boys and buffalo

Just over a week ago Daren went biking with a couple friends from the fire department. He was supposed to meet us at Brenda's for haircuts that afternoon, but that afternoon he sent me a text, "Hey I won't be making it to Brenda's. Wow do I have a story for you! But I'll wait to tell you later when I get home." After we heard the story, my mom talked him into writing it down, and so, in his own words...

On Saturday, March 20, the first day of spring, I went mountain biking on Antelope Island with Scott and Billy, two of my good friends from the fire department. It was one of the first warm days of the year and we were really enjoying being outside in the sunshine with the clean air, beautiful scenery and snow capped mountains in all directions. We rode for a few hours until we got to the large valley east of White Rock Bay. The valley has a three mile loop trail that follows about a mile up the bottom of the valley, cuts across a large meadow at the top and then runs back out along the side of the mountain just below the ridge line. About half way up the trail we came upon an out of breath jogger, a really short and squatty guy, who wondered which direction to go to get back to the parking lot. The jogger said he had been chased by some buffalo and ended up way off the trail. He said the buffalo had chased him until he was able to get to an outcropping of large rocks to hide in. We pointed him in the right direction and off he went. The guy was dressed in white from head to toe and was acting pretty dramatic so it was difficult to take him too seriously. Once he was out of earshot, we joked and laughed at the idea of a jogger being chased by a buffalo and hiding behind a rock, as if a buffalo would care that much about a jogger.

After a short break to eat some lunch, we continued along the trail. As we crossed the large open meadow (about a mile across or more), we noticed a herd of about twenty-five buffalo grazing in the meadow a few hundred yards ahead of us. They were on both sides of the trail, but seemed to be slowly heading away from the trail and up over the ridge line. Now we began to wonder if the jogger's story had any truth to it. Because we were a little nervous, we stopped to make a plan. Since the trail going past the buffalo was a little downhill and looked pretty smooth, we decided we would get some speed on our bikes, stay close together, try to hustle past the herd, and make as much noise and ruckus as possible in hopes of encouraging the buffalo to keep their distance. We started down the trail with me in the middle and each of my buddies directly in front and behind me. About the time we had covered half the distance between our starting point and the buffalo, my rear bike tire blew out and immediately went flat. We stopped and watched the buffalo to see what their reaction would be. They didn't seem to mind at all and went on grazing in the meadow.

The three of us talked among ourselves and decided we would stay right there and fix the tire as quickly as possible. The nearest cover was a bunch of large boulders that were at least a hundred yards away and uphill from where we were standing, and we figured we could fix the bike in less time than it would take for us to move behind the rocks for cover. I pulled the rear wheel off the bike, then Scott broke the tire off the rim and pulled the old tube out while I was digging my spare tube out of my bag. Billy kept a close eye on the Buffalo, who were still just grazing along and not taking much notice of us. We put the new tube in and Scott hooked his small hand pump to the stem. Scott had made just a few quick pumps with the air pump when Billy said, "oh $#&%." We looked up and there was a large Buffalo running in our direction. Our packs and tools were spread out all over the ground, and my rear wheel was off the bike and basically empty of air. Scott said, "Should we take the bikes or just run." About the time the buffalo was a hundred feet or so from us, he stopped running and seemed to lose interest.

By this time we were completely pumped with adrenaline and unsure of how to handle such a completely unfamiliar situation. We hastily gathered our tools and decided to retreat up into the rocks with our bikes and parts to regroup. We turned around and started walking away slowly, being careful not to make any quick moves or noise. After we had taken a couple of steps, Scott said: "I sure hate the idea of turning my back on a wild animal." No sooner had he spoken those words than Billy again said, "oh $#&%!" I turned to look over my shoulder and two other buffalo were running full speed at us, even more intently than the first buffalo had been. At that point, we started running for the rocks as fast as we could. I was carrying my bike (because it still had no back wheel) and the others were pushing theirs on the ground. Scott had my bike wheel in his other hand. We ran for what seemed like forever but was probably five seconds. I looked back and they were still coming, probably fifty feet away. Then forty. Then thirty. I broke away and headed uphill from the group in hopes that my running a different direction might confuse the buffalo or make us look bigger and more threatening to them, but they didn't care. Twenty feet. Fifteen feet. The closer they got, the louder their their gallop became until it sounded like a thunderstorm. The ground shook when their massive hooves made contact with the dirt, like the feeling of standing by the tracks when a train is passing. We were still at least a hundred feet from the rocks.

