Wölfischhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/2020-03-21T16:22:31+00:00Jörg's BlogEuro plug receptacle to "figure-eight" coupler adapter2020-03-21T16:22:31+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/euro-plug-receptacle-to-figure-eight-coupler-adapter<p>During my journeys I noticed that "wall wart" power supplies and travel adapters don't go very well together, especially when the wall socket is a worn out <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector#NEMA_5" target="_blank">NEMA 5</a> one. The power supply tends to fall off very easily and wears off the wall socket even more. That is not so much of a problem with adapters for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets:_British_and_related_types#BS_1363_three-pin_(rectangular)_plugs_and_sockets" target="_blank">BS 1363</a> (UK) sockets, but often there is not enough space between the socket and a nightstand for the cascade of adapter and wall-wart. But as I always carry a bunch of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320#C7/C8_coupler" target="_blank">C7 (figure-8)</a> cords for the respective country, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320#C7/C8_coupler" target="_blank">C8 connector</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europlug" target="_blank">euro plug</a> receptacle adapter cable would be helpful (and lighter and smaller than most travel adapters.) Unfortunately, only the opposite seems to exist: I found plenty of euro to C7 plug adapters. So I had to build my own. I bought a euro socket and a C7/C8 extension cord. From the extension cord, I cut off 30 cm of cable on the C8 side (the one with the pins), mounted the euro socket on the open end of the cable, and there we have our pigtail adapter:</p>
<p></p>
<p><img height="537" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/euro-c8-pigtail-small.jpg" title="C8 to Euro Pigtail Adapter" width="800"/></p>
<p></p>
<p>No strain on the wall socket, no clunky adapter, leightweight, and no special parts required. If you want to rebuild it yourself, obey electrical security regulations and best practices to avoid risk of electical shock and fire hazards. As euro plugs are rated 250 V / 2.5 A, both cables involved need to be rated at not less than 2.5 A current, additionally the extension cord at a maximum voltage of at least 250 V (120 V rated cables may be insufficiently insulated to be used safely at 250 V.)</p>US vacation maps update2019-10-17T21:56:19+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/us-vacation-maps-update<p>It's 30 US states after last year's vacation:</p>
<p><iframe height="480" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/states.html?visited=AZCANVNJNYMAUTWYCOPAFLWAORMIINOHILWINMTXMTIDDEWVMDVACTRINHME" width="740"><a href="https://yaina.de/static/gps/states.html?visited=AZCANVNJNYMAUTWYCOPAFLWAORMIINOHILWINMTXMTIDDEWVMDVACTRINHME"><img height="720" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-states-2018.jpg" width="460"/></a></iframe></p>
<p>And 54 National Parks, Historic Sites and Monuments now:</p>
<p><iframe height="480" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-parks.html" width="740"><a href="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-parks.html"><img height="720" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-parks.jpg" width="460"/></a></iframe></p>Not Only A Travel Report: US Vacation 19762018-04-08T14:54:51+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/not-only-a-travel-report-us-vacation-1976<div class="level1">
<p>I've been traveling the United States for many years, but where does my fascination with that country come from? There are, of course many aspects. America has a great cultural influence on Germany. American TV shows, movies and music are ubiquitous here, though they are giving a skewed picture of the country. History is also a reason. America had a strong military and political presence in Germany after the second world war. The existence of West Germany pretty much depended on America's protection — a protection that was based on more than just their own political and economic interests. The appreciation for Germany, in a cultural, not political way, goes way back into American history. Like those from other countries such as Ireland or Italy, German immigrants to America never lost the connection to their families back in Europe. Some German immigrants even had an important role in America becoming a „real“ country, but are virtually unknown in Germany. I'll briefly get back to that aspect later.</p>
<p>Family ties were actually the reason for the vacation back in 1976. Some time in the early 70s, Alice, a cousin of my father, and her husband John were visiting my parents. Of course they invited us back to visit them in New York City. So we went, my parents, my two years old sister and me, four years old. My earliest childhood memories are from this trip. We just found the fading and dusty slides (remember slide photography?) from that vacation again and my father scanned them for me. While my memories from the journey obviously aren't that detailed and complete, I hope my musings are entertaining, and maybe even educational. Keep in mind though that this report is written entirely from a white middle class point of view, as that's my family's social background. This perspective is heavily skewed. My conclusion at the end is an often bitter reality for many Americans of different ethnicity or social status.</p>
<h2>Getting There</h2>
<p>I don't remember anything about us four driving to Frankfurt. Driving more than 500 km with four persons in a VW Beetle was quite strenuous, especially when two of them are small children. I never cared, even back then, but my sister hated being driven in a car as a child. Thus, we made four rest stops during the drive.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/breaks.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="List of rest stops" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/breaks.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>For example the one at Wildpark Warsteiner Bilsteinhöhlen:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%201-04.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Jörg and Christiane on the playground" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%201-04.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>It looks like I didn't suffer from vertigo yet back then. For the night before our flight we stayed at Arabella Hotel in Frankfurt, now the Sheraton Frankfurt Congress Hotel.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/arabella%20roomcard.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Roomcard Arabella Hotel" height="240" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/arabella%20roomcard.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Apparently, the flight from Frankfurt to New York JFK was uneventful. According to my mother I slept through much of the flight. Contrary to my sister, who reportedly didn't like the flight at all. The flight was Pan Am 373, and while I haven't found any documentation for this particular flight on August 27, 1976 I assume we flew with the Clipper Sovereign of the Seas, <a href="http://www.airliners.net/photo/Pan-American-World-Airways-Pan-Am/Boeing-747-121/676902" target="_blank">as an entry on Airliners.net states</a> that it was in service on that line at that time. I remember stairs to the upper deck of the plane, so it definitely was a 747. Another thing I remember was arriving in the rain, though shortly before landing the weather was still fine.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%201-05.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Along the East Coast" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%201-05.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>There are claims that flying has become so much cheaper during the last decades, but I don't feel a difference. We paid 770 DM for each person, plus 60 DM airport fees, which is approximately 1000 EUR (1200 USD) today. That's very close to what I'm usually paying these days. Granted, the 770 DM was a special price, regular prices were 50% higher back then, but then again I'm not paying list prices today, either.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/tickets.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Flight tickets" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/tickets.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Another thing that hasn't changed: flight tickets between Europe and America are more expensive if booked in America instead of Europe. John was working for Pan Am, but even considering employee rates it was cheaper to book the flights in Germany.</p>
<h2>Familly Stuff</h2>
<p>Alice and John were living on Long Island in a neighborhood called Valley Stream. This was their house:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-26.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Alice and John's house" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-26.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>The small garden pond my sister is bathing her feet in is the reason my parents are having a garden pond too.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%201-07.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Garden pond" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%201-07.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>John had a small boat that he let me steer. Well, for a minute or so.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%201-14.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Boat" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%201-14.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>I remember collecting sea shells on a small island between Long Island and the barrier islands, but here we are catching bait fish.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%201-11.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Catching bait" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%201-11.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>The home of Alice's daughter Linda and her husband Tony was sensational, at least for us Germans at the time. My mother and we kids apparently had a lot of fun at the pool</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%203-14.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Pool fun" height="108" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%203-14.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Who had a pool like that in Germany? Or just the patio, even?</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%203-27.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Patio" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%203-27.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Most of it was self-built, as were many parts of their house. Talking about the house, let's go inside and watch some TV. Does anyone recognize the show?</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%203-34.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Watching TV with the dog" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%203-34.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>The dog's name was Cleo, by the way. I forgot the name of the horse, and we do not have any photos of their cat during our visit. The cat was the boss of the household.</p>
