After two days and 500 miles across Idaho....(which I have to say, if I never saw again, I wouldn't miss it for a moment)....we've decided to edit the plan and go north. Originally we were on our way up the Oregon coast, but we decided that route would take too much hard travelling. When we see the coast we'd like to take our time.
So, we're heading up to New Denver to visit with Aunt and Uncle for a few days then heading home Friday.
(Seriously, 500 miles of nothing....I don't even really have pictures to post, except pictures of some place called Craters of the Moon, National Monument...go ahead, google it...and when you do...imagine, THAT was the highlight of 2 days).
No wireless tomorrow in New Denver, so that's it for this trip, see you all soon!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole
I stand corrected, this is an Elk, not a deer.... :)
Off into the Grand Teton park, famous for skiing, hiking, fishing, etc...
Here is a huge lake that the road follows with the mountains in the background.
These were so spectacular they looked fake...
On the road into Jackson Hole Wyoming...famous for its National Elk Refuge. There is a huge park on the edge of town. In the background of the shot below you can see Snow King one of the larger ski resorts in the area.
This arch is made of discarded Elk antlers and marks the entrance to the Town Square park.
Its a really nice looking town, and noticably more expensive than other towns we've been in...for everything...
Tomorrow we're heading east toward the Oregon coast. We have a couple of days crawling across Wyoming and Idaho first. Our next stop is Ketchum also known as Sun Valley Ski Area.
Off into the Grand Teton park, famous for skiing, hiking, fishing, etc...
Here is a huge lake that the road follows with the mountains in the background.
These were so spectacular they looked fake...
On the road into Jackson Hole Wyoming...famous for its National Elk Refuge. There is a huge park on the edge of town. In the background of the shot below you can see Snow King one of the larger ski resorts in the area.
This arch is made of discarded Elk antlers and marks the entrance to the Town Square park.
Its a really nice looking town, and noticably more expensive than other towns we've been in...for everything...
Tomorrow we're heading east toward the Oregon coast. We have a couple of days crawling across Wyoming and Idaho first. Our next stop is Ketchum also known as Sun Valley Ski Area.Yellowstone Day 2
Left West Yellowstone early this morning and came across this little coyote guy running through the grass.
We were in the most active area of the geysers and hot springs. We decided to stop at this area called the Norris Geyser Basin...
More micro bacteria creating the coloured álgae' on the rocks. Apparently different colours denote different temperatures as different bacteria thrive in different temps.
We walked around a few springs to go see the prismatic pool...you'll see in the steam below that it has different colours like a prism. This isn't caused by the sun, but by reflections of the water and multicoloured algae below the steam....these shots just got better and better as we walked around this pool.
The one above and below are my two favourite shots...they look amazing in full size! I have 4 or 5 more that are just incredible...
Okay, you've been very patient....what you've all been waiting for is coming up...below is the Yellowstone Lodge (poor pic sorry) but its essentially a large log building very nice inside.
And if you stand on the patio and look out from the lodge here's what you see, look familiar? It steams off every 90 mins, so if you don't time it right...you have to wait around. You can see...a few people waited around! At least the tourist's presence in these pics give you a perspective on how high Old Faithful blows.
Back on the road heading south out of the park on the way to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. First this is Yellowstone Lake, a small piece of it. Its very big.
Can you see the two elk in this photo? One is above the other, both are female.
And here's daddy a few miles down the road just off to the side...
Actually looked at me! While I'm sitting on the bike in the opposite lane...hard to tell, but he actually has a couple of dandelion's hanging from his mouth. (Couldn't post that pic...technical difficulties)
Yellowstone Day 1
We started out early in the morning, it was a cool 52 degrees F. While there seems to be traffic here, in this picture, it's actually not that bad - we're just congested here as we approach the gate to the park.
This was actually "Soda Butte"which our hotel in Cooke City was named after. Its a smelly lime/sulpher deposit. Around the back we ran into another buffalo, lying in the grass.
Landscapes as you will see, vary dramatically in the park. You have lush meadows and rolling hills, dense forests and canyons. The park is about 120 miles across and we're sort of travelling from the northeast corner to the mid-west side.
All kinds of really unique plant life in the park too...these thistles below stand about knee high and are serious looking things...
I couldn't resist...had to turn off and go see what the petrified tree was...now I know, looks like a stump. I guess its gated too so no one can take any more pieces of it...it used to be a California Redwood.
In 1988 approx 10% of Yellowstone's 2 million acres caught fire and burned. You can see vast swatches of land that look like this below. Interestingly, they have not replanted these areas, they have signs that say Naturally restored by Wildfire and Wildlife.
This is the 'lower falls'in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone...the falls and the Canyon are incredible.
Rocks in this area take on their texture from the ground which is a giant volcanic basin called a Caldera - about 2/3rds of the park is essentially the top of a 60 million yr old volcano. We see more of this with the geysers in Yellowstone - Day 2.
More of the Canyon farther down the road...
These shots taken at a the Porcelain Geyser Basin...stinky but pretty cool. There were small geysers like the one on the left and a bunch of smaller steam vents all over.
The minerals steaming out of the vents had coated nearby trees, so they looked winter white, almost like they were covered in snow.
Some of the vents have different colours from the minerals and the micro organisms that live in the water...
The little pools are so blue they look very inviting. Mike felt the water and thought it might be around 100 degrees or so, like hot water in the hot tub.
We headed back down the road on our way into West Yellowstone for the night...
Passed a field by a stream and saw some resting Elk along the river bank...
By now it was about 2:30pm and we were done for the day. More Yellowstone, including Old Faithful were on the agenda for today...up next in Yellowstone Day 2.
This was actually "Soda Butte"which our hotel in Cooke City was named after. Its a smelly lime/sulpher deposit. Around the back we ran into another buffalo, lying in the grass.
Landscapes as you will see, vary dramatically in the park. You have lush meadows and rolling hills, dense forests and canyons. The park is about 120 miles across and we're sort of travelling from the northeast corner to the mid-west side.
All kinds of really unique plant life in the park too...these thistles below stand about knee high and are serious looking things...
I couldn't resist...had to turn off and go see what the petrified tree was...now I know, looks like a stump. I guess its gated too so no one can take any more pieces of it...it used to be a California Redwood.
In 1988 approx 10% of Yellowstone's 2 million acres caught fire and burned. You can see vast swatches of land that look like this below. Interestingly, they have not replanted these areas, they have signs that say Naturally restored by Wildfire and Wildlife.
This is the 'lower falls'in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone...the falls and the Canyon are incredible.
Rocks in this area take on their texture from the ground which is a giant volcanic basin called a Caldera - about 2/3rds of the park is essentially the top of a 60 million yr old volcano. We see more of this with the geysers in Yellowstone - Day 2.
More of the Canyon farther down the road...
These shots taken at a the Porcelain Geyser Basin...stinky but pretty cool. There were small geysers like the one on the left and a bunch of smaller steam vents all over.
The minerals steaming out of the vents had coated nearby trees, so they looked winter white, almost like they were covered in snow.
Some of the vents have different colours from the minerals and the micro organisms that live in the water...
The little pools are so blue they look very inviting. Mike felt the water and thought it might be around 100 degrees or so, like hot water in the hot tub.
We headed back down the road on our way into West Yellowstone for the night...
Passed a field by a stream and saw some resting Elk along the river bank...
By now it was about 2:30pm and we were done for the day. More Yellowstone, including Old Faithful were on the agenda for today...up next in Yellowstone Day 2.
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