Having grown up Colorado, Billy understands the importance of running faster than the next guy when being pursued by wild animals. Consequently, he was several steps ahead of us as the buffalo got close. The thought occurred to me and Scott at about the same time that we were never going to get away. Out of sheer panic and desperation, we both stopped abruptly and turned around. Scott swung my bike wheel in the direction of the buffalo, nearly hitting the closest one in the head. I threw my bike to the ground and began flailing my arms and yelling like a cowboy as loud as I could. Luckily, at the last second the buffalo dug in their hooves and stopped just short of Scott. Hunched down on his front legs, the closest buffalo lowered his huge head as if he were going to ram into Scott and his bike, then he let out a loud snort, turned his head to the side, and started back toward the herd. The second buffalo soon followed and they ended up about fifty feet away from us. We kept running until we got up into the rocks, never taking our eyes off the buffalo again. They went back to grazing and seemed uninterested in us from that point on. Once we were hidden in the rocks, hearts pounding and completely out of breath, we sat down to collect ourselves. Scott mumbled something about messing his pants. It took about ten minutes before we could gain enough composure to laugh at the situation. It was crazy. By the time we fixed the bike and rested up, the herd had moved beyond the ridge and away from the trail. We gathered our gear and made a hasty ride down the trail and off the mountain. On the way home, we went a few miles out of our way for a stop at the Burger Bar in Roy so we could eat buffalo burgers in celebration of having survived the ordeal.

So fortunately we still have a husband and dad. Crazy deal!! (I did ask if he got any pictures--sadly, no)

celebrate good times, come on!

There's nothing like being thrown back into the fire right after a 2-week long trip!! We got back Saturday night, had Daren's family over Sunday to celebrate the twin's birthday, and then their "real" birthday was Monday, including a celebration at Chuck E. Cheese with Brenda and kids. No wonder I'm so tired.

Jake was so excited for the party on Sunday that he put this saying together for it. I love it when they are going through the phase of spelling phonetically. He was the best helper that day--he got out the broom to sweep up the kitchen and put away all the excess toys, shoes, etc. I said to Daren that it might be worth it to have a party every day!

Awww, our babies are turning six! Seriously, where does the time go?

Will insisted they both have a candle to blow out, so we put "5" on it too, so they could say farewell to five and hello to 6.

Will and Jake with Gma and Gpa Train.

The next morning we opened presents before school. Will was so excited to get the Venice Canal Chase Indiana Jones Legos, and Jake got a big ol' box of random Legos, but his favorite present was...

...the Heart of the Ocean! He wanted this so bad from the Titanic store, and I'm sure glad I went back to get it for him. He doesn't care it's a girl's necklace (it's not like he wears it), he just thinks it's a cool jewel. Plus, he really wants to give it to Jaycie when they get married someday!!

I took donuts into Will's class, along with the Titanic binder that Ben gave Will to show off some of his Titanic drawings to his classmates.

And finally dinner at Chuck E. Cheese: front: Will, Ciera, Ben and Danielle. Back: Jake and Garrett. The kids had a great time. I'm going to have to scan in some of the pictures they had done there!

Happy Birthday boys!! We love you!!!

The celebrations continue on...today Daren and I have been married for 15 years!! Boy, we seemed like young 'uns then. It's funny to look back at where we were then, not having a clue what our lives together were going to be like. Here we are, 15 years later, still married, still love each other like crazy, 3 amazing boys, a house that we built together (literally), great jobs, great friends, great schools. You can't beat it. (Except that we will hardly see each other today--he is just getting home from the fire station this afternoon, and then I have yw here tonight so he will probably be stuck down in his office with the boys putting together the model Titanic they bought at the Titanic store last week. That's how some anniversaries are spent these days!)

day 16: cheyenne, wy. to riverton, ut: home at last

And what a homecoming it was--as soon as we hit the Utah border it started snowing and it didn't stop the whole way home! We had to stop by the Apple Store in Salt Lake on our way home because my computer screen has gone on the fritz. Turns out the LCD screen is cracked, and it usually would cost $750 to repair. Fortunately I got a waiver on it, and they are going to just fix it this time gratis. There had not better be a next time! I swear, something always happens to my computers when we go on a long trip like this.

