Yellowstone day 2.

 Monday morning and the weather....absolutely beautiful blue sky Thank You! We had plans to do 2 hikes and see how the rest of the day went. The roads are narrow with no shoulder and with the wild life you have to drive very slow and we get stopped by a heard of Bison on the road. The neatest traffic jam ever. We get to our first turn off for hiking to Upper and Lower Falls both of which are in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and notice the road north is closed by a Forest Ranger. He told us they were testing a water main under the road if it failed the road would be closed for 6 days. Continuing on to first planned stop Uncle Tom's Trail and it is closed snow pack, haven't heard that one yet. LOL We were still able to view the Upper Falls beautiful and running very high from snow melt. Then continuing on to the next stop Artist Point again no hiking but the view was amazing. As we arrived I began taking a few pictures then a rainbow began to develop from the mist of the Lower Falls. Apparently this happens once a day and you have to be there at the right time and it lasts for a few minuets. Bonus! Back to the cut off we wait 2 minutes and the road opened, water main go to go. We are living right! On west to the Norris Geyser Basin  were we walked all the trails and boardwalks of volcanic activity. We are not sure how many miles we walked but this place is worth every step. Since we weren't able to do any of the hikes we planned on we kept on driving north to Mammoth Hot Springs area. We passed on the Hot Springs stopped in the Visitor Area for a hamburger and Elk are all over the place. People every where and Elk just chillin. Now it was east across the northern area of Yellowstone to Lamar Valley where the wildlife were most prevalent. There was little to no snow in the northern area of Yellowstone??????  Before we get to Lamar Valley the road both ways come to a stop. Down in the valley below there were 30 Bison, pronghorns and a Grizzly Bear. We got out  of the 4runner I was taking pictures and a Ranger comes up the road lights, Staci gets in the truck and drives past me I don't even notice. Click Click Click  I had to run up the road to catch up to her, apparently some lady yelled at Staci for leaving the truck parked in the road. Not like it was just us. Lamar Valley was loaded with wildlife. Countless hundreds of bison, pronghorns,3 more grizzlies all with cubs, mountain goats in a picnic area minding there own business alone mile deer and more elk. Then it was a 2 hour drive back the way we came due to one main road still closed due to the mountain pass snow pack. We had dinner at the Lake Yellowstone Lodge again just have a drink or glass of wine in the lobby and eat another sandwich. :) Back to our cabin and more adventure tomorrow.

Yellowstone at Last!

We headed 60 miles North ans arived at the most amazing place I have seen/been to in my life Yellowstone National Forest. Yellowstone is the first national park in the world and I see why. As we arrived in the park 50 yards off the road a Grizzly Bear lumbering through the snow. Cool! The weather of couse it was cloudy and everything was covered in snow.  Our first stop was at the Thumb Basin an area of geothermal activity next to Lake Yellowstone. We checked into our 1930's cabin at the Lake Yellowstone Lodge. The cabin was better than we thought it actually had a bathroom and shower. We unloaded and decided to head out and see what we could see. First stop Old Faithful Geyser, after checking Old Faithful Geyser eruption schedule and hikes in the area we found there was time to hike to Observation Point above Old Faithful. It was a nice hike a mile and a half and up about 500 feet elevation. We made it in time to watch Old Faithful erupt almost exactly on time, every 94 minutes. We hiked down the other side of loop in a sprinkling rain and walked the gyser boardwalks around the entire Old Faithful basin. On the boardwalks there are geysers, steam vents, mudpots and hot springs of all sizes and shapes. The smells were another thing, I like the smell of  sulfur after shooting fireworks but this was so pungent the smell was incredible. Then there were the sounds too many to describe. We stayed and watched Old Faithful erupt from the benches next to the geyser. We then ate dinner a the Old Faithful Lodge a must if you any brochure or internet site, all I can say is have a drink and eat a bologne sandwitch or maybe peanut and jelly. :)   A great day and we could not wait for tomorrow.
Back Soon.

The Grand Teton's with my best friend!

Almost not. Staci missed her flight out of Houston due to the parking bus forgetting to pick her up, but she caught the next flight and made her connection. Nice to see a familiar face expecialy Staci's. We drove the loop through The Gran Teton National Forest, but very cloudy so no peaks for Staci. Ahhhhhh. As we were leaving a stop at Lake Jackson a female moose walked right up to the 4runner as if we were not there we waited a few minutes for her to mosey on along at her leisure. Did I mention Teton means Breast? Just asking.  We had a room at The Wort a Historic hotel in the middle of Jackson. We really liked Jackson it was expensive but the food was excellent. We had the best green onion rings at Snake River Grill and some good steak. We  also ate at a "Tex-Mex"  place with killer 32 oz Jalapeno Margarita's, I wasn't driving. Saturday we drove back into the Teton's to find a hike, due to the snow not much. We stopped at the Visitors Center which was very nice and a Ranger gave us a 3 mile hike to do. It was mostly 2-3 foot snow pack so it was quite a workout but worth every steep. We came up to a small frozen lake at the top of the hike beautiful and still cloudy no peaks for Staci. The hike was fun and exhilarating stomping in the snow as we walked. We don't get to do that at home. HA! Sunday morning on to Yellowstone. Sorry Staci no peaks.

Wyoming B E A U T I F U L

Made it to Wyoming yesterday, what a beautiful place. Passed through Cheyenne the 3rd state capitol this trip. I had hotel reservations in Rock Springs,WY but the ride in from Denver was much quicker than I anticipated. The hotel let me cancel so I proceeded north on to Jackson Hole. The weather?? As I headed north I hit several flurries of snow, ice and rain not a lot of fun.In between the flurries I saw hundreds of Prohorns(antelope like) in the valleys. Safe and sound in Jackson I checked into the Pony Express Motel(Yes Motel) old but nice and clean. Jackson is a cute little town of shops, resturantes and small hotel/motels. I got up the next morning traveled to Gran Teton National Forest for a hike. Two miles outside of Jackson Bison are grazing next to the road. Most of the Park is covered in snow pack and I find out at the Ranger station that all the hiking and biking trails are covered in snow. All of them and of course more snow is forcast the 5 days. I did hike a bit on the snow following a trail others had but not to far.I ran up on a female moose feeding in a stream. Drove through the park saw more wildlife Bison and more Moose right by the road. I was going to try to pet one but nobody was there to get me on Americas Funnies Video or When Vacations Attack. I think my brother in-law CE called it a "Watch this" momment. Returned to reality and did laundry in the afternoon, needed some clean clothes after 12 days.

Tomorrow Staci flies in. Hallelujah!

The Mile High City

Made it to Denver Sunday morning checked into my hotel a Marriott, got a great deal on Priceline first time to try it worked. I jumped on the lite-rail system took it to Coors Field downtown Denver for a 1PM game. It's still cold and cloudy, I guess it came with me from Santa,FE. The stadium is open air and was great site lines from every seat. Open air all the time like baseball was made to be played(the same for football).  The San Diego Padres beat the Rockies 8-2. Downtown Denver is really revitalizing with lots of new condos, restaurants, a mile long mall as well as refurbished old buildings. Monday I played 2 disc golf courses 18 holes each and scored 1 under for the day. The second course Johnny Roberts Memorial was built in 1978 and is called the "Granddaddy" one of the first courses built. Somehow I found the energy to take my bike to Cherry Creek State Park 2 miles from my hotel and rode 18 miles of paved trails. It was a GOOOD day!

Next stop Rock Springs, Wyoming
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