FIRST 6 DAYS OF YELLOWSTONE

The last week has been hectic.  We came thru the South Entrance last Wednesday and now on day 6 have been to the West, North and East Entrance's.  We had orientation at the West Entrance, on our way we encountered two bison jams and got a picture of an elk munching on the side of the road.  See pictures below:

We spent the next 3 days learning the job.  Each day we worked 7 hours running a cash register or stocking shelves.  At times the weather would be sunny, rainy or hailing all with in one hour.  We have met a lot of very nice people and a lot of us brought our RV's.  See pictures below:

 Don't we look spiffy in our uniforms and see all the snow around our RV.

We were off Monday & Tuesday, on Monday we went to Gardiner, MT.  We made several stops within the park to see waterfalls and wildlife.  Gardiner is the North Entrance into the park so we took pictures of the Roosevelt Arch.  We had a very nice lunch at a local hangout that was recommended by other people online.  On our way back to the Lake area we stopped and saw both the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River.

Upper Falls

We continued on our way home and happened across another traffic jam.  Everyone was looking off to the west.  We had to spot to check out the commotion and guess what we saw?  A grizzly and her cubs way off in the distance.  No we didn't need our bear spray.

On Tuesday we went to Cody, WY which is the East Entrance, we saw lots of beautiful scenery and lots of snow.  Did some shopping in Cody and ate at a Chinese place.  We are currently sitting in a McDonald's uploading this blog.  Hope you are all doing well, we are working the next 5 days straight on the late shift.

SUNNY AND RAIN

The last two days couldn’t have been more different.  The first was 70 degrees and sunny, the second rainy and mid 40’s.  We started our first day with a hike that was about 3 miles.  It followed Lake Jackson and then went into the hills.  The path we took, took us by Heron Pond and on the return we went by Swan Lake.  Of course we had our bear spray, but no bears sited.  It was one of the nicest hikes we had been on.  We took a lot of pictures but have only included a few.  The first is me on the trail; the second is a view of Jackson Lake from the trail.  They have release about 30% of the lake in anticipation of melting snow.  They think will be back to capacity in about 2 weeks.  The third one is of wildlife on the trail…..

Me on the trail

 

 

 

 

Lake view from the trail

Name this furry creature

 

After lunch we decided to drive to the other junction areas.  We drove the interior park road to Signal Mountain.  We drove to the summit (the hike was straight up 3 miles).  We saw beautiful 360-degree vistas and have included one picture.  

Summit at Signal Mountain

 We then proceed to the Jenny Lake area, which has a lodge and marina.  We walked the area and took some pictures.  Sorry no picture included here because it take too long to upload.   We then drove to the Moose Junction, which is the south entrance to the park.  On the drive to Jackson we could tell the weather was changing.  As you all know I still need to have my nails done even though I am working in the wilderness.  We drove all over Jackson looking for a nail place and finally had to call my sister Liz and have her Google it.  Once that was completed we went by the grocery store to pick up something for dinner in anticipation of rain at the campground.  We had fried chicken and Mac and cheese.  On the 40 mile drive back to campsite the temperature dropped 10-degrees.  Just as we pulled in it started to rain.  We guessed right.  At 9:00 PM we attended a ranger program and am now working towards my junior ranger badge (anyone can get one).

Today was totally rainy and cold.  We drove to Jackson to see the tourist trap shopping.  I found a $2500 suede coat on sale for $1650, but Dave wouldn’t buy it for me, not that I needed it anyway.  The stuff is starting to all look the same, are we in the Bahamas’?  We had lunch at a nice Mexican Restaurant named the Flying Pig; we had blackened steak taco’s, the special of the day.  Of course we had to have our picture taken under one of the antler arches at the square. 

On the way home we saw buffalo (American Bison), see the picture below.

Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone, which is only 57 miles.  We talked to our employer today and we will be in orientation all day Thursday.  We are both excited that our adventure has started in earnest and we may not be able to blog as often.  Our plan is to post once a week but we will have to see.