Anyway, we made it home safely, and first thing Jake did was run and hug the house. That's what he said he was going to do and he did it. Fortunately we had a pretty clean house when we left because there is nothing worse than coming home to a messy, dirty house. And now the laundry and put away of all the stuff begins.

So 5,839.4 miles in all--only 150ish miles shy of our Route 66 trip where we were gone for 29 days two years ago. On this trip we had cold, clouds, rain, hail, snow, wind, warm, sun--you name it, we had it. It wasn't the prettiest time of year to travel, but it was great to not have the crowds either. Daren's friend Aaron lived in D.C. for a while and said that in the summer the Smithsonian is wall-to-wall people. We hardly had any crowds and were able to park on the road every time. What a blast this trip was.

Jake said our trip was "cool and great and the Titanic Museum was AWESOME." Will's favorite part was getting a toy at the Titanic Museum. My part, (its me, Ben)was when we got to climb an exact replica and real size GRAND STAIRCASE! (in the Titanic Museum) The boys still can't stop talking about the Titanic Museum!!

So now I might go on a hiatus because this is way more blogging than I'm used to! Actually, I will try to keep up because I hate getting behind. It's been a fun journey with lots of great memories, but I don't think I will go to a McDonald's or Wendy's for a few years. Until next time...

day 15: branson, mo.--iowa--nebraska--cheyenne, wy.: share the road

Well, this is about all I have for today. We packed up and left Branson this morning around 10:30am (9:30am mountain time), we have stopped a couple of times for gas, ate our lunch in the car but stopped for dinner, and we are still on the road at 11:52pm (mountain time). We are almost to Cheyenne, gratefully, and will be home tomorrow. We can't wait!

This is the only picture I took today (going 50mph in the rain)--I love to see signs that you don't normally see.

day 14: branson, missouri: a titanic of a good time

So, today was the day. This was one of the big reasons for driving instead of flying. To see the Titanic Museum in...Branson, Missouri?! You couldn't get much farther away from an ocean than where we are right now, and yet this place has the largest collection of Titanic memorabilia in the world. Go figure.

We spent the morning at the pool today, and then came back to our room for showers and lunch. The boys didn't really want to leave our room, but we told them it would be worth it.

When we drove up to the museum and they realized what was going on they were screaming with excitement. Then Will burst out into song with, "Oh they built the ship Titanic to sail the ocean blue..."

They made the outside of the museum in the shape of the Titanic. It's scaled down 50%, and only did the front half, but it is still way cool. And of course it is hitting the iceberg. I had my camera all ready to go, and was so excited about all the cool pictures I was going to get...and then found out they don't allow cameras inside! It was a major ripoff, but I can still picture Will and Jake stoking the fire and fighting over who was going to steer the ship; and Jake sticking his finger in the cold water, 28 degrees, to see how long he would last; and all the boys checking out the vertical decks. And then there was Ben who was so excited he could hardly stand it, especially when it came to looking at and climbing up the grand staircase. He said it was a once in a lifetime experience. Yes, there were some pictures that would have just been perfect today, but oh well.

The artifacts, pictures, etc. were incredible too. I thought it would all be a bit more hokey, but it was really well done. We all really enjoyed ourselves.

Daren let the boys choose one thing in the gift shop to get, and both Will and Jake got the inflatable

Titanics. Ben and Daren got the big model Titanic which they will put together at home.

Once we got back to the hotel it was back to the pool, to test out the new ships. They absolutely

LOVED today, which is what I was pretty sure would happen.

day 13: nashville, tn.--kentucky--illinois--branson, missouri: one long day!

So, in looking back to how I ended the post on our blog from yesterday, I included the picture looking out our window at an alley. Then, this morning I found out the significance of that alley, called Printers Alley.

"Printers Alley takes its name from its early connections with Nashville's printing and publishing industry then located in the immediate area. The alley also became the center of the city's nightlife and serviced the hotels, restaurants and saloons fronting on Fourth Avenue, which was known as the Men's Quarter in the late nineteenth century.

Nightclubs opened here in the 1940's, and the alley became a showcase for the talents of performers such as Boots Randolph, Chet Atkins, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, and Dottie West. This historic district's architecture includes elegant late Victorian style, Nashville's first automobile parking garage, and the city's first skyscraper." Apparently it still is a place many like to go to for their "nightlife."

