Cole's Birthday

Our first trip of the year was a short one.  We traveled to Indy for a follow up appointment with Marcia's Dr. and to attend a Cole's birthday celebration.  We stayed at our favorite place near Noblesville, the White River Campground which is part of the Hamilton County Parks and Recreation Dept.  We like this park because it is clean, well run and most importantly only about ten minutes from Brian and Jennifer's house.

First we had to view Cole's science project.  He did a very nice project on Glow Sticks and how they work.  He had a very nice poster and told us all about why Glow Sticks glow.  Good job Cole.

Quinn also did a poster.  He did a very nice job also.

Then it was time to open birthday presents so on with the show.  Cole had lots of nice presents and lots of fun opening them.  

After all of the presents it was time for the Birthday Cake.  Cole did a good job of blowing out all of the candles.

My next photo is just one I took one morning as the sun was coming up.  It made some wonderful colors.

A little later Cole & Quinn came to visit us at the farm.  We had lots of Kubota rides and they decided to try climbing the crab apple tree.  Looks like they were successful.

Marcia and I took a ride out to Wing Haven one Sunday afternoon and walked down to the lake.  What a beautiful and serene place.

The serenity of the above photo is a fitting close for this episode.  We will all remember Marcia's mother Louise as the gentle, caring, loving and serene person that she was.

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

The title is the actual name of the park because it sits on the Canadian-US border with portions in both countries.  We left Yellowstone and headed north and west towards Glacier.  It is a two day trip for us at just under 500 miles so we camped the first night here.

Cracker Barrel encourages RV's to stop and shop and will allow overnight parking.  We find them usually to be in a little nicer neighborhood and much less crowded than Wal-Mart parking lots.

We reached Glacier the next day and found a campground just outside the park.  It was a nice campground but the roads were very steep, it was a little scary getting the Dancer into our sight but we made it.  We were at West Glacier which is on the wet side of the Continental Divided and it was wet.  Wet but beautiful!  We explored the area and had this place recommended to us.  It was in Polebridge which consisted of a General Mercantile and a log cabin restaurant circa early 1900's.  The cabin was built by the owner of the Mercantile and is one of the few remaining structures in the valley as a fire several years ago destroyed most of the other structures.  It was a neat little restaurant and all of the local people seemed to drop by for a bite, brew or just to chat.

One of the owners told us about a Park campground back across the river so we ventured out in search of it thinking it might be a good camping spot.  We crossed what used to be the pole bridge across the river but the current bridge was concrete and steel.  I felt much safer.  We drove for quite awhile down this road(?) and decided it was a good thing we did not try to drag the Dancer back to this beautiful campground.  There were a lot of ups, downs and arounds just getting to the campground.  But once there it was a wonderful setting with this little lake high in the mountains.

One of the main attractions in Glacier is Going to the Sun Highway which crosses the park from one side to the other as it goes up over the continental divide.  The road was still closed at the top because they were still removing snow on the highest part so we could not traverse the park all the way on this highway.  But we did get to go part way and found this lovely path leading through a cedar stand that had the biggest cedar trees I have ever seen.

Guess who had to hug the cedar tree?  There were many many trees this size and bigger in this area.  We were still on the west side of the park or the wet side where the cedars got enough moisture to grow to this size.  We also found this stream cascading down out of the higher elevations.

The next day we hooked up the Dancer and headed east on US 2 around the south end of the park and across another pass which is lower than the one on Going to the Sun Highway and is open all year.  It was amazing as we crossed the continental divide to the east side of the mountains the vegetation immediately changed to more grass and less trees.  It was interesting to see the change from the wet side to the dry side.

We found a campground in St Mary which is on the east end of Going to the Sun Highway.  Here is the view from our campsite.

We stopped at the Visitor Center on the east side and it was a beautiful facility.  The park headquarters are in West Glacier but the Visitor Center there is not nearly as nice as the one on the east side so plan to stop here if you are going to visit Glacier.

As we drove into the park we encountered this fellow who did not seem to be to concerned about us being as close as we were.  We were in the truck though and not on a trail.

We had a lovely day and the views of the mountains were great.

We took several hundred pictures in the park but I am trying to give a good sampling of what we were experiencing.  Following the highway on into the park we stopped at a nice rest area and were just looking at the mountains and Marcia said what is that up on the mountainside?  

That mountainside is probably over half mile away so it is hard to spot them but there were about 12 to 15 mountain sheep right in the middle of the picture.  They are the little white spots.  We could see them pretty well with binoculars but even my longest lense could only bring them in this close.

A little further up the road we stopped at one of the few remaining glaciers.  When the park was first explored there were about 150 glaciers and now there are about 25.  It is one of the few that is easily viewed from the road.

I know it just looks like a lot of snow.  Wait a minute, that is what it is.

Here are a few more shots of the mountains showing their rugged and majestic splendor.

We started back down the road to the entrance and came across this Grizzly.  He was right next to the road.

We really enjoyed Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.  I hope we can return sometime to further explore its beauty.  Bye Bye Rockies!

Computer issues

This is just a short entry to let everyone know that I have more pictures to post.  I had several issues with my laptop while on our trip and could not use it to write my blog.  We have been so busy since getting back to Indiana that I have not had time to load the rest of my pictures, edit them and get them into a blog entry.  I will try to work on that soon.

