The Buffalo In the Campground

This is not the buffalo in the campground. This bison was seen many years
later along a trail. I slowly backed away after taking some pictures.

photo by Sara K Joiner

In 1987, my mother, my niece and I took another long summer road trip through the western United States. We again spent most of the trip camping in state and national parks. One of the more memorable evenings I've ever spent in a national park was on this trip.

It was dusk, and Mom stood by the picnic table boiling water on our little Coleman stove to make hot chocolate. It wasn't a cold evening--being late June--but it was cooler than us Texans were used to at that time of year.

My niece and I sat in the rear of the van with the back doors open drinking our hot chocolates. We must have been deep in the conversation of ten-year-olds because we weren't too aware of our surroundings at that moment.

Until we heard an angry shuffling noise nearby.

All three of us raised our heads and looked toward the back of our campsite. I don't know what I was expecting to see, but I was shocked to my core by what I did—an enormous buffalo the size of the boulder he stood beside.

And he was mad!

I don't know if he was mad at us specifically or campers in general. I don't know if he was mad because he had gotten lost from the rest of the herd. I don't know why he was mad; I only know he was.

He pawed the ground with a sharp, furious motion. He snorted.

Mom, who stood closer to the buffalo than my niece and me, said, "Girls, don't move."

As if we could. We were frozen in fear.

Time stretched out between the three of us and the buffalo.

Then, as if cued by some sound on he could hear, he charged!

Mom grabbed her hot chocolate and scurried over to us at the van.

The buffalo ran past the picnic table, across the drive of the neighboring campsite, and off away from the noise of the campgrounds.

Mom asked if we were all right, which we were except for the serious heart palpitations.

I don't remember other campers being nearby (no one was in the neighboring site he crossed), and I don't recall hearing any yells in the distance. Maybe I was too scared to register any other noises. Surely he had to come across other campers before he moved away from the campground.

Years later I learned that buffalo have poor eyesight, so we were even more fortunate. That's probably why he swerved across to the neighboring site from the picnic table.

Every trip back to Yellowstone, Mom and I talk about that buffalo. I hope he was able to reunite with the herd.

Lost In Rocky Mountain National Park

My mother was a history teacher, so we took long road trips in the summers often hitting national parks, monuments and historic sites along with museums and state parks. She adored the Western United States (still does), and many of our trips took us through the mountains, deserts and canyons prevalent in those areas of the country.

In 1986, my mother, my niece and I went to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

We arrived at our campsite, set up our tent and unloaded the van -- except for the food because of bears. After that was all done, my niece and I just wanted to stay in the tent and play with our Barbies. What can I say? We were nine.

Mom, however, wanted to go look for wildlife, so she found a nearby trail to follow.

My niece and I happily played in the tent until Mom returned and insisted we come with her.

Reluctantly, we followed her down the trail until we came upon a herd of elk grazing in the distance. Mom oohed and ahhed. We used the binoculars to get a closer look. Soon enough, my niece and I grew bored, and Mom told us we could go back to the campsite.

That's when things went south.

Walking back to our tent, we turned left when we should have turned right. In no time at all, we were thoroughly lost.

But we were in the campground of the park. Surely we could wander around and find our spot, right?

Wrong!

We trudged all through that campground, waving at cars that drove past, and completely unconcerned for ourselves. We could not find our tent.

We walked up a small hill and looked from on high. We could not spot our tent.

We even ended up walking past the ranger station, but did we ask one of the helpful rangers to point us in the right direction? Of course not! We were nine. We weren't supposed to talk to strangers!

We kept walking. It seemed as though hours passed, but it was probably more like forty-five minutes.

Eventually, among the trees and tents, our beautiful cream and blue van came slowly around a curve in the road. Hooray! We found Mom!

We ran and climbed inside while Mom wondered where we had been. She said she had been looking everywhere. We were right here in this campground the whole time.

Guess who then got told what to do when one is lost? That's right. Two nine-year-old girls who quickly learned to stay in one place to be more easily found.

But what we really learned was to always go hiking with Mom.

Vacation Stories: The Key in the Trunk

In 2003 Mom and I traveled to Alaska. It was wonderful trip. We flew to Anchorage and rented a car. We drove down to Seward and up to Denali National Park and on to Fairbanks. We took a day trip (by air) to Barrow, and we even visited North Pole.

