evidently there used to be two, but people stole the other one in bits over time (this is why we can’t have nice things) so they put a fence around it. Evidently there are also a few more but it’s an unmarked path to find them.
Our next big stop was Tower Fall. It was a neat little stop with a general store and crowded parking lot. The north part of Yellowstone had a different feel from the southern part, and was definitely less crowded overall, by the way.
I guess in other years there is a hike down to see Tower Fall from the bottom, but that hike was closed for reconstruction. We did a little hike down to the river….but the trail ended before we were all the way down. There was a sign saying basically, proceed at your own risk. Which was ridiculous in a way, since all hikes are at your own risk!
I made it down to the river though! It’s not a great drinking water area though, since there is so much sulfur around…
The bad part about hiking down into a canyon of sorts is that the hard part is the way back. We decided ice cream was in order at the top! Then it was more driving, some real mountain driving, which Louie loves and I’m terrified by! We got out at a ton of overlooks. There was a lot of this sort of landscape, with trees that were fire damaged (1988 fires, I believe) and the new growth around them. This went on for miles and miles.
Finally we were getting back to the Mud Volcano area from the day before, and we got stuck in some horrible traffic. After 30-45 minutes of barely moving, we finally saw what seemed to be the reason…
Many, many bison, slowly crossing the road and taking their darned time. I believe we were stuck in a good old-fashioned bison jam! It was entertaining ONLY after we were able to see the bison!
We stopped near Lake Yellowstone to watch the sunset on our last night here.
I’m a little sad looking at these pictures! It was so beautiful there…my mom was surprised I guess, reading my blog, (hi Mom!) by how much I loved Yellowstone. I just felt that it was so full of different things, animals and beauty and desolation, all together…just one of the most unique places on earth.
Day 14: Day 3 in Yellowstone
We had to pack up our campsite that morning. So the last thing we felt we needed to do was to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Since we had mostly been in the car the past two days, Louie and I decided to take a hike. I found one in my book that was a loop with the South Rim of the Canyon, so we headed out! We ran into a few bison on the way to the Canyon, but traffic was light enough that it wasn’t an issue.
We kept thinking that we were “over” the bison, but for me, every time I saw them up close I was really excited. They are such magnificent creatures and a testament to how we CAN turn things around…at one point they were nearly extinct.
The first thing we saw when we found the trail was a bald eagle. Just staring at me before it flew away. I did not get a picture, but I can picture him in my head!
It was nice to get off the beaten path and away from the crowds.
And…Yellowstone. The reason for the park’s name!
We decided to go down Uncle Tom’s Trail. It was a series of 700 million steps. Well, 328 metal steps that go down to the bottom of the falls. It was horrible. I nearly had a panic attack on more than one occasion. I guess I’m proud that I made it, but I honestly didn’t enjoy any part of the trail, so I won’t do that one again! Louie really liked it, I think. Silly man!
The South Rim Trail basically followed along to a variety of viewpoints that one could drive to, but instead we walked and enjoyed the beautiful scenery all along the way AND didn’t have to deal with parking.
We got rained on a little bit, but it wasn’t too bad. We had rain jackets (well, I did, and Louie had an emergency poncho with him.)
Just to mention safety: we had bear spray and we tried to keep talking or making noises the whole way. It’s tough because you hate to scare off wildlife…but you would hate to sneak up on a bear! We didn’t see any bear scat, so I don’t know what we would have done if we did.
Just amazing views the whole way. Louie kept standing near the edge to take pictures and on occasion I had to look away. I’m sure he was being careful and safe, but I have a huge fear of people falling.
And then the path turned away from the canyon, and we walked by a lake called Lily Pad Lake.
And the trail headed by some paint pots and other thermal activity, no boardwalks, just out in the middle of the woods! How cool is that!!
And to this green pond, called Clear Lake, that is DEFINITELY not okay to drink out of.
I loved this hike. LOVED it. We had been surrounded by so many people since getting to Yellowstone and while yes, we passed quite a few people hiking, it was far fewer, and we really did feel like we had our own private little bits of Yellowstone for awhile. Private thermal activity and private green lakes. I loved it.
After Clear Lake the hike headed through a sagebrush field and back to the trailhead. We saw something from a distance that might have been a rock or a bison, and we just couldn’t decided, but finally when it rolled over playfully we knew which it was.
We made peanut butter sandwiches at the car and then headed north. We had decided we would take the Northeast exit out of Yellowstone to the Beartooth Highway and wanted to be on our way. I didn’t have a reservation for us on this night. Well, I kind of did…originally we’d thought of going to Cody and I’d tried to reserve something there but the place I reserved a cabin at wanted us to call by 3 pm if we weren’t there and I knew that wouldn’t work, since we didn’t have service! So they gave it away, which is silly. How could we call coming from Yellowstone where there was no cell service? We didn’t have service until nearly 5 pm. Oh well.
On our way out of the park we went by Lamar Valley, another place where wildlife and BISON are plentiful.
Those brown dots are bison, grazing all over.
Another awesome thing that I don’t have a picture of (but Louie does, he needs to share!) is: we were driving and the car in front of us suddenly stopped….and we saw a black bear running up a hill to our left! Louie got a picture of the tail end of it running. So we were thrilled that we got to see a bear up close…and safely from the car!