Bye for now

GREETINGS FROM THE GRAND TETONS

When we reached Cheyenne at lunchtime, we decided that we needed to start eating things we wouldn’t get in Yellowstone.  We drove around and found a very good Mexican Place.  Dave had his usual enchiladas’ and I had a combo plate of a taco, tostada and an enchilada.  It was all very good.  We then spent the next hour touring the Wyoming Museum and State Capital.  Not a big state, it didn’t take long.

After that went out to the Sierra Clothing outlet, which is an online seller, we not only looked at their first and seconds but their thirds.  Talk about looking though boxes of stuff.  Dave found a pair of Browning shooting gloves for only $10.00.

The next day we went to the Frontier Days Museum, which houses 160 different types of carriages.  It covers the history of the Cheyenne Frontier Days for the past 150 years. 

We also saw the largest steam engine ever made, which is display in a very nice park and went to the train depot.  Today we ate Italian for lunch.

On Saturday morning we left for Rawlins which was not a long drive, however Dave was able to experience his first 5% grade and going over a mountain pass of 8600 feet.   Rawlins was a very small town and we got there at lunchtime.  The owner of the KOA recommended Thai food and it was great.  Dave had yellow curry chicken and I had Pad U See, which is noodles, broccoli, carrots, and eggs with pork.  Boy were both our meals very good, not something we could get in Yellowstone.

Dave drove the entire town in 10 minutes; we then stopped at the 1880 Wyoming State Prison.  The biggest tourist attraction in town besides the auction across the street.

We headed out early this morning for the Grand Tetons because we knew the drive would be tougher.  Once we left the interstate we found rough roads and under construction, so rough that we almost lost the cover to the stove and all our hang up clothes in the closet fell down.  We also had numerous switchbacks and steep hilly highway to negotiate, however it was beautiful drive.

But it was worth every moment to now be here at the Grand Tetons.  It is beautiful; just take a look at our campsite.  We plan to hike, bike and take pictures for the next two days.  We also want to go into Jackson to see all the tourist traps.

Good-bye from the Grand Tetons 

 

 

FALLING FOR PIKE'S PEAK

On our first full day in Colorado Springs we decided to sleep in, however the time change wouldn’t let us.  Wouldn’t ya know it, we would wake up at 6:30 a.m.  We had leisurely morning with coffee and breakfast, the morning temperature was in the low 60’s.  Oh did I tell you that we didn’t use any air conditioning last night. 

Our plan was to go to Pikes Peak today in Manitou Springs but I told Dave that I needed to find a Bed Bath and Beyond.  On the way we happened across a Penzey Spice Store and ya'll know how much he like’s Penzey  spices, we had to stop.  So after we made our necessary purchases we headed for the Cog Railway for our journey to Pikes Peak.  We got there in amble time, purchased our tickets and decided to share a lunch.  We finished just before we were to board the train and that is when I decided to fall for Pikes Peak.

On my last trip back to the picnic table I tripped over a small mound in the pavement and down I went.  Scrape both hands and tore up my right knee.  The train was about to leave and I had to rush to find first aid.  I had to go to the ticket office for Neosporin, alcohol pads, and band-aids.   I was able to stem the flow of blood and bandage myself up and rush back to the train in time for its departure. 

The next 3 hours and 15 minutes were full of wonderful views of mountain scenery with a few occasional animal sightings.  We saw deer, rams, ewe, and furry creatures.  When we got to the 14000-foot top, we both felt very light headed (drunk feeling); it took us a few minutes to acclimate to the altitude.  We did have the recommended Food Network delicacies, which was a special recipe for high altitude cake donuts.  Boy were they good.

 This little guy entertained us at one of the stops while waiting for the return train to pass us.  He kept popping in and out.

 Us at the Summit.

 

The Conductor memtioned that he could see these Rams and ewe and told us all to be very quiet so that we would not scare them away.  What an awesome shot.

After the Pikes Peak adventure we walked thru Manitou Springs and browsing thru the crafts and tee shirt shops.  We saw several “Life is Good” shirts and several with unusual bear sayings on them.   However none were purchased.

We had normal camp food tonight, PIZZA!!!!!!!

On to Cheyenne tomorrow.