This trip produced quite a few stories that have become family lore. Our favorite is about Mom locking the keys to the rental car in the trunk.

This wasn’t the first time Mom locked a set of keys in the car. She had done it years ago in Mississippi (the police opened the truck for her).

But this time was more unique than most.

We were on our way out of Anchorage to drive to Seward. I was driving, and the car needed gas. Stopping at a gas station in Girdwood, I pulled up to the pump and filled the tank. Mom needed to get something out of the trunk, and I thought nothing of watching her dig around for whatever she needed.

I went inside the store to pay, and when I came out, Mom was coming in to buy a drink. I asked for the keys so I could move the car.

This is where the trouble began.

“I don’t have the keys, you do,” she said.

“No, I don’t. You have them.”

“I don’t have them, Sara.”

“You do.”

She searched her pockets and came up empty. Realization hit her. “I bet I left them in the trunk.”

Eleven years ago there weren’t smart phones, and my cell phone did not work in Alaska. We both went into the store and told the cashier our dilemma.

What you need to know is that Girdwood is a small town -- only about 1500 people at the time. Odds were pretty good we were going to have to wait for someone to come out from Anchorage, about 45 minutes away.

The temperature was dropping, my coat was in the car, and we were blocking one of the gas station’s pumps.

But the cashier knew a guy in town who could do it. “Let me see if he’s home,” the cashier said, picking up the phone.

Fortunately, he was.

We waited outside for him to arrive. When he pulled up, we showed him to the car. The man, tall and skinny with black hair, carried a tool box with him. He set it down beside the driver’s door, opened it up and pulled out a small, thin book. “I’m still learning how to do this,” he said.

At this point, Mom and I gaped. There was a book about how to open car doors?!

I watched a logging truck pull into the parking lot of the gas station. A short blond man climbed out and walked toward the store. Noticing our lock-picker, the man asked if we needed any help. The lock-picker assured him that he was fine.

The lock-picker had a thin wire with a loop on the end worked through the top of the window. This would have been perfect if the locks weren’t molded plastic that contoured to the wall of the car door. But he was getting close. He could get that ring around the lock, but it would slip off. Over and over, he tried to hook that lock.

The blond came back outside. He again offered his services. “Are you sure you don’t need help? I used to do that for a living.”

I have no idea if he meant that in a legal or illegal way.

Our lock-picker decided to let the man try. He walked over, picked up a Slim Jim, jammed it down into the car door. Boom. Boom. Done.

I think our lock-picker would have had the door open in about five more minutes.

We thanked the blond profusely, and he climbed back in his logging truck and drove off. We paid the lock-picker, popped the trunk and got the keys out.

As we drove off, we both laughed at the whole situation. It was utterly ridiculous, and if it hadn’t happened to us, I would never believe another person telling me this story.

The lesson learned from this little experience? You can apparently buy a book to teach you how to open locked car doors.

And I keep the keys.

Vacation: Bruges

For the final part of our trip, we departed England in a ferry and headed across the North Sea to Belgium. Ever since we saw the movie In Bruges, Mom and I have wanted to visit the "fairy tale city," and this was our chance.

We weren't disappointed.

We took a canal ride and the captain gave the tour in English (for Mom and me) and French (for everyone else on the boat). He switched back and forth with ease, making jokes in both languages. His ease with languages was amazing and also made me jealous. I wish I could do that.

In addition to the Belgians having a sickening ease with multiple languages, we even saw Madonna and Child, a Michelangelo sculpture, in the Church of Our Lady.

Breathtaking! Even better than the replica of the Pieta we saw in Sainte Anne de Beaupre, Quebec.

I climbed all 366 steps to top of the Belfort and got to hear the bells pealing. It was glorious.

I got to see a vial of Christ's blood in the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

And, of course, we ate lots and lots of delicious chocolate.

Even when we left, we were ready to go back. Bruges was amazing! Everyone should visit.

We took the train through the Chunnel back to London for our flight home.

Vacation: The Lake District

On a cold, drizzly, windy day we drove over narrow, twisty, hilly roads to the Lake District. We stopped briefly at Lake Ullswater

before moving on down the road past miles of stone walls. They were built up the sides of hills.

