YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Wow!  A day trip to Yellowstone. I imagine we will get used to this but right now it is so cool to be so close to such beauty. We all owe a debt of gratitude for those who had the foresight to set aside land for our National Parks.

Cindy & I left around 8:15am and headed west. We past the Jackalope in Dubois, drove through  Grand Tetons NP and headed north. Only 8 miles separates the 2 parks. We got into Yellowstone around noon.

All the while we drove we had our eyes open for wild life. Nothing. Here I thought we would see herds of elk, buffalo, antelope, anything but instead we saw a ground squirrel. One ground squirrel. That changed by the end of the day.

Yellowstone is huge. The area most often visited by tourists is laid out in a huge figure 8. We had entered from the south and we had a limited amount of time so we decided to do the lower portion of the 8 and save the upper until next time. So we ended up visiting Yellowstone Lake and Falls, a few different geyser basins and mud pits and Old Faithful. It may not sound like much but we were busy. Oh, Old Faithful is simply one of many geysers in the park. It just happens to be the most famous.

As the day progressed the animals started to show themselves. First a coyote hunting for rodents loped into view.

Coyote on the prowl

Then buffalo, a few elk (they are BIG animals), a couple of sandhill cranes, and some very big black birds. I don't know if they were grackles, ravens, or simply blackbirds. They looked big enough to be wild turkeys.

The following scenes give you an idea of what we saw.

Around Yellowstone Lake:

Around Geyser pits

Around Geyser pits

Yellowstone Lake

The geyser pits at the south end of Yellowstone Lake are very interesting. We spent a lot of time walking around.

The Lower Falls: We will get a better look next time.

A week or so ago a young woman lost her life at the Falls. It was her first day of work and she slipped and was swept to her death.

Bubbling pit:

Buffalo encounter:

Just watch. Here are 2 very large bison eating alongside the boardwalk. When people walk by they are 2 feet away. If for ANY reason these bison felt the urge these moms, dads and children would have been in serious trouble.

"Why does the bison cross the road?" This is a trick question. At one point on our adventure one bison was walking down the middle of the road leading a parade. He wasn't intimidated one bit. He was leading and that was that. We followed behind while cars from the other direction slowly passed by. He finally left the road when he wanted to "relieve" himself.

Old Faithful: Our final destination.

At the end of the day we joined hundreds of others from all over waiting for Old Faithful to be faithful. After she blew we got in the car and headed home.

What a day. It was in the upper 70's and partly cloudy. We made it home at 10:30pm and will be returning again.

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK

When we moved here to Riverton we knew we were in beautiful country.  Yesterday we took a day trip to the Grand Tetons. A day trip! Can you imagine that? We kept saying to each other that this is in our "backyard". 

We took off about 9AM and 2.5 hours later even after stopping for a soda and a picture or two we were there.
 We just HAD to stop here. It is a jackalope of course. You can see them all over this part of Wyoming. We thought the kids would smile a bit. We do have a family picture standing in front of a huge prairie dog in South Dakota. I'm a sucker for theses things. You notice I don't have a picture of Cindy sitting on it.

This convenience store is in Dubois (pronounced Do-boys) west of Riverton half-way to the Teton range. There is even some beautiful country around Dubois. It looks a bit like the Grand Canyon although above ground.

I'm not sure where it happened but we turned a corner went over a hill and there the views became breathtaking.

We headed to the Jackson Lake Lodge for lunch. This is probably where we will take our guests to eat. The food was really great and the view from our table was of the range. While eating we were constantly looking out toward the range across the flatland. I thought we might see some wildlife. We did. We saw a ground squirrel/chipmunk, wild turkey and just as were leaving some sandhill cranes. No big game yet.

Since this was our first trip we wanted to get the lay of the land. So we drove north of the lodge toward Yellowstone just to see. We finally turned around and headed south. Of couse we stopped every so often to gawk and take pictures.

Normally when you see cars and people along the side of the road you know there is something to see. We were passing one such group when I noticed they weren't looking at the mountains. I pulled over very quickly because they were looking into the forest. This is what we saw. It was a momma black bear and her two cubs. I'm afraid this is the best I could do. She looked around at us and her cubs and started ambling up the hill deeper into the forest. Wow!



