Wednesday we drove out the East Entrance to Cody, Wyoming, another Scenic Byway. This was again a beautiful drive significantly different than the Beartooth Highway. This drive goes up and over Sylvan Pass and down past massive granite cliffs to the William Cody reservoir and then into Cody. This picture was taken a few miles before Sylvan Pass. I just liked the reflection of the trees in Sylvan Lake.

The drive into Cody was another long, beautiful drive. We left the campground about 9 a.m. and arrived in Cody about 1 p.m. One of our stops was at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. This complex houses six major museums and a number of exhibitions. One definitely needs more than a couple of hours to see and appreciate all that was on display. I spent most of my time in the Whitney Gallery of Western art. The picture was taken out the window at the back of this museum. The statue and stonework used to be in the middle of the main downtown intersection in Cody. My Uncle Perry Gillette and his family lived in Cody when I was a young teenager. On one visit some of us cousins slipped out of the house late at night in our pajamas and visited the monument. Cody was then a very small town (maybe 2,500 residents?) and Uncle Perry was a respected physician and pathologist in Cody. The town policeman reported us to Uncle Perry who came and collected us from the monument. We still laugh about it at family reunions.

In 1951 artist Edward T. Grigware painted a mural at the LDS Chapel in Cody, Wyoming under a commission from the local residents. This mural depicts the first 70 years or so of Church history. The mural was painted around the rotunda entrance into the building. Today the original building has been added to and significantly remodeled. Where the Chapel was back in the 1950’s is now a museum documenting the Mormon settlement of the Big Horn Basin. The visitor’s center is open four months of the year during the summer. Four missionary couples staff the center, each serving four days in a row followed by four days off. Their mission call is for four months after which they return home. Our guide was an Elder Cook. He and his wife lived twenty years in Georgetown, Idaho, where he served most of that time on the city council. He had some very good memories of Georgetown and his time there working for the Dept of Fish and Game.

This is the time of year when the bison seem to be on the move migrating from one meadow to another. The easiest way for them move is on the highway. They definitely have the right of way! Long lines of vehicles wait in each direction for them to cross the highway or move down the highway. Nina says this has to be a Park Ranger’s nightmare … all these crazy tourists wanting to get up close and personal with these massive animals.

These motorcycles were keeping well clear of the big bison strolling down the highway. He came from the left across the center line right in front of these bikes then strolled down the road. The bison is bigger than either of the bikes and they wisely let him have all the space he wanted.

We came home on Thursday (Sept. 3rd) through the South Entrance and through the Grand Teton National Park. We stopped for lunch in the Tetons and this was the view as we had our sandwiches. Our short respite was coming to an end. We had a very relaxing vacation and saw some stunning vistas.

This trip we decided to do things a bit differently. To start with, we camped at the Canyon campground, the first time we’ve camped there. This was our campsite. It took a bit to get the motor home somewhat level. We drove around the entire campground looking for the best sites (meaning level, table and firepit close to the motor home, not close to the bathroom or main roads). Maybe we’ll remember to look at the list the next time we go to Canyon to camp.

The campsites were nicely equipped with a good table and fire ring. There was a lot of space between campsites as well. We were generally surrounded by foreigners … on Monday and Tuesday evening they were mostly German-speaking. We took two different fire starters with us. Nina had saved a bunch of dryer lint and I brought a bag of shredded paper. Dryer lint worked MUCH BETTER. Shredded paper clumps too much, doesn’t burn well, and scatters everywhere. I had to get down on hands and knees to pick up the remnants.

The nights were cool, but pleasant. We retired into the motor home around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. each night. I’d do some reading … Nina would record the events in her journal. There are many, many journals that she’s kept over the years. Something for grandkids to look forward to, I’m sure!

Usually we drive around the Park visiting our favorite sights. This trip, however, we decided to drive the Beartooth Scenic Byway on Tuesday. We drove out the Northeast Entrance and about 80 miles to Red Lodge, Montana and back. This was a very fun and interesting drive. We drove past beautiful mountains, up and down hefty switchbacks, past glacier-carved lakes, and tundra above the tree line. The byway definitely ranks in the top ten drives in the United States.

The Beartooth Highway was under some significant construction, which started literally at the Northeast Entrance. The rest of the road in Wyoming seemed to be under construction with sometimes lengthy waits for a pilot car to lead us through. We passed lots of motorcycles coming through the construction, a fairly dangerous road for a motorcycle. We also passed a number of bicyclists making their way through the construction as well. The pass is over 10,000 feet above sea level. Those were some hardy folks on bicycles.

