I thought good things were to come when I saw the size of the fairgrounds earlier in the summer due to the go-Kart club having races there. I was right...at least mostly. WAY better than the county fairs in Kansas.. not *quite* as good as the Monroe County Fair...but then again.. that was labled "Michigans finest county fair".. and thats a hard bill to follow.
I leafed through the schedule of events: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (hmm... I like some of their stuff...but do I want to pay 25 dollars that I don't really have to see them...)Jr Bull riding/ Donkey Polo (this has my interest.. I like rodeos.. and donkey polo HAS to be good.. right?) Free concert: Johnny Lee (Hey.. I like him... or at least used to! and its FREE!) There were some other events, such as the Demo Derby, but most either didn't interest me much, or I didn't think Sierra would enjoy them.
Sierra and I walked to the fairgrounds to see the animals, and check things out on the night of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band concert. She enjoyed seeing the lady walking around on stilts who juggled, and was mesmerized by the bunjee jumping ride (ack!!). She loved the animals...at least until one of the goats scared her by popping his head over his gate. :) It was kinda funny, but she wanted no part of the goats after that the rest of the way, and was skiddish about them the rest of the week as well. The bad part was, there were some 4 day old goats just down from the one that scared her, and she wasn't interested in them anymore either. One of the 4-H kids let her pet a cow... she wasn't sure about that either.
We settled down in a nice grassy spot just outside the grandstands and listened to the concert for free. It was a good concert, from what I could tell. Sierra was more interested in the mechanical bull behind us. If I would have had a spare 5 dollars I probably would have seen if he would have let us ride it, since he was letting 2 and 3 year olds ride a really gentle ride. I enjoyed watching the older boys (20ish) think they were tough and get tossed off like a rag doll hahaha.. sadly I wanted to try my luck too. Maybe next year, huh.. lol.
We stayed long enough to hear "Fishing in the Dark" my favorite song of theirs. It was getting dark after that, and it's a fair walk, so I wanted to get home.. before the mountain lions come out.. yanno.
The next day we went at lunchtime with Randal, since there was an office pool to see who could eat the most fair food. I wanted so many different things, but was suffering severely from morning sickness. I settled for my first Indian Taco.. mmmmm.. The elephant ear was a huge treat as well, since no one in Kansas knew what one was. I paid for the grease.. but it was worth it! Sierra and I parted ways after lunch with Randal and saw the animals again. We headed back after that, since it was hot, and I was tired, and knew teh grease wouldn't settle for long.
The junior bull rodeo and the donkey polo wasn't quite what I expected. Randal had to cover it for the paper. I enjoyed the rodeo...mostly. It was a little scary when the one boy got stomped, and I realized for the first time I'd be scared to death if my kids wanted to rodeo it. Funny how parenthood changes your outlook on some sports, huh. The donkey polo...well, it wasn't what I expected.. and in fact, I ended up hating it. I watched a guy break a broom on a donkey, and quickly found myself wanting to break a broom over him. The animal lover in me is starting to be much more alive these days.
The free Johnny Lee concert was pretty cool. ...except for the thunderstorm that blew in. Johnny was pretty funny... although I found some of his jokes to be offcolor...and in bad taste. Guess thats to be expected.. but I don't have to like it. Sierra was dancing as much as she could at her age, and seemed to love it. After the concert I took her up to get her pic with him... she decided to get stranger danger for the very first time, and screamed bloody murder when I handed her to him. ...so, the three of us had our pic taken. Not such a bad deal I guess. Johnny also gave me a discount on his signed pic since I'm a loser and only had 3 dollars with me. I appreciated it greatly, since I wanted Sierra to have a momento of the occassion. It's signed to her. Some day she's gonna look at it and go "whoooooooo????" lol.
We went to teh fair every day for lunch. I had some of the best food, and some of hte worst lol. It was fun though. I had a week pass to get in the fair that cost me 10 dollars, versus the 5 a day.. I think I got my moneys worth :)
We also watched a bit of this one other sport as well. I can't think of the name of it now.. it's rather weird though. Two people on horses, a bunch of cows with numbers.. the riders have certain numbers they have to get.. those are teh only cows they can put on the other side of the line. The team that does it in the fastest time win. Probably won't watch it again, unless Randal has to cover it again.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
baseball fever
OVer the summer we went to a large number of American Legion baseball games, which I thought would drive me crazy since I'm not much of a baseball fan, but the boys made it fun to watch. They were awesome at hitting the ball, and had some pretty decent pitchers... including one kid who we will likely see in the major leagues one day. Keep your eye out for Scotty Jameson in a few years. He's in his first year of college now, and before pitching in college, he has a low 90mph fast ball.
In Wyoming, the A and AA program is combined at the state level, and they have to play each other. Our boys won as much as they needed to in order to get to regionals for A ball. We got to do some traveling with the team to Rock Springs, and ultimately a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah. It was pretty awesome! They took third place, which was one of those heart breaker games that saw the bases loaded, and a final strikeout to end the game with us one point shy of tying things up. I really thought a little different pitching lineup and we'd have won no trouble.. but, thats okay. In its own way, it worked out. Sierra got the flu that day, and was sick the drive home. I felt so bad for her. The next day, I was down for the count, and the following day, Randal and I were both sick.
While in Salt Lake, we went to the zoo, which was smaller than I expected, but still pretty decent. Sierra liked the bears the most. We got her a stuffed Fossa, (from Madagascar), which has turned out to be one of her favorite stuffed animals! We got Trevor a turtle, and he seemed to really love that too. He said he didn't have a turtle before. Randal also took me around downtown so I could see the Mormon temple, and whatnot. His sister requested we find her insurance company and tell them off for her in person ...we never did find them.
We also went out to the salt flats, saw the great salt lake, played in teh desert a lil and ...the craziest thing of all... we were greeted to salt lake by a wildfire!
We almost didn't get to our hotel because the fire was on both sides of the road. About 5 minutes after we got through they shut the expressway. They had it pretty much out that night, which was good, but we missed a lot of the mountain scenery as a result.
The one thing we were told we had to do when in Salt Lake was go to a restaurant called The Red Iguana. IT was THE best mexican food we have ever had the pleasure of eating. I highly reccommend it! IT isn't much to look at from teh outside, and I can see why it made Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network. We also saw a few places teh olympics had been held at, including the olympic oval. The baseball stadium was one of the nicest I have ever been in. There were some things about the tournament that needed help, but overall, it was a great experience.
We didn't get to go, but the BAbe Ruth kids made it to regionals as well. They were in Washington. Hopefully that means next year will be another trip to regionals for Legion ball!
In Wyoming, the A and AA program is combined at the state level, and they have to play each other. Our boys won as much as they needed to in order to get to regionals for A ball. We got to do some traveling with the team to Rock Springs, and ultimately a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah. It was pretty awesome! They took third place, which was one of those heart breaker games that saw the bases loaded, and a final strikeout to end the game with us one point shy of tying things up. I really thought a little different pitching lineup and we'd have won no trouble.. but, thats okay. In its own way, it worked out. Sierra got the flu that day, and was sick the drive home. I felt so bad for her. The next day, I was down for the count, and the following day, Randal and I were both sick.
While in Salt Lake, we went to the zoo, which was smaller than I expected, but still pretty decent. Sierra liked the bears the most. We got her a stuffed Fossa, (from Madagascar), which has turned out to be one of her favorite stuffed animals! We got Trevor a turtle, and he seemed to really love that too. He said he didn't have a turtle before. Randal also took me around downtown so I could see the Mormon temple, and whatnot. His sister requested we find her insurance company and tell them off for her in person ...we never did find them.
We also went out to the salt flats, saw the great salt lake, played in teh desert a lil and ...the craziest thing of all... we were greeted to salt lake by a wildfire!
We almost didn't get to our hotel because the fire was on both sides of the road. About 5 minutes after we got through they shut the expressway. They had it pretty much out that night, which was good, but we missed a lot of the mountain scenery as a result.
The one thing we were told we had to do when in Salt Lake was go to a restaurant called The Red Iguana. IT was THE best mexican food we have ever had the pleasure of eating. I highly reccommend it! IT isn't much to look at from teh outside, and I can see why it made Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network. We also saw a few places teh olympics had been held at, including the olympic oval. The baseball stadium was one of the nicest I have ever been in. There were some things about the tournament that needed help, but overall, it was a great experience.
We didn't get to go, but the BAbe Ruth kids made it to regionals as well. They were in Washington. Hopefully that means next year will be another trip to regionals for Legion ball!
playing catch up... again
As you can imagine, life with a young toddler makes writing a lil difficult since I don't really get any breaks from her. I absolutely love her, and don't want to change that, although once she's potty trained, I will enroll her in the daycare at the college to give her that extra boost--social, as well as an extra teaching source.
College has also gotten in the way for me writing also. but, enough with excuses.. and on to trying to play catch up. I will likely for get some stuff, and I know it won't be in order...but at least you will get more info about some stuff we've been doing over the last few months.
I will put them in seperate posts just to make it easier.
College has also gotten in the way for me writing also. but, enough with excuses.. and on to trying to play catch up. I will likely for get some stuff, and I know it won't be in order...but at least you will get more info about some stuff we've been doing over the last few months.
I will put them in seperate posts just to make it easier.
Monday, July 13, 2009
WJRA
no, its not a radio station or a tv station.. its the letters for the Wyoming Junior Rodeo Assoc. which was held in Ralston earlier today (which by the time stamp, means yesterday). We got there after it started and left before it was done because of needing to go to Cody to get some groceries and stuff for Sierra. We saw the girls events. I would have prefered the bull riding, but thats okay, it was still fun watching Sierra go nuts with all the horses and dogs in teh area. She really wants a horse lol. She was pointing and squealing, it was cute. She got to pet two cute lil dogs.. a puppy named Reba, and a "sister" from another litter, Cedar. Cedar was super friendly.. which kinda surprised me since she only had one eye. She gave Sierra lots of kisses and didn't mind that she was trying to pet her a lil on the rough side. Reba was just all sorts of cuteness, but didn't stand a chance of getting attention after I said hi to Cedar lol.
At this stage... if Sierra chooses to want to get into rodeo when she's old enough, it could be lots of fun, because, neither Randal or I know much about rodeo, or even taking care of horses lol.
At this stage... if Sierra chooses to want to get into rodeo when she's old enough, it could be lots of fun, because, neither Randal or I know much about rodeo, or even taking care of horses lol.
Friday, July 10, 2009
lions, tigers and bears?? No... deer, elk and.... cows..Oh My!
We headed to the geyser basin for our usual Thursday trip. It started out with an erruption of Riverside, which is always a fun one to watch. From there we tried heading to another basin to see if we couldn't catch great fountain for the first time. nope... already gone. *sigh*. So, we decided it had been a while since we lookde for animals in teh Lamar valley...and the geyser basins were gonna be quiet most of the rest of the time we'd be in the park. So off we headed to Lamar. We saw several areas that appeared to be animal jams, but couldn't see anything. One area was definetely a wolf jam.. but people were already double parked, and the biologist was packing up.. which isn't a good sign if you want to see the wolves. Then there was a spot where people were hitting their breaks ahead of us.. I scanned the area.. bear..wait.. no.. charred tree stump...wait.. noo....it's MOVING! It IS a bear! I finally got the chance to get good pics of a black bear! It was eating plants in the field. You could even hear it huff and chomp.. crazyness! That alone made the night completely worth it. We headed out of the park and went to cooke city to get food. Our favorite deli was closed.. we peeked at the bistro next to it, but dinner prices were a bit steep, so we went to teh saloon that is family friendly. They were out of pizza dough and steak sandwhiches which limited you to burgers, chicken sandwhiches or fish taco. I've never been brave enough to try a fish taco, so I went with a burger. It was pretty good, and the price wasn't bad... teh other deli is way better for burgers, but their pizza and steak sandwhich looked amazing!
It was dark when we got done. We headed down the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway to get home.. I spotted a couple deer, thankfully none of them tried jumping out in teh road. As we got farther into teh mountain road, I saw something on the side of the road that freaked me out.. 3 black cows...NOT behind a fence.. right next to the road. It was open grazing land.. ugh! A lil bit farther down the road I saw a brown and white cow a lil farther off the road.. I couldnt wait to get out of open range! Of course when we finally got out of that there was an elk on the side of the road. Thankfully nothing jumped out at us.. but I saw way too much wildlife within 3 feet of the road in teh dark on teh way home!!! A good trip though... no matter how you look at it! (...and the cows really add something to thoughts of having to pee so bad you are willing to go on the side of the road... they definetely make a person think a lot harder on that one lol...not that grizzley country wouldn't anyway lol)
It was dark when we got done. We headed down the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway to get home.. I spotted a couple deer, thankfully none of them tried jumping out in teh road. As we got farther into teh mountain road, I saw something on the side of the road that freaked me out.. 3 black cows...NOT behind a fence.. right next to the road. It was open grazing land.. ugh! A lil bit farther down the road I saw a brown and white cow a lil farther off the road.. I couldnt wait to get out of open range! Of course when we finally got out of that there was an elk on the side of the road. Thankfully nothing jumped out at us.. but I saw way too much wildlife within 3 feet of the road in teh dark on teh way home!!! A good trip though... no matter how you look at it! (...and the cows really add something to thoughts of having to pee so bad you are willing to go on the side of the road... they definetely make a person think a lot harder on that one lol...not that grizzley country wouldn't anyway lol)
thar' she blows!!!!!!