As we began our day we found Elvis along the way.

The Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville is in this old building. (see pictures above and below) Back in the day, it used to be the Silver Dollar Saloon, and was a pretty rowdy place since it was right on the waterfront.

These are the old historic buildings along the waterfront. If these walls could talk....!

And then right across from these old buildings, and across the Cumberland River, is the football stadium for the Tennessee Titans. "Is that a baseball team?" asked Ben. *sigh* I'm not sure he will ever get it when it comes to sports!! But I still love you, honey!

Daren had us get ready quickly and rush down to breakfast so we could get to a trolley ride on time...problem was, his clock was on mountain time, and this is central time. We hurried for nothing, but it gave us a good laugh. The boys were very excited to ride in a trolley, and it was a great one-hour tour to get an overview of the city.

This is looking from one end of the Bicentennial Park up to the state capitol building. It is a really cool park with a lot of the history of the state around it. I'd love to go back someday and read it all.

There are lots of universities around, lots of churches around (they call themselves the belt buckle of the Bible belt!), and lots of medical research. And right in the middle of all this medical research...

...Krispy Kreme!! You gotta love it! (We went back to get some later)

We saw Musician's Row, an area of about four blocks where a lot of country music artists record their music. This RCA Victor Studio is where Elvis recorded many of his songs after RCA bought out Sun Records in Memphis, where Elvis is from.

Two words--Percy Jackson. Have you seen the movie? At one point they come to Nashville to look for a pearl in the Parthenon. Yes, there is a full-scale replica of the Parthenon from Greece right there in Nashville. They built it as part of their Centennial celebrations over 100 years ago, in 1897.

This shows how huge the steps around the building are.

I loved how ornate even the ceiling was.

Inside the building stands the focus of the Parthenon, a 42-foot high re-creation of Athena Parthenos. She is holding a small statue of Victory in her right palm,

and holds a shield in her left hand. It is really an amazing sight, and of course the boys loved it because they loved the movie.

Boys checking out marble statues, replicas of what was left over from the original Parthenon.

These are bronze doors, weighing 7.5 tons each. They are the largest matching set of bronze doors in the world.

After all that history, packed up and headed out to lunch. We wanted some good BBQ, and going on the recommendation of our tour guide, we went to Jack's. I'll have to say that it's no Pat's BBQ that's in Salt Lake (his is my favorite EVER), but Jack's was pretty darn close.

It was a fun place with some great food. It wasn't McD's or Wendy's, but the boys still liked it.

Down the street from Jack's was this guitar honoring the Honkey Tonk Heroes. Our tour guide said the difference between a bar and a honkey tonk is live music.

Daren went to check out the Ryman Auditorium, which was home to the Grand Ol' Opry from 1943 until 1974. They still have country music artists performing there quite frequently. The Oak Ridge Boys and Danny Gokey (from American Idol last year) will be performing this weekend.

We were torn on which way to take to get from Nashville to Branson, Missouri. Our GPS has failed us before, and mapquest.com showed a different way, so we decided to follow mapquest. Looking back, maybe we should have followed the GPS, but too late now. I love this sunset picture. Nothing but us and the truckers on the road!

We stopped somewhere along the way for gas, drinks, and batteries for headphones, and had turned off the voice of the GPS, and didn't realize we had gone the wrong way. We were 18 miles out before we realized it, and there was another road we could take that would eventually meet up with the first road, so we took the second. It would have been great during the day, but the 2-lane road was winding all over with hills up and down, and I started getting car sick. And then there was the storm. I don't know if I've ever been in a storm quite like that. I tried to get a picture, but it doesn't do it justice. The lightning put on a light show for over an hour, and the rain that came down was just as impressive. We finally pulled into our hotel at 1:47am. It's the next morning now, and at 11:21am Daren might still be in bed back in our hotel room. I've been at the pool with the boys for the last 2 hours while they have been getting their wiggles out. I think it's safe to say now, because I don't think Ben will read this before we leave today, but we are going to the Titanic Museum this afternoon. They are going to die!! Through all that has gone on on this trip, Titanic interest has still survived, so they are going to love it. Can't wait to write about it tonight.

day 12: bristol, va./tn. to nashville, tn.: "country roads, take me home"

This is one of those days I'm going to remember for a very long time...