<p>Alice, John, Linda and Tony eventually moved to the Catskills after John's retirement, but that's a story for another occasion.</p>
<h2>Things Gone By</h2>
<p>What are you doing with two small kids after a long intercontinental flights? Visit amusement parks! We visited <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunley%27s#Nunley%27s_Carousel_and_Amusement_Park" target="_blank">Nunley's Carousel and Amusement Park</a>, which operated until 1995 and the carousel itself still exists at a different location. The picture is labled as Nunley's Carousel in the box of the slides, however it shows most likely the carousel at Sterling Forest Gardens, as the slides before and after it definitily are from there.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%202-02.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Nunley's Carousel" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%202-02.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Sterling Forest Gardens not only closed for the season just a few days after our visit, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/11/archives/sterling-forest-gardens-are-shut-but-their-lure-persists.html%20" target="_blank">but for good</a>. Those huge development plans the newspaper mentions were never realized, the amusement park became the location of the <a href="http://renfair.com/ny/" target="_blank">New York Renaissance Faire</a> shortly after that article was published, and it still is. The greater area is now a popular state park.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%201-35.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Apollo Rocket Ride" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%201-35.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%202-06.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Dolphin Show" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%202-06.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%202-09.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Flowers" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%202-09.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%202-10.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Fountains" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%202-10.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%202-11.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="More flowers" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%202-11.jpg" width="320"/> </a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.obvrnassau.com/">Old Village Bethpage Restoration</a> was on the brink of getting closed in 2009 but surprisingly it still exists.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%202-18.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Old Village Bethpage" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%202-18.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>I have no memories of this place, though.</p>
<h2>Hudson River</h2>
<p>I don't remember that we went to New Jersey. But these are my mother and my sister at the Rockefeller Lookout on Palisades Interstate Parkway</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%201-30.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Rockefeller Lookout" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%201-30.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Something most Europeans aren't aware of is that while Lower Manhattan is only slightly above sea level, the riverbanks of the Hudson to the West and further up North are rather steep. The parkways East and West of the river are very scenic. The Palisades Pkwy is something I'll certainly consider revisiting next time I'm in that area, even though this is one of the stops I don't have any memory of, either.</p>
<h2>NYC</h2>
<p>Well, New York, NY. What can I say. Harbor cities are my favorite cities. There is something about them that makes me feel at home immediately. New York City is one of these. Even though I visited it only twice in my life so far. 1976 and 2016. Let's start with a boat tour. In reverse order, for a reason.</p>
<p>Midtown from East River</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%204-33.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Midtown" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%204-33.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan from East River</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%204-24.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Brooklyn Bridge" height="214" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%204-24.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Lady Liberty in the background</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%204-20.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Liberty Island" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%204-20.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>We actually visited Liberty Island and the Statue, but I haven't found any photos of that.</p>
<p>The Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%204-15.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="WTC" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%204-15.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Here we are waiting in line for the tickets to the WTC observation deck</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-05.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Queueing" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-05.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>We still have the tickets</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/wtc%20tickets.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="180" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/wtc%20tickets.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges from the observation deck</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-06.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Observation Deck View" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-06.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>My father holding my sister, John with the binoculars, Alice holding me on the top of the World Trade Center. As you can see my sister didn't like it up there. For me it was just cold and a bit too windy. But being up there is one of my clearest memory of the whole trip.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-14.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="On top of the WTC" height="210" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-14.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Almost exactly 25 years later some idiots tore down that building in a terrorist attack, killing 3000 people. It still hurts as hell. But my memories are mine, they can't destroy them.</p>
<p>40 years after the photo was taken I went back and visited the new One World Trade Center. As strange as it sounds, it gave me solace and satisfaction. I had to do it.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/one-worldtradecenter-2016-overlook.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="1WTC" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/one-worldtradecenter-2016-overlook.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>On a lighter note, here's the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_(ship)" target="_blank">four masted barque Peking</a>, a year after it arrived in New York to be used as museum ship. My memories about that ship are faint, all I remember that there was a sailing ship.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-16.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Barque Peking 1976" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-16.jpg" width="306"/></a></p>
<p>However, when I returned forty years later I immediately recognized the place by its smells and atmosphere. This is the Peking in 2016, a year before it was transported back to Germany where it was built.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/20160705-peking.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Barque Peking 2016" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/20160705-peking.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>In the meantime, the Peking has arrived and at the time of writing it is under restoration. Afterwards it will be on display in Hamburg.</p>
<p>Apparently we also visited the Bronx Zoo. Nobody of us remembers that, though.</p>
<h2>Boston</h2>
<p>We went to Boston and apparently visited the aquarium. The only thing I remember is this incident on the drive to Boston, though:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-32.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Pilloried" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-32.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Someone please call the CPS! Oh, never mind.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-34.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Pilloried, too" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-34.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Does anyone have an idea where that may have been? I have no idea whether it was still in Connecticut or already in Massachusetts.</p>
<p>This this is probably where I jammed my finger with the door of the car:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-29.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Stripmall" height="342" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-29.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Strip malls looked a bit different back then.</p>
<p>Toll plazas are slowly becoming a thing of the past (unfortunately not the tolls), but back then you always had to fumble for some dimes and quarters.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-28.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Toll plaza" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-28.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Streetview 1976. Google Image search by the way brought up nothing, however a regular Google search reveals that we were driving Connecticut SR 15 („Wilbur Cross Pkwy“) and the tunnel is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_Tunnel" target="_blank">Heroes Tunnel</a> crossing West Rock Ridge State Park.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-30.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Heroes' Tunnel" height="180" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-30.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Perching!</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iv%201976%205-31.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Perching on a pole" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iv%201976%205-31.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>I remember that at least one of my grandmothers had a print of this photo on display, but I never knew when it was taken. Finding it in this series of slides solved that mystery.</p>
<h2>Steuben Parade</h2>