At another site I noticed people with cameras gathered around the river bank. Sooo - we did a u-turn, pulled over, parked, ran to join the crowd and there was a moose. She was laying down in some bushes next to the water.                                                                                  

There is really not much more to say really. The park is gorgeous and filled with wildlife. Beside these animals we saw another moose, a herd of elk right next to a herd of buffalo, antelope, mule deer, geese with gauslings, but no porcupines. Sorry Matt. We looked!    

                                                                  

Come and visit.

Next weekend we are thinking of going on another day trip. Either to Yellowstone National Park or Cody.

AND SO ON...

I haven't written for a bit. Things have been happening. The following is an email Cindy wrote recently. It brings things more up to date.

"Well, we now have Wyoming driver's licenses and have applied for Wyoming title and registration for our cars.  Pretty much the last ties to New Mexico.  Took us half the day to accomplish.

Got new blinds for the bedroom, the 2 inch ones that we like, should help darken the room in the morning (east facing windows).  We ordered film to put on the bathroom windows so that we don't always need the blinds closed - it looks like stained glass in a Frank Lloyd Wright geometric print.  We hope to get those up this weekend.

Finally got ahold of the electrician (left word 2 weeks ago with his office) and he will come on Monday to look at the job to be done.  He will need to see if he can put 220 electrical for the hot tub over by the garage (if not, the hot tub will need to stay on the porch by the house).  Once we figure that out, he will need to put electrical outlets on the porch for the sunroom.  Then he will need to install electic for the fountain (after Scott digs the trench), and maybe repair the switch for the garbage disposal and repair the fan in the guest bath.  He will make good money from us!

THEN we should be able to commit to the guy who did a bid for the pad by the garage for the hot tub, and adding a small section of sidewalk in front of the house.  He will charge $1,500 if we proceed, since the hot tub needs to have a 6" cement pad.

THEN we need to figure out if we will proceed with the sunroom, and how we will do it (size, door placement, etc.)

Scott will need to put up the Murphy bed soon, after we decide for sure where we want to put it.  I need to figure out what to do about living room furniture, and get it ordered.  And then figure out what pictures go on what walls!  And get Finnegan to the vet for her rabies shot.  Plus finding a new dentist and setting up our July appointments.

It sure would have been cheaper and easier to stay in New Mexico!

Scott is out pulling weeds in the backyard right now - he has a different list than I have!"

It is very windy today. Gusts supposedly of 60 mph.  The cats don't even want to go outside.

Over Memorial Day Laura, BJ, Lily and Ben were here. BJ had work around Casper so Laura & the kids came over from Casper and stayed a week. BJ came over the holiday weekend. It was great. BJ makes the best hamburgers. We will definately have him make them again.

Ben at 11 months. Close to walking?

I'll tell you a secret: 2 year olds have an unlimited supply of energy. Figure out how to harness it and the energy industry will be in real trouble. Does that bring back memories for some of you? I can see heads nodding. Laura is incredible. Not only is she a great mom but her patience is incredible. BJ and Laura make a great team. They just celebrated their 9th wedding anniversary.

Dominoes Night

Spaghetti Night



 

While here we drove up to Thermopilis to go swimming in the hot springs. It was a great time. The drive up past Boysen reservoir and through the Wind River Canyon is beautiful. On another occasion Cindy & I took Lily to a local play ground especially geared to young kids. She had a great time sliding, climbing and running of course. Cindy & I took turns chasing her so she wouldn't get hurt hopefully. When it was time for Laura & the kids Cindy drove with them to Casper where they all had a bite to eat and the Lily could run around. After parting ways Cindy took time to explore Casper. Neither of us had been there before.

The next time we get to see the kids is when Cindy & I babysit in Denver so Laura & BJ can have time in Washington, DC with Matt & AJ. There they will be on the National Mall for the July 4th celebration.

At church tomorrow I start an 8 week class on 8 different denominations in the Christian church. The first denomination we look at is the Orthodox church. It should be interesting.

I've been riding my moped regularly to work. I even take it to visit members. I'm having fun.

Take care one and all.