Yellowstone 2

We moved from West Yellowstone to the north end of the park at the Mammoth headquarters area.  Again we stayed just outside the park in a private campground at Gardiner, Montana.  We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary by going to Rosie's.  It was a unique restaurant in the old section of Gardiner recommended to us by the people in the campground office.  They certainly steered us to the right place.  The meal was excellent and we could look out onto the Rockies across the valley.

We encountered buffalo almost everywhere we went.  These decided to set up a road block.

Once we got through the road block we headed on to Tower Falls.

Looking downstream from the falls.

Another view downstream.

On the way to the falls we saw these two bruins resting in the shade.

Another group of elk.  These are bulls with their antlers still in velvet.

Here are some angry clouds over the peaks.

We had gone clear to the northeast entrance to the park travelling through the Lamar Valley and then turned around and started back as it was getting late in the day.  We stopped at a pullout and this gentleman told us  he was watching a grizzly bear stalk some buffalo calves.  There was a herd of maybe 300 or 400 cows and calves in the valley and clear at the back was this grizzly crowding up to the herd.  The cows and calves started off across the valley towards us but a small bunch of bulls stayed behind and discouraged the grizzly.   Since the grizzly could not get past the bulls he crossed the river and headed back into the hills.  He was about a half mile away but with binoculars he was quite visible.  I took this picture with my lens extended as far as possible but he is still just a small object in the middle of the picture as he retreats up the hillside.  

Heading on back we saw more buffalo and these two bull elk which Marcia was able to photograph up close.

We had a great time in Yellowstone.  The scenery with the snow gave a totally different perspective.  It added another dimension to our Yellowstone experience. 

Yellowstone

We drove into Yellowstone's east gate to see a sign that said: Chains or snowtires required.  I asked the lady at the gatehouse how bad it was and she said they were not recommending anyone towing a unit(like the Dancer)  to continue into the park.  Well gee we drove all this way to see the park, how bad could it be?  

We drove all the way through the park to West Yellowstone because it is at a lower elevation.  We visited the Grizzly Discovery Center which is a home for bears, wolves and eagles that have to be confined because of injury or threats to humans.  Here are two of the grizzlies in their enclosure.

This is one of several of the wolves.

We stayed in a beautiful Forest Service campground just outside of West Yellowstone.  It was a beautiful campground and unlike most Forest Service campgrounds this one had electric hookups at some of the sites.  The Madison River which is the major drainage flowing west from the Park flowed right through the campground.  Here is a picture looking across the river to the mountains in the background.

Since I enjoy cooking Marcia thought I should include a picture of yours truly using my cast iron skillets I got for Christmas.  I usually cook breakfast and the skillets are working quite well.

We had snow about every day we were at Yellowstone.  Here is the view out our dining room window while enjoying a delicious breakfast the second morning we were there.

The Gibbon River flows into the Madison but before it does it has some beautiful falls.

Here are the vagabonds taken by the falls.

Continuing our trek through the park in the snow we caught these elk cows grazing.

I saw these two swans coming down to the rive and was able to catch them as they were landing.

The elk were just beginning to drop their calves.  They tend to go off by themselves to calve which accounts for a high mortality rate for calves lost to wolves.  This cow decided to have her calf in the riverbed.  This is the Yellowstone River which flows north from Yellowstone Lake.

The lower falls of the Yellowstone located in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone are stunning.

This is downstream from the falls showing the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

We had a great time and took a lot more pictures than this but this post is getting long so I will add another post about the second half of our stay in Yellowstone.  It is very difficult to capture the grandeur of such an amazing place.

Bighorns & Cody

We left South Dakota in our rear view mirror and  headed into Wyoming.  We went through Gillette Wyoming home to one of the largest coal mines in the world.  Between coal, methane gas and oil this region of the US produces one sixth of our energy needs, that's pretty amazing.  Our real destination showed up a little later as we were travelling up I-90.  Here they are, the Bighorn Mountains.

The road up was quite a trip.  It gains about five thousand feet and comes complete with hairpin turns and steep grades.  This is where we were just starting up.

The trip up was well worth it when we reached the top.  After climbing over the pass you drop down into a huge basin that encompasses a large part of the Bighorn range.  We chose a site in the Bighorn National Forest at one of the Forest Service campgrounds called Tie Flume.  It sits at about 8400 feet and is beautiful.  Here is the view out the back window of the Dancer.

This is a little closer view of the stream running behind our campsite.

Marcia and I took a hike up the stream and found quite a bit of snow remaining in places.

Marcia encounter this crazy mountain man while walking along the stream.

This area was a real treasure.  What made it even better was the fact that since trash services had not begun yet and the water was not turned on it was free.  Now that is my kind of campground, beautiful and free.  Here is a photo as we approached our site from along the stream.

Here is another shot showing the Dancer in our site.

Sadly the next morning we had to leave and continue our journey.  There is an old saying that goes what goes up must come down.  Yep the road down was just as steep and winding as the one going up.

We headed on west to Cody, Wyoming.  It is a nice town at the base of the Rocky Mountains  named after Buffalo Bill Cody.  It is the home of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, www.bbhc.org, which I would deem a must see attraction for anyone travelling in this area.

We had this beautiful rainbow to send us on our way as we left Cody headed towards Yellowstone.