<p>Back in NYC. There is an annual parade of descendants of German immigrants honoring General von Steuben. If you are a German reader, you may ask „von …who?“ and you are right, he is virtually unknown in Germany. Friedrich von Steuben was a former captain of the Prussian army who, after conflicts with superiors, was transferred to a very unattractive post in the Lower Rhine area. Rumor has it that his defiant behavior was the reason for what he must have perceived as a disciplinary action. Von Steuben was discharged (honorably) from the military when the Prussian army was downsized. After working as an administrative officer of a small and broke state in Southern Germany for a couple of years he immigrated to the US as a volunteer military adviser — implying to Benjamin Franklin that he was a „Lieutenant General in the King of Prussia's service“. Franklin subsequently stated that rank in a letter of recommendation to the Congress and George Washington. Some say this was due to a wrong translation from German via French to English, but I don't buy that. Von Steuben supposedly also wore a uniform resembling that of Prussian general when he reported for duty.</p>
<p>In the American Revolutionary War war he joined an inexperienced paramilitary group attached to the (militarily irrelevant) Continental Army which he brought to success by training them with the same drill methods as the Prussian military was using. Eventually he was promoted to Major General by George Washington.</p>
<p>While the Continental Army actually won the battle of Monmouth thanks to his tactical knowledge, it wasn't really relevant for the outcome of the war. Yet he left such an impression that his methods he learned from the Prussian army laid the foundation for what is now the American military. America likely wouldn't be a global military and political power today without Friedrich von Steuben. This is probably one of several reasons why braggarts and con men are so popular America. And every now and then they even elect one as their president…</p>
<p>As General von Steuben is one of the most famous German-Americans, the committee of the New York parade of Americans with German heritage chose his name for the parade. Despite the name of a member of military, it is not a military parade but highlights aspects of German culture. The organizers of the parade do not only invite American groups who are preserving their heritage. Several Carnival (mardi gras) groups and Trachten groups from Germany are frequent guests. Some impressions:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iva%201976%201-15.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Brass band" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iva%201976%201-15.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iva%201976%201-24.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Ribbon Dance" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iva%201976%201-24.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iva%201976%202-05.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Lower saxon speakers group" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iva%201976%202-05.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>This masked member of an Alemannic Fastnacht group picked me up. I didn't care about the mask, but I really hated getting picked up by strangers.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iva%201976%202-02.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Hey let me down!" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iva%201976%202-02.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>Wait what?</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iva%201976%201-03.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="German jail wardens" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iva%201976%201-03.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<h2>Flight Back</h2>
<p>The flight back from JFK to FRA was with Pan Am 300 on September 19. Boarding cards looked differently back then:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/boarding%20cards.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Boarding cards 1976" height="240" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/boarding%20cards.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>And just look at the colors of the seats:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iva%201976%202-26.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iva%201976%202-26.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>It doesn't get more 70s. And thanks to this photo I know the type and name of the aircraft</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/usa%20iva%201976%202-27.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Arriving in Frankfurt" height="213" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/usa-1976/blog/usa%20iva%201976%202-27.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>The Clipper Flora Temple was a Boeing 707-320B (build number #20026), N887PA.</p>
<p>This concludes our short journey back in time. There are some gaps in the timeline I cannot close due to lack of photos and missing written documentation. There are some family matters I left out that would only be boring to a general audience. I am amazed how accurate my memories were, except for a single one I wrongly attributed to this trip for years. And while the photos are fading and everything looks so far away in history, if you look closely and compare it to today: a lot is still as it was back then.</p>
<p><em>In memory of Alice, 1926 - 2017 and John, 1925 - 1998</em></p>
<p><em></em></p>
<p>Photos: Copyright 1976 U. Reuter, M. Reuter, et al.; Copyright 2016-2018 J. Reuter</p>
</div>3D Printed Fan Holder for the Fursuit Hand Dryer2017-06-24T23:12:39+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/3d-printed-fan-holder-for-the-fursuit-hand-dryer<p>I couldn't find the fans of my <a href="https://woelfisch.de/blog/ultra-cheap-fursuit-hand-dryers">Ultra Cheap Fursuit Hand Dryer</a> last night and <a href="http://www.anthrocon.org/" target="_blank">Anthrocon</a> is next week. I now own a 3D printer, and with such a printer the answer to all questions seems to be PLA, so I quickly created a new holder. The most time consuming task is soldering the electrical connections by the way. The printer just happily prints while I'm doing other things.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/paw-dryer-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="New Holder" height="270" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/paw-dryer-lj-1.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>The holder is intended to be a tight fit - hence no holes to fasten the fan. You may need to file the sockets for the tube and the fan to fit your equipment, especially the outer dimensions of the fan vary from model to model. Since the fans I took from my "oh I can use that again" box are 15 mm high the holder will accept these. Unfortunately, the fans are very loud at 12V and don't always start at 5V, so I ordered new ones — they won't arrive before Anthrocon, though.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/paw-dryer-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Assembled paw dryers" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/paw-dryer-lj-2.jpg" width="270"/></a></p>
<p>The gutter drain pipe sieves are for operation as fursuit shoe dryers, by the way, for gloves I'm using cheap egg beaters.</p>
<p>I've put up the STL and 3D construction file for FreeCAD <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2402885" target="_blank">on Thingiverse</a>.</p>A Lightweight Fursuit Body Dryer2017-06-20T00:16:54+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/a-lightweight-fursuit-body-dryer<p>Sure, I just could buy a wetsuit dryer, but where's the fun in that? Also, I wanted something that is lightweight and somewhat flexible. Thus, after a run to the hardware store and a lot of clipping and fastening zip ties:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="fursuit body dryer" height="229" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-1-lj.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>The mesh is a leaf sieve for roof gutters, the same material <a href="https://tioh.livejournal.com/" target="_blank">Tioh</a> is using for puppet and fursuit heads when 3D printing isn't an option. It is surprsingly expensive, but very sturdy and easy to work with. Also, it is already bent, which is an advantage for this project. Also needed are lots of zip ties and a 100×100 mm 12 V fan, optionally some velcro pads and a water repellent cloth, an S hook and a door hanger.</p>
<p>Building is easy, cut off a rectangulare piece of mesh to hold the fan and two long pieces for the arms. Make the arms as long as possible but take care that the total length of the dryer is smaller than your fursuit box and luggage. Here's how I fastend the fan:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Fan fastened" height="270" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-2-lj.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>The fan doesn't have holes to fasten it on the other side, thus just clamp it:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-3.jpg" target="_blank" title="Clamping the fan"><img alt="Clamping the fan" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-3-lj.jpg" width="318"/></a></p>
<p>Attach the arms at an angle</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-4.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Arms attached" height="270" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-4-lj.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>A zip tie at the end of each arm keeps it rolled up, also note that the arms are a bit slimmer at the end</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-6.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Arm detail" height="247" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-6-lj.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>One of my suits has a rather low cut neck, a detachable piece of water repellent cloth avoids the air going out</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-5.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Piece of cloth" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-5-lj.jpg" width="465"/></a></p>
<p>The fan will run fine on 5V, but with a step-up ("boost") converter to 12V it produces enough air flow to quickly dry a suit with one battery charge. My two suits were each dry before a suit on a wetsuit dryer in the same room.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-7.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="247" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-7-lj.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-8.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-8-lj.jpg" width="287"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>The 10 Euro Fursuit Head Dryer2017-03-06T21:26:54+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/the-10-euro-fursuit-head-dryer<p>Admittedly, a dryer for the head mask is more work, but still can be very cheap. One important aspect: it has to be lightweight but must be able to carry a fursuit head without tipping. So, another boring Sunday afternoon project was born. Version 1 looked like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v1.jpg" target="_blank" title="Head Dryer v1"><img alt="Head Dryer v1" height="400" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v1-sm.jpg" width="253"/></a></p>