Okay, so this is a lil late.... but I'm trying to catch up. Tuesday I was roaming the streets with Sierra in the stroller, running some errands, with the goal of walking at least 3 miles. I walked down to Powell Drug, because I have a 3 dollar coupon for there, and they have an old fashioned soda fountain, and, well... it just sounds good. So I went inside to check it out. There was an elderly woman sitting in teh booth who must own part of the store, and she started chatting ...I have no idea how long I was there, but I know it was over an hour! I never did order anything lol. ...which means at some point I have to go back lol. She was really friendly and adored Sierra. She even offered me a free cup of coffee...something I never expected. I politely declined since I'm not really a fan of coffee. After telling her I had to go about 5 times, I finally escaped...yes, at that point it was an escape!
From there, I went to the college to turn in my non-trad orientation paperwork. I ended up talking to the records and registration specialist for quite a long time as well, because she absolutely adored Sierra as well. I also was amused because Sierra was able to play with a 2 and 3 yr old for a little while their mom registered for classes, and she seemed to really enjoy chasing the boys down. I discovered after the fall semester I will only need about 3 classes to graduate! ...unfortunately unless my parents move out for the winter semester, it's not gonna happen, because I need to be on campus for at least one of them... and Sierra is too young for the day care. Very exciting stuff though!
When I left the school, I looked at the time and realized I couldn't finish my last errand because I was already pushing missing Randal for lunch. We booked it home and found a note on teh computer telling me to push play on teh video on the computer and then flip the index card over. Giantess was errupting.. one of the geysers that only errupts about 2-3 times a year. I had instructions to be ready to go to teh park by 3:30. Normally that wouldn't be an issue, but I didn't have anything to make dinner on the run...you know.. things like bread so I could make our normal peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. As I was getting Sierras stuff together a HUGE storm blew in... Rain came busting through the screen a good 4 feet into the apt! I quickly shut the windows! I wondered if we were still going, but the radar looked clear once this got past us.
Randal got home around 3, and we were out the door about 3:15. We grabbed quiznos for dinner.. mmmmm... mostly healthy, and super good! We got to teh basin and he took Sierra and went ahead while I putz a bit. ..I mean, its just a geyser....right? ...yeah.. no..
I am the type of person who gets excited by all geysers...even the little 1-2 feet tall ones. Typically I will skip by a HUGE one for a chance to see one I've never seen before... so I was figuring this one wouldn't really make me any more excited than seeing Grand or Riverside for the first time.. even if it is rare. I took a couple wrong turns trying to get to geyser hill...I never realized how many paths you could take on the board walk before that! I got fairly close and Giantess errupted with a series of "minors"...I got goosebumps! It was this amazing feeling. I'm not sure why, other than I guess I realized this was something really impressive.. and these weren't even the big show it put on when it first errupted that morning. Close to 12 hours later and it was still putting on a show that was simply amazing!
From there I saw so many geysers for the first time.. Infant, Lion, pump-- shooting higher than I'd ever saw, Aurum...I'm sure the list goes on. I was in geyser heaven. Giant was acting different than I'd ever saw too, which could have been a minor hot period...it didn't errupt.. that would have just been far too amazing! It's been since the late 1800's since anyone has saw both Giant and Giantess errupt on teh same day... I wasn't that lucky, but you know.. I didn't really feel let down. It was a great day at the basin!
From there, I went to the college to turn in my non-trad orientation paperwork. I ended up talking to the records and registration specialist for quite a long time as well, because she absolutely adored Sierra as well. I also was amused because Sierra was able to play with a 2 and 3 yr old for a little while their mom registered for classes, and she seemed to really enjoy chasing the boys down. I discovered after the fall semester I will only need about 3 classes to graduate! ...unfortunately unless my parents move out for the winter semester, it's not gonna happen, because I need to be on campus for at least one of them... and Sierra is too young for the day care. Very exciting stuff though!
When I left the school, I looked at the time and realized I couldn't finish my last errand because I was already pushing missing Randal for lunch. We booked it home and found a note on teh computer telling me to push play on teh video on the computer and then flip the index card over. Giantess was errupting.. one of the geysers that only errupts about 2-3 times a year. I had instructions to be ready to go to teh park by 3:30. Normally that wouldn't be an issue, but I didn't have anything to make dinner on the run...you know.. things like bread so I could make our normal peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. As I was getting Sierras stuff together a HUGE storm blew in... Rain came busting through the screen a good 4 feet into the apt! I quickly shut the windows! I wondered if we were still going, but the radar looked clear once this got past us.
Randal got home around 3, and we were out the door about 3:15. We grabbed quiznos for dinner.. mmmmm... mostly healthy, and super good! We got to teh basin and he took Sierra and went ahead while I putz a bit. ..I mean, its just a geyser....right? ...yeah.. no..
I am the type of person who gets excited by all geysers...even the little 1-2 feet tall ones. Typically I will skip by a HUGE one for a chance to see one I've never seen before... so I was figuring this one wouldn't really make me any more excited than seeing Grand or Riverside for the first time.. even if it is rare. I took a couple wrong turns trying to get to geyser hill...I never realized how many paths you could take on the board walk before that! I got fairly close and Giantess errupted with a series of "minors"...I got goosebumps! It was this amazing feeling. I'm not sure why, other than I guess I realized this was something really impressive.. and these weren't even the big show it put on when it first errupted that morning. Close to 12 hours later and it was still putting on a show that was simply amazing!
From there I saw so many geysers for the first time.. Infant, Lion, pump-- shooting higher than I'd ever saw, Aurum...I'm sure the list goes on. I was in geyser heaven. Giant was acting different than I'd ever saw too, which could have been a minor hot period...it didn't errupt.. that would have just been far too amazing! It's been since the late 1800's since anyone has saw both Giant and Giantess errupt on teh same day... I wasn't that lucky, but you know.. I didn't really feel let down. It was a great day at the basin!
Monday, June 22, 2009
fathers day
we ended up going hiking in the Beartooth Wilderness for fathers day. A liesurely day hike. We cut it shorter than we had planned, because the weather didnt look all that great after about 2 miles in, and because...well... it appears we aren't in quite as good of shape as we thought. Who would have guessed hiking mountains could be so difficult lol. I probably would have made it the whole way, even though my knee was screaming at me to go home, but we didn't want to get caught in an afternoon thunderstorm with Sierra. We played in an open meadow for a bit, where it was shining brightly offering a lil more warmth than the tree covered trail. The only things that ruined the fun was itch weed and bear dung. We didn't see any bears, but I was still nervous.
On the way back down, someone had a full grown black poodle that looked very much like a black bear on the trail lol. At least he was friendly lol. We also found a spot where a moose had crossed the path after we went through, bummer, I'd have loved to have seen him.. well, on the other side of the river anyway.
from there it was adventures at walmart and kmart...weee.. what fun!... not! Made Randal dinner, and played with Sierra the rest of the night.
On the way back down, someone had a full grown black poodle that looked very much like a black bear on the trail lol. At least he was friendly lol. We also found a spot where a moose had crossed the path after we went through, bummer, I'd have loved to have seen him.. well, on the other side of the river anyway.
from there it was adventures at walmart and kmart...weee.. what fun!... not! Made Randal dinner, and played with Sierra the rest of the night.
free boat rides
The Big Horn Rec. area had their annual Big Horn Lake days, which included among other things, free boat rides on teh resevoir through the canyon. Very cool....well, at least once I relaxed enough to enjoy it. There is something about having nightmares about something for a couple days the week before you go that kinda ruins the mood until you remind yourself nothing that is happening in reality was like your dream. Admittedly, the captain didn't help my fears any by jokin that they had only lost one guy all day and if you see Billy to let them know.
The sights were breath taking, and amazing. The lake is huge! The canyon walls tower way above you. It;s pretty wild. I would love to own a boat and fish and boat on that lake!
Sierra seemed to enjoy it while she was awake at least. She didn't like wearing the life jacket, but she really wasn't given a choice. Its the law, but after my nightmares, she was wearing one no matter what!
After the boat ride, we went to teh beach area and I let Sierra walk the shoreline holding my hands. The water was a bit chilly, but it didn't bother her one bit. She waded about thigh deep and would have sat down if I would have let her lol. She wasn't very happy when it was time to sit on teh shore and wait for daddy to get done taking photos for work.
We drove the wild horse range, and saw about 6 horses, all up close.. but all on Randals side of the car so I didn't get any pictures. I did get lots of pics of wild flowers though, which made me happy.
Then we were off to get photos of the catfish derby. I didn't get to see any of the anglers for that, since Sierra had fallen asleep and we didn't want to disturb her. It was a fun day. I may have enjoyed the mule rodeo just as much, but unless another one happens, I guess I may never know.
The sights were breath taking, and amazing. The lake is huge! The canyon walls tower way above you. It;s pretty wild. I would love to own a boat and fish and boat on that lake!
Sierra seemed to enjoy it while she was awake at least. She didn't like wearing the life jacket, but she really wasn't given a choice. Its the law, but after my nightmares, she was wearing one no matter what!
After the boat ride, we went to teh beach area and I let Sierra walk the shoreline holding my hands. The water was a bit chilly, but it didn't bother her one bit. She waded about thigh deep and would have sat down if I would have let her lol. She wasn't very happy when it was time to sit on teh shore and wait for daddy to get done taking photos for work.
We drove the wild horse range, and saw about 6 horses, all up close.. but all on Randals side of the car so I didn't get any pictures. I did get lots of pics of wild flowers though, which made me happy.
Then we were off to get photos of the catfish derby. I didn't get to see any of the anglers for that, since Sierra had fallen asleep and we didn't want to disturb her. It was a fun day. I may have enjoyed the mule rodeo just as much, but unless another one happens, I guess I may never know.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
quick update/ restaurant review
We haven't been doing a whole lot of exploring lately, but the other day we had a baseball game to cover in Lovell, so we snagged a pizza from Pizza on the Run, which was incredibly good and made the short detour to the big horn rec area to see the wild horses and see how high the water had gotten since we have had an unusually wet spring.
The resevoir was up quite a bit, and we were a bit surprised that the first furry critters we saw were a small pack of big horn rams. They were all right next to the road on my side. I have to admit when the one jumped up and was staring me down I couldn't help but remember the youtube video of the ram having a case of road rage and bumping the cars front bumper. I was glad this one just stared me down the entire time I was snapping off pictures, he made it hard on me though, as he blocked a couple of them, and made teh others hard to get a GOOD pic of. I did get at least one amazing shot of him though. I guess that counts for something.
We drove all the way through and hadn't saw our wild horses and were a bit shocked that we might get skunked for the first time. After going down one of the side areas we finally found a single mare. I have no idea where the rest of the herd was, they aren't typically solitary animals. On the way out we finally saw one more just a short distance from teh start of the horse range.. go figure lol. Still have no idea where the rest of the herd was though.
Randal went on a bird watching tour today. I was going to, but it would have involved getting up at 5 am, and taking the car seat out of our car and putting it into the shuttle van. I wasn't sure if anyone else was going, so I didn't want to risk getting there and it ending up being full. It also wasn't the warmest weather this morning that early, and as it turns out, it was raining the entire two hours Randal and the guide were out on the walk, so it was better I didn't got. I guess they saw 26 varieties of birds.. There are a TON of birds I am not familiar with out here. At some point I will try to start photographing them, but for now, I'll settle for the bigger critters.
Tonight we decided to try the Lamplighter Inn. We'd read a good review of it on Yahoo, and were excited to try something new in town. We were rather disappointed. The food was horrifyingly overpriced, and wasn't THAT good. It was alright.. but not for the prices they were charging. They cheated when it came to desert though.. they have a Godiva chocolate cheesecake.. how am I supposed to have enough will power to fight THAT??? At least that was good!
Slowly and surely we are getting a list of places to go out here for when our friends and family visit.
Admitedly, I would love to have more of my friends and family move out here.. that would be really cool. I joke that my motto is: I came...I saw... and now I'm conquering LOL.
The resevoir was up quite a bit, and we were a bit surprised that the first furry critters we saw were a small pack of big horn rams. They were all right next to the road on my side. I have to admit when the one jumped up and was staring me down I couldn't help but remember the youtube video of the ram having a case of road rage and bumping the cars front bumper. I was glad this one just stared me down the entire time I was snapping off pictures, he made it hard on me though, as he blocked a couple of them, and made teh others hard to get a GOOD pic of. I did get at least one amazing shot of him though. I guess that counts for something.
We drove all the way through and hadn't saw our wild horses and were a bit shocked that we might get skunked for the first time. After going down one of the side areas we finally found a single mare. I have no idea where the rest of the herd was, they aren't typically solitary animals. On the way out we finally saw one more just a short distance from teh start of the horse range.. go figure lol. Still have no idea where the rest of the herd was though.
Randal went on a bird watching tour today. I was going to, but it would have involved getting up at 5 am, and taking the car seat out of our car and putting it into the shuttle van. I wasn't sure if anyone else was going, so I didn't want to risk getting there and it ending up being full. It also wasn't the warmest weather this morning that early, and as it turns out, it was raining the entire two hours Randal and the guide were out on the walk, so it was better I didn't got. I guess they saw 26 varieties of birds.. There are a TON of birds I am not familiar with out here. At some point I will try to start photographing them, but for now, I'll settle for the bigger critters.
Tonight we decided to try the Lamplighter Inn. We'd read a good review of it on Yahoo, and were excited to try something new in town. We were rather disappointed. The food was horrifyingly overpriced, and wasn't THAT good. It was alright.. but not for the prices they were charging. They cheated when it came to desert though.. they have a Godiva chocolate cheesecake.. how am I supposed to have enough will power to fight THAT??? At least that was good!
Slowly and surely we are getting a list of places to go out here for when our friends and family visit.
Admitedly, I would love to have more of my friends and family move out here.. that would be really cool. I joke that my motto is: I came...I saw... and now I'm conquering LOL.
Friday, June 5, 2009
yellowstone to earthquake lake and back again
We hadn't intended on going to the park yesterday, since we heard the weather was supposed to suck. Looking outside that morning we saw nothing but blue skies and a bright sun, so we decided to give it a shot once Randal's staff meeting was done.
