Yellowstone ~ part 1 of ??

Seriously, how on earth could a blog post about Yellowstone National Park be done in one part?  I can't imagine it being done in less than five parts.  I will, however, try my best to keep it as contained as possible.  And hopefully this Yellowstone experience will force me to figure out why I can't export photos from iphoto to picassa, like I used to be able to ~ a simple two step process, but not since we got the new lap top nearly a year ago (yup, I am a slacker aren't I!)

I truly have no clue where to start with this post.  Yellowstone left both Rick and I speechless (hard to believe, but true) and in absolute awe.  I have no idea what I expected going into Yellowstone ~ I really didn't know what the park entailed, other than the fact that it was a National Park, therefore it must be pretty special.  We had a couple National Park books, but apparently in one of our "downsizing" exercises in the coach we donated them somewhere along the way to a Goodwill.  Another thing, we got a new National Parks pass - our previous one expired a year or so ago and we never replaced it.  It will be less expensive to replace this one in two years when Richard is 62, but for now and next year it is $80.00 yearly, but well worth it (if we use it, and we used the first one a lot).

I think I'll just post some random shots of the beauty of the park and descriptions when needed.

There are five entrances into the park and the park covers 2,219,789 acres (mostly in Wyoming).  We entered at the "north entrance".  The first amazingness we encountered was "Mammoth Hot Springs"(this link has some incredible photos - places we surely didn't see, we did have Sir Arlo with us and there were places we wouldn't/couldn't go with him).  I knew about "Old Faithful", in fact that was the reason I wanted to go to Yellowstone (silly me) and I will get to the Old Faithful story later, probably in another post.  I had no idea, however, that there were all these really cool (intended pun) hot springs throughout the park.  We first saw this hill that was covered in "spillage" (yes I'm sure there is a correct term) from these springs

Seriously, check out these photos we took - bubbling ground, smelling like sulfur!  Way awesome!

Fabulous shot Rick took (below) of the boiling water!

Below is photo of a different area in the park, but the color variations are because of the content of the seeping water.

Photo below is of one of the "hot spot areas" from a distance.

There was one area called "roaring mountain" that had several of these hot spots (I thought I uploaded a photo of it for this post, but apparently not ~ DAH!) and if the person next to you wasn't yapping away and there wasn't traffic going by you honestly could hear the rumbling and gurgling of it ~ it was surreal to say the least.

Below, sister Candy this one is for you!  There was six or seven of them but I couldn't get the camera and focus and drive all at the same time, but darn I wish you were with us to witness it ~ what a moment that would have been after all the hours we spent "moose hunting" on those trips to Moose Hillock all those years ago!

Below, more random beauty.

Stay tuned for part two.

tease ~ a Yellowstone tease that is!

Well seriously, we took over 300 photos that I've gone through and edited and deleted and "narrowed" it down to 180 ... how to decide what to post ...

Not to mention the fact that I should do a post to the best of my ability of King Richard's battlefield trip ..... (I have tried the Bethalene slant and requested that himself, King Richard, do a "guest post" about HIS trip to the battlefield, but to no avail ~ no way, now how is it gonna happen (DARN, something will certainly be lost in the interpretation, don't you think)

But I did digress there for a moment ~ today we set out with "emergency overnight bags" packed, just in case (who married a boy scout ~ always be prepared even at 60 years old ~ what a guy) for Yellowstone.

To be continued!  "Stay tuned"

the question I ponder so often

My view every morning for the next five mornings, my view every evening for the next five evenings ..... how the heck did I get this lucky?

the BIG fix

Remember the trailer "issue"?  

Without going into details, out of respect, the "issue" was taken care of on Thursday while we were in Buffalo, WY ~ thank you Marcus for your suggestion that the King take care of the trailer, although with all due respect to himself, the decision was made within about 20 minutes of pulling into the campground in Buffalo!