<p>I used:</p>
<ul>
<li>two short pieces (150 mm) of HT DN 75 sewer pipe (doesn't exist as NPS, maybe NPS 2½ works)</li>
<li>a bunch of 4 mm (#8) screws of various length</li>
<li>some nuts and washers</li>
<li>a plastic rain pipe sieve</li>
<li>a 60×60×10 mm fan for 5V (or one for 12V that still delivers a lot of air at 5V)</li>
<li>a small plastic box lid for the fan plate</li>
<li>a large plastic box lid for the base plate</li>
<li>rubber bands</li>
<li>an old USB cable to connect to a power supply</li>
</ul>
<p>Building:</p>
<ul>
<li>one pipe may be shortened to your need</li>
<li>take the rubber ring out of the connector of the other pipe (and clean it from the grease)</li>
<li>cut off the narrow part of its connector so that only the thick part (where the rubber ring was) remains, otherwise the pipe end won't fit over the nuts that are holding the fan</li>
<li>mark and drill all the holes</li>
<li>cut a 60 mm hile into the small lid</li>
<li>fasten the fan</li>
<li>pull the the rubber ring over the pipe</li>
<li>the long screws must be moveable to a certain degree, at their threads are going to clamp the the pipe to the fan plate along with the rubber band</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v1-construction.jpg" target="_blank" title="Construction v1"><img alt="Construction v1" height="219" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v1-construction-sm.jpg" width="400"/></a></p>
<p>This works pretty well, but after a while the plastic lid wears out and the whole construction becomes rather wobbly. Also, if you want to fasten the lid on the box, remember to figure out where the cable goes before soldering the USB cable to the fan cable, otherwise you might need to cut another hole into the lid ot have the cable go into the box for transport. The screws through the base plate should be fixed to the plate with locking nuts, likewise the long screws that are clamping the pipe. The rest should be fastened only lightly to be able to take the whole thing apeart for easy transport.</p>
<p>As I wrote, the lid holding the pipes and fan wears out quite quickly, but I found some thin but riggid plastic bread boards at Ikea and updated the dryer to version 2.</p>
<p>Marking the drill holes:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2-fanplate-markers.jpg" target="_blank" title="Fan Plate v2 Markers"><img alt="Markers v2" height="180" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2-fanplate-markers-sm.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>After drilling and cutting:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2-fanplate.jpg" target="_blank" title="Drilled Fan Plate v2"><img alt="Drilled Fan Plate v2" height="400" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2-fanplate-sm.jpg" width="257"/></a></p>
<p>Result:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2.jpg" target="_blank" title="Head Dryer Version 2"><img alt="Head Dryer v2" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2-sm.jpg" width="180"/></a></p>
<p>The base plate is still good, the larger Ikea bread boards unfortunately are rather thick and heavy.</p>Ultra Cheap Fursuit Hand Dryers2017-03-06T20:06:11+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/ultra-cheap-fursuit-hand-dryers<p>Sometimes I enjoy building minimalistic but practical things. Like these fursuit hand dryers</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/pawdryers.jpg" target="_blank" title="Paw Dryers"><img alt="Paw Dryers" height="400" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/pawdryers-sm.jpg" width="200"/></a></p>
<p>Bill of materials:</p>
<ul>
<li>two short pieces of 500 mm HT DN40 (NPS1.5) sewer pipes, or one 1m piece that's been cut in half, if cheaper</li>
<li>two 40 mm 12 V high volume fans that will still run on 5 V (usually found in 1 HU power supplies)</li>
<li>an old USB cable to provide power to the fans</li>
<li>8 long 4 mm screws (imperial: #8, maybe #9, but see below)</li>
<li>rubberbands</li>
<li>two egg beaters from a 99¢ store</li>
<li>optional: battery clip adaptor, battery holder</li>
</ul>
<p>Construction:</p>
<ul>
<li>Cut off the connector(s) of the pipes</li>
<li>The long screws are used to to clamp the fans to the pipes</li>
<li>The egg beaters are helping with the air distribution</li>
<li>Zipties instead of rubberbands seem to work better</li>
</ul>Eurofurence Overflow Hotels2017-01-30T20:32:39+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/eurofurence-overflow-hotels<p>And here's a map of potential overflow hotels for Eurofurence, proposed by attendees:</p>
<p><iframe height="480" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/ef-hotels.html" width="740">
<a href="" target="_blank"><img alt="Anthrocon hotels" height="460" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/ef-hotels.jpg" width="720"/></a></iframe></p>Anthrocon Overflow Hotels2017-01-30T20:20:18+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/anthrocon-overflow-hotels<p>With the growing amount of hotels available for Anthrocon guests it gets more difficult to keep track where exactly each hotel is located. Even for me, who's been attending Anthrocon for several years now. Thus, I've sat down and made an interactive map. Okay, to be honest, I wanted to do that for Eurofurence anyway, and it's fun to play with <a href="http://openlayers.org/">Openlayers 3</a>... Please verify the phone numbers and street addresses in the popups (and send me corrections), as I might have missed some errors while cut and pasting the information at 1 am...</p>
<p>What's missing is the information which hotels are serviced by the Anthrocon hotel shuttle. Because 1 am...</p>
<p>Some hotels seem to be far away, but in fact they aren't - Downtown Pittsburgh is surprisingly small and (by European standards) even the Wyndham is in walking distance.</p>
<p><iframe height="480" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/ac-hotels.html" width="740">
<a href="" target="_blank"><img alt="Anthrocon hotels" height="460" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/ac-hotels.jpg" width="720"/></a></iframe></p>Anyway, have some updated maps2016-08-04T22:14:07+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/anyway-have-some-updated-maps<p>I'm up to 26 US states after this year's vacation:</p>
<p><iframe height="480" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/states.html?visited=AZCANVNJNYMAUTWYCOPAFLWAORMIINOHILWINMTXMTIDDEWVMDVA" width="740"><a href="https://yaina.de/static/gps/states.html?visited=AZCANVNJNYCTMAUTWYCOPAFLWAORMIINOHILWINMTXMTIDDEWVMDVA"><img height="720" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-states.jpg" width="460"/></a></iframe></p>
<p>And I'm able to add some National Historic Sites and Monuments, too:</p>
<p><iframe height="480" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-parks.html" width="740"><a href="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-parks.html"><img height="720" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-parks.jpg" width="460"/></a></iframe></p>No fun with OpenLayers2016-08-03T21:32:50.301479+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/no-fun-with-openlayers<p>MapQuest removed free access to their tile servers with one month of advance warning — and no, requiring an API key is not free access, especially not with an imposed usage limit.</p>
<p>Their actions break all my maps, and I don't have the (computing and file serving) resources or knowledge how to properly render map tiles myself. And even then I don't know where to get aerial and satellite photography tiles.</p>
<p>What irks me most is that all of the data the tiles are based on are free to use, in case of OSM collected by thousands of volunteers, or paid by the tax payer for the satellite images. But you can't use them directly, because it's raw data and everyone processing it wants to cash in on it sooner or later.</p>
<p>So in the end, we're stuck with Google Maps and Bing again, which I bet will be seeing some monetization sooner or later.</p>
<p>The DIY Internet? Dead. Gone. A thing of the past.</p>
<p>Have fun with your high resolution V.23 service.</p>More fun with OpenLayers 3: U.S. National Parks2016-01-06T15:31:23+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/more-fun-with-openlayers-3-us-national-parks<p>I've made a new interactive map while I was playing with the GIS stuff again. This time to visualize the U.S. National Parks, National Monuments, National Recreational Areas, and National Seashores / Lake Shores I've visited over the last eleven years.</p>
<p>Compared to previous versions, <a href="http://openlayers.org/">Openlayers 3</a> is refreshingly consistent, even though the asynchronous handling of data sources makes it somewhat cumbersome at times. For example, the geographic information at <a href="http://www.naturalearthdata.com/">Natural Earth</a> is split into three databases: areas for large parks, lines for sea and lake shores and points for smaller parks. Also, it contains too much data, but I haven't found a way how to filter it just for the parks I want to show and unify everything in one layer. Thus, the style callback has to do that. A rather ugly hack.</p>
<p>Also, it is not easy to find out how to convert the shape files from Natural Earth and the <a href="https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/">U.S. Census Bureau</a> from dBase on-disk format (is <em>anyone</em> here old enough to remember dBase?) to something OpenLayers can process. Fortunately, there is a free converter: <a href="http://www.gdal.org/">GDAL</a> comes with <tt>ogr2ogr</tt> that can even filter based on SQL queries. Recent versions support writing GeoJSON: <tt>ogr2ogr -f GeoJSON states.json cb_2014_us_state_20m.shp</tt>. Conversion to GPX is incomplete, it writes KML correctly but <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/viking/">Viking</a> isn't able to render it correctly, and the OpenLayers 3 KML format processor cannot cope with folders. Thus, I'm using GeoJSON.</p>
<p>Anyway, you can zoom and pan the map, and hovering with the mouse pointer over one of the yellow circles will pop up a small info box with the name of the park and the year(s) I visited it. It also works on mobile devices, however it may be a bit hard to successfully hit the circles on a touch screen.</p>
<p><iframe height="480" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-parks.html" width="740">
<a href="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-parks.html"><img height="460" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-parks.jpg" width="720"/></a></iframe><br/><em>U.S. National Parks, Monuments, Recreational Areas, Seashores, Lakeshores visited</em></p>Updated Map2015-12-21T01:58:56+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/updated-map<p>Look, it's a shiny <em>new</em> map! And even with two more US states I've visited:</p>
<p><iframe height="480" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/states.html?visited=AZCANVNJNYMAUTWYCOPAFLWAORMIINOHILWINMTXMTID" width="740"><a href="https://yaina.de/static/gps/states.html?visited=AZCANVNJNYCTMAUTWYCOPAFLWAORMIINOHILWINMTXMTID"><img height="720" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/us-states.jpg" width="460"/></a></iframe><em><br/>23 states so far!</em></p>
