Our Recent Trip To Yellowstone National Park

As you might have heard, Nick and I spent 4 full days at the Yellowstone National Park over New Years. It was a great trip with lots of snow, some excellent x-country skiing and many wild life sightings. Did I mention snow? We even saw a pack of wolves!

During the winter only the North Entrance into the park is open to cars, and travel is only permitted along the road between Gardner, MT and Cook City, MT, which runs through Lamar Valley. Travelers need to ride snow coaches or snowmobiles in order to get anywhere else in the park. During the winter only 2 hotels are open, Mammoth Hot Sprints Hotel and Old Faithful Snow Lodge, and luckily we got to stay in both.

Photos
A selection of the favorite photos I took
A selection of the favorite photos Nick took
All the digital photos Nick and I snapped during our journey

Our Trip Summary
(Click on the links for more details on each of our "adventures")
We flew into Bozeman, MT, on December 31st, and took a shuttle down to Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel in Yellowstone. We were now in Yellowstone National Park for the first time in winter--one of many firsts for us that day. We celebrated New Year's Eve by having dinner in the Dining Room at Mammoth, and by going to bed shortly after 10 pm, when 2008 has arrived in Boston.

Up bright and early on the first day of the new year, we spent the morning on a guided tour of Lamar Valley, and went out x-country skiing in the afternoon.

After two nights at Mammoth, we took a guided snow coach ride to Old Faithful. In the afternoon, we took a walk along the boardwalks in the Old Faithful Geyser Basin and reminisced about the time we spent here in September 2005. In the evening, we went back into the wilderness with the "Steam, Stars, and Winter Soundscapes" tour, which did not exactly live up to my expectations.

We spent most of the next day x-country skiing again. We came back rather tired, but still managed to have a rather eventful evening.

After spending two nights at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, we took the guided snow coach ride back to Mammoth Hot Springs.

It snowed all through our last night in the park, and it was still snowing in Mammoth when we were leaving. Despite all the new snow, our shuttle ride back to Bozeman was relatively quick, and extremely beautiful.

Memorable Facts
In the evenings both the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and the Old Faithful Snow Lodge hosted various events. There was live piano playing at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge every night. Some of the interesting bits of information I picked up at the 2 events that Nick and I went to:

• While in most places on Earth magma is approximately 40 miles below the surface, in Yellowstone magma lies only about 5 to 8 miles below the surface.


• Wolves and ravens cooperate when it comes to scavenging for food in the winter. Ravens might find a winter kill sooner, but they need wolves to break for the hide so that the birds can get to the meat.


• Snowshoe hare tracks look “backwards” relative to the direction in which the animals are moving because they first land on their front paws, and their hind paws then land beyond their front legs.

A Memorable Quote
“If you want a turtle, I’ll give you a turtle,” said I in an effort to get sniffling Nick to drink some hot tea. No animals were hurt in the process--the turtles were chocolate covered caramels.

From A Response From Alice Peisch, State Representative

Today I have received a letter from Ms. Alice Hanlon Peisch, State Representative, in response to the MBTA petition. (We have sent her a copy of the letter to Daniel Grabauskas, of the petition, and of the signatures). From her letter:

I hear daily from my constituents about the poor state of service on the Worcester-Framingham Line. Although I have had ongoing contact with the MBTA and the [MBCR] in an effort to work towards improved service, hearing directly from their customers about the gravity of the situation may be what will eventually motivate the MBTA and MBCR to implement real changes.

On the MBTA Response

In response to our petition MBTA General Manager, Mr. Daniel Grabauskas, has sent Alexander and I a letter addressing our concerns about the performance of the Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line. I am very thankful that MBTA took the time to read our petition and to respond. I am hopeful that such attitude will lead to improvements in the service.

At the same time, the letter is a bit vague on quite a few points. Many times the letter states that "actions are being implemented", or a "number of steps" have been taken. We wish the response specified these actions, steps, etc. Also I am afraid that the issue of discrimination against the "reverse" peak direction passengers has not been addressed.

As the next step, Alexander and I hope to compile a list of questions we have based on the letter, and send them to Mr. Grabauskas. Hopefully the lines of communication will remain open.

MBTA Letter In Response To Our Petition

The following is a word for word letter we have received from MBTA General Manager, Mr. Grabauskas, in response to our petition.

I am responding to your concern pertaining to service performance on the Worcester Line, focusing on those trains that operate in the “reverse” peak. I apologize for the inconvenience to you and the many other passengers who use these trains to commute out of Boston in the morning and return in the evening. While the overwhelming majority of our passengers travel in the more traditional “inbound in the morning, outbound in the evening” mode, we have experienced an increase in the number of reverse-peak riders. Your letter identifies a concern that we are addressing to provide passengers on the Worcester Lin with a safe, reliable, and customer0responsive level of service. Ot achieve this goal, the following steps are currently being taken.

• MBTA personnel review train performance daily with both MBCR and CSX personnel in an attempt to identify the cause of every delay. This review then creates the opportunity to initiate actions to minimize the occurrence of these delays.