What to do we say ~ with at least six hours to occupy ourselves, as well as Sir Arlo, in Buffalo, WY (and truly it was a marvelous town, and a terrific area), when we did a big "field trip" the day before!  DAH, poor planning on the "planners" part for sure.  Speaking of which, how is it that one sort of falls into the role of "navigator" and/or "planner"?  Hmmm I will ponder that extensively a bit later, in the meantime I will be "blogger".

So, with this dilemma of too much time without our "house" to return to, sort of in the middle of "nowhere", well the closest "city" is 40 miles away, what to do, what to do, what to do?

So off we go to Sheridan.  Well Sheridan, from what we saw of it, seemed like a fun place.  A beautiful "downtown" area, beautiful old buildings, lots of stores and places to be ~ to eat, drink and be happy and do a bit of shopping if the spirit moved (the spirt would have moved, but I'm not a big fan of shopping these days what with limited space and far more limited needs or wants).    

We visited the local Elks Lodge (photo above) - great old building, of which we got a tour.  This lodge is number 520, numbers are assigned as charters are given ~ Rick's Lodge is number 146, my Lodge is number 1872!   I have no idea what the most recent Lodge number assigned is ... hmmm, when I remember I just might research this, cause I truly am curious). 

On our way up to Sheridan and on our return to Buffalo, we stopped at beautiful Lake DeSmet ~ what an absolute treasure we found.  There are a few (two or three) boat ramps, several campsites (no hook ups at $10.00 a night - oooooh what a place).  Sir really and truly needed a place to just be and act like himself - a big old silly goof.  Seriously, check out that photo above, see that paw - he is doing a great dog paddle isn't he!

So we stayed at the Lake for a while, threw some sticks for Sir to retrieve and Sir did some great sniffing of the area around this boat launch and it was all good (although gosh darn hot) for an hour or so to and from Sheridan.

As we were leaving, both times, we saw these critters that I thought were deer until I got a "real good look" and Rick and I both decided hey those aren't deer.  For sure, they were far less timid than any deer I'd ever seen.  So I asked the owner of the campground we were at and she informed me that they are antelope.  I thought they were a bit scraggly looking for a deer, then again what the heck do I know?!?!

After we picked up the trailer (ahhhhhh the "improved, big fixed, trailer, sans new axle and two brand spanking new, once again, tires) as well as the coach ,that we'd left at the repair facility, ... we went back to the campground, "re-connected" all connections, and chillaxed for an hour or so.

Then, we headed out to downtown Buffalo, to the Occidental Hotel (that link by the way goes on and on with great information of the hotel and its history), where on Thursday nights they have a local jam session.  OMG, what a treat this was.  

It was absolutely packed in there - seriously standing room only.  Come to find out the locals (those most definitely in the know) reserve the tables every Thursday night and the bar was mobbed.  We did, thankfully, get seats eventually.  Good thing, 'cause I was beyond hungry ~ you know when the head ache starts and the bitchy sets in?  

Check this out ~ a grilled caesar salad ~ WOW in spite of the roasted pine nuts, it was an absolutely out of this world, outstandingly delicious, a wonderfully terrific culinary delight of the greatest magnitude (could I have two right now as I'm diligently working on this blog post, pleeeeease)

What a plethora of local talent.  We had so much fun, I didn't want to leave ~ you know sort of a date night, on the town, whatever anyone wants to call it, it was nice to be out and have a great meal (which by the way included the seafood pizza - ooooooh so good) and outstanding entertainment.

The place was just so packed ... I'd never been to a "jam session" before and it was so neet to watch it all and enjoy the tunes ~ everyone jut sort of made it work so smoothly.

And how 'bout this photo below - ooooh that would be Lynn Young - a local legend who plays a multitude of string instruments and obviously has such a jolly smile! 

And Maureen, here is a photo for you - ooh la la girlfriend ... (oh and he sang oh so wonderfully ~ as good as he looked).