We stopped for lunch at a quaint lil restraunt called Clarks Fork and Spoon... a rather cleverly named restaurant that is off the clark's fork river. We have eaten there once before, it's ran (as near as I can tell) by two couples... and is currently for sale for a mere 1.4 mill... I think you'd do alright if you bought it.. we'd consider it.. but we haven't that kind of money lol. Anyway.. it's a nice lil place that has great food. Elk burgers, bison burgers, regular beef burgers in several varieties as well as other odds and ends. They have really good burgers.. we have tried teh elk, the deluxe and the chili burger between the two visits now. They have really good sweet potato fries too! It's apparently a popular place according to the pin placement on their where are you from map. TONS of people from Europe, it was pretty cool.
From there we headed into yellowstone... only to get poured on....so we drove... we saw a couple mountain goats off in the far distance with the spotting scope and binoculars. We ended up near West Yellowstone and saw an elk with her calf.. very cool.. first one of the year.. we got a couple pics of them! Then we went to Earthquake lake. Apparently it's not as cool as it once was, because you can't quite get a feel for what the earthquake did. I still thought it was pretty cool, but I agree that seeing the old road in segments 6 feet from one another probably would have made it even more impressive. The really cool part was when Randal stopped so I could read an interpretive sign I caught movement in the grass behind the sign and realized it was a badger!! I have never saw a badger in the wild and wasn't about to let the photo opportunity pass without at least attempting a good pic. Randal armed me with his work camera and my 300 mm lens and I was out in the rain stalking the badger lol. I was about to give up as it kept running away from me, when it went to run for its den.. which happened to be in front of me! yay!! HE posed ever so nicely on the wood rail fence and I snapped of several pics. A car drove past and scared him the other direction again.. grrrrr... I at least got 4 really good pics and 2 okay pics though.
As we were heading back through the park to get home I saw a rabbit that looked so strange to me.. and had he not took off into the sage brush I would have snapped off a couple pics of him too. We came to the conclusion it was a snowshoe hare that hadn't finished changing for the summer. His 4 paws were all white, then there was a really dark brown strip just above the white and the rest looked like a cottentail. VERY cool to see!
We drove through a couple geyser basins, and cascade/falls areas that I hadn't ever saw before which was pretty neat. It amazes me that I have been to the park 13 times this year already and I still am seeing new stuff!
On the way home, Sierra started to get bored, so I was using her stuffed grizzley to play with her, and was making it growl at her and "gobble her up" and then I'd hand it to her to play with and she must have liked that play theme cuz she was squealing and babbling to the effect of either a soprano grizzly or an elk bugling lol. It was by far the funniest thing I have saw or heard in a long time! She also liked looking at and "talking" to the wolf chart we have. She LOVES animals!
We stopped for lunch at a quaint lil restraunt called Clarks Fork and Spoon... a rather cleverly named restaurant that is off the clark's fork river. We have eaten there once before, it's ran (as near as I can tell) by two couples... and is currently for sale for a mere 1.4 mill... I think you'd do alright if you bought it.. we'd consider it.. but we haven't that kind of money lol. Anyway.. it's a nice lil place that has great food. Elk burgers, bison burgers, regular beef burgers in several varieties as well as other odds and ends. They have really good burgers.. we have tried teh elk, the deluxe and the chili burger between the two visits now. They have really good sweet potato fries too! It's apparently a popular place according to the pin placement on their where are you from map. TONS of people from Europe, it was pretty cool.
From there we headed into yellowstone... only to get poured on....so we drove... we saw a couple mountain goats off in the far distance with the spotting scope and binoculars. We ended up near West Yellowstone and saw an elk with her calf.. very cool.. first one of the year.. we got a couple pics of them! Then we went to Earthquake lake. Apparently it's not as cool as it once was, because you can't quite get a feel for what the earthquake did. I still thought it was pretty cool, but I agree that seeing the old road in segments 6 feet from one another probably would have made it even more impressive. The really cool part was when Randal stopped so I could read an interpretive sign I caught movement in the grass behind the sign and realized it was a badger!! I have never saw a badger in the wild and wasn't about to let the photo opportunity pass without at least attempting a good pic. Randal armed me with his work camera and my 300 mm lens and I was out in the rain stalking the badger lol. I was about to give up as it kept running away from me, when it went to run for its den.. which happened to be in front of me! yay!! HE posed ever so nicely on the wood rail fence and I snapped of several pics. A car drove past and scared him the other direction again.. grrrrr... I at least got 4 really good pics and 2 okay pics though.
As we were heading back through the park to get home I saw a rabbit that looked so strange to me.. and had he not took off into the sage brush I would have snapped off a couple pics of him too. We came to the conclusion it was a snowshoe hare that hadn't finished changing for the summer. His 4 paws were all white, then there was a really dark brown strip just above the white and the rest looked like a cottentail. VERY cool to see!
We drove through a couple geyser basins, and cascade/falls areas that I hadn't ever saw before which was pretty neat. It amazes me that I have been to the park 13 times this year already and I still am seeing new stuff!
On the way home, Sierra started to get bored, so I was using her stuffed grizzley to play with her, and was making it growl at her and "gobble her up" and then I'd hand it to her to play with and she must have liked that play theme cuz she was squealing and babbling to the effect of either a soprano grizzly or an elk bugling lol. It was by far the funniest thing I have saw or heard in a long time! She also liked looking at and "talking" to the wolf chart we have. She LOVES animals!
Monday, June 1, 2009
who's afraid of the big, bad...Mt.Lion?????
Living in Wyoming has brought a few changes to my idea of "street smarts". I've always been a country girl, but I've always been pretty street smart too, in the sense that I pay very close attention to my surroundings and listen to my instincts most of the time. I'm always on the look out for someone hiding, be it in the bed of my pick up (when I had it), under a vehicle, etc, I was on the look out.. I also make sure I say hello to people as I'm walking past if I'm alone and in the dark.. for some reason, if you make contact, you aren't quite as likely to have to deal with someone. I know that rule doesn't always apply.. and I've had my own experience in North Dakota that made me question whether that really worked.. but...I think I would have been called names anyway.. that chick was just nuts!
In Wyoming, the rules have changed a bit. I didn't know this until today though. Apparently, Saturday morning a Mt. Lion was spotted in a tree just 3 blocks down from where I live. ...Thats right.. a 150 pound cat was lounging in a tree in downtown Powell. I didnt get to see the cat in person.. I'm probably glad of that, although admittedly, a part of me would love to see one. ...however, after my encounter with Helen, the mt. Lion at the Beartooth Nature preserve, I'm kinda wondering if I may need to rethink this a bit.
So now.. my street smart has to include wild life awareness. huh.. who would have thought that I was wasting time by going to Yellowstone to try finding animals.. I could have just taken a stroll around town~!
In Wyoming, the rules have changed a bit. I didn't know this until today though. Apparently, Saturday morning a Mt. Lion was spotted in a tree just 3 blocks down from where I live. ...Thats right.. a 150 pound cat was lounging in a tree in downtown Powell. I didnt get to see the cat in person.. I'm probably glad of that, although admittedly, a part of me would love to see one. ...however, after my encounter with Helen, the mt. Lion at the Beartooth Nature preserve, I'm kinda wondering if I may need to rethink this a bit.
So now.. my street smart has to include wild life awareness. huh.. who would have thought that I was wasting time by going to Yellowstone to try finding animals.. I could have just taken a stroll around town~!
Rhonda's visit and memorial day
Rhonda came out Sunday of Memorial day, and almost as soon as she got here we headed out to Yellowstone to take her there for her first trip ever. We were on a mission to see wolves.. didn't happen. We saw a grizzley bear for her at least. It was pretty far away though. We had lunch at the Canyon soda fountain which was pretty good. Rhonda was sweet and treated.
We saw lots of the park, but no wolves.
I hope she enjoyed her trip, it was kinda dull with not a whole lot of wildlife. Thats one of the dangers of looking for critters, you are dependent on them to cooperate.
Once we got home Rhonda and I talked about old times and were up far too late lol. I'm gertting too old to stay up that late...but Sierra is trying to prove to me I can still do it on a regular basis.
Monday she headed out and we went up to Red Lodge Montana to the beartooth Nature Center, a place where injured, orphaned and illegally owned as pets are taken... its a very cool place! Randal used to volunteer there when he worked in Columbus. Lewis and Clark...orphaned twin cougars were just kittens the last time he saw them.. They meowed so soft and sweetly when Randal came to the cage...almost like they were saying hi to an old friend.. it was a bit eye opening that huge 150 pound cougars meow softer than Marty (my cat in Holton) ever did! I could have gotten myself in trouble not knowing that lol. Helen another mt lion... was not so cordial.. she was growling and hissing and carrying on.. she got up on the wrong side of the den apparently lol. It was a great experience. Lots of animals, lots of sad stories, but they are all doing well at the nature center, so I guess its not all bad.
From there we went down the beartooth highway.. its a road that goes over 12,000 foot mountains. Charles Corault calls it the most scenic highway in teh US. It was pretty cool, a lil scary though, since I don't like heights. I am kinda looking forward to going back in a month or so when the wildflowers go nuts, and the lakes are all unfrozen.
It was still early enough, so we shot into the park for a few hours and saw 3 wolves. I felt bad that Rhonda wasn't there. I also saw a black bear and a moose and since I wasn't able to stop and get pictures grew rather hateful.. partially because I was tired and partially because they would have made for GREAT photos and were well within the range of my camera. I also was excited because I hadn't saw a black bear up very close before. ...at least not since I've been old enough to remember.
We saw lots of the park, but no wolves.
I hope she enjoyed her trip, it was kinda dull with not a whole lot of wildlife. Thats one of the dangers of looking for critters, you are dependent on them to cooperate.
Once we got home Rhonda and I talked about old times and were up far too late lol. I'm gertting too old to stay up that late...but Sierra is trying to prove to me I can still do it on a regular basis.
Monday she headed out and we went up to Red Lodge Montana to the beartooth Nature Center, a place where injured, orphaned and illegally owned as pets are taken... its a very cool place! Randal used to volunteer there when he worked in Columbus. Lewis and Clark...orphaned twin cougars were just kittens the last time he saw them.. They meowed so soft and sweetly when Randal came to the cage...almost like they were saying hi to an old friend.. it was a bit eye opening that huge 150 pound cougars meow softer than Marty (my cat in Holton) ever did! I could have gotten myself in trouble not knowing that lol. Helen another mt lion... was not so cordial.. she was growling and hissing and carrying on.. she got up on the wrong side of the den apparently lol. It was a great experience. Lots of animals, lots of sad stories, but they are all doing well at the nature center, so I guess its not all bad.
From there we went down the beartooth highway.. its a road that goes over 12,000 foot mountains. Charles Corault calls it the most scenic highway in teh US. It was pretty cool, a lil scary though, since I don't like heights. I am kinda looking forward to going back in a month or so when the wildflowers go nuts, and the lakes are all unfrozen.
It was still early enough, so we shot into the park for a few hours and saw 3 wolves. I felt bad that Rhonda wasn't there. I also saw a black bear and a moose and since I wasn't able to stop and get pictures grew rather hateful.. partially because I was tired and partially because they would have made for GREAT photos and were well within the range of my camera. I also was excited because I hadn't saw a black bear up very close before. ...at least not since I've been old enough to remember.
state track... just another vacation!!
State track was held in Casper, which is about 250 miles away.. which means it was more or less a vacation for us. IT started Thursday and went through Saturday. We were done every night (except Saturday) by about 4, so we had plenty of time to explore a new area to us. We have been hosting "flat emily", a paper doll version of one of my friends god child or at least someone she is very close to. It's a learning project, where she goes all over and gets to see the pics that her paper version is in. ...so I asked Randal if we couldn't do Oregon Trail stuff, so she would benefit from that. The first night we headed out looking for Independence Rock, but not really sure exactly where we were supposed to be going.. instead we found Ayers Natural Bridge.. still very cool!! We saw ruts from teh trail, so it was a really nice trip.
The next day we found independence rock, devils gate, martins cove, and split rock.. it was an awesome trip. I was a lil sad that erosion has taken its toll on the rock.. (Independence Rock is where the wagon trail people carved their names). People are idiots and have decided they should be able to do the same in modern times.
Saturday lasted til almost 6. We then went to Cass and Lyndon's place for a cook out. Cass was one of Randals debate students that he coached. We had a great time. They have a daughter a month younger than Sierra. It was nice meeting them in person finally. It sounds like we will be getting to Casper a couple times a year, and Cass comes out our way a couple times a year too, so that will be fun.
We only were able to stay about an hour because of the long drive home.
One thing to note about Casper.. it holds 1/3 of the worlds pronghorn population ..I forget what the mileage is.. but its not much.. like within 20 miles of casper. On the way to Casper I counted over 400 pronghorns. The way home I didn't really try, but we saw a ton of them. there are half a million pronghorn... and they all call wyoming home.
We got home late, and Sierra was wired when we got home because she slept in the car so much. ..I got to bed about 2:30... and was up by 8 getting ready for my cousins visit.
The next day we found independence rock, devils gate, martins cove, and split rock.. it was an awesome trip. I was a lil sad that erosion has taken its toll on the rock.. (Independence Rock is where the wagon trail people carved their names). People are idiots and have decided they should be able to do the same in modern times.
Saturday lasted til almost 6. We then went to Cass and Lyndon's place for a cook out. Cass was one of Randals debate students that he coached. We had a great time. They have a daughter a month younger than Sierra. It was nice meeting them in person finally. It sounds like we will be getting to Casper a couple times a year, and Cass comes out our way a couple times a year too, so that will be fun.
We only were able to stay about an hour because of the long drive home.