This picture was taken at what seemed almost to be the top of the world. Glacier-carved lakes abound. We were at the top of the mountain before heading down into Red Lodge, MT. The switchbacks getting here are visible below. This was a beautiful drive. Red Lodge was also a very interesting town. We didn’t stay very long as we had a five hour drive getting back to the campground after a five-hour drive getting there. Red Lodge is the county seat of Carbon County, Montana, and got its start as a coal mining town, The mines are now all closed, but the town lives on as a tourist destination (there’s a fabulous candy shop in Red Lodge). One claim to fame for the town is that the Butch Cassidy gang (including the Sundance Kid) attempted to rob the bank but were foiled. Tracked down and arrested by the Carbon County Sheriff and his posse, they were sent off to jail (from which the later escaped).

1. We’re making our way (with many stops) out the East Entrance to Cody, WY going over Sylvan Pass. Another spectacular drive.

2. This trip we’re staying in the park and taking the beauttiful drives out east and northeast entrances. Yesterday we took the northeast entrance drive, today the east, and tomorrow we’ll go out the south. Monday we came in through the west entrance. The only one we won’t drive through on this trip is the North Entrance at Mammouth.

3. This is a huge park. Tourists on the highways see maybe 10% of the park.

4. I’m writing this as Nina is driving. We’ve had little to none cell service, but I expect I can post this in Cody. I’d sure like to have cell/data services in Yellowstone. I’m sure it’ll happen someday whether the tree huggers like it or not. It’s now six hours later and we’re back at the campsite. The scenery was too interesting to do much writing.

5. Surprisingly, the Park is quite busy. All of the campsites last night were full here at Canyon. There’s a lot of traffic as well. Other than fowl, the only wildlife we’ve seen is bison, lots of bison.

6. We did have cell/data signal in Cody, but we were too interested in other things.

7. The mural in the LDS building in Cody are still there. The building has been significantly remodeled since we were last there, at least 30 years ago. But the mural is still as pretty as ever. It’s now a visitor’s center staffed for four months by four sets of senior missionaries who serve just for these four months and then go home. They work four days and then off four days. It’s one of the part-time mission opportunities of the Church.

8. When the wind picks up a bit it makes quite a noise in the tree tops. We’ve had great weather, probably due to Nina remembering to bring the umbrellas. Meanwhile it’s about 6 pm and the campsites around us are quickly becoming occupied.

9. The drive out the NE Entrance and the Bear Tooth Scenic Byway is quite spectacular. It goes by a very diverse set of scenery from huge pine forests to tundra above the treeline. The switch backs going over the summit are very impressive. It was definitely worth the drive.

Today’s drive down to Cody and back was also delightful. Huge granite cliffs dominate the landscape. We had long waits both going and returning for bison crossing the road.

10. We’ve not stopped at any of the attractions in the Park this trip. Next year, I think. Meanwhile a young lady who appears to be by herself is setting up her tent down below us. Not sure I’d like tent camping all by myself.

Dad passed away on Monday, August 3rd at 5:55 p.m. The deadline for getting an obituary into the local newspaper was Monday at 4:00 p.m. … when he was still alive. So instead, the Caribou County Sun published a notice on Thursday, August 6th that dad had died along with the information about the funeral and the viewings. A full obituary was then printed the following week on August 13th. Since the funeral had already been held when the obituary was published, the funeral service information is written in the past tense.

I’ve scanned the obituary which is displayed on the left. Clicking on the obituary will open a full-sized image in a new window (or tab) and will print nicely on a normal piece of paper.

We had notices printed in the Pocatello paper on Wednesday and Friday with a full obituary on Thursday before the funeral. Their price was $90. We had a notice printed on Thursday before the funeral in both Salt Lake Papers and the price was $185. Printing the full obituary would have been prohibitively expensive.

The price to print the notices and obituaries in the Caribou County Sun? $0.00. That’s right, nada. I like that price a whole lot.

I spent much of the day today in the yard. It’s been several weeks since I’ve done anything in the yard, so I started by using the weed-whacker to trim all around. When that was finished, I started up the lawn tractor to mow. I started out front and got to the point furthest from the house and the mower made a big bang in the engine and died. The starter would turn, but nothing seemed to be happening. I fear the only fix is overhauling the engine. The yard did not get mowed today. I’m definitely not looking forward to doing the job with the walk-behind mower!

