Month: May 2020

August 15, 2015 Badlands NP

Today was our furthest point east on this trip.  Ron has always wanted to see the Badlands NP.  But before that we had quite a storm last night.  Wind gusts around 40 mph and rain and lighting.  We got a little concerned when the loudspeakers on the Airforce base came on and told all personnel to take cover from lightning and severe weather.  Ton says I slept through most of the storm but I was really awake and listening to the storm.

On the way to Badlands the signs for Wall Drug started popping up, and I asked Ton if she wanted to visit Wall Drug.  To my surprise she said she had no idea what it was.  Ton like many people who have adopted the US often knows more than natives about the country so I am always surprised when she does not know something about the country.  So we stopped and I had a cup of coffee while Ton explored Wall Drug.

Maybe the original tourist trap. Wall Drug in South Dakota.

I know I am starting to sound like a broken record, but I am not sure we realize how spectacular the National Park System is.  Badlands was 25 miles of spectacular other worldly formations carved by wind and water.  I am not sure our pictures are going to do it justice.  It was definitely worth the 1300 mile trip to see.  I hope the other parks live up to the Badlands.

Part of Badlands National Park.

August 14, 2015 Ellsworth AFB SD

Today we started out with plans to drive 8 hours to the Badlands NP.  But enroute our youngest son Dylan called and convinced us to swing by and see the Devils Tower National Monument.  This was the first national monument ever created.  It is a 800 foot rock that sticks straight up in the air with what appears to be columns.  We walked the base of the rock which takes about 45 minutes.  A very impressive feature but very crowded today with people scrambling all over the rocks.  For me it took away from the experience as it is a place that deserves some quiet contemplation.  Especially since there are signs all over saying that climbing on the loose rocks requires a climbing permit, and I doubt the park service is issuing permits to 4 year olds.

The very impressive rock called Devils Tower.

After the stop we decided to stop short and ended up at Ellsworth AFB.  When we got there the normal RV park was full but he said there was an overflow lot a couple  of miles away.  So tonight we are parked in an old parking lot with two other RV’s at the end of the runway in an abandoned part of the base.  We do have a great view of B1 and B52 bombers landing and taking off.

A B1 bomber outbound from Ellsworth AFB.

Montana and Wyoming

Most of our time in Montana and Wyoming is at or near Yellowstone so we have lumped them together.  We have visited three times since we started the blog.  It truly is a special place, and our son worked there for part of the time.  If there is one place we would recommend in the US it is Yellowstone.

August 13, 2014 Cody WY

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Today was spent at the Wild Bill Western Museum.  This museum is a revelation and is actually five museums in one.  There is of course

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October 18, 2017 Yellowstone NP

Today was geyser and hotspring day at Yellowstone.  We visited all of the hotspring sites between the west entrance and Old Faithful.  We then stayed for an Old Faithful eruption and had lunch.  While the skies were still clear it was colder and windy so while it was good picture weather it was not good hanging around outside weather.

Hotspring near the park entrance.

Mid-afternoon we decided to head over to Mammoth Hot Springs as Ton was not going to let her friends see Yellowstone without seeing where our son Dylan worked as a ranger.  We did not have the best light for Mammoth but it is still pretty spectacular.

One of my favorite hot spring photos.

We returned to our campsite well after dark tonight and whipped up a quick meal.

And of course Old Faithful.

October 17, 2017 Yellowstone NP

Today was critter chasing day.  The plan was to head over to Grand Teton NP and see what critters we could see.  To facilitate that we rented a car for our stay in Yellowstone.  Elephant costs .35$ per mile to drive, and we figured that the cost of the rental car would mostly be offset by the miles we saved not driving Elephant and we would gain the flexibility of being able to squeeze into smaller places.  It turned out to be a good decision.

Noi is a professional photographer and ran her own travel magazine in Thailand.  She asked me what the big five were in Yellowstone.  I did not initially understand her question until she explained to me that there were a big five animals you should get photos of in the Serengeti.  Ton and I did not know if there was an official big five list for Yellowstone, but we made one up consisting of Bison, Elk, Wolves, Moose, and Bears.

Bison on a river crossing.

We were not more than a few miles into the park when we crossed our first animal off the list as there was a large herd of Bison.  After about an hour of photos were shot we headed on down the road towards Grand Teton.  On the parkway between Yellowstone and Grand Teton we got to cross another big five off the list.  There was a grizzly contentedly grazing right next to the road despite the considerable scrum of humans about fifty yards away shooting pictures.  So far a good day.