...and then the very first picture I include is a sign of McDonalds--nice! I have included it for a couple of reasons. Today after we left our hotel and went to the car wash (only to have it ruined tonight as we came into Nashville, but still, it was nice for a time), the boys were already hungry. We stopped at McD's because neither Daren and I were hungry (except for a hot fudge sundae!), and because they had an outdoor playground, and because it was in the mid-60's at 11-something a.m. As the boys were playing, (except for Ben, who was drawing) I looked up at the McD's sign that said over 99 billion served. I was thinking, outloud, that I wish I had a picture from when I was young to remember how many it said they had served back then. Then I thought I'd take a picture for my own kids because when they have kids and they look up to see the sign say "over a gazillion people served," they will look back, perhaps in disgust, at how much grease and gunk they ate here. Which, in reality, isn't a whole lot these days, esp. now that In-n-Out has opened. Well that was a long, dumb story. You'll never get that minute back!

Our original plan yesterday was to drive to Knoxville, Tennessee, but we got kind of a late start (shocker) so we found a place closer, in Bristol, Virginia, on the Virginia/Tennessee state line. I hadn't ever heard of this place before, so this morning I grabbed a few of the little flyers from downstairs at the hotel to check out what was around here. It's amazing what you can find just from reading those, like that this city is divided down the middle, literally. If you drive down their State Street, half of it is located in Virginia, and half of it is in Tennessee. There is this really cool sign that is 100 years old this year to show the two states.

We also found out that country music got its start here, in Bristol. I would have thought it was Nashville, but no.

And last, but not least, I read about a Quilt Trail. I have never heard of this before, but have since found out that it's not only located in northeast Tennessee, but in many other states as well. It was started by a lady named Donna Sue Groves, in rural Adams County, Ohio. Check out the youtube video here. Donna painted a quilt square, which honors her mother who is a master quilter, to hang on the barn she and her mother owned. It quickly caught on in that county, and has now spread to barns in 20 other states. I wonder if we have any in Utah.

We just tried to find a few of the barns where we were in Tennessee. This was the first barn we found, just off of I-81. It's the Coates Barn in Sullivan County and the pattern is 'Stars and Cubes.'

Next was the quilt block 'County Fair' at the Farm and Home Museum building at the Applalachian Fair Grounds in Washington County.

This is the 'Star of Lemoyne set inside Swallows in the Window,' found on the Thomas Barn, also Washington County.

Daren was a trooper to entertain this little side jaunt. We actually had a lot of fun finding them and thought it would be great fun to spend a whole day finding more barns. I'll bet there are some really cool barns that are further out from the main roads, but we didn't have time to go find them all. This was the last one we found on our map, the Dobson farm with 'Grandmother's Flower Garden,' in Greene County.

Also in Greene County, in the city of Greeneville, was Andrew Johnson's grave. He was the 17th president of our country, and this is where he was born and raised, and was buried in 1875. There were lots of other things to see about him, but we didn't make it to them--there are only so many hours in the day.

This is the stone path around Andrew Johnson's grave. I can only imagine who has walked here before.

This is the quintessential picture of what is so fun about getting off the freeway for a drive through the countryside. We were just driving along on the country road and saw a sign for a historical covered bridge, so we turned and found our way to the Harrisburg Covered Bridge, built in 1875, over the East Fork of the Little Pigeon River. It was incredible.

We spent most of our day on the country roads, winding in and out of the hills and small towns of eastern Tennessee. We also saw a couple more barns with quilt squares on them.

It was well worth our time to take the road less traveled today. I wish we could do this every day, because there is so much to see everywhere you go, but we will take what we can get.

The boys were pretty much oblivious to what we were doing today. To Ben, it was one of the best days ever because he spent his day drawing and watching movies. He made a whole book about Sponge Bob! Does it get any better than that?! His drawing skills are getting very good.

So we finally stopped for dinner, and then it was dark so we headed for Nashville. We passed Knoxville around 7:30pm, and it made me think back on our day at how much we would have missed out on if we had driven to Knoxville the night before. What a great day!!

This is the view from our hotel room at night in downtown Nashville. When Ben looked out the window he said, "Wow, it looks like Wall Street out there!" Not that he knows what Wall Street looks like, but it was cute. It does look like quite the colorful alley.