On the Road with Grandad

"I am more interested in suggesting ways to think about the park and its significance. I'm especially interested in the exhilaration anyone with a heart feels while walking Yellowstone Park." -Tim Cahill, Lost in My Own Backyard, 2004




Happy Friday everyone, and have a great holiday weekend. With an extra day off, perhaps you'll have time to do some reading. On Monday I was off work, so after I did some chores and took care of the pets, I spent the rainy afternoon reading a little book that I found in a stack that my parents gave me. I found a little treasure within the pages, and it brought back many memories of great times with Grandad Brame, my maternal grandfather, who lived in western Kentucky for most of his life.

The book that I read, Lost in My Backyard, is a brief memoir of only 138 pages. The book is not a guide book or a history of Yellowstone National Park, but it's a journal of some of the best times that the author, Tim Cahill, experienced while living very near the park. He describes beautiful trails, geysers, and animals that he's seen while living there. He provides some tips about trails that you should hike, and trails that you should avoid. In his introduction, Cahill says that Yellowstone and its vicinity is "the largest intact temperate-zone ecosystem in the northern hemisphere." He adds that the early settlers even called the area "Wonderland" because of all the natural riches that could be found in that remarkable terrain. His words about Mount Washburn, Old Faithful, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone make me want to revisit this beautiful area. I haven't been that far west in the continental U.S. in over 30 years, but I hope to do so one day in a dream road trip across America.

When I was 21 years old, I took a road trip out west with my grandfather, my cousin, and my cousin's friend. Grandad tried to take all seven of his grandchildren to a dude ranch near Pinedale, Wyoming where we road horses and slept in tents. I think my sister was the only one who didn't go. The trip that I went on was suppose to be a 10-day ride, but on the third day, the head rancher decided to take us back down the Tetons to the ranch. If I remember correctly, he said there was too much snow so there wasn't enough grass for the horses to eat. Keep in mind that it was July, but we were bundled up in layers of clothing because it can get very cold up in the mountains. I remember brushing my teeth in the icy water of a pond and huddling around the campfire at night. The best part about our brief trip was that the food was great! The ranch "hands" knew how to cook a hardy meal for hungry riders, so we definitely didn't go hungry. Breakfasts were the best, complete with pancakes, eggs, bacon, and coffee. When rain has been falling all night and you haven't felt warm in two days, a hot breakfast is just the thing. There aren't suitable words to describe the beauty of everything that we saw while riding our horses on the trail, going up the mountain and down again. The days were sunny yet cool, and the nights were cold. The trees, ponds, and flowers were breathtaking. Since we had to return to the ranch earlier than expected, we stayed there for a couple of days and slept in the bunkhouse. The rancher took us fishing and riding to occupy us during the day and we had a great time. I remember that I got sunburned while fishing - all around my flannel shirt and long johns.

After we left the ranch we drove through Jackson Hole. Then we spent a night in Yellowstone. We drove slowly through the park and stopped to take pictures of elk and buffalo. But the most special experience for me was that we got to see Old Faithful. That is one amazing sight when you think about how many years it has been erupting right on time. I'd like to go back and spend several days in Yellowstone, because it's a trip in and of itself. I appreciate everything that my grandparents did for us, and I will never forget this special trip. Other trips that I made with them was a trip to St. Simon's Island, Georgia, and a trip to Orlando. We had a lot of good times in Kentucky with our grandparents too, and I will treasure the horse rides, learning how to drive a tractor, working in the garden, shopping for clothes, and the wonderful meals that Grandmother cooked. There's much more that I could say about my grandparents, but I think you get the picture. One day soon I'd like to write about my paternal grandparents as well, because I have many good memories of them as well. My sister and I are the oldest grandchildren on both sides of the family, and this is the great thing because we have the most memories of them. It's neat to think that we were the ones who made them grandparents for the first time.

As you know, I rarely purchase a book, but I recently saw an author on the "Today" show discussing her new book about how to live life with confidence. It sounded kind of interesting, so much to my own amazement, I actually ordered a self-help book! I don't normally go for things like this, but I decided to read something outside of my comfort zone. In the next week or so I play to write about this book, so stay tuned if you are interested in ways to strengthen your confidence and positivity.

Here are the next ten books that I've read since 1984:

1. Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
2. It Was the Goodness of the Place by Lucinda Dixon Sullivan
3. Strengthening Your Grip by Charles R. Swindoll
4. Cane River by Lalita Tademy
5. The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
6. The Gates of Zion by Bodie Thoene
7. The Lies We Believe by Chris Thurman
8. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (be patient with this one!)
9. Christian Hope and the Future of Man by Stephen H. Travis
10. Always a Friend by Jan Turrentine

Have a great weekend, and I hope you find time to explore your own backyard soon.

-Melissa Hill
Book Blogger
www.onegoodbookblog.blogspot.com
Book seller: MCH Seller