This big fellow munched away while a herd of humans tripped over themselves 50 yards away.

The weather was fantastic today with clear blue skies and highs in the sixties.  Grand Teton was spectacular and we enjoyed a really nice lunch in the park.  

The view from our lunch spot.

Finally on the way home in addition to some more Bison we were able to get some nice shots of an Elk herd crossing a river.  As well as watching some stupid human behavior as a clearly agitated Elk was being ignored by one guy who was so concerned with his photo that he risked getting attacked.

The Bull in this photo was very agitated with some people who were too close.

October 16, 2017 West Yellowstone MT

We started the day by heading to Craters of the Moon NM.  Ton and I enjoy the starkness of this place immensely and wanted our friends from Thailand to see it.  

Unfortunately Ron and Noi are both fighting colds so that reduced some of the fun of Craters.  Plus I think everyone was pretty pumped up to see Yellowstone.  So after half a day we headed on over to Yellowstone.  

Craters of the Moon.

Because of the cold temperatures and some of the limitations of Elephant we need to stay in commercial campgrounds when it is cold.  Elephant can only provide about two hours of heat before her battery is drained.  Elephant is really making Ton and I appreciate the flexibility and nimbleness of Scout.

We chose the Rustic Wagon campground in Yellowstone.  When we arrived you could tell it is near the end of the season as we were one of only three campers in the park, and all but one other campground was closed.

October 16, 2016 West Yellowstone MT

The plan for the day was to go to Yellowstone and stay at Hardy Campground.  When we woke up in the morning we decided that we had not done Little Big Horn Justice so we decided to detour there on the way out of town.  

We checked out the movie the Park Service has which is well done in trying to present the story from both sides.  Then after the movie there was a Ranger talk which was also excellent.  We ended the visit with a walk up to the last stand site.  Our little detour cost us half a day and it was almost noon before we took off for Yellowstone.  

We busted along as fast as we could but it was not as fast as we would have liked as there was a considerable wind blowing the entire way which meant we were moving along considerably slower than the 80mph posted speed limit.

We finally arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs around 3:30 pm, only to see that Hardy Campground had closed that day for the season.  With a 60% chance of 1 to 3’ of snow forecast we had a choice of staying at Mammoth Hot Springs and risking the park service closing the road across the park for part of the day, or heading for West Yellowstone and staying in a commercial campground.  We opted for caution and headed over to West Yellowstone.

The winter comes early in Montana.

October 15, 2016 Hardin MT

After a week in Tioga while Ron earned his keep for the month working we moved on to our vacation.  The plan for this week includes, Yellowstone and Grand Coulee Dam in Washington and whatever else we come up with.

After a leisurely start in the morning we drove to Hardin Montana to see the Little Bighorn National Battlefield.  It was a wonderful Indian Summer day with puffy cumulus clouds in a wonderfully blue sky.  The battlefield was quite well done.  While it was like most battlefields a somber place, it is also a place of great natural beauty especially with fall colors.  We really enjoyed ourselves today.

The plan for tomorrow is to head towards Yellowstone and hope the good weather holds for another day.

Part of the Little Big Horn Battlefield.

August 10, 2015 Three Forks MT

We decided to start our return trip west to Portland by heading due east over the Beartooth Highway.  This drive is absolutely spectacular and you really must include it in any trip you take to Yellowstone.  It is one of our favorite drives in the US.  A lot of better writers than I have described it so I am going to pass.  All I can say is make sure you do it at least once.

One of the many scenic views on the Beartooth Highway.

After coming down from the Beartooth we jumped on the interstate and headed west towards Bozeman.  The place we had picked out to stay was full, so we continued headed down the interstate until we came to Three Forks where we ended up in a commercial campground.

August 9, 2015 Yellowstone NP

Our day started by joining our son Dylan for breakfast at the Youth Conservation Corp camp just outside Mammoth.  Dylan has been a Ranger at Yellowstone for 4 years.  This year he is working with the YCC which brings in about 80 high school aged kids for the summer.  The kids get to experience Yellowstone and also help out with projects such as trail maintenance and putting in Bear boxes.

At breakfast we were able to meet some of the students and some of Dylans fellow rangers.  At breakfast Dylan told us he had to do some last minute work for 3 or 4 hours and he would join us for lunch.

We decided to head out to Lamar Valley again while we waited for Dylan to join us.  We stopped and took a short hike out into a field to get a look at a herd of Bison.  We were following all of the rules staying the proper distance from the herd, but someone forgot to tell a bull Bison the rules.  On our way back to scout we came around a curve with a steep hill to our left and a creek with a 5 or 6 foot drop on the right and ran into a bull Bison about 20 yards in front of us.  Ron decided to retreat towards the creek figuring we could jump down in the creek bed if the Bison took offense.  As we moved down toward the creek Ton grabbed Ron just before he stepped on a snake.  At this point the bull pointedly ignoring our little show sauntered on past and went on his way down the trail.

The bull we ran into was part of this herd.

Deciding we needed Park Service supervision we headed back to Mammoth and picked up Dylan.  We went to lunch in Gardiner just outside the park entrance, and then headed over to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  

Dylan opted for home Thai cooking for dinner and invited one of his co-workers to join us.  Ton made some of her famous Larb, and we enjoyed a nice dinner while hearing about Rangering with teenagers.

August 8, 2015 Yellowstone NP

We were going to try to make it to Mammoth Hot Springs Campground because it is the closest one to where our son is working at the park this year.  He told us that they are having record visitors this year and if we wanted to get in the campground we needed to be there before 10am.  So we got up early and headed into a very rainy cold day.  We forgot just how big Yellowstone is, the drive from Grand Teton to Mammoth Hot Springs on the north side of the park was 104 miles and took nearly 3 hours because of the typical tourist traffic and some much needed road work.

When we got to the Mammoth Camp Grounds we found that there were plenty of camp spots still available, probably because of the miserable weather forecast 50 degrees and raining all day.  We had some time to kill because Dylan was working all day so we began by checking out the new visitors center, and all of the stores at Mammoth.  Of course given the weather we were joined by a lot of the other visitors.  

During a break in the rain we went up to the hot springs and it seemed like they were flowing much better than the last time we were there.  Ton took lots of pictures, and then we decided to head out to Lamar Valley as it was not raining too hard at that point.  In Lamar the Bison were out in force and despite the weather there were plenty of people out.  

Mammoth Hot Springs

August 7, 2015 Grand Teton NP

We had not spent much time in Grand Teton NP so we decided to spend a day exploring.  We got up early as the campgrounds fill up early.  The traffic in Jackson Hole was noticeably busier than the last time we had visited two years ago.

When we arrived we parked in the parking lot near the visitors center by the lake.  Ton ran into the visitors center, and Ron was going to move Scout to a better location when another Malayan Tiger drove up.  The Johansons were from Seattle and had their Malayan for about a year.  He had done a lot of work on his truck so it dwarfed scout.  They were quite nice and we exchanged stories about our trucks until we had to leave for a Ranger Walk.

A meeting of Tigers at Grand Teton.

August 13, 2014 Cody WY

Today was spent at the Wild Bill Western Museum.  This museum is a revelation and is actually five museums in one.  There is of course a museum dedicated to Wild Bill Cody which is the original museum.  The second museum is dedicated to the plains Indians.  The third museum is a large collection of  western art.  The fourth museum is a firearm museum which is supposed to be one of the largest in the US.  Finally there is a museum showing the natural environment of the high plains and mountains of the areas.

What is amazing is that in a city of less than 10,000 a museum of this quality can exist. This museum is truly outstanding in all the wings and it is easy to spend 6 or 8 hours in it.  Ton and I spent the whole day in it, and actually had to cut it short at the end. We were both impressed and learned a tremendous amount.   If you are anywhere near Yellowstone plan a trip to Cody to see this fascinating museum.

A sample of plains Indian art.

August 12, 2014 Cody WY

Today was primarily a driving day with a goal of getting east.  The route was US 20 to Idaho Falls and then on to Yellowstone NP.  We went thru the park without stopping, but did get to see a bunch of Bison on the way.

The drive from the east entrance of Yellowstone to Cody was quite beautiful with some interesting mountain and rock formations.  Apparently this drive was Teddy Roosevelts favorite in the west.  

When we arrived in Cody we decided to stay for two nights, so we can spend some time in the Buffalo Bill Western Museum here which is supposed to be quite good.  Tonight we went downtown and had dinner in the Irma Hotel, which was built by Buffalo Bill, and watched a reenactment of a gunfight featuring who else, but Buffalo Bill.  As you can tell Buffalo Bill Cody is a big deal in Cody Wyoming.