<p>I'll probably add some interactions eventually, but now it's time for me to go to bed.</p>Roadtrip 2015: Yellowstone and more, part 6 - Lava Fields and a Salt Lake2015-12-19T17:25:47+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2015-yellowstone-and-more-lava-fields-and-a-salt-lake<h4>Thursday, 2015-09-24: Craters of the Moon</h4>
<p>This is a road trip after all, so let's hit the road and spontaniously decide to make a detour to Craters of the Moon National Monument. Okay, it wasn't that spontanious, we decided on that the night before, depending on how late we'd be in Idaho Falls. Actually, faster than we anticipated, so we drove through the arid rangeland of Snake River Plain until we reached the (cold) lava fields of Craters of the Moon. Interestingly, this is still considered being an active vulcanic area which lays dormant until the next eruption within the next 1000 years or so. It looks like a vulcano in Hawaii, but without the flowing lava. Is there any other place in North America like this? In any case, a strange area. Inferno Cone is basically a tall hill made of ash (a cinder cone), a trail leads to tree molds in a vast lava field, and we climbed through Indian Tunnel, a lava tube cave. No bats there, but the home of some feral pigeons that looked exactly like the Good Feathers...</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150924-img_0883.jpg" target="_blank" title="Atop Inferno Cone"><img alt="Atop Inferno Cone" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150924-img_0883.jpg" title="Atop Inferno Cone" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>On top of Inferno Cone</em></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150924-img_0958.jpg" target="_blank" title="Indian Tunnel"><img alt="Indian Tunnel" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150924-img_0958.jpg" title="Indian Tunnel" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Kayjay entering Indian Tunnel</em></p>
<p><em></em><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150924-img_1004.jpg" target="_blank" title="Exit of Indian Tunnel"><img alt="Exit of Indian Tunnel" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150924-img_1004.jpg" title="Exit of Indian Tunnel" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Lynard leaving Indian Tunnel</em></p>
<p>Craters of the Moon is definitely worth a visit if you're in the region and can spare a couple of hours. But remember to bring a hat, except for the caves there is no shade in the park.</p>
<p>On the way back to the Great Salt Lake area we decided to have dinner at Five Guys in Chubbuck. The town, located at the junction of Interstate 86 and Interstate 15, seems to be a giant shopping plaza. Exit 61 of the I-86 is a Diverging Diamond Interchange. As a road geek I knew that of course, but didn't say anything. Indeed, it confused Kayjay, who was driving. Very amusing.</p>
<p>Yay for mobile data. I booked a hotel room at the Best Western Plus in Uintah, near Ogden for the night while traveling further South. We arrived there rather late at night and went to bed.</p>
<h4>Friday, 2015-09-25: Antelope Island</h4>
<p>Oh, we still have one day left, how did that happen? Off to Antelope Island then. It is an island located in the Great Salt Lake, though to our disappointment the lake was almost dry this year.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150925-img_1031.jpg" target="_blank" title="Pronghorns"><img alt="Pronghorns" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150925-img_1031.jpg" title="Pronghorns" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana)</em></p>
<p>A herd of pronghorns (the antelopes the island got its name from) was grazing right below the visitor center, which was a nice photo opportunity. We then hiked up Buffalo Point, which gives a nice panorama view over the island, the lake and the Wasatch Front. Unfortunately we had to abort the hike along White Rock Bay after 2.5 km, as it was way too hot and I already ran out of water. Instead, we drove to the Fielding Garr Ranch, a historic ranch established 1848 and now a museum. American ranching in the early to mid 20th century apparently wasn't much different from Europe, we found out.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/img_20150925_155323.jpg" target="_blank" title="Fielding Garr Ranch"><img alt="Fielding Garr Ranch" height="432" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/img_20150925_155323.jpg" title="Fielding Garr Ranch" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><em>Fielding Garr corrals, silo and barn</em></p>
<p>The only bison we saw on the island was a bull in the fields near the ranch. However, we had tasty bison burger for (late) lunch at the Island Buffalo Grill.</p>
<p>The hotel for the night was again a Best Western Plus, located near the airport this time, and we took the supposedly scenic Legacy Parkway instead of the Interstate. It is not that scenic, but at least we didn't have to drive through SLC during rush hour...</p>
<h4>Saturday, 2015-09-26: The Journey Home</h4>
<p>The flight back was via Detroit, and the arrival gate of the flight from SLC was on one end of the terminal, and the departure gate of the flight to FRA on the opposite end. Fortunately, they built a tram in the terminal. Unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance. So we had to walk the entire 1.6 km. At least we had enough time. The flight to Frankfurt was pleasant again and on time. After picking up our luggage we said goodbye to Kayjay and waited for our train. It was quite packed, fortunately Lynard and I had seat reservations, though in different cars. In Nürnberg the Zarges box caught the attention of a stoned junkie who followed me almost home, but he eventually got distracted and buggered off. Welcome home.</p>
<p>Apart from this minor annoyance it was a memorable vacation, and while it was expensive, it was absolutely worth it.</p>
<p>Stay tuned for what we're going to do next year.<iframe height="380" src="https://woelfisch.de/static/gps/usa-2015-tracks.html" width="500"></iframe></p>
<p><em>Blue: travelled by car (3500 km / 1900 mi), red: hikes (100 km / 63 mi)</em><br/><br/></p>Roadtrip 2015: Yellowstone and more, part 5 - Grand Teton2015-12-19T17:25:26+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2015-yellowstone-and-more-grand-teton<h4>Tuesday, 2015-09-22: Grand Teton</h4>
<p>Yellowstone is great, but there is more in the area to see. Grand Teton National Park, for example. So we checked out in the morning, left the Yellowstone through South Entrance and took the scenic John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway (what a name) to Colter Bay at Jackson Lake. A short hike rewarded us with a great panorama of the mountain range West of the lake. And angry squirrels.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150922-img_0725.jpg" target="_blank" title="Grand Teton Panorama"><img alt="Grand Teton Panorama" height="204" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150922-img_0725.jpg" title="Grand Teton Panorama" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Grand Teton panorma at Colter Bay</em></p>
<p>Some more driving, Teton Park Road through Grand Tetion National Park, a small detour along Jenny Lake Road, then Moose-Wilson Road to Teton Village. Which is a rather narrow road, mostly paved, except for the last two miles where it becomes a dirt road. Fortunately we had a car with a 4WD, but I wouldn't want to driver there after rain.</p>
<p>When we arrived at the hostel, pardon, The Hostel at Teton Village, it was way too early to check in, so we drove to Jackson, WY, had an excellent burger and a great milk shake at Mac Phail's. And since we had to stock up on groceries we did just that.</p>
<p>Back at the Village, a rather bland and overpriced luxery ski resort, we checked in to the hostel, which is a stark contrast to the rest of the Village: reasonably priced, yet well-maintained, and cosy. We really liked it a lot.</p>
<h4>Wednesday, 2015-09-23: Jenny Lake</h4>
<p>Jenny Lake. Beautiful. 15 km hiking up to Hidden Falls and around the lake. Hidden Falls is a calm, nice place despite a surprisingly large number of hikers. And friendly squirrels, for a change.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150923-img_0821.jpg" target="_blank" title="Hidden Falls"><img alt="Hidden Falls" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150923-img_0821.jpg" title="Hidden Falls" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><em>Hidden Falls</em></p>
<p>The North shore of the lake burned down not too long ago, but vegatation was recovering already and it smelled like cinnamon. Unfortunately, my foot started to hurt again near the end of the trail, so I'm glad that we didn't also take the String Lake Trail.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/pano_20150923_113155.jpg" target="_blank" title="Jenny Lake Panorama"><img alt="Jenny Lake Panorama" height="125" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/pano_20150923_113155.jpg" title="Jenny Lake Panorama" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Jenny Lake panorama, with Lynard checking the GPS</em></p>
<p>We planned for some smaller trails to Phelps Lake, but didn't find a parking space near the trail heads or any information where to park at all. We suspect that the real start is at the LSR Presever Road, but that would've added 6 km to the round trip. So back to the hostel via pothole road.</p>Roadtrip 2015: Yellowstone and more, part 4 - West Yellowstone and Yellowstone Falls2015-12-19T17:25:04+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2015-yellowstone-and-more-west-yellowstone-and-yellowstone-falls<h4>Saturday, 2015-09-19: Mystic Falls</h4>
<p>At least my foot was relatively fine. It hurt, but differently than before. A sore neck due to the backpack, never mind. But we probably shouldn't overdo it. So, what to do? Sizzling Basin sounds good, so we went there and... Oops, that's Mud Vulcano, we've been there before. Okay, back. Hmm, Gull Point Drive, that might be a nice detour. And indeed, it has a very nice view on Yellowstone Lake. Next, West Thumb. Pools, springs, geysers. Partly in the lake. A bit overrun by other tourists.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150919-img_9684.jpg" target="_blank" title="Common merganser"><img alt="Common merganser" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150919-img_9684.jpg" title="Common merganser" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Common merganser (Mergus merganser, f) at West Thumb</em></p>
<p>The diner at Grant Village was closing for the season that afternoon, last chance for a burger, so we had lunch there. Very tasty and not too expensive considering the location. But that was only half a day, what else to do?</p>
<p>Black Sand Basin. Parking lot full. Okay, Biscuit Basin then, taking the Fairy Creek-Little Firehole trail up the mountain, being rewarded by a spectacular view across Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful area) and complaining squirrels.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/img_20150919_164710.jpg" target="_blank" title="Viewing down on Upper Geyser Basin"><img alt="Viewing down on Upper Geyser Basin" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/img_20150919_164710.jpg" title="Viewing down on Upper Geyser Basin" width="427"/></a></p>