One thing to note about Casper.. it holds 1/3 of the worlds pronghorn population ..I forget what the mileage is.. but its not much.. like within 20 miles of casper. On the way to Casper I counted over 400 pronghorns. The way home I didn't really try, but we saw a ton of them. there are half a million pronghorn... and they all call wyoming home.
We got home late, and Sierra was wired when we got home because she slept in the car so much. ..I got to bed about 2:30... and was up by 8 getting ready for my cousins visit.
pick-ups, deer and marmots... oh my!!
Saturday brought a double header legion baseball game. We thougth this weekend was going to be a bust..but.. strange things happen! We sat through a brutal 1st game... it ended 19-2 in favor of the billings blue jays. They got 19 runs off 8 hits.. yeah.. that means LOTS of walks and errors! UGH. The second game started, with the kid they are trying to get a D1 look and maybe even major league look.. he already pitches in the upper 80's, they are trying to get him into the low 90's by the end of summer. He saw his 1st 3 batters and struck them all out.. then it began raining a hard and cold rain. We stuck around til it thundered. Randal decided he wanted to go over the big horn mountain range. we were barely out of Powell when some dude in a pickup almost hit us head on, Randal had to swerve off the road to avoid an accident.. no idea what the dude was doing or thinking.. but it scared the heck out of me. ...and I was already nervous because I hate thunderstorms...and heights.. so I wasn't exactly looking forward to the mountain drive. Once up in the big horns, a deer ran in front of us and we almost took him out! I asked Randal if he really thought it was a good idea lol. As it turns out the road going down the other side of the mountain wasnt any where close to as scary as it is going towards home.. go figure.
We saw tons of marmots running across the road and popping out from the cow grates... it was nuts. We saw lots of deer and stuff too.. but only the one was evil and jumped out in front of us.
Randal asked what I wanted to do.. and I really didn't care, I was tired, so I figured if nothing else, I could at least sleep, since Sierra was in her chair and would be safe if I slept.
He decided to check out the area that made my cousin Rhonda cry when she saw it on her way home from visiting us. We'd never been there, so it sounded fun. We also drove by Sheridan.. which is where one of the old coaches from Holton lives.. so at some point we'll have to go visit him and his wife.
The drive to Tensleep/ Worland was very scenic. Lots of pines and moutain views. We stopped at a little boat ramp in the national forest for a pit stop, and met a very nice fisherman who showed us his 13 inch cut throat trout. He also caught a lil one while were were there and showed it to Sierra lol.. she didn't know what to make of it. I can't wait to start fishing out here!
The forest opened up and it was absolutely beautiful! I can see what caused the emotional response in my cousin. It was just a really nice canyon area. ....all the canyons are beautiful. I love going through them. Since we were getting home a lot later than expected I made him stop at Arby's for dinner, cuz there was no way I was eating dinner at 10 or 11 at night. They had it uber cold in there, which sucked. There was another couple who were waiting for their food and dolling over Sierra. They were a lil smarter... they ate outside at the picnic table.. it was definetely warmer there.. at least 70 lol.
the rest of the trip was pretty much in the dark, but all area we'd saw before. The rain wasn't tooooo bad in the areas where it would have been bad, and it didn't lightening toooo close anywhere. It was a pretty nice side trip!
We saw tons of marmots running across the road and popping out from the cow grates... it was nuts. We saw lots of deer and stuff too.. but only the one was evil and jumped out in front of us.
Randal asked what I wanted to do.. and I really didn't care, I was tired, so I figured if nothing else, I could at least sleep, since Sierra was in her chair and would be safe if I slept.
He decided to check out the area that made my cousin Rhonda cry when she saw it on her way home from visiting us. We'd never been there, so it sounded fun. We also drove by Sheridan.. which is where one of the old coaches from Holton lives.. so at some point we'll have to go visit him and his wife.
The drive to Tensleep/ Worland was very scenic. Lots of pines and moutain views. We stopped at a little boat ramp in the national forest for a pit stop, and met a very nice fisherman who showed us his 13 inch cut throat trout. He also caught a lil one while were were there and showed it to Sierra lol.. she didn't know what to make of it. I can't wait to start fishing out here!
The forest opened up and it was absolutely beautiful! I can see what caused the emotional response in my cousin. It was just a really nice canyon area. ....all the canyons are beautiful. I love going through them. Since we were getting home a lot later than expected I made him stop at Arby's for dinner, cuz there was no way I was eating dinner at 10 or 11 at night. They had it uber cold in there, which sucked. There was another couple who were waiting for their food and dolling over Sierra. They were a lil smarter... they ate outside at the picnic table.. it was definetely warmer there.. at least 70 lol.
the rest of the trip was pretty much in the dark, but all area we'd saw before. The rain wasn't tooooo bad in the areas where it would have been bad, and it didn't lightening toooo close anywhere. It was a pretty nice side trip!
Ali and John's visit
Ali and her husband John went on vacation to yellowstone for a few days, and since we live so close we met them and gave them a bit of a tour. For those wondering, Ali used to work with Randal in Holton.
We met them in Cooke City and had lunch at a tiny cafe. It was a charming little place. Randal and I both got a special called the "cheddar bomb burger".. very tasty I might add! Ali and John both said their sandwhiches were good too, a club and prime rib sandwhich. I have no idea what the name of the place is, I'll try to catch the name of it some time.
When my food arrived, the waitress asked if Sierra would come to her so I could eat my lunch. WOW. Of course Sierra was more than willing.. I swear she will go to just about anyone. I'm still adjusting to waitresses takin my kid, but as long as they don't get out of my sight, I am fairly okay with it. I was able to eat my entire burger while Sierra played restaurant princess. It's a little family owned place so she got to meet the whole family...and played shy to the rest of the family lol. She patted the waitresses shoulder while she was being carried around. The other patrons absolutely loved her and asked if she would stay to keep them company lol.
The other cool thing about the restaurant is, they sold wolf charts.. it has pics of all the collared wolves and gives their names and collar numbers. It also tells you all about all the different packs, how many are in there, their colors, approx age, and where they were last known to roam (as of May 9th). 5 bucks well spent when you are a wolf addict like myself! She only had 2 left, so I got lucky!
Then it was off to the park. We gave Ali and John a walkie talkie and we had the other one, so we were able to tell them random stuff, and see what they were interested in doing. We saw a moose early on, but unfortunately weren't able to stop.. in yellowstone you have to pull off the road so that all 4 tires are over the white line.. and there wasn't room for both cars to do so.. since we didn't want to start the day out with a ticket, we carried on. The next big jame was for a single large bull elk. ...not sure why he got such a jam.. we didn't end up stopping for him for the same reason. The next jame was a single big horn ram. there also wasn't room to stop for him either. We pulled off in a pull out next to Baronette Peak.. and talked to a family with a scope and saw a mountain goat.. very cool.. first one of the year. WAY too far away for any of our cameras.. but it was nice to see one anyway.
We went to the grand canyon of the park, and saw both the upper and lower falls, we were going to take them to Uncle Toms trail.. not that I was gonna walk it.. but they were gonna check it out at least..but it was closed due to damaged stairs. ...for those not familiar with uncle tom's trail.. its over 300 steep steps that are basically grates, so you see alllllllllll the way down to the canyon bottom. ...not very nice for anyone scared of heights...or out of shape...or both~!
We also went to Tower falls. The lower view point was washed out, so you couldn't take that trail either.
There was a huuuuuge line for the bathroom at the last waterfall stop, so we went to Canyon..which is a built up area with gift shops, visitor center, lodge, deli, cafeteria, etc.. it took Ali, John and I 3 places before we found an open one.. sheesh! 3rd times a charm I guess lol. Randal said the new visitor center is really nice and has a really cool display about volcanoes and where their ash landed... he said the ash from the last yellowstone erruption about 600 yrs ago buried Kansas in ash.. wow...
We then went to Norris geyser basin. Its not as active as it once was, but its still a nice walk. Steamboat is fun when its in minor erruption mode.. which it was.. it was spitting water up anywhere from 20-50 feet high at times. When it really errupts it goes over 300 feet and can be seen and heard for miles. I'd love to see it go some day.. but that hasn't happened since...may 2005. We were kinda surprised about how some of the pools were empty when just a couple weeks ago they were full. ...perhaps something is happening in the basin. Thats what makes the basin's fun.. they are constantly changing and energy is changing from place to place. Randal said every fall for about a week the basin just goes crazy and all sorts of weird stuff can happen. Looking forward to that!
After that we took them to Mammoth where we got pics and parted ways. On our way home, we could have stopped for a ton of wolf jams and possibly bear jams.. but we knew we were getting home late enough. I got a really good pic of a baby bison, which was really close to the road.. I missed a couple great opportunities.. but my batteries werent fresh enough to be quick enough.
...have I mentioned I love the park??
We met them in Cooke City and had lunch at a tiny cafe. It was a charming little place. Randal and I both got a special called the "cheddar bomb burger".. very tasty I might add! Ali and John both said their sandwhiches were good too, a club and prime rib sandwhich. I have no idea what the name of the place is, I'll try to catch the name of it some time.
When my food arrived, the waitress asked if Sierra would come to her so I could eat my lunch. WOW. Of course Sierra was more than willing.. I swear she will go to just about anyone. I'm still adjusting to waitresses takin my kid, but as long as they don't get out of my sight, I am fairly okay with it. I was able to eat my entire burger while Sierra played restaurant princess. It's a little family owned place so she got to meet the whole family...and played shy to the rest of the family lol. She patted the waitresses shoulder while she was being carried around. The other patrons absolutely loved her and asked if she would stay to keep them company lol.
The other cool thing about the restaurant is, they sold wolf charts.. it has pics of all the collared wolves and gives their names and collar numbers. It also tells you all about all the different packs, how many are in there, their colors, approx age, and where they were last known to roam (as of May 9th). 5 bucks well spent when you are a wolf addict like myself! She only had 2 left, so I got lucky!
Then it was off to the park. We gave Ali and John a walkie talkie and we had the other one, so we were able to tell them random stuff, and see what they were interested in doing. We saw a moose early on, but unfortunately weren't able to stop.. in yellowstone you have to pull off the road so that all 4 tires are over the white line.. and there wasn't room for both cars to do so.. since we didn't want to start the day out with a ticket, we carried on. The next big jame was for a single large bull elk. ...not sure why he got such a jam.. we didn't end up stopping for him for the same reason. The next jame was a single big horn ram. there also wasn't room to stop for him either. We pulled off in a pull out next to Baronette Peak.. and talked to a family with a scope and saw a mountain goat.. very cool.. first one of the year. WAY too far away for any of our cameras.. but it was nice to see one anyway.
We went to the grand canyon of the park, and saw both the upper and lower falls, we were going to take them to Uncle Toms trail.. not that I was gonna walk it.. but they were gonna check it out at least..but it was closed due to damaged stairs. ...for those not familiar with uncle tom's trail.. its over 300 steep steps that are basically grates, so you see alllllllllll the way down to the canyon bottom. ...not very nice for anyone scared of heights...or out of shape...or both~!
We also went to Tower falls. The lower view point was washed out, so you couldn't take that trail either.
There was a huuuuuge line for the bathroom at the last waterfall stop, so we went to Canyon..which is a built up area with gift shops, visitor center, lodge, deli, cafeteria, etc.. it took Ali, John and I 3 places before we found an open one.. sheesh! 3rd times a charm I guess lol. Randal said the new visitor center is really nice and has a really cool display about volcanoes and where their ash landed... he said the ash from the last yellowstone erruption about 600 yrs ago buried Kansas in ash.. wow...
We then went to Norris geyser basin. Its not as active as it once was, but its still a nice walk. Steamboat is fun when its in minor erruption mode.. which it was.. it was spitting water up anywhere from 20-50 feet high at times. When it really errupts it goes over 300 feet and can be seen and heard for miles. I'd love to see it go some day.. but that hasn't happened since...may 2005. We were kinda surprised about how some of the pools were empty when just a couple weeks ago they were full. ...perhaps something is happening in the basin. Thats what makes the basin's fun.. they are constantly changing and energy is changing from place to place. Randal said every fall for about a week the basin just goes crazy and all sorts of weird stuff can happen. Looking forward to that!
After that we took them to Mammoth where we got pics and parted ways. On our way home, we could have stopped for a ton of wolf jams and possibly bear jams.. but we knew we were getting home late enough. I got a really good pic of a baby bison, which was really close to the road.. I missed a couple great opportunities.. but my batteries werent fresh enough to be quick enough.
...have I mentioned I love the park??
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Blackwater Creek trail
Somewhere around the halfway point of the Northfork Rd, which takes you to the east gate of Yellowstone is a Firemans memorial. It also starts you on the trail to get you to a couple trails. Aparently once upon a time you used to be able to drive the two miles to the trail head, but lack of a 4 wheel drive vehicle, it's not all that reccommended today.
The trail starts off on the road you used to take, and currently that you take to get to a place where you can ride horses. The trail starts out over this....(to me at least) ominous looking bridge..it kinda resembles logs cut in half and nailed on either thinner tree branches or possibly 2x4's.. I didn't look at the underside to really know. I just know it didn't feel teh most stable to me, so I didn't like it. The majority of the trail was a gentle grade up the mountain, except for one spot where my lungs and legs were screaming at me.
The thing that sucked about the trail was it wasn't well marked, and there were lots of briars along the side, making it a bad trail to decide to wear shorts on. We saw several mule deer along the way, which is always a fun sight, and much to my delight there were many wildflowers along the way. I haven't compared my pictures to the guide to local wildflowers we have to know what we saw for sure.