• CSX, MBCR, and MBTA personnel are reviewing schedule modifications to increase on-time performance as well as minimize current schedule conflicts.
  
• MBCR has taken a number of steps to proactively address service performance on this line, including the hiring of additional personnel and implementation of increased equipment maintenance practices to address the number of equipment failures.


• Actions have been implemented to improve our ability to monitor train performance on this line so that we are aware of delays in a timelier manner. This will improve our ability to provide service delay notifications through postings at stations, on the MBTA website, and via e-mail through the recently started T-Alert program.


• MBCR has increased training efforts for on-train personnel that target the importance of providing timely and accurate service announcements for passengers on a delayed train.

I would also like to respond to your concern pertaining to the MBTA Customer Bill of Rights Reimbursement Program. The MBTA was one of the first transit operations to adopt this type of reimbursement program and we continue to review it to ensure it is working to the advantage of our passengers. In early 2007, the reimbursement program was modified due to the high level of fraudulent requests being submitted. Through the efforts of the MBTA Transit Police and our Revenue Department, we now have a process in place that provides reimbursement for those passengers who have experienced a substantial delay and also is successful in identifying fraudulent requests and allowing the legal prosecution of these offenders. Passengers submitting reimbursement requests through this program should expect to receive a response within six to eight weeks. At this time, this program is processing all requests within this time period.

Your concern about the lack fo shelter for passengers on the Worcester Line is also being reviewed. Commuter rain stations are designed with a base assumption that a passenger will be on a station platform for a minimum amount of time. This, of course, is based on the understanding that service will operate at a high level of on-time performance. Current efforts have been taken to improve the communication of expected service delays to passengers with the same goal of minimizing the amount of time spent waiting at a station platform. In addition, past expericne at stations with enclosed shelters has resulted in a number of security and vandalism concerns from our passengers. Regardless, we will continue to review each station on an individual basis and, if appropriate, attempt to identify positive steps to be taken to improve passenger facilities.

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns and allowing me the opportunity to update you the efforts being taken to address them. Your comments are deeply appreciated.

Sincerely,
Daniel A. Grabauskas
General Manager

The MBTA Petition Saga

Just learned that yesterday Metro Boston published a little piece on our petition: "Worcester line gets update" .

From Old Faithful Back To Mammoth Hot Springs

Our journey back to Mammoth Hot Springs area from Old Faithful on the snow coach flew by much faster. This coach runs in the afternoon, and the driver was trying to ensure that we got back to Mammoth before dark. Also, it was starting to snow, and while the conditions were still good, the driver was obviously straining while operating the vehicle.

We did stop at the Fountain Paint Pot and walked a half mile loop along the boardwalk to observe all 4 types of the thermal features—fumaroles, hot springs, geysers and mud pots. Because of abundant moisture available in the ground during the winter, the mud pots contained a lot of water. I remember them as being a lot more dramatic in the summer.

As we continued towards Mammoth, one of the highlights was seeing a female elk with a calf standing in the shallow waters of the Gibbon River right next to the road.

The Snow Pants Drama

Our last night at the Old Faithful Nick decided to go outside and look at the stars after dinner. Being just a itsy-bitsy afraid of the dark, I decided to stay behind.

Instead of carefully changing into the warm clothes, Nick just pulled on the snow pants right over his jeans. He gingerly blamed his jeans when the snow pants did not zip up all the way and ran out of the door.

Left to my own devices, I became terribly busy folding individual tissues just right to fit into my shell’s outer pocket. Suddenly a burst of siren noise ripped through my head. After a few seconds of terror, I realized that it had to be a fire alarm.

Continuing to think clearly, I grabbed my cell phone and my wallet, and eagerly walked out into the hallway. As I was about to close room behind me, it occurred to me that standing outside for even 5 minutes might not be too comfortable wearing just a t-shirt and warm-up pants. So I went back in.

Starting to rush just a tiny bit, I pulled on my fleece and hat, and tagged on the remaining pair of snow pants hanging on the hook by the door. The minute I got a hold of them I knew this pair of pants was not mine—they were just too big and too long.

Everything was clear now, but I had no time to wallow in my snow pant misery. I practically jumped inside Nick’s zipped up snow pants. Clutching my shell in one hand, and holding up my pants with the other, I joined the small crowd of people in the hallway filing out towards the exit.

A crowd was starting to form at the front of the hotel, when two fire engines pulled up to the front doors vigorously flashing their red lights. These were not your every day fire trucks. Rather the vehicles were red painted snow coaches with various fire fighting equipment strung all over them. Another 10 chilly minutes later, everyone was allowed to return inside, and the fire alarm was blamed on a garbage can that got bumped against fire alarm switch.

Nick, extremely pleased with himself, joined the crowd just as we were filing into the hotel lobby—he had a great time watching the stars and even saw the Old Faithful geyser erupt in the dark. He still had no idea why his snow pants were too small, while I wished I had gone with him. Watching Old Faithful in the dark seemed far better then mingling with severely underdressed guests, loudly complaining about the cold.