<p><em>Kayjay and Lynard enjoying the view</em></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150919-img_9848.jpg" target="_blank" title="Old Faithful from Biscuit Basin Overlook"><img alt="Old Faithful from Biscuit Basin Overlook" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150919-img_9848.jpg" title="Old Faithful from Biscuit Basin Overlook" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>The Mystic Falls Trail lead us down the mountain and past the falls, though the light would've been better in the morning.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150919-img_9863.jpg" target="_blank" title="Mystic Falls"><img alt="Mystic Falls" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150919-img_9863.jpg" title="Mystic Falls" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><em>Mystic Falls</em></p>
<p>However, the light back at Biscuit Basin was perfect.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150920-img_9950.jpg" target="_blank" title="Sunset at Biscuit Basin"><img alt="Sunset at Biscuit Basin" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150920-img_9950.jpg" title="Sunset at Biscuit Basin" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Sunset at Biscuit Basin</em></p>
<p>On the way back to there was a traffic jam due to wapiti left and right to the street. We got some nice photos of the bull. You'll rarely get that close to red deer in Europe, and if you do, you'd better leave. Of course, we kept more than the required minimum distance.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150920-img_0022.jpg" target="_blank" title="Elk"><img alt="Elk" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150920-img_0022.jpg" title="Elk" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Americans call this animal Elk, but it's Wapiti (<i>Cervus canadensis</i>)</em></p>
<h4>Sunday, 2015-09-20: West Yellowstone</h4>
<p>Okay, no more strain on my foot! We need to go shopping for groceries anyway, and since WLAN in the park is outrageously expensive and T-mobile mobile data roaming in Wyoming and Montana doesn't work with prepaid contracts, I'd really like to visit some fast food shop with free wireless. And since there is a small zoo in West Yellowstone, the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, let's go there! But on the way we stopped at Midway Geyser Basin for a look at the Grand Prismatic Spring. Which was still steaming heavily and due to that we only got a glimpse of the brilliant colors you'll see on photographs.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150920-img_0077.jpg" target="_blank" title="Grand Prismatic Spring"><img alt="Grand Prismatic Spring" height="272" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150920-img_0077.jpg" title="Grand Prismatic Spring" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Steaming Grand Prismatic Spring</em></p>
<p>But we saw a herd of bisons passing through, and a horde of tourists making selfies with the animals. At least they stayed on the boardwalk, and the bison stayed on the field, but still. Don't turn your back to a wild animal.</p>
<p><img alt="Stupid Tourists" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150920-img_0042.jpg" title="Stupid Tourists" width="480"/></p>
<p><em>Don't do that<br/></em></p>
<p>West Entrance Road is along Madison River is actually quite nice, but rather busy. West Yellowstone is a tourist trap, but at least we got our groceries, beer, some stamps, dropped our postcards at the post office, and visited the Discovery Center, which is actually well done. The grizzly bears are all problem bears or came to the center as cubs of bears that were killed (for various reasons).</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150920-img_0154.jpg" target="_blank" title="Grizzly and Crow"><img alt="Grizzly and Crow" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150920-img_0154.jpg" title="Grizzly and Crow" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><em>Grizzly (and crow) at the Discovery Center</em></p>
<p>No information where the wolves are coming from, but they are keeping them as pairs, which is the right thing to do. They have a number of birds of prey that aren't able to live in the wild anymore due to injuries that keeps them from flying properly, which is acceptable.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150920-img_0213.jpg" target="_blank" title="Uinta Ground Squirrel"><img alt="Uinta Ground Squirrel" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150920-img_0213.jpg" title="Uinta Ground Squirrel" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Their Uinta ground squirrels (Urocitellus armatus) are cute.</em></p>
<p><em></em>On the way back we climbed the boardwalks of Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces. So much for being careful with the foot. But it is amazing, we've left the valley, in fact we're on a mountain, and still there are hot springs.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150920-img_0325.jpg" target="_blank" title="Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces"><img alt="Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150920-img_0325.jpg" title="Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>At Mammoth Spring Terraces</em></p>
<p>And again a scenic drive, with Bison stopping us in the middle of Mammoth, and again a stop at Hayden Valley. Unfortunately, the wolves just disappeared in the forrest after a young one reportedly catching a crow, but, near the treeline, a grizzly bear is taking a stroll. Too far away for a usable photo even with the 400 mm lens, but definitely a grizzly. How cool is that! And quite honestly, I don't want to be closer to one. Driving further, looking through the window, I see a bald eagle flying. Wow.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150921-img_0353.jpg" target="_blank" title="Grizzly at Hayden Valley"><img alt="Grizzly at Hayden Valley" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150921-img_0353.jpg" title="Grizzly at Hayden Valley" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Spot the Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis)</em></p>
<h4>Monday, 2015-09-21: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone</h4>
<p>If Korean bus tourists are annoying, the Chinese bus tourists are outright obnoxious. Especially at main attractions such as Artist Point. Granted, we never travel when German bus tourists are around, I expect those being even worse. Is it something that bus tours do with people, or are the worst tourists from each country those who are booking bus tours? Anyway, the Japanese group was traveling with several rental cars and behaved well, the Germans and Swiss we met on our trip were those of the kind you actually enjoy sharing your holiday with. There are only few Americans outside the Memorial Day to Labor Day time frame in the park. Those who leave their car are very pleasant to talk to. Those just<br/>driving through the park and observing bison from their car parked on the street I'd rather not talk to, because at times I was close to biting those idiot's heads off. Bovines along the street, bovines behind the steering wheel. But I digress.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150921-img_0384.jpg" target="_blank" title="Lower Yellowstone Falls"><img alt="Lower Yellowstone Falls" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150921-img_0384.jpg" title="Lower Yellowstone Falls" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Lower Falls from Artist Point</em></p>
<p>Artist Point is crowded. Badly. But as soon as you follow the trail behind the end of the pavement to Point Sublime you're virtually alone - with the squirrels, of course.</p>
<p>While the name "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone" probably sets wrong expectations, the canyon is scenic indeed, and it's signature yellow rhyolite makes in unique. Apparently, the color is due to oxidation of the iron compounds that are found in the rock</p>
<p>Oh, Uncle Tom's Trail. They say it's very strenous due to the many steel grating stairs. That wasn't my problem. I'm afraid of heights and those stairs were pure horror for me to climp down. Though we were rewarded with a great view on the Lower Yellowstone Falls. But you won't believe how fast I climbed the stairs up again on the way back.</p>
<p>Next, Upper Falls. Nice. And then we wanted to go to the Brink of Lower Falls, but for some reason ended up on the North Rim Trail and took the Lookout Point, also quite crowded, and the Red Rock Point. Finally some calm corner, with a nice view of the Lower Falls along the canyon. As Inspiration Point was closed, we just spent a couple of minutes at Grand View watching the crowd at Artist Point on the other side of the canyon...</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/img_20150921_162818.jpg" target="_blank" title="Red Rock Point"><img alt="Red Rock Point" height="427" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/img_20150921_162818.jpg" title="Red Rock Point" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><em>Kayjay at Red Rock Point</em></p>
<p>It was warm, we were tired, nobody wanted to hike any further, let's hit the road again. Along the main roads there are some short loops: Virigina Cascade Drive along Gibbon River, though no real chance to stop at the cascades. Firehole Canyon Drive along Firehole River, where we regretted to not pack our swimming trunks, as there is one of the few places in the park where swimming is allowed. Firehole Lake Drive, with a great evening mood at Black Warrior Lake and Hot Lake.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150922-img_0652.jpg" target="_blank" title="Black Warrior and Hot Lake"><img alt="Black Warrior and Hot Lake" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150922-img_0652.jpg" title="Black Warrior and Hot Lake" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Sunset at Black Warrior Lake and Hot Lake</em></p>
<p>Near Midway Geyser Basin we actually had Bison on the road and both sides. It took a while for the herd to make up their minds where to go, but even then the traffic was stuck, because some two-legged bovines just didn't move their car.</p>Roadtrip 2015: Yellowstone and more, part 3 - The Hike2015-12-19T17:24:40+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2015-yellowstone-and-more-the-hike<h4>Thursday, 2015-09-17: Hiking to Shoshone Lake</h4>
<p>They say you can experience four seasons in one day in Yellowstone. Except during Winter, if I may add, as then there's only Winter. But we went there in late Summer. And while it was mostly warm and dry during our stay, of course it had to be cold an wet on the day we started our two day hike to Shoshone Lake. Thankfully, we were prepared for (almost) everything.</p>
<p><img alt="At The Trail Head" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/img_20150917_095509.jpg" title="At The Trail Head" width="427"/></p>
<p><em>At Lone Star trail head when we were still laughing…</em></p>
