Cody WY August 9th 2012

We decided to go to Cody WY to pay a visit to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center Museum. The drive from Yellowstone was really beautiful. We stopped along the way and watched a herd of bison grazing along the road. Some of the big males were scuffling and butting heads. It is there rut season so younger males are battling with older males to gain access to females. It was so cool!  The canyons and valleys were amazing, the variations in colors, shapes. It was hard to take pictures while driving down the road and so there aren't any good ones to share.

THE BISON:

 

Sniff Sniff... she smells nice!!!!

 

 

BONK!!! OWWW

 

 

Check it out... Pardon the ridiculous commentary

 

AHHH... Motherly Love... High MOMMY

 



Inside the museum there was a hall all about the life of Buffalo Bill, his traveling show and those who traveled with him. It was really interesting. We really had no idea what a big deal Buffalo Bill was. There were costumes, photographs and videos set up. Another hall was of the natural history of Yellowstone and the surrounding area. Cool, interesting, lots of taxidermy. There was another wing of the museum devoted to firearms. This was probably John's favorite part of the whole place. There were guns of every make and model. It was quite mind boggling.

 

Isle after Isle of Guns By the Power of Grey skull

 

I want a M1 Grarand (The Top Two)

 

WOW!!!

There were a load of very enthusiastic people in this area and it was a little unnerving. The coolest part in the whole museum was the hall of Western Art. There were so many beautiful paintings of the west. Becky and Steph spent a lot of time in there. There was one enormous painting of a rattlesnake that we swore was a photograph, but it was a painting. (Photo TO COME LATER!)

We wrapped up the visit and left Cody to return to Yellowstone. The drive back was a Hot and LONG!! We took the same route going back as getting to Cody, but on the way back we got a little surprise. We were going North along Hayden Valley and what to our eyes should appear be a herd Bison walking down the road heading south in the south bound lane. (They know how to us the lanes of traffic, they must of seen the cars and said "We can do that."

They caused a quite a largish traffic JAM. With not keeping track we would estimate that it was at least a couple of miles long. The cars immediately behind the herd were all good sports about the situations for they new what was going on. The people after that on the other hand we not so pleasant. The were rather annoyed and had a great look of impatience their faces. If they only had an idea of what was ahead, we would only hope that they would not been in such a poor mood. After we left the Bison jam we ended up in another one, but at this one there was something new romping through the grass!! It was a coyote!!

 

Coyote: Do I here something?

 

Coyote: Maybe

 

Coyote: YES I do... what could it be?

 

 

Coyote: NOPE... It wasn't anything special

 

 

 

Hello I am a Coyote

 

 

He was wondering around and hit a patch of dirt and was very curious at what was underneath. It was listening very intently towards the ground in hopes to discern any tasty morsels that may lie beneath the surface. There must not have been anything good because he soon moved off not satisfied at the selection in that spot.  We saw a lot more Bison before we got back to the Cabins.

 

Mom and Baby

 

Sulphur Caldron thermal feature

 

The Dragons Mouth... it smelled BAD

 

Bison at Sulphur Caldron

 

I was less than 25 yards away!! SHHHH

We arrived at our cabins and crashed for a bit then had dinner and crashed again. END DAY 2

Yellowstone!!! August 8th 2012

Oh. before we get to our adventures in Yellowstone we have a bit a sad news to report:

On our way from Glacier to Bozeman we hit a bird! It was a small bird (Swallow most likely). We saw the flight of swallows coming straight for us three were able to bank and change direction but the fourths radio must not have been working very well and he collided with our windshield. So to the flight of swallows out there that lost a wing man we are sorry there was nothing we could do! :-(

Okay back to the Adventure:

Well we made it to Yellowstone.

WE MADE IT!!

The Roosevelt Arch

We were not int he park TEN minutes and we saw our first Bison. He was walking down the road right at us. It was nice that the wildlife sent us a Representative to great us on our first day in the park. We were not expecting to see a bison up on the mountain road like that, but since they have free range in the park I guess that it is possible. :-)

Welcome to Yellowstone!!

We drove through the Mammoth Hot Springs to get to our first destination, it was a nice glimpse of what we would see later on in the week.

The Hot Springs... Wonder what there like?

Crazy Views

A Nice Waterfall

Our first stay was in the Canyon Village area. So we pulled in, checked in, and then headed off to the cabins to unpack and take a break. around the cabins there were a pack of ground squirrels  rooting around in the grass for stuff to munch on.

What is there to EAT

Munch Munch

 After a little while we were all getting a bit hungry so we decided to go and find some food. We went to the little store and where they had a lunch counter, so we got a cheese burger. Yummm!!! After the wonderful burger we decided to take a drive and see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone since we were so close. We drove the Canyon Drive loop stopping at the pullouts to look we got to the first overlook and could not believe our eyes the view at sunset was stunning. The sun was peeking through the clouds. It made for a very nice picture. It was definitely a nice drive and a nice way to see the Canyon for the first time. We went back to the cabins because we were all tired and went to bed! END DAY ONE!

Look at this sunset!!!

What a View

Breath Taking



The next day we decided to drive to Cody WY, to see the Wild Bill Museum. We shall see what it is like.

Oh Yeah!! and one more question for you all to mull over: How many park rangers does it take to screw in a light blub?