A gunfight in the streets of Cody.

Idaho

Until we got Scout we had not spent much time in Idaho.  For us Idaho is one of the states that we enjoy the most.  Hells Canyon is one of our particular favorites along with the Salmon River.

August 5, 2015 Salmon ID

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Today was scenic highway day.  We planned to cover two scenic highways the Sawtooth Scenic Highway and the Salmon River Scenic Highway.  The problem is

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August 4, 2015 Mt. Home ID

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Today we drove the Owyhee National Scenic Backcountry Byway.  Last year we had visited Leslie Gulch on the Oregon side of the Owyhee’s.  This year

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October 15, 2017 Arco ID

Today turned out to be primarily a travel day, though we did make a short stop for some shopping in Mountain Home.  

Today we arrived in Arco Idaho which is the first town ever to be powered by nuclear energy.  During WWII the government constructed the first nuclear power plant near Arco.   There still is a large nuclear site just outside of town.

Another Hells Canyon sunrise.

Things are starting to wind down on the tourist season and the campground we stayed at in Arco was closing down for the year on Friday, so there was no water available.  Everyone is getting the hang of living in pretty tight quarters so the great experiment of having 5 people in Elephant (our Cruise America RV) is going pretty well.

October 14, 2017 Hells Canyon ID

The snow overnight had turned into ice when we woke up.  But it was supposed to warm up quickly so we did not have any problems getting going in the morning.  Our destination was one of Ton’s favorite campgrounds on the Snake River in Idaho.  It is at the bottom of Hells Canyon, which is the deepest or second deepest canyon in the US.  Last time we visited it was the same time of the year and the trees at the bottom of the canyon were in full fall colors.  This time it looks like we got here about a week too late though they are still nice.

Hells Canyon.

October 19, 2016 Hells Canyon ID

Today we reluctantly left Hells Canyon, unfortunately we are on a tight schedule for the week.  Hopefully next year we will be able to take the time to really enjoy these finds when we are out wandering.

Today we drove US95 from Hells Canyon to Couer d’ Alene ID.  It was not marked as scenic highway but really quite a nice drive with a lot of nice varying kinds of land.  The fall colors were at there peak and though not up to New England were really nice mostly yellows.

During our 20+ years in the Northwest we had pretty much ignored Idaho which we now realize was a mistake.  The good news is that we have an area close by we can spend some time in and discover.

Dawn in Hells Canyon.

October 18, 2016 Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

This morning we woke up to this view from the back window of Scout,

and this evening we had this view out our side window.  This makes it all worth it.

City of Rocks was as beautiful in the morning as it was the day before.  We dawdled around getting out of there.  On the way back to the interstate for some hard driving west we saw a sign for a back country by way and took a little detour thru a bunch of ranches with a small town every 25 miles or so. I am running out of ways to describe the beauty of eastern Idaho in the fall.  If you are ever in the area around October give South east Idaho a chance you will not regret it.

Our plan for the next couple of days is to follow US95 from Boise to Coeur d’ Alene and then head over to Grand Coulee Dam in Washington.  Heading north on US95 we saw signs for the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and our decision on where to overnight was made.  On the map we saw that Idaho power had three campgrounds on the Snake river in the canyon.  Our expectations were low so when we pulled in we were stunned with the high quality of this campground.  Expecting primitive we found paved roads, power, clean showers, and WiFi all for $14.  Kudos to Idaho Power.

October 17, 2016 City of Rocks NM

Caution looked like the right choice when we woke up there was about 3” of snow in W. Yellowstone.  When we left we had decided to head for Mountain Home ID for the day, but driving thru the snow down the mountain Ton mentioned a place we had always talked about going to  and said the fall colors were supposed to be nice there tight now.  So mid-drive we reprogrammed the GPS for City of Rocks National Preserve on the Idaho, Utah, Nevada border.

The view out of our window today.

Ton’s instincts were dead on.  This place is a real hidden gem of the park service.  It is run jointly by the National Park Service and the Idaho Park and Recreation Department. It is on the old California Trail which is a branch of the Oregon Trail.  It has some of the most incredible rock formations and we found it extremely beautiful and tranquil.  It is really remote and the night sky was also fantastic.

If you are ever in SE Idaho along I-15 so yourself a favor and swing thru.