There were a few trees fallen across the trail, which made for a fun time going around them. The worst though.. was the swampy sections. We had to rock hop the one time to keep going, which was less than fun... but no one got wet.. at least nothing more than a toe or so. We finally came to a point, where there was a tree or two across the trail that may as well have been saying.. you shall not cross... we didn't see any way around it, at least with me having a day pack and Randal having Sierra in a pack. We turned around and tried looking for the parking lot across the river. I off trailed it to get a better look and found the trail that crosses the creek...which wasn't possible today as it was far too fast moving and deep today. On the way back up, I discovered the actual trail and other than a minor rock hop and some ill placed briars on the only dry spot, it was a far better route than the one I took to get down to the creek.
It was a nice 4 mile round trip hike (or around that anyway).
Apparently the actual trails start around where the tree stopped us.. The one takes you to two very nice memorials to teh firefighters who lost their lives. One sits on the spot where they died, the other stands in the spot where the survivors were rallied to so they would survive. Apparently vandals have destroyed most of the signs and trail markers. What a shame! Randal wants to hike it all the way at some point and possibly get a community service project going to restore the signs and such...it is after all a memorial trail for brave men whom gave their lives many years ago. I guess the actual trail is about 7 miles long.. and fairly strenuous... joy! I don't suppose I'll be seeing it for myself anytime soon..I'm still trying to acclimate myself to teh altitude and trying hard to lose weight so that maybe those longer hikes won't be the death of me.
Even though I didn't like the mud for walking in, it does provide useful information, such as what animals have been in the area.. we saw a partial print of a big cat.. probably a cougar, a possible bear track, and a canine track.. most likely either coyote or someones pet.. although, it was the only time I saw a dog track, and it wasn't going in the right direction to be traveling with people, so I'm thinking its a safe bet it was a coyote.
There were also other signs of wildlife.. lots of little areas dug up a bit. It could be a bear rooting for roots, bulbs and insects.. could have been a badger or wolverine...althought wolverines are extremely rare, digging for bugs.. could have been a coyote scavenging, or any number of other critters.
I enjoyed the hike. Sierra slept through half the hike, and fussed anytime Randal got off trail on the way back lol. We guessed the hike took us about 2 hours. We forgot to check the time when we left and I forgot to grab the cell phone ..which is mostly used as a clock lol.
until next time...
The trail starts off on the road you used to take, and currently that you take to get to a place where you can ride horses. The trail starts out over this....(to me at least) ominous looking bridge..it kinda resembles logs cut in half and nailed on either thinner tree branches or possibly 2x4's.. I didn't look at the underside to really know. I just know it didn't feel teh most stable to me, so I didn't like it. The majority of the trail was a gentle grade up the mountain, except for one spot where my lungs and legs were screaming at me.
The thing that sucked about the trail was it wasn't well marked, and there were lots of briars along the side, making it a bad trail to decide to wear shorts on. We saw several mule deer along the way, which is always a fun sight, and much to my delight there were many wildflowers along the way. I haven't compared my pictures to the guide to local wildflowers we have to know what we saw for sure.
There were a few trees fallen across the trail, which made for a fun time going around them. The worst though.. was the swampy sections. We had to rock hop the one time to keep going, which was less than fun... but no one got wet.. at least nothing more than a toe or so. We finally came to a point, where there was a tree or two across the trail that may as well have been saying.. you shall not cross... we didn't see any way around it, at least with me having a day pack and Randal having Sierra in a pack. We turned around and tried looking for the parking lot across the river. I off trailed it to get a better look and found the trail that crosses the creek...which wasn't possible today as it was far too fast moving and deep today. On the way back up, I discovered the actual trail and other than a minor rock hop and some ill placed briars on the only dry spot, it was a far better route than the one I took to get down to the creek.
It was a nice 4 mile round trip hike (or around that anyway).
Apparently the actual trails start around where the tree stopped us.. The one takes you to two very nice memorials to teh firefighters who lost their lives. One sits on the spot where they died, the other stands in the spot where the survivors were rallied to so they would survive. Apparently vandals have destroyed most of the signs and trail markers. What a shame! Randal wants to hike it all the way at some point and possibly get a community service project going to restore the signs and such...it is after all a memorial trail for brave men whom gave their lives many years ago. I guess the actual trail is about 7 miles long.. and fairly strenuous... joy! I don't suppose I'll be seeing it for myself anytime soon..I'm still trying to acclimate myself to teh altitude and trying hard to lose weight so that maybe those longer hikes won't be the death of me.
Even though I didn't like the mud for walking in, it does provide useful information, such as what animals have been in the area.. we saw a partial print of a big cat.. probably a cougar, a possible bear track, and a canine track.. most likely either coyote or someones pet.. although, it was the only time I saw a dog track, and it wasn't going in the right direction to be traveling with people, so I'm thinking its a safe bet it was a coyote.
There were also other signs of wildlife.. lots of little areas dug up a bit. It could be a bear rooting for roots, bulbs and insects.. could have been a badger or wolverine...althought wolverines are extremely rare, digging for bugs.. could have been a coyote scavenging, or any number of other critters.
I enjoyed the hike. Sierra slept through half the hike, and fussed anytime Randal got off trail on the way back lol. We guessed the hike took us about 2 hours. We forgot to check the time when we left and I forgot to grab the cell phone ..which is mostly used as a clock lol.
until next time...
Monday, May 18, 2009
boredom will get you every time! (catching up still)
A most anticipated time in our move was the friday we were supposed to get our phone, cable and INTERNET... I never realized how truely addicted I was until I had no access to the internet. Three came... then 4.. then 5.. 6..a phone call was made.. no.. you are scheduled for Monday. ...HUH!? Argh. We sat around frustrated and bored the rest of the night, and plotted for what to do with out weekend. We hadn't really set any plans, so I was on Randal's tracfone with mom, when Randal suggested we go to Glacier National park for the weekend on Saturday morning. I've never been there..and have wanted to go there for a long time.. I mean.. who can resist a glacial covered mountain that supposedly has giant grasshoppers embedded in the ice?!
The phone call to mom got cut short, and I was packing away for our trip while Randal kept Sierra occupied. In no time we were ready for our oddessy, and on the road.
We got up to Columbus Montana and Randal showed me a bit of the town where he once lived. As we left to head back on our way we started going up a pretty good mountain grade...and the most god-awful noise was made by the car. I suggested we get to a gas station and check the oil...not 100% sure what was wrong.. but since we barely made it up the hill and couldn't rev the engine without it sounding like it was dying, I knew it wasn't good. We limped back to Columbus to a gas station and put in 2 quarts of oil. It sounded much better after it got running so we thought we were off again.. but this time we were heading back home, because we were pretty sure we didn't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere and weren't sure what was wrong or how much it would cost. We were going along pretty good, when the car made an even worse noise than the last time. We limped to Laurel Montana. We accidently turned a little too quick and the car stalled when we tried to back it up. We knew things weren't looking very good at this point. We got it started again and limped to the gas station, I'm thinking we barely made it. I called AAA and used my road side assistance towing. We hauled it to the chevy dealer just down the road and stayed at the best western across the street. Of course the mechanics had gone home by noon, so we had no way of even thinking about getting it fixed until monday... which is a press run day for Randal, and not optional to miss generally.
I got online and used the walkie talkies to talk to Randal and give him coworkers phone numbers to try to find a ride home, since it's only about an hour and half to laurel. We finally found someone who was home and could give Randal the person's phone number he was looking for. We also found out we had a back up plan at least if she couldnt get us.
Our story made one of his bosses night.. she had a good laugh at our distress. I guess if it didn't suck so bad, we may have too at the time. She told him she'd call back in a bit with a plan. We ordered pizza and hung out at the hotel room waiting for either the pizza or the phone call. At hte very least we had tv, a phone and internet, even if it was just a public use terminal.
She called back and said she had a rental car at the airport in billings waiting for us. ..We just had to get to the airport.. about a half hour away or so. Of course the hotel didnt have a shuttle. Argh. So we knew we'd be getting a Taxi, which didn't sound like the most fun on earth, but oh well.. at least we could get home Sunday.
The pizza showed up, and Sierra was trying hard to help herself. She got little bits of the soft part of the crust and was fairly satisfied. At one point, she tried to get the pizza box which was on a end table between Randal and I. I was engrossed in the tv show for a lil longer than I should have and looked just in time to see her falling off the bed..I caught her before she hit the floor thank god. I felt pretty bad about it for quite a while. I was just thankful she didn;t actually get hurt.
Later just before we went to bed I realized we didn't grab the water for Sierra's bottles in the car. I grumbled but threw shoes on and headed across the street. I got to teh parking lot and was feeling a lil anxious cuz it was fairly dark outside. All of a sudden music started playing softly. I freaked...it felt like a bad horror movie. If I didn't need the water for her bottles so bad I'd probably have ran back across the street screaming like a lil girl lol. I noticed a window partially open in one of the vehicles parked there.. I eyed it warily, not sure if I remembered it being there before. I hurridly grabbed the stuff I needed from teh car and ran back to the hotel whimpering to Randal about the whole thing. I didn't really sleep very well because of it lol.
Randal rode in the taxi the next morning, to get our Rental. About 10 minutes before checkout I started lugging our stuff out to the lobby...which isn't fun when you have an infant in one arm. Randal showed up with the rental shortly after I got the room cleaned out. I made him carry the stuff to the car. On the way home, he told me about the small nitemare at the car rental place. He got there and they didn't have the reservation. Luckily they still had cars, so we got a Chevy Malibu. We discovered we really hate that car. It has a small, high rear view mirror and the seats are set up so its not very easy to get to Sierra to give her toys or a bottle.... you know.. important things to a mom.
Monday came.. and no phone call from the dealership. Tuesday, we called.. ..."um.. well, we need more time.. we're really not sure what is wrong with it. We talked about our options and decided if it was gonna cost more than 2000 we may as well go for a new vehicle as I really doubted his car was worth more than that. We went shopping online and found a couple cars the dealership had on sale and decided that was probably what we were doing. Word came from teh dealership teh next day.. rods and crankshaft.. 2500-3500.. OUCH!! new car! So we fillde out the online app only to discover we hadn't been in town long enough. ugh... So, my dad came to the rescue and cosigned so we could get the car. We did super good. a 2008 chevy Impala it was much cheaper than blue book value.. we got a great deal on it.
I had been planning on saving money for a new car.. I just wasn;t planning on getting one quite so quickly.
Our internet and stuff got connected monday.. we joked with them and asked if they would pay for the car since it was their fault we got bored and killed the car lol. For some reason they didn't think it was their bill. hmmph.. lol.
so, we got a new car to go along with our new life in Wyoming.. it's funny how things tend to work out so nicely sometimes....even if I still havent saw Glacier NP yet.. but have no fear.. I will.
The phone call to mom got cut short, and I was packing away for our trip while Randal kept Sierra occupied. In no time we were ready for our oddessy, and on the road.
We got up to Columbus Montana and Randal showed me a bit of the town where he once lived. As we left to head back on our way we started going up a pretty good mountain grade...and the most god-awful noise was made by the car. I suggested we get to a gas station and check the oil...not 100% sure what was wrong.. but since we barely made it up the hill and couldn't rev the engine without it sounding like it was dying, I knew it wasn't good. We limped back to Columbus to a gas station and put in 2 quarts of oil. It sounded much better after it got running so we thought we were off again.. but this time we were heading back home, because we were pretty sure we didn't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere and weren't sure what was wrong or how much it would cost. We were going along pretty good, when the car made an even worse noise than the last time. We limped to Laurel Montana. We accidently turned a little too quick and the car stalled when we tried to back it up. We knew things weren't looking very good at this point. We got it started again and limped to the gas station, I'm thinking we barely made it. I called AAA and used my road side assistance towing. We hauled it to the chevy dealer just down the road and stayed at the best western across the street. Of course the mechanics had gone home by noon, so we had no way of even thinking about getting it fixed until monday... which is a press run day for Randal, and not optional to miss generally.
I got online and used the walkie talkies to talk to Randal and give him coworkers phone numbers to try to find a ride home, since it's only about an hour and half to laurel. We finally found someone who was home and could give Randal the person's phone number he was looking for. We also found out we had a back up plan at least if she couldnt get us.
Our story made one of his bosses night.. she had a good laugh at our distress. I guess if it didn't suck so bad, we may have too at the time. She told him she'd call back in a bit with a plan. We ordered pizza and hung out at the hotel room waiting for either the pizza or the phone call. At hte very least we had tv, a phone and internet, even if it was just a public use terminal.
She called back and said she had a rental car at the airport in billings waiting for us. ..We just had to get to the airport.. about a half hour away or so. Of course the hotel didnt have a shuttle. Argh. So we knew we'd be getting a Taxi, which didn't sound like the most fun on earth, but oh well.. at least we could get home Sunday.
The pizza showed up, and Sierra was trying hard to help herself. She got little bits of the soft part of the crust and was fairly satisfied. At one point, she tried to get the pizza box which was on a end table between Randal and I. I was engrossed in the tv show for a lil longer than I should have and looked just in time to see her falling off the bed..I caught her before she hit the floor thank god. I felt pretty bad about it for quite a while. I was just thankful she didn;t actually get hurt.
Later just before we went to bed I realized we didn't grab the water for Sierra's bottles in the car. I grumbled but threw shoes on and headed across the street. I got to teh parking lot and was feeling a lil anxious cuz it was fairly dark outside. All of a sudden music started playing softly. I freaked...it felt like a bad horror movie. If I didn't need the water for her bottles so bad I'd probably have ran back across the street screaming like a lil girl lol. I noticed a window partially open in one of the vehicles parked there.. I eyed it warily, not sure if I remembered it being there before. I hurridly grabbed the stuff I needed from teh car and ran back to the hotel whimpering to Randal about the whole thing. I didn't really sleep very well because of it lol.
