Vacation - Last Day

We left Big Sky early Saturday morning and drove up to Bozman. We stopped at the Museum of the Rockies. The museum starts out with an explanation of Earth's creation and then talks about the history of MT. We again were too early for the outdoors Living Museum. We did walk the Lewis & Clark outdoors exhibit. We had lunch in a city park before heading onto Billings. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Billings. Tim and I selected my birthday a week early; he took me to the Montana Sky Restaurant on the 20th floor of the hotel. What a view! On Sunday morning Tim left early to go onto ND with a stop at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. He should be in Bismarck by early evening. I took the hotel shuttle to the airport thus allowing Tim to leave MT early. He had over a 5 hour drive, not counting the 2 hours he was planning on spending at Little Bighorn. I'm now in Phoenix and resting up as I have to conduct a training on Monday in Tolleson, a suburb of Phoenix.

Last Day in Yellowstone Park

Today was our last day visiting the National Park. It was appropriate that we had an hour delay about 12 miles into the park -- buffalo. This time it was not the herd of buffalo crossing the road like yesterday, but rather a couple of buffalo that decided to use the road! Yes, they couldn't get down to the grassy area because of the riverbank and the road were too close so they had to walk down a few miles. It caused a major car congestion.

We decided to spend our time in Canyon Village area today and saw the Upper and Lower Falls as well as the famous Yellowstone Canyon. We visited Artist Point and Inspiration Point along the way. We walkedthe South Rim Trail until we ran into too much snow and mud on the trail. What we walked allowed us a fantastic view of the Falls and the Canyon. Tim reminded me that 2 years ago we visited western ND and saw the Confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers.

MT Update

On Wednesday we decided to explore Big Sky. We are between seasons; the ski resorts don't reopen for another week or so so we are unable to go on a lift. We did visit Moonlight Resort, just a mile from our place. What a beautiful resort! I see why people stay at a resort when skiing; I wouldn't want to drive the curvey and steep road during the winter.



On Thursday we decided to revisit Old Faithful. We got down to W. Yellowstone to attend a Ranger talk about the park. It was a clear day so it was easy to see the water from Old Faithful. We had timed it perfectly as we arrived 5 minutes before the "scheduled" erruption. Afterwards we had lunch at the Old Yellowstone Inn. This hotel was built shortly after the Park was created. Very rustic -- old logs and stones are everywhere. We again had good timing as there was a 45 minute tour of the Inn. We learned that the Inn was built within a year and how inexpensive the cost was; this was because they used the local materials -- wood and rocks.



We visited the Grand Prismatic Spring; Yellowstone's largest hot spring. It was interesting to seethe Exelsior Geyser. The overflow from this geyser drains into the Firehole River. Having hot water pour into the cool river water -- steam everywhere. The Grand Prismatic Spring measures 250x350 feet and it isbrilliantly colored -- turquoise colors were beautiful. The Springs had beautiful shades of orange as part of the bacteria mats.



We did experience a "Yellowstone Moment" as we had to wait about 20 minutes for a herd of buffalo to cross the road. This isn't bad as the Park Ranger in the morning had told us that the early morning delay is usually 2 hours.

New pictures are posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/38560987@N02/?saved=1.

Yellowstone Park - Day 3

Tuesday was our 3rd full day at the Big Sky Resort. This morning our friends from Beulah, ND, the Schmidt’s, who stayed with us for three nights, left to return home. They got an early start and we in turn departed for the park shortly after 9 AM. We can sum up the day by saying that it was an “animal” filled day. We saw bison aplenty as soon as we entered the park. Margaret was driving so we alternated taking pictures as we made our way to Madison which is 14 miles from West Yellowstone. Big Sky is approximately one hour of travel from West Yellowstone so using that west entrance to enter the park we can consider it as a one hour commute from our base of operation.

From Madison we took the northern route to Gardiner which is a 40 mile drive. Along the way we stopped at Gibbon Falls and Artists Paintpots. We then stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs and walked some of the board walk laid out around the terraces. There are signs in several languages warning people to stay on the pathways at this and other locations because the ground is so unstable and the springs are very hot and unpredictable.

We arrived in Gardiner around lunch time and stopped there to have lunch. We decided to take the same route back to West Yellowstone in order to see some things that we had missed on the way up. Tim was feeling better so he drove in order for Margaret to take pictures as she wished. On the way into Gardiner we had stopped to take a picture of the North Entrance Arch sometimes called the Roosevelt Arch. We also photographed it when we re-entered the park. Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone and dedicated the arch in April 1903. It’s inscribed with the words “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”

Our only museum visit of the day was to the Museum of the National Park Ranger which depicts the life of early park rangers. Originally they were under the jurisdiction of the Army and didn’t become an official force until some time after 1900. From there it was a short drive to the Norris Geyser Basin where we walked to see Steamboat Geyser. This geyser is the biggest in height attained but is very unpredictable. The last time that it erupted was on May 23, 2005! So we missed it by four years and three days.

Basically from that point we made no more scheduled stops until we arrived back in West Yellowstone. As I mentioned earlier we had a very animal filled day. Besides Bison we saw Elk, Big Horn Sheep, Coyote, Pronghorn and Canadian Geese.

Check out some more pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/38560987@N02/?saved=1.