<p>During the drive to the Lone Star parking lot it was raining heavily, with some snow flakes in the mix, but when we started the hike down to Lone Star Geyser along the Firehole River, it eventually stopped raining. Unfortunately, at the Geyser it started raining again, and for the rest of the hike it was a mix between rain, sunshine, and even snow.</p>
<p>The temperatures were quite varying as well. I was wearing a short sleeve cold gear lycra shirt, a long sleeve fleece jacket, a synthetic fishing vest (pockets! I need pockets!) and a light raincoat. Further more, heat gear lycra shorts, heat gear lycra long tights, light synthetic trousers as windbreaker. Most of the clothes were cheaply bought at Decathlon, except for the underwear (Under Armor) and the raincoat (Columbia Sportswear). Not to forget my Tilley Hat that I bought a couple of years back in Zion Nat'l Park for a bargain (as I later found out), a pair of bicycle gloves and a pair of woolen gloves. This combination is comfortable down to -5 °C, for me at least. And if it gets too warm I can shed or recombine layers as needed. That part of the plan actually worked.</p>
<p><img alt="Snowy logs" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/img_20150917_120705.jpg" title="Snowy logs" width="427"/></p>
<p><em>The snow on the logs should've warned us...</em></p>
<p>What I didn't expect was that the trail from the geyser to the lake was almost completely under water. There is an approximately 10 cm soil on the rock, and none on the actual trail. There is no place the water can go. While my hiking boots are reasonably water proof, they aren't gumboots. Wet feet on a hike are annoying.</p>
<p>Most part of the trail is rather boring, being a dark conifer forest with little ground vegetation. Even the warning calls of the red squirrels get tiresome after a while. Or was it the same squirrel following us through the park? The forest looks quite like those we have at home. Indeed, there is a connection between Winter, conifers, squirrels and grizzlys: The trees support a very large population of squirrels, which maintain caches that get raided by the bears to survive through Winter, resulting in the squirrels collectinng much more than they'll need - and fiercely defending their territory. At least they didn't throw cones at us like those at Grand Canyon. The leftover seeds will sprout in Spring, resulting in a dense forrest with many squirrels and happy bears.</p>
<p>Approaching the lake the forest gets sparser and more diverse, with meadows along the creek. We saw a juvenile great grey owl there.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150917-img_9543.jpg" target="_blank" title="Great grey owl"><img alt="Great grey owl" height="299" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150917-img_9543.jpg" title="Great grey owl" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Great grey owl (Strix nebulosa, juv.)</em></p>
<p>At the lake we explored the geyser field at Shoshone Creek before we proceeded to campground 8R3. The tent area is a bit up the mountain, but the cooking area is directly at the lake. Very scenic, and initially great weather even.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150917-img_9589.jpg" target="_blank" title="Campsite 8R3"><img alt="Campsite 8R3" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150917-img_9589.jpg" title="Campsite 8R3" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Shoshone lake from campsite 8R3</em></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150917-img_9593.jpg" target="_blank" title="Before the storm"><img alt="Before the storm" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150917-img_9593.jpg" title="Before the storm" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Lynard and Kayjay chatting</em></p>
<p>So we set up our tents, made dinner (Ramen again, yay) on Kayjay's stove, even though we accidently bought petroleum instead of denatured alcohol. It worked nevertheless, but cleaning the stove and the pots later was quite some work. And just before we could make some tea, a strong thunderstorm was approaching over the lake. So we rapidly secured our equipment, just in time before a hail shower poured down on us, and waited near our tents for the bad weather to pass. A cup of tea later, and after pulling up our backpacks on a pole to protect them from bears, we went to bed early.</p>
<p>I woke up a couple of times during the night, listening to elk calls, but it was an uneventful night otherwise. Surprisingly, I wasn't even cold, my sleeping bag was just right for the slightly freezing temperatures. Lynard, however, complained the next morning that his was a bit too cold.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/img_20150918_075203.jpg" target="_blank" title="Next Morning"><img alt="Next Morning" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/img_20150918_075203.jpg" title="Next Morning" width="427"/></a></p>
<h4></h4>
<h4></h4>
<h4>Friday, 2015-09-18: The Hike Back</h4>
<p>We woke up to Winter wonderland. And elk hoof prints in the snow. We made some tea and, guess what, ramen for breakfast before we packed up our things, ignored the angry squirrels, and moved on.</p>
<p><img alt="Have a cupa" height="427" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/img_20150918_093714.jpg" title="Have a cupa" width="320"/></p>
<p><em>Thanks Pegla for the stroopwafels!</em></p>
<p><em></em><img alt="Breakfast" height="427" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/img_20150918_093738.jpg" title="Breakfast" width="320"/></p>
<p><em>Lynard checking the GPS during breakfast</em></p>
<p>The trail eventually leads back to the lake shore, where we saw a beaver taking a dive. At some points the trail isn't very well marked, and we had to cross some creeks on wobbly logs. I'm still amazed that nobody fell into the water.</p>
<p>From the lake we took the Delacy Creek trail... Wow, what wonderful scenery! And the sun was shining, so I eventually had to take off the fleece vest and the tights. If you only want to take a day hike, the Delacy trail is highly recommended. The parking lot is on the other side of the trail head on Grand Loop Rd. I'm not quite sure, but I think we saw an osprey in the area.</p>
<p>Not so wonderful: to get back to the car. Which means walking several miles on the side of Grand Loop Road. Supposedly Spring Creek trail departs from Dive trail just after bridge, but we weren't able to find it. So even more walking along a busy highway with motorists completely unused to pedestrians... The Eastern section of Spring Creek trail just doesn't seem to exist, at least no indication of it from Spring Creek picnic area. But at least the Western part exists and is properly marked.</p>
<p>Even though the trail is rather difficult to hike in places, with "bridges" (a bunch of logs, again) of the creek being in disrepair, the trail leading over a landslide that doesn't look very stable, it is purely magical, especially in the evening sun. No point in even trying to photograph it, it's something you have to enjoy yourself. This trail is one of my favorite places in Yellowstone.</p>
<p>It leads back to Lone Star road. I have to admit, having a backpack of 20 kg weight on my back for two days is not something I'm used to, but wasn't as bad as I feared. And some friends are complaining about their military service when they had to carry that for a couple of hours when they were 19. Seriously?</p>
<p></p>
<p><iframe height="500" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/usa-2015-shoshonelake.html" width="500"></iframe><br/><em>First day (orange): 20 km / 12.5 mi, second day (yellow): 26 km / 16 mi</em></p>
<p>A surprise at the barrage of the Firehole River: a massive bison bull trotting along the road. Not risking anything, we slowely backed up and let him pass. And didn't try to take photos either as that might provoke him. Fortunately, he didn't take much notice of us. Just the squirrels kept complaining.</p>
<p>Exhausted, we finally got back to the car and drove to the cabins, took a shower, drank a beer, and... I don't remember the rest, I think each of us just fell asleep.</p>Roadtrip 2015: Yellowstone and more, part 2 - Geysers and a Wolf2015-12-19T17:24:18+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2015-yellowstone-and-more-geysers-and-a-wolf<h4>Tuesday, 2015-09-15: Of Wolves and Coyotes</h4>
<p>We stayed at the Red Lodge Comfort Inn for the night, and after breakfast we filled up gas and finally proceeded to the North-East entrance of the park over the Beartooth Pass. The NPS, every travel guide, every travel report I've read recommends this route, so if everybody else says we should do it, of course we will! Even though it started raining, and we were in the clouds on the plateau, it was really worth it, indeed. A mountainous landscape unlike every other I've seen.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150915-img_9242.jpg" target="_blank" title="Beartooth Highway"><img alt="Beartooth Highway" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150915-img_9242.jpg" title="Beartooth Highway" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>View from Beartooth Highway</em></p>
<p>Driving through Lamar Valley, no wolves to be seen. Oh well, I didn't really expect any, but it's beautiful anyway.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150915-img_9265-pano.jpg" target="_blank" title="Lamar Valley"><img alt="Lamar Valley" height="142" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150915-img_9265-pano.jpg" title="Lamar Valley" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Lamar River</em></p>
<p>Approaching Hayden Valley, wait a minute, a photographer with a large prime lens, some folks with scopes and binoculars. Let's stop here. "Oh, and yes," the photographer with the large lens explains to the crowd, "there was a wolf shortly before, trotted off into the woods, but maybe..." And while the group keeps chatting, I look over the valley. Something's moving in the distance at the river and it moves exactly like... A look through the viewfinder of my camera... "Um folks," I say, "it's right over there." The first day in the park and I see a wild wolf.</p>
<p>So I make some photos, the wolf slowly moves back to the thicket, we keep enjoying the beautiful afternoon, and after a while a coyote comes along. And marks every place the wolf has been. Someone likes living dangerously, it seems...</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150915-img_9303.jpg" target="_blank" title="Wolf at Hayden Valley"><img alt="Wolf at Hayden Valley" height="274" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150915-img_9303.jpg" title="Wolf at Hayden Valley" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Wolf at Hayden Valley</em></p>
<p>Driving further, something's steaming on the benches of the Yellowstone River. Oh, it's called Sulphor Caldron. Interesstingly, it smells like clean sulphor, not like rotten eggs as I'd expect. And how cute, a tiny steaming sinkhole (read that again) in the parking lot. In fact, it's steaming everywhere out of every crack in the park.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150915-img_9324.jpg" target="_blank" title="Yellowstone River"><img alt="Yellowstone River" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150915-img_9324.jpg" title="Yellowstone River"/></a></p>