I guess TWO!?!?

What do you think?





Glacier National Park: Going to the Sun Road

This morning we started our trek to Glacier we awoke and went outside and saw a Hot Air balloon soaring over the hotel.

Wow a hot air balloon

made it through Glacier National park yesterday Aug 6th. We reached the main gate of the park with a lot of excitement and anticipation. We had no idea what to expect. The first leg of the road stretched along Lake McDonald we stopped to take so photos of the lake and the mountains beyond. The water was so clear, the air smelled so fresh and it was just gorgeous. The day could not have been more perfect. It was warm but not to hot got to drive with the windows down and we soaked up the fresh mountain air.

Sign at the turn into the park.

The sign on the bridge says it all.

                                                         
                                                                   Lake McDonald

Lake McDonald again

We stopped again along the bank of Avalanche Creek, beacuse since we had the windows down we could hear a water fall. We walked down a trail to a small bridge that crossed the river just past the water fall to take some pictures.

Falls at Avalanche Creek

And agian through the trees!

We new that it was going to be a windy road and that it went up into the mountains, but were amazed at how high up we got. It totally felt like one of the "Most Dangerous Road" shows you see on TV.  The road was absolutely spectacular, especially when we got up to Logan Pass at the top. Each new bend revealed one new breathtaking sight after another. Our mother does not like cravasses and guess what she got stuck on that side of the road for most of the drive!!! HAHA! Definetlly got vertago looking down the side of the mountian.

WOW we are really HIGH!!

Still going up!!

All together!!!

The last stop on a Glacier adventure was St. Mary's Lake with a quick stop to take a couple of photos.

Lake St. Mary

All that we have to say is wow what a drive through the park, would recomend this drive. Word of caution though it is not for the fant of heart. It is high up there!! =) There was no time to stop and rest though we still had a 300 plus miles to cover before our next stop Bozeman Montana. All that we had time for is a stop at the sign at the east entrance take a few photos and then drive...

As you may have guess we made it to Bozeman it was a LONG day but worth every minute.

Bye Bye Glacier

We were here for a full day today and went to the Musem of the Rockies today to see their dinosuar bone collection

Big Mike outside the Museum

And again

More Photos will come later tomorrow will be our first day in Yellowstone National Park, we are going to get on the road early so that we can make the most of the day tomorrow!!! WHOOT can not wait...

Spokane to Kalispell

Good Evening Everyone,

Well we made it to Kalispell with no problems! My sisters and I have never really been into Idaho before so it was a great deal of rejoicing when we hit the border! It was a dissapointing drive (for wildlife viewing anyway) we only saw one deer and a coyote!! We were hoping for a little more action, but alas it was not to be. There was a plus though, the landscape was absolutly stunning. A suggestion for Idaho is that they need to add some view points along their highways because there was no where to pull over and photograph or view their beautiful vistas. All we could get were some passing glimpses of them as we zoomed by. BOO =-(

                                         We made made it to Idaho

                                          
                                          ARGH!! WHERE'S THE VIEW POINT!

                                       
                                          This is the dam above the falls in the previous
                                          picture that you could not photograph!!!!

It got to be pretty hot today but, we were driving though the mountains so having the windows down in the van made the journey quite pleasant. The drive accross the border into Montana was an even greater hoopla because none of us have ever been to Montana before. So far what we have seen has been very impressive. As we drove into Kalispell we got our fiist glimpse of the Rocky Mountains... WOW!!!!! We think (or hope) that tonight the sunset will be a good one and may go out to take some pictures. Here is the sunset from Kalispell:

                                                                             Nice

Spokane

Well we made it to Spokane last night with no problems. We could not get into the air force museum because it was inside the main gate which is off limits to non-base personnel. However, it did not matter it was still cool to see the base!! On to the rest of the day...The night was nice about 80 degrees at nine o'clock. We took a dip in the pool then tried Sonic for the first time!! It was pretty good. To that end, one of the mandates for this trip is to try new things and Sonic fits that criteria!!! Oh yeah and we saw some sweet hot rods while at Sonic last night as well!!! VROOM VROOM

Well we are on the road to Kalispell, Montana about a four to five hour drive.

Interwebs was down in the hotel so photos and more to come tonight from Kalispell!! Talk to you later!!

Well we leave tomorrow

Well we are leaving tomorrow morning bright and early. We hope to get up to Spokane by about lunch time and pay a visit to my dad's old stomping grounds at Fairchild AFB to go to a air museum that they have there to see one of the B-52s that he worked on!!! Should be a fun experience!!!

ONE WEEK TO GO!!!!!! WHOOT!!!!

Well we are just a week away from beginning our Journey. We are so excited that the time has now come, and we cannot wait to get on the road. We are not just going straight to Yellowstone and back again. Instead we are going on a big loop from here in Portland Oregon up to Glacier NP, then down to Yellowstone and the Tetons, then across southern Idaho and back up through central Oregon before we get back to Portland!! We decided that we should make the most of our two weeks and try and hit as many places as we can since we had the time!!

Again we will be posting up Pictures, Videos, and comments about each day. We hope that we will see all that the park has to offer and more. Internet access in the parks will be limited so therefore we may not be able to post while in the park. We will get the post up no matter WHAT!!!

Here is the Route that we will be following: