Veterans Day

 My grandfather on my mom's side served in the Navy during World War 2. He was a corpsman and was attached to the Marine Corps. 

I didn't know much about his time in the Navy. He passed away in 1972 and his time in the Navy was before he met my grandmother.

I had asked my grandmother before if she knew of any photos from his side of the family, but she only had photos of him. After my mom passed, we found a box of photos he had left from her. These photos come from that collection.

My grandfather

My grandfather volunteered for service on July 13, 1942. He was inducted in Houston, being from Conroe. He arrived for training on July 17th in San Diego and completed his initial training, which included the gas chamber with a gas mask, on September 4th. He then joined Company D, 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Division.

In camp San Diego

According to his military records, on February 23, 1943, he "Sailed from San Diego, California on a secret mission of war." He crossed the equator on March 1st, being admitted into the domain of Neptunus Rex. They arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, on March 11th and deployed there until July.

Building Hospital on Guadalcanal

 He arrived in Guadalcanal on July 19th. 

In camp Guadalcanal

On June 3rd, 1944, he embarked and sailed aboard USS DuPage from Tetere Beach, Guadalcanal, heading from Guam. On July 21st, the opening day of the battle of Guam, he disembarked and participated in initial landing of 3rd Marine Division on the enemy held island of Guam.

Guam

Naval Hospital Guam

Naval Hospital Guam Annex

He then came back to the US via San Francisco, finishing his time in Virginia.

Dr T E Newell and my grandfather, Fort Eustis, Virginia

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3 years, 4 months, and 22 days after volunteering for enlistment, he was honorably discharged on December 4, 1945. He had achieved the rate of Pharmacist Mate 2nd Class. and earned the American Area medal, the Asiatic-Pacific (plus 1 star), Victory - WW2 medal, and a Good Conduct.

Christmas Playlist

 I love Christmas music. Though I used to be very adamant on when one could listen to Christmas music (after turkey has been eaten on Thanksgiving), I've loosen up in recent years. This year, I told my family that on November 1st, Christmas music was allowed to be played in the house. Sometimes in the summer, I though on a Christmas album. 

I like to listen to Christmas music on SiriusXM. My favorite is Holiday Traditions, Channel 71. This year they have guest DJs where you can play your three favorite Christmas songs. Here are mine, based on songs that would be played on Channel 71.

First, I  would open with something fun and secular. Louis Armstrong singing 'Zat You, Santa Claus?

While Satchmo is great, my favorite secular Christmas song has no words. Though many sing the song, the best and original version is instrumental. Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride.

Finally, a reminder of the season. While the music is great and many things of the season are fun, Christmas is about Jesus, the Christ child, coming to earth for our salvation. Andy Williams, O Holy Night.

We all made it

Final day. Left Indiana, crossed Ohio and Pennsylvania. Along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, we went through the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel.

Crossed back into Maryland and made it home to Arnold.

14 days, 13 nights, 5,411.4 miles, 13 states, 10 bears, 1 snow storm, and 6 happy travelers to be home.

Come on, let's get there already!

Another long driving day. Today from Fergus Falls, Minnesota to South Bend, Indiana.

No more sightseeing for us. We're tired. We are ready to just get home. Only thing we stopped for, food, gas, and a pit stop on the side of the road while a kid got a little car sick.

Wisconsin Farm

Real excitement today. Lunch at Culver's in Menomonie, Wisconsin and supper at the Chicago Southland Lincoln Oasis. We're exciting people.

Pulling into South Bend I had tried to use the hotel app to get a room, but it said no availability. Looking at a third party website though, it had one room available. I booked it and when we got to the hotel, I asked why it was so packed. They told me the US Open was in town. Probably should have checked the calendar on that one. Quick swim in the pool and we were ready for bed.

The Long Drive

After having breakfast at the La Quinta we were staying at in Billing, Montana, we loaded back into the minivan for the long drive. Today would be 670 miles across eastern Montana, North Dakota, and into Minnesota.

Leaving Billings we took I-94 instead of staying on I-90. Our reason was 2 fold. 1, we had already driven I-90 west through South Dakota so didn't want to backtrack. And 2, I hadn't been to North Dakota yet.

Crossing into North Dakota marked off my 46th state that I've been too. Only Washington, Oregon, New Hampshire, and Vermont are on my list of states I haven't been to.

Around lunch time we were passing the Painted Canyon Visitor Center of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.



Seemed like a good place for lunch and a stretch. We pulled into the parking lot and made sandwiches and enjoyed the view.

An hour later, back on the road.

Wait, is that a cow?

Yes. That is a cow. Salem Sue.

More driving through North Dakota and then found a Chick-fil-a in Fargo for dinner. For my family, that's a big deal. Them not going without Chick-fil-a for 2 weeks is worse than breaking a drug habit.

Final view for the day, the Minnesota state line.

9 hours and 36 minutes later, we made it to the AmicInn in Fergus Falls, Minnesota for the night. Quite a day, highlight being a cow statue and some chicken for dinner. Something that the kids will surely not remember.

Pool time.

The Sad Goodbye

Today we loaded up the minivan and headed out of the park. We cut across the middle of the park west and exited Yellowstone at West Yellowstone. Felt like I was leaving after spending great time with a good friend.

Thank you Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Until we meet again!

When planning for Yellowstone, I wanted to see two animals I had not seen in the park before, grizzly bears and wolves. Now grizzlies, you have a decent chance of seeing them and we saw our first one on day one as we entered the south entrance. But wolves, now that is tough to see. We met several people who were looking for wolves. They would be camped out along a pull-out where a pack had been seen recently and spend hours sitting there with their spotting scope waiting. We saw a few coyotes and foxes, but never the elusive wolf. So I build in seeing grizzlies and wolves at the Wolf and Grizzly Discovery Center in West Yellowstone.

It is pretty much just a zoo. You walk around and see the bears and wolves in their habitats. At least I got to see a wolf.

But then, they did something that made the visit worthwhile. Children were allowed to enter the bear enclosure and hide food under rocks.

You then get to watch the bears find the food you hid for them under the rocks.

Now that's pretty cool.

We then needed lunch, so we went to Firehole BBQ.

We got some ribs, pulled pork, brisket, and sausage.

For claiming Texas style BBQ, it was pretty good being in Montana.

We then said goodbye to my brother and he and his clan headed to the airport in Salt Lake City. We continued west to Idaho, needing to mark off another state, then turned north to Bozeman.

I used to spend a lot of time in Bozeman, but hadn't been there since 2008. We saw the M, made a rest stop, and kept rolling east.

We decided to make it to Billings for the night. We ended up at the La Quinta. I went to Walmart to resupply our cooler with food and my wife took the kids to the pool. It was probably the highlight of the trip for them, the best (only?) water park in Billings. They spent a few hours playing and wearing themselves out before bed.

Tomorrow the long drive across the Dakotas.

Dinner in the Hills of Old Wyoming

The Sons of the Pioneers sang a song, The Hills of Old Wyoming.



Today, we rode the hills of old Wyoming for the Old West Dinner Cookout. Meeting at the Roosevelt Corrals, we loaded up on the wagons and hit the trail.

Along the way, we had a guide who told us the history of the land we were riding on, but in a quite humorous way. Even the kids were interested in history the way he taught it.

But, we ran into buffalo. The encourage the buffalo to leave us alone, the driver waiting until the rest of the wagons we caught up to us, then gave a loud yell as he drove the horses. The buffalo yielded to the wagon train.

Arriving at the location of the cookout, we were served all you could eat steaks with all the fixins. Absolutely delicious. My 7 year old boy scarfed down 2 of the steaks.

During dinner, they had a singer who sang old cowboy songs. Me and my 4 year old daughter two-stepped to David Ball's Amigo.

After dinner, they had a campfire where you could get fresh cowboy coffee.

Then came the highlight of the night, a cowboy show around the campfire. The staff told the worst jokes you ever heard that had your sides splitting and the cowboy singer sang a few more songs.

The night ended with everyone singing Home on the Range. 

After that, we saddled up and rode back to the corrals. A favorite night for the family on the Great American Roadtrip.

Canyon Day

Today was Canyon Day, we were exploring the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

It is important to start early. The North Rim Drive road gets packed and is often shut down, only letting a car in when a car leaves. We started about 9:30 AM and didn't run into problems, but driving by in the afternoon, it was just a traffic jam.

We first went to the brink of lower falls. It is a short, but steep, hike to the overlook that is right on the edge of the fall.

We then drove to lookout point.

From here, we left the car and hiked down to Inspiration Point.

Inspiration Point is an interesting name in that a painting made from it helped inspire the forming of Yellowstone. On the South Rim is Artist Point where the painting was thought to have been made, but it was actually on the North Rim at Inspiration.

The trail to Inspiration isn't hard, but is close to the rim in a few places.

You can barely make out the falls from here, but the canyon is pretty and it is a nice hike.

We then headed back to the car and drove to the South Rim to go to Artist Point.

Rangers often times put on ranger programs at Artist Point, so we were able to check that off of our Junior Ranger qualification.

From here, we headed north and drove across the Lamar Valley before heading to Mammoth, with a brief stop at Tower Falls.

Tower Falls would be a lot better if someone got a saw and cut some trees down.

Lamar is beautiful. We saw tons of buffalo, including babies, and watched a ranger help some picnicers escape from an approaching bear.

Mammoth is weird. It's pretty, but ugly. Supposedly when it was hotter, it was a lot prettier, but these days, it is like walking through a ghost town.

While in Mammoth, we drove up to the Gardiner Gate. We saw a mama moose and her babies along the road.

When in Yellowstone, be prepared to stop. After a few days, you may not want to stop for every deer, buffalo, or bear, but others will. Expect to stop.

From here, we completed the northern loop at Yellowstone and made our way back to Canyon. Another great day in Yellowstone.