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.
Monday, June 22, 2009
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??
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