<p><em>Yellowstone River near Sulphur Caldron</em></p>
<p><img alt="Parking Lot Sinkhole" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150915-img_9335.jpg" title="Parking Lot Sinkhole" width="480"/></p>
<p><em>Fenced off sinkhole in the parking lot</em></p>
<p>Further South, Mud Vulcano. Lot's of steam, too. And bubbling mud, hence the name. The geological features of the park are amazing, even on the first impression.</p>
<p>Still light, yay! Fishing Bridge. Rather boring, I think, even though a small walk along the river is quite nice. Not too far in, as at some point the area was closed due to bear activity. Since we hadn't bought any bear spray yet, we didn't want to risk anything. It was getting late anyway, so we proceeded to Grant Village and checked in to the lounge.</p>
<p>Dinner that evening: a cup of ramen.</p>
<h4>Wednesday, 2015-09-16: Old Faithful</h4>
<p>The day begins with an angry red squirrel complaining in front of our window, breakfast out of our styrofoam box, picking up the backcountry permit, buying bear spray, and driving to the Old Faithful area. Just in time for the next eruption, even though it was rainy weather.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150916-img_9418.jpg" target="_blank" title="Old Faithful"><img alt="Old Faithful" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150916-img_9418.jpg" title="Old Faithful" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Old Faithful erupting</em></p>
<p><img alt="Old Faithful Crowd 1" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150916-img_9427.jpg" title="Old Faithful Crowd 1" width="480"/> <img alt="Old Faithful Crowd 2" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150916-img_9428.jpg" title="Old Faithful Crowd 2" width="480"/></p>
<p><em>The crowd at Old Faithful</em></p>
<p>I had to defend my position against obnoxious Chinese bus tourists, but yes, the geyser is quite a view. We then walked along the Firehole River to the Rocket Geyser, and hiked the short trail to Observation Point from where there is a good view on Old Faithful. At that point it started to rain, which turned into a pour, so we bought a hot chocolate at Old Faithful Lodge.</p>
<p>After it stopped raining we decided to hike to Fairy Falls. Unfortunately, it started to rain again at Fairy Falls trail head, but we got some steamy view on Grand Prismatic Spring. Dinner at the Lake House restaurant. Great pasta, a glass of beer, and all that even affordable.</p>Roadtrip 2015: Yellowstone and more, part 1 - Salt Lake City2015-12-19T17:23:59+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2015-yellowstone-and-more-salt-lake-city<h4>Saturday, 2015-09-12: Trains and Planes</h4>
<p>I took an early train to Frankfurt airport. A few days before departure I read about all trains being diverted via Ansbach due to construction work on the main line, with the trip being half an hour longer than usual. Okay, still plenty of time in Frankfurt, but why wasn't that taken into account when I booked the ticket? And why does travel information still show the train arriving at the same time? Turns out, it started earlier in Nürnberg than usual, and that was already on my itinerary. Phew. That also explains why I wasn't able to reserve a seat earlier. The train had a different internal number from it's start point to Würzburg, and somebody forgot to add that information to the booking system.</p>
<p>And indeed, the train arrived on time, I met my friends at check-in, and we even had time for a coffee at the gate.</p>
<p>We flew with Delta, with a layover of two and a half hours at JFK. I was glad about that extra time. Immigration doesn't take that long anymore thanks to the electronic border control (a large number of kiosks that reads the passport, scans fingerprints, takes a photo and asks for the customs declaration information), but I strained my left foot two weeks earlier, and the way from terminal 4 to terminal 2 is quite long. Not exactly the best conditions for a hiking vacation, but, oh well. As long as it doesn't get worse...</p>
<p>Arrival in Salt Lake City late at night. Picking up the rental car took longer than anticipated as Alamo's computer network was down, but that too worked out. The car was a Chevy Equinox, as I hoped. The hotel was basically just around the corner, so not much driving needed.</p>
<h4>Sunday, 2015-09-13: Salt Lake City</h4>
<p>There was no way we'd drive 550 miles after such a long intercontinental flight, so we did some sightseeing in Salt Lake City. City Creek shopping center is closed on Sundays. I probably should've checked that earlier... We explored Temple District, but why was the big fountain turned off?</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150913-img_9149.jpg" target="_blank" title="Salt Lake Temple"><img alt="Salt Lake Temple" height="474" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150913-img_9149.jpg" title="Salt Lake Temple" width="320"/></a></p>
<p><em>The Salt Lake Temple</em></p>
<p>Listened to someone rehearsing on the organ in the tabernacle, wow, that instrument has a very unique, warm sound. Took a stroll around downtown, got a coffee at a branch of a virtually unknown coffee shop from Seattle named after the chief mate of a famous novel... Well, nothing else except for the Irish and the Scottish pub was open.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150913-img_9157.jpg" target="_blank" title="Salt Lake Tabernacle Organ"><img alt="Salt Lake Tabernacle Organ" height="314" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150913-img_9157.jpg" title="Salt Lake Tabernacle Organ" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>Salt Lake Tabernacle Organ</em></p>
<p>We then drove to the state capitol. Or rather, we tried to, as all streets were closed due to construction. So we parked at North Canyon and walked up the mountain and explored the area around the capitol. Same way back down and a short hike through the South part of North Canyon, carefully trying to not strain my foot further.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/l/20150913-img_9196-pano.jpg" target="_blank" title="Utah State Capitol"><img alt="Utah State Capitol" height="212" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/rt2015/20150913-img_9196-pano.jpg" title="Utah State Capitol" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><em>The Utah State Capitol</em></p>
<p>Next, shopping. First for some groceries and a styrofoam box at Walmart so we'd be mostly self-sufficient in the park. Oh, and they sell beer. In Utah. On Sundays. No questions for passports asked at the register, either. Then, after my satnav being confused by Utah street addresses again, completing our camping equipment at REI's and more groceries and beer bought at Dan's. Dinner at Ruby River, a Western steakhouse chain I know from previous visits. Perfect steak. And while we were in the area, a short visit to Trolley Square, but shops were closed and not that interesting, anyway. We called it a day and drove back to the hotel.</p>
<h4>Monday, 2015-09-14: Across Wyoming's Basins</h4>
<p>Got up in time, got some breakfast, and got on the road. With a short stop at the outlet center near Park City, where I got some running and cycling clothes. Driving the I-80 over the Grean River Basin further West, a tank stop in Rock Springs, following the rather boring US-191 to Farson, and then the very scenic WY-28, WY-789, WY-120/MT-72, MT-308 to Red Lodge.</p>
<p>WY-789 leads across Wind River Basin, a landscape someone from the Northwest of Germany, like me, will find strangely familiar. The route is especially scenic between Boyson Reservoir (near Shoshoni) and Thermopolis where it follows the Wind River through a narrow canyon. Of course, we don't have that in the Northwest of Germany.</p>
<p><iframe height="380" src="https://woelfisch.de/static/gps/usa-2015-to-redlodge.html" width="500"></iframe></p>
<p>It was a meditative drive, probably not touristy as there is not much more to see than grassland, but still better than most of the alternatives.</p>
<p></p>
<p>We had an early dinner at a Wendy's in Cody. Not a very beautiful town, but being near to the East entrance of Yellowston Nat'l Park it's probably an alternative for a hotel room outside the park without being too far away from its main attractions. We had other plans, though.<br/><br/></p>Roadtrip 2015: Yellowstone and more, prologue2015-12-19T17:23:36+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/roadtrip-2015-yellowstone-and-more<p>Yellowstone, America's oldest National Park, has been on my list of places to visit for many years. It's remote, rather expensive, and you're stuck with roughly mid-April to October to visit, unless you want to stay in the Old Faithful area all the time.<br/><br/>Nevertheless, even avoiding Winter, thorough planning is required to get there and find affordable accomodation. If you want to spend more than a night in the park, you're required to book via a travel agency for the double price, as the bus tour operators and travel agencies secure all rooms as soon as reservation opens. Well, unless you want to stay in Mammoth, but that's in the North of the park and rather far away from the main attractions. Another alternative would be staying in West Yellowstone, but that's not much cheaper than booking a room directly in the park.<br/><br/>What is the right time to travel? In my opinion the time between mid April to Memorial Day, or from Labor Day to mid October is suitable, with some roads probably still being closed for Winter until end of April and the concessions and lodges closing mid of September. Avoid main season in between: it can be very hot in July and August, and the park is crowded with tourists.<br/><br/>We decided to go one week after Labor Day, as we've been told that this is the best time observing wildlife.<br/><br/>The remaining question: how to get there? Hotel or RV? We decided against the RV this time, as we planned for a lot of hiking in the park. With a car, you can get on the road much faster in the morning, also parking an RV full with food for a whole day or over night in bear country wouldn't be a wise thing to do. Furthermore, traveling long distances with an RV in one go, especially over Wyoming and Montana state roads, is not much fun. Taking I-15 from Salt Lake City to West Yellowstone would be bearable, but that's the most boring alternative to get to the park. Also that would require renting an RV in SLC. I've heard reports that made me ruling out that option. Most visitors from Europe start from Denver. The RV rental stations there have a much better reputation, but even choosing a closer entrance than the North-East one near Red Lodge it would still be an additional day just driving.</p>
<p>So we decided to fly to Salt Lake City, rent a car, spend a day there, and without hurry, take the scenic way to Yellowstone.<br/><br/>We, that were Kayjay, Lynard and myself this time. A smaller group than usual, but hiking with a larger group requires even more planning ahead.</p>
<p><iframe height="380" src="https://yaina.de/static/gps/usa-2015-plan.html" width="500"></iframe></p>
<p><em>The plan<br/></em></p>