MT Update

Well, I got the pictures from our Memorial Day Weekend picnic -- the one we had in the snow. Check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/38560987@N02/?saved=1. Today Al, Lorraine, and I went down to W. Yellowstone and saw the IMAX Yellowstone movie, visited the Yellowstone Museum and walked around downtown. Tim stayed back and rested his back. (Yes, his back is still bothering him.) On the way back to the timeshare, when we came across a grizzly bear. We saw one in the Park, but it was very difficult to see. This one was right by the road, walking towards the road eating. It was awesome experience to see the 2 year bear so close. No I wasn't like the foolish tourist who have to get close the wild animal.

Yellowstone Adventure

We checked into our place in Big Sky on Saturday afternoon after stopping briefly in W. Yellowstone at the Visitor Center and having a picnic lunch in the town park. Our place overlooks the lake in Big Sky surrounding the sky mountains. We are in between seasons; the ski resort lifts don't open for the summer until next weekend. Oh well!

On Sunday Lorraine & Al were our chauffeurs while we drove through Yellowstone National Park. As soon as we got into the Park we came across 2 bison and their babies. We discovered that when people stop or slow down along the road you also stop/slow down because most likely there is an animal sighting. So today we saw buffalo, elk, Canadian geese, bear, and a moose. Lots of people fishing. We saw Old Faithful erupt at 12:30. Unfortunately, the clouds were overcast and the steam and water all look the same. So our pictures of this event are not that great. Since Tim and I have a week here, perhaps another day might be better.

Then Margaret had a great idea of having a picnic lunch since it was Memorial Day Weekend. So we drove to a picnic spot. Unfortunately we had to climb through some snow to get to the picnic table. Snow surrounded the table; all we needed next was for some wild animal to approach! The picnic picture here doesn't do it justice; I'll try to get a picture of all of us picnicing in the snow. (Lorraine took a great picture; just have to get it posted.)

We drove by Yellowstone Lake -- it is HUGE!!!! Over 20 miles of road just for one small portion of the lake. There was plenty of snow and ice still surrounding the lake. We also stopped at the Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls. They were gorgeous!

Check out all our pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/38560987@N02/?saved=1.

"P" is the letter

In keeping with our nightly theme of "P" we have arrived today in Pocatello, Idaho. We have stayed in Page, AZ, and Provo, UT previously. We had a WONDERFUL visit to Salt Lake City. We started at in the Capitol. The Capitol was recently restorated to its original beauty. Lots of marble and beautiful gold leaf oranments. We then took the bus to Tempe Square. We got there just in time to catch the noon organ performance at the Tabenacle. It was great to just sit for a little bit and enjoy the awesome acoustic. Then we went over to the South Visitor Center and took a tour of the Square. Our tour guides were two young ladies, Sisters; one from MN and the other from Portugal. We then decided to walk back to the Capitol (where we left the car). If you have never been to SLC you may not realize that the Capitol is on top of a hill. Needlesstosay, we got our leg exercise today.

Vacation - Bryce Canyon

We left Tucson on Wednesday afternoon and made it up to Page, Arizona. On Thursday morning we left Arizona for Utah...loosing an hour along the way. (Remember, AZ doesn't do Daylight Savings Time.) We stopped at the Glenn Canyon Dam first. We decided to drive up to Bryce Canyon. What a beautiful national park! Plus we found out that we have to take advantage of Tim's Senior standing. We got a National Park Annual Pass for $10. (Normal price is $80.) We had a picnic lunch at Rainbow Vista and enjoyed the scenic overlook. We stopped at a number of the overlooks, including Natural Bridge. In our travels through parks, we never heard of the word "hoodoo" and today we never heard the end of the word -- http://www.nps.gov/brca/naturescience/hoodoos.htm.

We were hoping to make it up to Salt Lake City by Thursday evening, but we decided to stop in Provo. I'm doing all the driving. Tim tried to drive but after about 30 minutes, his back was hurting him still too much. So he is the navigator and I'm the driver. We decided to try using the ThermWrap while sitting in the car and it seems to help him out. I sure hope his bruised rib heals soon. I HATE driving through mountains and that is all that we're doing.

I'm trying something new. I created a Flickr account and I hope that some of my pictures are posted. Our link should be http://www.flickr.com/photos/38560987@N02/?saved=1.

Harvest

This morning I was able to harvest a half dozen sweet green peppers, two pounds of green beans, and enough lettuce for a nice salad. We are at the end of the lettuce season. There are still some beans to harvest in another week or so. Our eggplant finally started to grow; it needed more of the summer heat. So I would say our garden this year was a success!

We are getting ready to leave for our summer vacation -- Yellow National Park here we come! We'll be staying in Big Sky, MT. Tim has been kidding me the last few weeks; each morning he tells me the temperature. While it it is in the 80s in the morning here; it is only in the 40s up north. Do I owe warm clothes? Keep a watch on our blog as we'll be updating it periodically on the road.

It is Official!

Today, Thursday, May 7, 2009, just after 2 pm today we hit our first 100 degree day. That means that Summer has officially arrived in Tucson. Let's hope that we have a few days of cooler days before we get more over the century marks.

This past weekend we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary (yes, it is hard to believe that!). We decided to get out of town for the weekend and went north. We only drove up to Phoenix and lounged around the pool at the resort. On Saturday evening we had dinner with Rev. John Kautz and his wife. John was one of our ministers for our wedding. We came back mid-afternoon on Sunday, thus giving Tim an opportunity to get the cooler operational for the season. Good thing he did that; we needed it today.