Randal rode in the taxi the next morning, to get our Rental. About 10 minutes before checkout I started lugging our stuff out to the lobby...which isn't fun when you have an infant in one arm. Randal showed up with the rental shortly after I got the room cleaned out. I made him carry the stuff to the car. On the way home, he told me about the small nitemare at the car rental place. He got there and they didn't have the reservation. Luckily they still had cars, so we got a Chevy Malibu. We discovered we really hate that car. It has a small, high rear view mirror and the seats are set up so its not very easy to get to Sierra to give her toys or a bottle.... you know.. important things to a mom.
Monday came.. and no phone call from the dealership. Tuesday, we called.. ..."um.. well, we need more time.. we're really not sure what is wrong with it. We talked about our options and decided if it was gonna cost more than 2000 we may as well go for a new vehicle as I really doubted his car was worth more than that. We went shopping online and found a couple cars the dealership had on sale and decided that was probably what we were doing. Word came from teh dealership teh next day.. rods and crankshaft.. 2500-3500.. OUCH!! new car! So we fillde out the online app only to discover we hadn't been in town long enough. ugh... So, my dad came to the rescue and cosigned so we could get the car. We did super good. a 2008 chevy Impala it was much cheaper than blue book value.. we got a great deal on it.
I had been planning on saving money for a new car.. I just wasn;t planning on getting one quite so quickly.
Our internet and stuff got connected monday.. we joked with them and asked if they would pay for the car since it was their fault we got bored and killed the car lol. For some reason they didn't think it was their bill. hmmph.. lol.
so, we got a new car to go along with our new life in Wyoming.. it's funny how things tend to work out so nicely sometimes....even if I still havent saw Glacier NP yet.. but have no fear.. I will.
Friday, May 15, 2009
yellowstone may 9 and 10 (trip 5 and 6
Saturday - 09 May 2009
It was bear-fest 2009 (so far) in the park over the weekend. Didn't get into YNP until after 2:00 PM on Saturday due to a lunch stop at the Clarks Fork and Spoon while driving in via the Chief Joseph. Very nice burgers...definitely keeping it on the list of places to stop when hungry.
Bears 1-3 were in the meadow (Round Prairie) just south of the entrance to Pebble Creek...a mom griz and two cubs. The cubs played and tumbled about while mom kept a watchful eye and soaked up the sun. It was a great sight, albeit one that was at the fringe range of our binoculars and well out of the range of my camera. Bear-gers can't be choosers though.
Bear 4 was between the Yellowstone Picnic area and the Yellowstone River bridge near Roosevelt Junction. No binoculars needed...it was just below the road in a small meadow with a herd of 15 or so bison glaring in from the sage. It caused quite the traffic hassle, but was a great view to see the tension between griz and bison (well, the bison were tense...the bear acted like he/she/it could care less).
Bear 5 was a black bear foraging on a hillside above one of the tiny lakes (Blacktail Ponds) on the side of the road between Roosevelt and Mammoth.
We were three and a half hours into the park and had already seen five bears. I don't know if the numbers back me up, but I cannot remember a previous spring in the park where I've seen/just missed seeing so many bears.
Anyhow, we'd decided to "wing it" with the night's plans...considering the time we got into Mammoth, we went down into Gardiner to grab a room and dinner. Took a short late-evening hike from Liberty Cap up the Beaver Pond trail a short ways and then up to the back side of Narrow Gauge Terrace before hooking up with the upper terrace drive and walking back down on the main terrace boardwalks as the sun set. Incidentally, if anyone else has taken this trail...just before you reach Narrow Gauge, there's a grade that heads down toward Mammoth that looks like it was as old trail or, from the width, possibly a road. I'm not aware of any routes that ran this way, but given the proximity to the Eaton and Bathtub Spring I'm curious about it's origins. The route was actually grown over by Narrow Gauge and the route above that was harder to follow via eyeball, but it appeared to trace the hillside, possibly linking in with the upper terrace drive in the New Highland Terrace region...it was getting dark so I wasn't able to sniff around as much as I wanted.
Sunday - 10 May 2009
The little one decided wake-up call was 6:00 AM...I was okay with it, but I think mom wasn't too keen on how Mother's Day started out.
After a breakfast at the Mine in Gardiner, we went back to the terraces. On an earlier trip to Yellowstone this spring we'd heard rumblings that a couple black bears had been frequenting the upper terrace area during the early morning hours. Since it was early morning and we'd seen five bears the day before...hey, why not? Surprisingly, no bears. It was fun to see the difference in coloration on the terraces from twilight the previous night to early sun in the morning.
Bear 6 for the weekend was actually between Mammoth and Norris and gave me the first opportunity to witness my first incidence of touronism in '09...a couple photographers determined to ignore the 100-yard rule and wander through the trees toward the griz because taking the clear shots from the road were obviously too blase.
We stopped at Norris to wander the back basin. It's always been one of my favorite places in the park...not sure why. Maybe because I get the same thrill standing by Steamboat that I do when I buy a lottery ticket -- hey, lightning might strike. Unfortunately, my luck with Steamboat matched my luck in Powerball and all I got was a few splashes. Better luck next time...
The rest of the trek through the basin was pretty ordinary...some small splashers, nothing dramatic. I always feel nostalgic walking past Echinus remembering many picnic lunches devoured at its side waiting for eruptions. Hopefully future generations will get to see it play in brilliant fashion like I remember, but if there's one truth in Yellowstone, and especially in Norris, it is that change is constant.
From Norris we rode without incident toward Old Faithful with a brief pause to honor an age-old tradition of sitting at the Flood Geyser overlook and watching an eruption. We waited for a chilly half an hour with the wind blowing down the valley. A river otter swimming in the Firehole behind the geyser and an osprey swooping down to pick up a fish before soaring off kept us occupied while waiting for the eruption.
At Old Faithful, I delivered the Mother's Day lunch I promised my wife in the lodge...the first time she'd witnessed the inside of the Lodge. I don't know how she felt, but I'm always awed looking up at the ceiling whenever I pass through the entryway. After food and some shopping in the gift shop (attention...if you've authored a cookbook about the west, my wife is easy money...), it was time to walk the basin...we'd been here opening weekend, but the walks were still mostly snow-covered and it was just too cold for the little one so we'd retreated after an eruption of Old Faithful and a quick skim of Geyser Hill.
This time we went straight for Grand, determined to hit the part of the basin we hadn't seen on opening weekend. We found out Grand had just entered its 4-hour eruption window. I know Grand sometimes erupts early in its window, but I've never seen it go in the first hour, so we decided we'd risk it and head down to Morning Glory and back. The Giant platform was playing with some vigor...Grotto Fountain (I think...) had an eruption as we approached. Took a moment to admire Norris Pool, another favorite place for some reason as I have seen it go from muddy area to bubbling mud pot to muddy geyser to the clear pool it is today in my lifetime.
Got back to Grand just before the mid-point of its window and lucked out that it hadn't erupted yet. The hillside marmots made the three Turban cycles before eruption pass fairly quickly and we were treated to a nice eruption of Grand with one re-start. Even the 8-month-old ooh'd and ahhh'd and bounced at its bursts.
While a lot of the Grand crowd headed down basin to begin the sit on Riverside, we went the other way as we'd decided it was time to head back home. The drive over the Divide and around West Thumb was without wildlife. A bald eagle just past Steamboat Point brought a momentary pause and then it was up and over Sylvan and down the North Fork to home.
It was bear-fest 2009 (so far) in the park over the weekend. Didn't get into YNP until after 2:00 PM on Saturday due to a lunch stop at the Clarks Fork and Spoon while driving in via the Chief Joseph. Very nice burgers...definitely keeping it on the list of places to stop when hungry.
Bears 1-3 were in the meadow (Round Prairie) just south of the entrance to Pebble Creek...a mom griz and two cubs. The cubs played and tumbled about while mom kept a watchful eye and soaked up the sun. It was a great sight, albeit one that was at the fringe range of our binoculars and well out of the range of my camera. Bear-gers can't be choosers though.
Bear 4 was between the Yellowstone Picnic area and the Yellowstone River bridge near Roosevelt Junction. No binoculars needed...it was just below the road in a small meadow with a herd of 15 or so bison glaring in from the sage. It caused quite the traffic hassle, but was a great view to see the tension between griz and bison (well, the bison were tense...the bear acted like he/she/it could care less).
Bear 5 was a black bear foraging on a hillside above one of the tiny lakes (Blacktail Ponds) on the side of the road between Roosevelt and Mammoth.
We were three and a half hours into the park and had already seen five bears. I don't know if the numbers back me up, but I cannot remember a previous spring in the park where I've seen/just missed seeing so many bears.
Anyhow, we'd decided to "wing it" with the night's plans...considering the time we got into Mammoth, we went down into Gardiner to grab a room and dinner. Took a short late-evening hike from Liberty Cap up the Beaver Pond trail a short ways and then up to the back side of Narrow Gauge Terrace before hooking up with the upper terrace drive and walking back down on the main terrace boardwalks as the sun set. Incidentally, if anyone else has taken this trail...just before you reach Narrow Gauge, there's a grade that heads down toward Mammoth that looks like it was as old trail or, from the width, possibly a road. I'm not aware of any routes that ran this way, but given the proximity to the Eaton and Bathtub Spring I'm curious about it's origins. The route was actually grown over by Narrow Gauge and the route above that was harder to follow via eyeball, but it appeared to trace the hillside, possibly linking in with the upper terrace drive in the New Highland Terrace region...it was getting dark so I wasn't able to sniff around as much as I wanted.
Sunday - 10 May 2009
The little one decided wake-up call was 6:00 AM...I was okay with it, but I think mom wasn't too keen on how Mother's Day started out.
After a breakfast at the Mine in Gardiner, we went back to the terraces. On an earlier trip to Yellowstone this spring we'd heard rumblings that a couple black bears had been frequenting the upper terrace area during the early morning hours. Since it was early morning and we'd seen five bears the day before...hey, why not? Surprisingly, no bears. It was fun to see the difference in coloration on the terraces from twilight the previous night to early sun in the morning.
Bear 6 for the weekend was actually between Mammoth and Norris and gave me the first opportunity to witness my first incidence of touronism in '09...a couple photographers determined to ignore the 100-yard rule and wander through the trees toward the griz because taking the clear shots from the road were obviously too blase.
We stopped at Norris to wander the back basin. It's always been one of my favorite places in the park...not sure why. Maybe because I get the same thrill standing by Steamboat that I do when I buy a lottery ticket -- hey, lightning might strike. Unfortunately, my luck with Steamboat matched my luck in Powerball and all I got was a few splashes. Better luck next time...
The rest of the trek through the basin was pretty ordinary...some small splashers, nothing dramatic. I always feel nostalgic walking past Echinus remembering many picnic lunches devoured at its side waiting for eruptions. Hopefully future generations will get to see it play in brilliant fashion like I remember, but if there's one truth in Yellowstone, and especially in Norris, it is that change is constant.
From Norris we rode without incident toward Old Faithful with a brief pause to honor an age-old tradition of sitting at the Flood Geyser overlook and watching an eruption. We waited for a chilly half an hour with the wind blowing down the valley. A river otter swimming in the Firehole behind the geyser and an osprey swooping down to pick up a fish before soaring off kept us occupied while waiting for the eruption.
At Old Faithful, I delivered the Mother's Day lunch I promised my wife in the lodge...the first time she'd witnessed the inside of the Lodge. I don't know how she felt, but I'm always awed looking up at the ceiling whenever I pass through the entryway. After food and some shopping in the gift shop (attention...if you've authored a cookbook about the west, my wife is easy money...), it was time to walk the basin...we'd been here opening weekend, but the walks were still mostly snow-covered and it was just too cold for the little one so we'd retreated after an eruption of Old Faithful and a quick skim of Geyser Hill.
This time we went straight for Grand, determined to hit the part of the basin we hadn't seen on opening weekend. We found out Grand had just entered its 4-hour eruption window. I know Grand sometimes erupts early in its window, but I've never seen it go in the first hour, so we decided we'd risk it and head down to Morning Glory and back. The Giant platform was playing with some vigor...Grotto Fountain (I think...) had an eruption as we approached. Took a moment to admire Norris Pool, another favorite place for some reason as I have seen it go from muddy area to bubbling mud pot to muddy geyser to the clear pool it is today in my lifetime.
Got back to Grand just before the mid-point of its window and lucked out that it hadn't erupted yet. The hillside marmots made the three Turban cycles before eruption pass fairly quickly and we were treated to a nice eruption of Grand with one re-start. Even the 8-month-old ooh'd and ahhh'd and bounced at its bursts.
While a lot of the Grand crowd headed down basin to begin the sit on Riverside, we went the other way as we'd decided it was time to head back home. The drive over the Divide and around West Thumb was without wildlife. A bald eagle just past Steamboat Point brought a momentary pause and then it was up and over Sylvan and down the North Fork to home.
catching up a bit--yellowstone
I really have some work to do catching up here! We have already taken trip 7! Admittedly, I'm never going to remember some of the first trips, and in some ways probably won't remember which trip we did what, sooo... with that in mind.. keep an open mind that my memory sucks and I'll do my best lol! actually... I may steal randals trip logs from his yellowstone site trip reports.. ...at least then you will get more accurate info.. it just wont have that personal feel I would give it, since it's not a post he wrote for family and friends, but an informational report.
so.,.. I'll post them from what he's written.. and maybe add some commentary later =)
so.,.. I'll post them from what he's written.. and maybe add some commentary later =)
catching up a bit --wild horse range
I'm not even going to try to get things right in a time line right now.. If Randal wants to.. more power to him lol.. I am doing well remembering how the trip yesterday went!
With that being said... I will attempt to catch you up on a few things we've had going on out here.