So we left ~ another campground I left so sadly ~ Buffalo yesterday and came to Hardin, MT (yeah, a post for another time ~ oh yeah, what a place).  Leaving Hardin in the morning headed to Livingston for a few days.

Today was, for me, another creative (seven hours straight, other than brief dog walks) day at my sewing machine (seriously, what the hell is with this creative thing happening with me lately), while himself, King Richard, toured battlefields.  It will be a bit of a challenge to do that blog post, I guess Rick took several photos and I asked him to do a "rough draft" of  a post but he didn't seem to like that idea ...

We're "outta here" in the morning ... stay tuned.

the big big horns

On Wednesday we headed off to ride a bit along route 16 headed west.  Route 16 here in Wyoming is an alternative to Interstate 90 headed to Yellowstone.  It does, however, cross the Big Horn Mountain range so we were a bit concerned doing it in the coach (of course towing the trailer).  Plus Rick had ridden eight miles of it on his bike on Tuesday.  So off we went to explore.  

We stopped at one of the many National Park campgrounds (no hook ups and $14.00 night).  Gorgeous, secluded and peaceful sites they are.  With a creek running through the one camping area we stopped at ~ a refreshing stop for Sir Arlo.

Photo below was taken at one of the "scenic" turn offs - scenic indeed do you think?

And, as King Richard pointed out "look Tracey, they named a canyon road after YOU" ....  Interesting legends abound about the "crazy woman" who got a canyon and a creek named in her "honor" (not this crazy woman, the one from days gone by, from Wyoming!).  We did not attempt Crazy Woman Canyon Road ~ word has it that it is a very badly rutted dirt road several miles into the canyon and it was suggested to us that perhaps the escape didn't have clearance enough to safely (for the escape) travel it!

As we traveled we kept going up and up and up ... to the highest elevation of route 16 over the Big Horns ~ Rick believes this is the highest elevation we've traveled since our full time journey began October 2, 2007!

The road really wasn't all that bad in the car, but we did decide that we will not be traversing it in the coach.  The steep down grades just seemed a bit much for coach and driver and I didn't want to "deal" with a totally stressed husband at the end of a travel day - just not worth it!

The sights are absolutely outstanding, and I'm so happy we did it in the car.

Below, another of the abandoned buildings that I am so intrigued by these days.

By the way, Rick did the photography on this journey.  I was driving and it seemed a bit unsafe for me to be multi~tasking to that degree.  Good job huh!

Our destination ended up being ...... Tensleep, WY.  Check out that link for some interesting info about Tensleep and how the town got its name.

I can't imagine a town named Tensleep without a "local joint" named "Dirty Sally's" - just sort of fits doesn't it?

Scenery on the return to Buffalo.

An aspen (I believe) grove ....

So we come to the end of post number two for the day.  I think there likely won't be a third one today - stick a fork in me, I'm done, headed to the shower and soon to bed.  I will try to finish up with the photos loaded for pending posts tomorrow ~ we shall see, however, as we are headed out tomorrow for Hardin, MT, but I am working on catching up posting ... seems just so much to post about and I've been on a sewing roll these days as well ~ creating some pretty things.

go west young man

A moon (not mine, I don't do that anymore ~ I'm too "old" and the results of gravity are to unattractive) over Bulldog Campground in Sturgis the last night we were there.  What a terrific place that was with an outstanding owner.  

We left Sturgis on Monday, heading to Buffalo, WY.  What a fun little town this is.  Old West and fun!

Anyway, our travel from Sturgis to Buffalo was yet another beautiful drive with spectacular scenery along interstate 90.  Check out these rolling hills with the mountains in the distance.

Along the way we passed all these snow fences ... gosh darn imagine what the winters must be like in these parts to have such an abundance of snow fences!

And finally, off in the distance the outstandingly beautiful Big Horn Mountain Range.  These photos were taken from  approximately 50 miles away from the base of the range.

I have photos loaded for two more blog posts ~ yup, I guess I've been a slacker again.  Stay tuned.