There is no option in Idaho to work through probate without a lawyer. The forms can only be filed by an appropriately Idaho-licensed lawyer. Next Tuesday mother and I will go see the (expensive) lawyer in Soda Springs. I’m told that simple probate costs about $700. The court assistance person told me that probate in Idaho is “extremely complicated” and that only trained legal professionals can understand the law. There’s definitely something wrong with this picture.

Dad’s death certificates came in today and mother has been able to file on one of the insurance policies. The local agent handled all the paperwork for her. That was goodness! The final bill at the nursing home has been paid. Mother’s life is beginning to settle down. She’s in good spirits and faring well. Major goodness!!

Saturday was a very nice day. Even though it rained (everywhere except at the cemetery) and stayed quite cloudy the entire day, everything associated with dad’s funeral went very well.

1. I put my pictures from Saturday onto a slideshow. Clicking on the link should cause the slideshow to open in your movie application.
2. I took some video at the cemetery with my little point-and-shoot camera. The video includes the bugler playing taps. Very touching.
3. Lots and lots of family came to the funeral and most went to the cemetery and to the luncheon afterwards. I really appreciated getting to see many relatives I haven’t seen in a long time.
4. While funerals like this are also kind of family reunions, there is never enough time available to chat with people in attendance. There were many people there I would have liked to have visited with, but there was no time.
5. The sun did shine briefly, just as Uncle Nate was saying the dedicatory prayer. I was standing outside of the canopy that the funeral home had set up and could feel the sun on my head. It made me cry (again).
6. The Sims Funeral Home provided for us outstanding service. They are very professional and kind and courteous. Darren and his father Duane are great people.
7. The Soda Springs 8th Ward Relief Society raised the bar with this funeral. From Monday evening when dad died through Saturday evening after everything was pretty much finished, food showed up regularly. There was quite a houseful of people at mother’s and no need to do any cooking. If anyone went hungry, it was definitely their own fault.
8. Mother is doing very well. She’s gotten a couple of good nights’ sleep since the funeral and is busy wrapping everything up. She’s still got a lot of stress in her life, but as the new “normal” settles in and she gets her new routines set, that stress will dissipate.
9. I’ve started the process of figuring out probate in the State of Idaho. The court house in Soda Springs was not helpful (all they would say was, “hire a lawyer”). There should be no reason for simple, straight-forward estates with the appropriate paperwork such as wills and trusts already completed to have to hire a lawyer in order to gain access to the forms and paperwork needed to file with the magistrate court. Soda Springs is part of Idaho’s Sixth Judicial District and it looks like there is a Court Assistance Office open in Pocatello each day from 9-10 am and 2-3 pm. I think I’ll go there tomorrow to see if they can give me any assistance. My hopes are not very high.
10. I’ve started putting together a SmugMug website where the slideshow and video will eventually be stored. I’ve gotten very tired of Flickr and it’s lame capability. SmugMug has significantly more capability, including being able to be linked directly to my blog.

Roland Burton Smith

Birth: April 9, 1921, Cleveland Idaho
Death: August 3, 2009, Soda Springs, Idaho

Funeral Services

Saturday, August 8, 2009, 11:00 AM
Soda Springs Hooper LDS Church

Family Prayer: Ross Smith (brother)

Prelude & Postlude: Jan Mumford
Chorister: Heather Brown (granddaughter)

Officiating: Bishop Alan Skinner

Opening Song: #292 O My Father

Invocation: Christine Smith (daughter in-law)

Speaker: Perry LeRoy Smith (son)
Musical Number: A Brown Bird Singing
Dave Summers
Acc: Jan Mumford

Life Sketch: Eileen Bell (daughter)
Terry Rich (daughter)

Musical Number: O Divine Redeemer
Kim Mumford
Acc: Jan Mumford

Speaker: Roland K. Smith (son)

Remarks: Bishop Alan Skinner

Closing Song: #152 God Be With You Till We Meet Again

Benediction: Nina Smith (daughter in-law)

Interment: Cleveland, Idaho Cemetery

Dedication of Grave: Nathan Smith (brother)

Pallbearers

Christopher Brown
Bryan Harris
Adam Longaker
Allan Rich
Jared Smith
Clifford Walgren