There is certainly nothing lacking in the things to do or places to explore dept of Wyoming, and really in our immediate area. After begging a lil Randal finally took me out to the Pryor Mountain Horse Range. IT wasn't that he didn't want to go, but unbeknownst to me, there are roads that are not exactly maintained in Wyoming, so it is always good to know what the conditions of the roads are out here. Part of the horse range is on a road that is suggested to only be driven on by 4 wheel drive vehicles with tough sidewalls.. who would have guessed!!
We finally discovered that there was a road that we could take, so our adventure began. The pryors are a bit of a smaller range, but still mountains.. not to be confused with things a few other states try to pawn off as mountains lol. The wild horse range is in part of the big horn resevior (sp?) For anyone thinking of visiting, it's 5 dollars, unless you have a interagency pass which gets you into any federal land. We drove down all the roads, and discovered a HUGE ..and I do mean HUGE lake! I think its about 70 acres long and really deep. It has just about any fish you could imagine...definetely drool worthy to fishermen! There was also a really nice view, pretty scenery.
We ended up going on a mile long hike a lil farther down the road. IT was the stateline trail.. the border of Montana and Wyoming meet there. It was a desert like trail that warned of rattlesnakes.. which we really didn't need to worry about too much since it wasn't really warm enough out yet. Sierra enjoyed riding on our shoulders for the trail and often tried to get us to giddy-up lol. I didn't take the entire trail, I probably stopped about a quarter mile shy of the end because the landscape wasn't exactly friendly for carrying Sierra. The view was really pretty, overlooking a canyon. Randal went the distance and took a pic of the end of the trail. I missed a lil scenery, but not enough to justify the risk it would have entailed since we didn't have our back pack yet.
From there we went down another turn off.. and were just in complete awe.. There was a huge canyon that just seemed to pop out of no where. We watched a golden eagle soar below. The river was a beautiful shade of green. Had I not saw a wild horse, I wouldn't have felt cheated.
We kept driving, and finally found a single horse. It was much too far away to get a photo of. After a little more driving, we finally found a small herd of about 7 horses. We noticed 2 pregnant mares and made a note to come back a little later in spring to see the foals. We snapped a few pics, although nothing was really close enough to get a great picture. It was great just watching them though.
We kept going and due to needing a pit stop found an old cabin. I briefly peeked at it from a short distance. We decided we'd check it out on another trip.
The road turned to dirt shortly after the cabin turn off, so we turned around since we definetely don't have a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The horses were a bit closer on the way back, and we snapped a few more pics. Still nothing to really write home about.
We stopped at the visitor center on teh way back, and met a presumably lonely ranger who was very talkative. He was very imformative..to teh point of telling a HUGE story when a simple 1 sentence answer would have done the job lol. It was alright though. We got a couple books including a really yummy recipe book. One our our books was free simply for spending more than 25 dollars. It is very imformative about the big horn rec area.
We've been back to the horse range several times now. Both foals are now born, and we've saw as many as about 10 or 11 horses now. It's still just a small herd compared to the 200 or so that roam the pryors. Occassionally they cooperate and get fairly close, but most of the time they don't. We have always saw horses, even if they aren't close enough to do much.
We took another trail to an old ranch site/ town. It was kinda interesting. The down side was when we got home I found a tick on Sierra. Luckily it hadn't attached itself yet.
With that being said... I will attempt to catch you up on a few things we've had going on out here.
There is certainly nothing lacking in the things to do or places to explore dept of Wyoming, and really in our immediate area. After begging a lil Randal finally took me out to the Pryor Mountain Horse Range. IT wasn't that he didn't want to go, but unbeknownst to me, there are roads that are not exactly maintained in Wyoming, so it is always good to know what the conditions of the roads are out here. Part of the horse range is on a road that is suggested to only be driven on by 4 wheel drive vehicles with tough sidewalls.. who would have guessed!!
We finally discovered that there was a road that we could take, so our adventure began. The pryors are a bit of a smaller range, but still mountains.. not to be confused with things a few other states try to pawn off as mountains lol. The wild horse range is in part of the big horn resevior (sp?) For anyone thinking of visiting, it's 5 dollars, unless you have a interagency pass which gets you into any federal land. We drove down all the roads, and discovered a HUGE ..and I do mean HUGE lake! I think its about 70 acres long and really deep. It has just about any fish you could imagine...definetely drool worthy to fishermen! There was also a really nice view, pretty scenery.
We ended up going on a mile long hike a lil farther down the road. IT was the stateline trail.. the border of Montana and Wyoming meet there. It was a desert like trail that warned of rattlesnakes.. which we really didn't need to worry about too much since it wasn't really warm enough out yet. Sierra enjoyed riding on our shoulders for the trail and often tried to get us to giddy-up lol. I didn't take the entire trail, I probably stopped about a quarter mile shy of the end because the landscape wasn't exactly friendly for carrying Sierra. The view was really pretty, overlooking a canyon. Randal went the distance and took a pic of the end of the trail. I missed a lil scenery, but not enough to justify the risk it would have entailed since we didn't have our back pack yet.
From there we went down another turn off.. and were just in complete awe.. There was a huge canyon that just seemed to pop out of no where. We watched a golden eagle soar below. The river was a beautiful shade of green. Had I not saw a wild horse, I wouldn't have felt cheated.
We kept driving, and finally found a single horse. It was much too far away to get a photo of. After a little more driving, we finally found a small herd of about 7 horses. We noticed 2 pregnant mares and made a note to come back a little later in spring to see the foals. We snapped a few pics, although nothing was really close enough to get a great picture. It was great just watching them though.
We kept going and due to needing a pit stop found an old cabin. I briefly peeked at it from a short distance. We decided we'd check it out on another trip.
The road turned to dirt shortly after the cabin turn off, so we turned around since we definetely don't have a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The horses were a bit closer on the way back, and we snapped a few more pics. Still nothing to really write home about.
We stopped at the visitor center on teh way back, and met a presumably lonely ranger who was very talkative. He was very imformative..to teh point of telling a HUGE story when a simple 1 sentence answer would have done the job lol. It was alright though. We got a couple books including a really yummy recipe book. One our our books was free simply for spending more than 25 dollars. It is very imformative about the big horn rec area.
We've been back to the horse range several times now. Both foals are now born, and we've saw as many as about 10 or 11 horses now. It's still just a small herd compared to the 200 or so that roam the pryors. Occassionally they cooperate and get fairly close, but most of the time they don't. We have always saw horses, even if they aren't close enough to do much.
We took another trail to an old ranch site/ town. It was kinda interesting. The down side was when we got home I found a tick on Sierra. Luckily it hadn't attached itself yet.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Waitress...check...er... my kid please!!
...first off.. I'll be honest.. I don't remember things in sequence at this point, so I'm adding stuff at random for a while, stories that demand to be shared, awesome adventures, crazy times, all that sorta stuff. so.. bear with me till I/ we get caught up lol.
During one of our first nights in town we went into Cody to have a decent dinner. More or less to celebrate getting an apartment, and starting a new life so to speak, in a place we both love. We found this historic looking place called the Irma.
The Irma is very cool. ...and very historical. It is a hotel and restaurant that Buffalo Bill Cody owned. The bar is still the original, and is very awesome looking. I haven't ventured past the restaurant and bathroom, but what little I have saw, its a very cool place and I highly reccommend it.
The waitresses couldn't get enough of Sierra. They kept coming over and dolling all over her. She of course was soaking it up in true Sierra fashion.
We had a great meal, and a really good time. We felt very welcome to the community.
fast forward several weeks later. We we're already in town possibly for a sporting event capped off with a drive up the north fork road. By the time we got back it was about 7:30 and we both were hungry for some good prime rib, which the Irma claims to have the best in teh west.. I'm not sure it's the best in the west.. but its very good... trust me.. I'm not a prime rib fan.. but I like it!
sadly the buffet was closed, but we still found good food. I had a barbeque special and he got meat loaf. While we were eating, Sierra was getting lil morsels of food like mashed potatoes, bits of bread, stuff liek that. The staff had dolled on her a bit but nothin too major at this point. We were just finishing up our meal when one of the staff came over and scooped her out of her booster seat and was carrying her around the restaurant. I was a bit nervous to say the least and kept an eagle eye on her. I was ready to pounce for the kill if need be. She took her past every table, and every single person told Sierra how cute she was....she is going to be so conceited by the time she is 3 lol. Sierra enjoyed playing at the mirror behind the bar. ..She loves mirrors.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only 5 minutes tops in reality, she returned Sierra to us. I'm not sure what nationality she was, but she had a very cool accent when she was talking to us and Sierra. Sierra tried to steal her necklace, but wasn't able to.
I'm slowly getting used to people being super friendly out here. I'm definetely not used to this at all. It's kinda cool, but really nerve wracking too. I'm pretty sure come summer she won't be taking my kid for a walk around the place...but when there was only 5 other people in the place it wasn't tooooo bad.
During one of our first nights in town we went into Cody to have a decent dinner. More or less to celebrate getting an apartment, and starting a new life so to speak, in a place we both love. We found this historic looking place called the Irma.
The Irma is very cool. ...and very historical. It is a hotel and restaurant that Buffalo Bill Cody owned. The bar is still the original, and is very awesome looking. I haven't ventured past the restaurant and bathroom, but what little I have saw, its a very cool place and I highly reccommend it.
The waitresses couldn't get enough of Sierra. They kept coming over and dolling all over her. She of course was soaking it up in true Sierra fashion.
We had a great meal, and a really good time. We felt very welcome to the community.
fast forward several weeks later. We we're already in town possibly for a sporting event capped off with a drive up the north fork road. By the time we got back it was about 7:30 and we both were hungry for some good prime rib, which the Irma claims to have the best in teh west.. I'm not sure it's the best in the west.. but its very good... trust me.. I'm not a prime rib fan.. but I like it!
sadly the buffet was closed, but we still found good food. I had a barbeque special and he got meat loaf. While we were eating, Sierra was getting lil morsels of food like mashed potatoes, bits of bread, stuff liek that. The staff had dolled on her a bit but nothin too major at this point. We were just finishing up our meal when one of the staff came over and scooped her out of her booster seat and was carrying her around the restaurant. I was a bit nervous to say the least and kept an eagle eye on her. I was ready to pounce for the kill if need be. She took her past every table, and every single person told Sierra how cute she was....she is going to be so conceited by the time she is 3 lol. Sierra enjoyed playing at the mirror behind the bar. ..She loves mirrors.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only 5 minutes tops in reality, she returned Sierra to us. I'm not sure what nationality she was, but she had a very cool accent when she was talking to us and Sierra. Sierra tried to steal her necklace, but wasn't able to.
I'm slowly getting used to people being super friendly out here. I'm definetely not used to this at all. It's kinda cool, but really nerve wracking too. I'm pretty sure come summer she won't be taking my kid for a walk around the place...but when there was only 5 other people in the place it wasn't tooooo bad.
Monday, May 4, 2009
yellowstone via the east entrance
May 1st marked teh openeding of the east entrance, which of course meant Sunday we packed a cooler with food and drinks, loaded the car with all teh essentials one needs for the park-- bear spray, the backpack to carry Sierra in on hikes, layers of clothing for the different temperatures of the park, cameras and binoculars.
Before we ever got to the park the drive up the North Fork Rd was very kind in giving us ample wildlife opportunities. We watched several bighorns bouncing around on the side of a mountain, while a larger herd of them crossed the road in front of us. Farther down the road we watched two male and one female bald eagle ...we presume they were feeding on a carcass, but we were too far away to know for sure. We would have watched longer, except 3 young men who had stopped next to us for a few minutes soon chased the majestic birds off in an attempt to satisfy their curiosity.
It was a rather chilly morning, and between the cold and the chocolate milk I had for breakfast it wasn't long before I was dancing in my seat looking for the first available bathroom. I'd leave this out normally, but I feel I am doing a public service announcement for you all here... After a 11 can long line to get into the park, which seemed like it took forever.. and ironically enough.. there was only one vehicle behind us in line..ugh! ...anyway, there were pit bathrooms just past the entrance stations. Beggars can't be choosers, especially at this time of the year. Now here comes the part you all need to take notes on. Apparently the NPS likes to play a cruel joke in the winter/ spring. You see, the roofs tend to be cracked from the long, cold winters, and while they make an attempt (I think..) to caulk the cracks... there are strategically placed water droplets. ..lemme tell ya... it was a very glacial good morning I recieved. I certainly wasn't expecting it, but when the cold water made contact with my skin, I was definetely awake!
After complaining about their sense of humor, we were on our way again. We worried a little about their signs that suggested snow tires or chains, but figured maybe they just forgot to take down the signs, or that they really do have a warped sense of humor. The roads were all defintely passable where they let you go through, although some of it was less than fun. The scariest section was in an avalanche zone. The snow was plowed above the tops of vehicles, and you could see in various places where there were mini avalanches, and snow that had fallen making snowballs ...building a snowman would have been easy if you could have reached any of them without causing an avalanche!
We were in winter for a while, and as we were driving, we found a pull off with several cars, spotting scopes, cameras and a ranger.. usually a good sign of something really cool. It was an otter playing in the river. Definetely not what we were expecting, but very cool indeed. The thing we learned about this experience... otters look a lot like the loch ness monster when they are playing in the river, and they are also incredibly hard to get a good shot of! They are very cute though! ...I also realized just how much I really want the monster lens I saw on Amazon.com for 250. After watching him for a while, and after Randal finished talking to the Ranger, we moved on again. We saw teh normal critters, elk, bison and deer. Even saw teh first baby bison in the park. We found a place that had a ton of vehicles, people, cameras, binoculars, etc.. and several rangers.. we had the window down just in time to hear the ranger tellin the people next to her that there was a bear down there and they didn't know where it went, and if it pops out right here.. we are WAY too close. That was all we needed to hear. several seconds later we were pulled over, parked, and checking things out. The black bear never showed itself to us, it stayed hidden under the boardwalk for the terrace of Mamoth. ...Foiled again. Were were told of grizzly bears, black bears with cubs, and wolves all that we had apparently missed as well.