I have no idea how much effort that took, but I can't imagine being the poor soul who had to haul the stones up there and build a fence.

Then we took the world's narrowest two-lane road

to Ambleside where we road a boat across Lake Windermere, caught a water taxi and then a bus to Hill Top Farm.

Hill Top Farm was Beatrix Potter's home. Pictures weren't allowed inside, but we could caught a glimpse of Peter Rabbit in the garden.

It was a cold, dreary day, and we were glad to return to our bed and breakfast.

Hadrian's Wall

We left Scotland and headed south into England to see Hadrian's Wall. Construction on the wall began in 122. Upon its completion, the wall was almost 80 miles long and stretched across northern England.

It was so cold and so windy.

But seeing the wall and parts of structures that are still standing after almost 2 millennia was worth the poor weather.

Mom loves Roman history, and this part of the trip was a highlight for her. Look at her smile!

Vacation: Traveling South

As we left Edinburgh, we went to Rosslyn Chapel.

Construction on the chapel was begun in 1456. Both the outside and inside are covered in ornate carvings.




And there were also various gargoyles and faces carved into the stone.


Everywhere we looked there was some other ornate carving to see. Unfortunately, photos aren't allowed inside the chapel.

Some of the carvings depict items that weren't known in Scotland at the time they were carved - such as corn - leading many stories to develop around the chapel. There are also theories that Rosslyn Chapel is connected to the Knights Templar and the Freemasons.

After the chapel we drove and drove to Jedburgh to see Jedburgh Abbey. The ruined abbey sits on a bluff right in the middle of town, looming over the residents like a fallen guardian.

It is beautiful.


Jedburgh Abbey was established in the 1100s. All that remains now is a shadow of what it once was. But what a shadow!

While we were at the abbey, we asked the helpful salesperson in the gift shop if there was a McDonald's in town. We were desperate for a burger. There wasn't one in Jedburgh, but he told us there was one in a nearby town. Off we went for the best McDonald's hamburger I have ever eaten!

The next day we left Scotland

and drove into England.

Vacation: HMY Britannia

After the Go Ape Adventure, Inchmahome Priory and Doune Castle, we returned to Edinburgh. Our final stop in Edinburgh was Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia.

The Britannia was built in 1953 and retired in 1997.

The boat was luxurious without seeming ostentatious.

In addition to carrying the royal family, it included marines and sailors - some of whom had to store 21 different uniforms (plus band instruments!) in a tiny space.

Even the engine room was pristine!

Since there was a tea room on board, Mom and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to dine onboard a royal yacht. We had Edinburgh tea

and a slice of chocolate cake.

We expected the cake to be dry, but it was phenomenally good. Quite delicious!

Vacation: Go Ape Adventure

I've been sidetracked from the vacation posts while I was editing my young adult novel. But I need to finish these, so here goes!

As I said in my last post, before we went to Inchmahome Priory and Doune Castle, I spent the morning climbing trees and swinging on zip lines.

In the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, the Go Ape Adventure has five sites set up amongst the trees.

Those sites involve climbing up into the trees - a good 30 feet off the ground and moving from tree to tree through various methods. After a brief training and safety lesson, you're off on your own.

Yes, those are my tiny feet.

Some of the ladders were rope, and some were wood. Both required using the safety equipment to climb. By the time I hit the last site, I didn't think I had the strength to climb any more blasted ladders! My arms felt like they were going to fall off, and my hands had no more grip left. And the rain in the middle of my experience didn't help!

But I struggled through the last site and made it to the final zip line - 426 meters long (which is almost 466 yards).

The safety equipment that was all there was between me and certain death. I clung to this (the blue line, per the safety instructions!) for dear life.

The zip lines were my favorite parts. I had always seen people using them on The Amazing Race, and they looked like such fun. Turns out, they're even more fun than they appear on TV. I would go on another zip line in a heartbeat.

I spent all my time in the park playing in the trees and swinging on zip lines. What I did see of the park was glorious. A beautiful spot for a day out from Edinburgh or a short holiday.

And this was me at the end of the day. Exhausted, but exhilarated. Filthy and fabulous.