Travel Highlight – Page 3 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.