We went to Artists point to see the waterfall and we were gonna have lunch there when I realized I forgot to pack the bread for sandwhiches. argh. We decided we'd buy a loaf at the Canyon store since it wasn;'t too far away. The ice formations around the falls was pretty awesome.
We headed to Canyon and walked around the store, only to discover they didn't have any decent shirts for Sierra, and they didnt have any bread. We considered getting some hot food from the snack bar, until we saw 5.50 for a hot dog! I expect to pay a lil more for food there, but holy cow, thats highway robbery!
WE had lunchmeat and cheese rolls instead haha. Improvise when you have to! We hiked a little at the mud volcano area, but it started snowing and sleeting. It did the same thing to us at the waterfalls.
We also stopped at undine falls, a very nice little waterfall that I dont think I'd saw before. I was treated to an elk on the other side of the river, looking down teh canyon. I didn't really have enough of a lens for the shot, but I took a picture anyway.
We were a fraction of a minute too late (during a pretty good wet snow downpour) to see a bear AND a wolf in the same location. I'm almost not sure I'm sorry we missed that one.
We went home via cooke city and the chief Joseph scenic highway. We discovered a very important piece of information... Cooke City raised their gas by about 20-40 cents a gallon since Thursday!
talk about price gouging just cuz tourist season has begun!
The drive home was fairly uneventful, we saw lots of mule deer and elk, and drove through rain and mist most of the way. Which I might add is far better than snow.
I'm sure I missed a few things here and there.. but Randal can fill you in if I missed anything super important. For now, it's late. I promise to update this more often very soon. I will be done with college for the semester soon, so I can put more effort into this!
Before we ever got to the park the drive up the North Fork Rd was very kind in giving us ample wildlife opportunities. We watched several bighorns bouncing around on the side of a mountain, while a larger herd of them crossed the road in front of us. Farther down the road we watched two male and one female bald eagle ...we presume they were feeding on a carcass, but we were too far away to know for sure. We would have watched longer, except 3 young men who had stopped next to us for a few minutes soon chased the majestic birds off in an attempt to satisfy their curiosity.
It was a rather chilly morning, and between the cold and the chocolate milk I had for breakfast it wasn't long before I was dancing in my seat looking for the first available bathroom. I'd leave this out normally, but I feel I am doing a public service announcement for you all here... After a 11 can long line to get into the park, which seemed like it took forever.. and ironically enough.. there was only one vehicle behind us in line..ugh! ...anyway, there were pit bathrooms just past the entrance stations. Beggars can't be choosers, especially at this time of the year. Now here comes the part you all need to take notes on. Apparently the NPS likes to play a cruel joke in the winter/ spring. You see, the roofs tend to be cracked from the long, cold winters, and while they make an attempt (I think..) to caulk the cracks... there are strategically placed water droplets. ..lemme tell ya... it was a very glacial good morning I recieved. I certainly wasn't expecting it, but when the cold water made contact with my skin, I was definetely awake!
After complaining about their sense of humor, we were on our way again. We worried a little about their signs that suggested snow tires or chains, but figured maybe they just forgot to take down the signs, or that they really do have a warped sense of humor. The roads were all defintely passable where they let you go through, although some of it was less than fun. The scariest section was in an avalanche zone. The snow was plowed above the tops of vehicles, and you could see in various places where there were mini avalanches, and snow that had fallen making snowballs ...building a snowman would have been easy if you could have reached any of them without causing an avalanche!
We were in winter for a while, and as we were driving, we found a pull off with several cars, spotting scopes, cameras and a ranger.. usually a good sign of something really cool. It was an otter playing in the river. Definetely not what we were expecting, but very cool indeed. The thing we learned about this experience... otters look a lot like the loch ness monster when they are playing in the river, and they are also incredibly hard to get a good shot of! They are very cute though! ...I also realized just how much I really want the monster lens I saw on Amazon.com for 250. After watching him for a while, and after Randal finished talking to the Ranger, we moved on again. We saw teh normal critters, elk, bison and deer. Even saw teh first baby bison in the park. We found a place that had a ton of vehicles, people, cameras, binoculars, etc.. and several rangers.. we had the window down just in time to hear the ranger tellin the people next to her that there was a bear down there and they didn't know where it went, and if it pops out right here.. we are WAY too close. That was all we needed to hear. several seconds later we were pulled over, parked, and checking things out. The black bear never showed itself to us, it stayed hidden under the boardwalk for the terrace of Mamoth. ...Foiled again. Were were told of grizzly bears, black bears with cubs, and wolves all that we had apparently missed as well.
We went to Artists point to see the waterfall and we were gonna have lunch there when I realized I forgot to pack the bread for sandwhiches. argh. We decided we'd buy a loaf at the Canyon store since it wasn;'t too far away. The ice formations around the falls was pretty awesome.
We headed to Canyon and walked around the store, only to discover they didn't have any decent shirts for Sierra, and they didnt have any bread. We considered getting some hot food from the snack bar, until we saw 5.50 for a hot dog! I expect to pay a lil more for food there, but holy cow, thats highway robbery!
WE had lunchmeat and cheese rolls instead haha. Improvise when you have to! We hiked a little at the mud volcano area, but it started snowing and sleeting. It did the same thing to us at the waterfalls.
We also stopped at undine falls, a very nice little waterfall that I dont think I'd saw before. I was treated to an elk on the other side of the river, looking down teh canyon. I didn't really have enough of a lens for the shot, but I took a picture anyway.
We were a fraction of a minute too late (during a pretty good wet snow downpour) to see a bear AND a wolf in the same location. I'm almost not sure I'm sorry we missed that one.
We went home via cooke city and the chief Joseph scenic highway. We discovered a very important piece of information... Cooke City raised their gas by about 20-40 cents a gallon since Thursday!
talk about price gouging just cuz tourist season has begun!
The drive home was fairly uneventful, we saw lots of mule deer and elk, and drove through rain and mist most of the way. Which I might add is far better than snow.
I'm sure I missed a few things here and there.. but Randal can fill you in if I missed anything super important. For now, it's late. I promise to update this more often very soon. I will be done with college for the semester soon, so I can put more effort into this!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
... and so the journy begins
Randal and I had talked quite a while about wanting to start a blog about life in Wyoming. I don't knoiw if it's that we get busy with other things and forget, ...you know... things like going out and exploring the wilds looking for "teddy bears" and stuff, or if we just get caught up in normal routine things like our daughter, work and school. I figure if I start it, he'll jump in and start typing stuff up when he has free time.
Since we wanted to write this about our experiences, I guess I'll start at the very beginning. I can't promise it will all be in chronological order for a while, but once this gets caught up it should be for the most part. ...and now.. on to the story..
The finishing process of packing on the last day was less than fun and more overwhelming than we anticipated. Sierra wasn't cooperating very much, I would guess she didn't understand what was going on and needed comforted. We finally called for backup, because we knew it was either ask for help, or head out by ourselves... and while driving the moving van wouldn't have been all that bad for Randal, driving by myself with Sierra would have sucked, because she wanted fed the exact moment she decided she was hungry. Liz and her daughter Maggie and son Ben came over to save us. Ben just kinda played and "helped" in his unique way, which was mostly doing his own thing, fighting with Maggie, and occassionally doing what a 5 or 6 yr old can do best... get in the way, while having the best of intentions. Don't get me wrong, I more than appreciated their help, even Ben's. He kept Sierra occupied occassionally, and Maggie took over most of the rest of the time. Liz was a godsend! She cleaned while we packed the truck, and we finished a lot faster than we ever would have, plus, the house was a lot cleaner than it would have been. ..hrmm.. now that I think about it I think we still need to contact Dee... lol.
We headed to Nebraska where Randals parents live. I got to meet his brother, sister-in-law and neice, and see his parents again, it was nice, although very late, so we didn't get to spend as much time as any of us would have liked. His neice wasn't thrilled about sharing grandma with Sierra.. which was to be expected, it was actually kinda cute seeing her act jealous of teh new comer on her turf. I can't wait to see Sierra's reaction to her cousin in July, because she now LOVES babies, and kids... and Z is only a year older than her.
Randal showed me around his old hometown the next morning before we headed out. His dad drove the moving van and his mom drove their car, while we rode in our car as a family. We putzed as much as we dared taking in a bunch of sites and treated it similar to a vacation. Our first stop was Cabelas in Sidney. I looked for some of my old co-workers, but since it was noon, they were all on lunch. I was disappointed. Sierra enjoyed the aquarium, and she made friends (as usual) everywhere we went...including a group of older ladies at Perkins where we had lunch. One of them even gave her a kiss on the cheek...I'm slowly getting used to this type of thing which seems to be much more common out this way. We stayed in Casper, but I wasn't feeling well at all so we didn't get to visit Randal's friend that lives there. I actually felt like I was going to pass out again, I didn't thank goodness.. but I felt like it for a while.
We also stopped at the dinosaur museum in Thermopolis, which was incredibly cool. A must see if you have never been there!
When we got to Powell we were shocked that his parents beat us there...ooooops! I was sad that there was a winter storm approaching, so they had to leave right away. I was really hoping to get to spend a lil more time with them, and especially for his parents to spend more time with Sierra. Unfortunately, life doesn't always go according to plan. ...on a side note, it was a good thing they left when they did as the storm shut down the majority of highways in Wyoming. ...us.. well, it was a dusting while the rest of the state got about a foot of snow.. I won't complain about a dusting lol.
The people at Super 8 were awesome. The asst manager gave sierra a book, they gave us a discount because we had to stay much longer than anticipated, and they were just really friendly and accomodating. Several days into the stay I discovered I had internet in the room, and not just in the lobby.. woooo! Then much to my dismay, the internet went out everywhere for a day.
We finally got all the paperwork taken care of and got into our apt. a cozy 2 bedroom apt, with lots of closet and cupboard space! Randals co-workers helped unload the truck, and his boss bought us a pizza for dinner that night. They are awesome people!!
...I'm gonna end the story here for now because Sierra is wanting to cuddle before a nap and 1 handed blogging isn't fun.
Since we wanted to write this about our experiences, I guess I'll start at the very beginning. I can't promise it will all be in chronological order for a while, but once this gets caught up it should be for the most part. ...and now.. on to the story..
The finishing process of packing on the last day was less than fun and more overwhelming than we anticipated. Sierra wasn't cooperating very much, I would guess she didn't understand what was going on and needed comforted. We finally called for backup, because we knew it was either ask for help, or head out by ourselves... and while driving the moving van wouldn't have been all that bad for Randal, driving by myself with Sierra would have sucked, because she wanted fed the exact moment she decided she was hungry. Liz and her daughter Maggie and son Ben came over to save us. Ben just kinda played and "helped" in his unique way, which was mostly doing his own thing, fighting with Maggie, and occassionally doing what a 5 or 6 yr old can do best... get in the way, while having the best of intentions. Don't get me wrong, I more than appreciated their help, even Ben's. He kept Sierra occupied occassionally, and Maggie took over most of the rest of the time. Liz was a godsend! She cleaned while we packed the truck, and we finished a lot faster than we ever would have, plus, the house was a lot cleaner than it would have been. ..hrmm.. now that I think about it I think we still need to contact Dee... lol.
We headed to Nebraska where Randals parents live. I got to meet his brother, sister-in-law and neice, and see his parents again, it was nice, although very late, so we didn't get to spend as much time as any of us would have liked. His neice wasn't thrilled about sharing grandma with Sierra.. which was to be expected, it was actually kinda cute seeing her act jealous of teh new comer on her turf. I can't wait to see Sierra's reaction to her cousin in July, because she now LOVES babies, and kids... and Z is only a year older than her.
Randal showed me around his old hometown the next morning before we headed out. His dad drove the moving van and his mom drove their car, while we rode in our car as a family. We putzed as much as we dared taking in a bunch of sites and treated it similar to a vacation. Our first stop was Cabelas in Sidney. I looked for some of my old co-workers, but since it was noon, they were all on lunch. I was disappointed. Sierra enjoyed the aquarium, and she made friends (as usual) everywhere we went...including a group of older ladies at Perkins where we had lunch. One of them even gave her a kiss on the cheek...I'm slowly getting used to this type of thing which seems to be much more common out this way. We stayed in Casper, but I wasn't feeling well at all so we didn't get to visit Randal's friend that lives there. I actually felt like I was going to pass out again, I didn't thank goodness.. but I felt like it for a while.
We also stopped at the dinosaur museum in Thermopolis, which was incredibly cool. A must see if you have never been there!
When we got to Powell we were shocked that his parents beat us there...ooooops! I was sad that there was a winter storm approaching, so they had to leave right away. I was really hoping to get to spend a lil more time with them, and especially for his parents to spend more time with Sierra. Unfortunately, life doesn't always go according to plan. ...on a side note, it was a good thing they left when they did as the storm shut down the majority of highways in Wyoming. ...us.. well, it was a dusting while the rest of the state got about a foot of snow.. I won't complain about a dusting lol.
The people at Super 8 were awesome. The asst manager gave sierra a book, they gave us a discount because we had to stay much longer than anticipated, and they were just really friendly and accomodating. Several days into the stay I discovered I had internet in the room, and not just in the lobby.. woooo! Then much to my dismay, the internet went out everywhere for a day.
We finally got all the paperwork taken care of and got into our apt. a cozy 2 bedroom apt, with lots of closet and cupboard space! Randals co-workers helped unload the truck, and his boss bought us a pizza for dinner that night. They are awesome people!!
...I'm gonna end the story here for now because Sierra is wanting to cuddle before a nap and 1 handed blogging isn't fun.
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