Tag: Rants

Packing

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Everyone loves to go on vacation. I don’t think I have met anyone who doesn’t! The relaxation, the adventure… the packing? Wait, packing is definitely not on that list of things I love about vacation but unfortunately its necessary. You have to have clothes and the needed items to keep you from looking like a slob. I just hate it with a passion. The only thing I dislike more then packing, is unpacking.

Before children packing was a breeze. Some pants, shorts, shirts, shoes, make up, etc. all tossed into a bag and thrown into the car. My purse only contained my wallet, sunglasses, phone and a camera. Maybe a book or game like Sudoku. That was all. Now I have to pack for children and while I try to be a minimalist everything adds up fast. Aside from the clothes there are diapers, wipes, blankies, stuffed animals, toys, books, crayons, whatever is needed to keep them occupied in the car. There is now a large bag and cooler for snacks, drinks and food that isn’t fast food but can be eaten in the car if need be. After all that packing and planning for only a weeks trip you sometimes end up feeling like you will need a vacation from this vacation. Its a viscious cycle.

I complain but at the same time I feel blessed that we can take a vacation and get away for a bit. Its a lot of work but I am happy we have the ability and the means to do it. I love being able to give our girls the experience of riding in the car, seeing new places and creating adventures and memories. I just wish there was a magic wand that I could use, even if only for these moments, to do all of the things I don’t like doing. But for now I will keep wishing, get my butt off the couch and continue the packing process.

How Hard Is It To Get A Cup Of Water?!

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Pretty hard apparently!

In the process of becoming healthier Shaun and I have started cutting some things from our diet. The first step… SODA. We have been soda free for a few weeks now. A few nights ago we were out running errands and decided to stop for something quick. No its not the healthiest but it was food and we ran out of time to cook. We try to make healthy choices and stick to our no soda policy, so we ask for water. We purchased large drinks and instead of asking for soda we asked for water. Based on the response we received from the cashier, you would have thought we asked in a language that no longer existed. Here is a rough interpretation of how the conversation went.

Cashier: “You mean you want a water bottle?”

Shaun: “No I want the paper cup filled with ice and water”

Cashier: “You dont want a water bottle?”

Shaun: “No, I want the cup with water and ice”

Cashier: “Ummm, hold on.” (Disappears and returns about 2 minutes later) “Im sorry, we cant do that”

Shaun:”I cant pay for a drink and instead fill the cup with ice and water?”

Cashier: “No, but you can buy a water bottle and we will give you a cup with ice.”

This conversation went on a bit and we even spoke to a manager. Apparently unless you want bottled water (which, at McDonalds, is a small bottle containing only 8 ounces) they wont put water in a cup. Why, you ask? When it all comes down to it, McDonalds does not have a button on their registers for water as a beverage option in the cup. I guess in the world of McDonalds, if the button does not exist it cant be done. It just makes no sense, you can give me a cup with ice in it but you cant add water to that?

Its really not that big of a deal but it irritated us. We were thirsty and a little water bottle wasn’t going to cut it. We also didn’t want soda or iced tea. Not that I intended to frequent McDonalds a lot, I certainly don’t plan to give them our business any time soon, and over ice water too. Silly. Just another reminder to bring my large water containers with me.

Wilderness and Ignorance…. A Rant

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Ok, so in my last Montana Adventure post I promised that I would elaborate on our run in with stupidity and the wilderness. Its something I am passionate about, stupid people that is, and honestly I agree with comedian Bill Engvall when he says that we should give stupid people a sign to warn the rest of us that we are in the company of stupidity and ignorance.

So… as I was saying… on our last trip into Yellowstone we came across a lone male black bear. To make a long story short (you can read about it in Montana Adventures Part Three) this little black bear made his way to the side of the road. When I say side of the road I mean, he was so close to our car that I couldn’t take a picture with my larger lens because he was too close. My lens wouldn’t focus! Well by this point a “bear jam” had ensued and people were everywhere, including off to the side of the road with the bear outside of their cars with less then 10 feet between them and a hungry male black bear. When the bear would move so would they. Even worse, the stupid adults were allowing their impressionable children to get even closer to the bear then they were! This is where I need to freeze for a moment and explain some things.

Ok, so I can understand that people new to visiting Yellowstone might not know some of the rules when it comes to animals, but who in their right mind gets less then 10 feet away from an animal that has razor sharp teeth and claws that can pull apart logs??!! With that in mind, visitors to Yellowstone are warned. When a visitor enters the park, they are given a newsletter that contains important information about animals, camping, etc. If you click the link below and scroll to page 2, the information is made very visible. Please note that the link is to a PDF formatted document.

http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/upload/yt09sum_mod.pdf

STAY 100 FEET FROM BEARS AND WOLVES. There it is in plain English! If a visitor cannot read English, these news letters are available in more then 40 different languages.

Now I am not a mathematician nor am I great at math for that matter, but I know that 100 yards is not the equivalent to 10 feet! The realistic conversion is 100 yards = 300 feet! Now if I remember correctly most of those people were missing about 290 feet of distance between where they were standing and that black bear. Knowing this, Jillian and I began to inform those people who were too close of what they were doing and that they should back up or get into their cars. A few people genuinely did not realize that they shouldn’t be this close and backed off, while a good portion of them just started at us and continued to move closer. Talking loudly, circling him and getting closer to an animal that is feverishly eating after a long hibernation! The best was listening to one of the children of these idiots yelling back at us that bears could “kill and eat a human”… well yeah!!!

I think what bothers me the most about all of this is that if that bear were to suddenly attack because it felt threatened or cornered and hurt someone, that bear would be destroyed. It bothers me and saddens me that a beautiful animal would have to die because people cannot follow or refuse to follow simple rules. Unfortunately this happens all the time and its not often that people learn a lesson. Luckily this time around, the black bear was too concerned with the shrubs and grubs to care about all of the people nearby. But this isn’t always the case and an innocent animal has to pay for it.

To continue my point of the general ignorance and stupidity out there, here are several questions that rangers in Yellowstone and Glacier have been asked by visitors… this is not a joke….

1. When do you turn the waterfalls on and off??
2. When do you let the animals out of their pens and when do you put them away??
… and last but certainly not least…
3. At what elevation do the elk become moose?????

I will leave you to think about those questions and ponder the quality of education in this country (as most of the ignorant questions and behaviors come from our very own citizens!) It is my hope that this can be changed in the future.