Yellowstone - Day 2

On the second morning, we toured the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, and its waterfalls.

Then Yellowstone Lake, where there are thermal pools,

and an area of “paint pots”, which were mostly dry due to the low water table from the drought. When they have water in them, they look like pools of paint for an artist's palette, each one a different color.

We saw lots of bison today.

More pictures here.

Yellowstone - Day 1

Yellowstone National Park is a truly amazing place. If you've never been there, put it on your bucket list. It's huge, too much to see in a day, so we took 2 days.

On the first day, we started at Old Faithful and walked a lot around the thermal features near there. There are lots of pools of colored water, and the colors are due to the different creatures living in it, at different temperatures. Several of the pools are geysers, and erupt occasionally, some regularly and some very rarely.

We also went to Mammoth Hot Springs. As we were driving in, we got caught in a traffic jam due to a tourist who approached a bison for a picture. He was gored, thrown into the air, and then trampled. He was on the ground being tended to by EMTs when we arrived, and the bison was grazing nearby. Then the rangers arrived and used two jeeps to drive the bison away. They lose one or two tourists that way every year, and they are very serious about not getting close to the animals, or feeding them. When I was a lad, we went to Yellowstone and the bears would surround the cars and beg for food. No more, they are wild again and don't bother the cars. We didn't even see any bears, but we did see a family of elk crossing the street and settling down in the shade.

Mammoth Hot Springs is big mounds and terraces built up by deposits of minerals from the springs. They make some colorful and interesting shapes.

They've posted signs around some areas of the park that had been burned in the big fire in 1988.

As if the need for reseeding had not been caused by the fire itself !! Reminds me of the BP commercials telling all the wonderful things they've done for the Gulf Coast.

On the way back, we saw a big bull elk next to the road.

More pictures here.

Where have we been so far?

Whenever we meet new people in RV parks, and tell them we're full-timing, they ask the same question:  Where have you been so far?  I wrote it down, so I wouldn't forget.

We've been everywhere, man

We've been everywhere.

Across the deserts bare, man

We've breathed the mountain air.

Of travel we've had our share, man

We've been everywhere

We've been to Sandwich, Harwich, Ipswich, Provincetown,

Loveland, Maryland, Cleveland, Cooperstown,

Montana, Issaquah, Ogalalla, Idaho,

Pennsylvania, Iowa, Arizona, Colorado

Alabama, Louisiana, Indiana, Lake George,

Nebraska, Mesa, Omaha, Valley Forge
 

We've been everywhere, man

We've been everywhere.

Across the deserts bare, man

We've breathed the mountain air.

Of travel we've had our share, man

We've been everywhere

We've been to Niceville, Lawrenceville, Mountainville, Fresno,

Wisconsin, Destin, Laughlin, San Antonio,

Gothenburg, Gettysburg, Wickenburg, Monticello,

Benson, Stockton, Tuscon, Tahoe,

Kingston, Burlington, Brownington, Springfield,

Washington, Houston, Oregon, Bakersfield

We've been everywhere, man

We've been everywhere.

Across the deserts bare, man

We've breathed the mountain air.

Of travel we've had our share, man

We've been everywhere

And those are just the places that rhyme ... 

Global what ???

I got this in an email from an investment advisor:

US Carbon Emissions Plummet  

Coal consumption in the US continued to fall because new supplies of natural gas are displacing coal in power plants. The change has been so dramatic that since 2006, the US has been the world leader in reducing carbon dioxide emissions since natural gas emits less carbon dioxide per unit of power produced. US carbon dioxide emissions have fallen to a 20-year low as a result.

Looks like we'll need some other explanation for global warming and Superstorm Sandy, since it was not USA CO2 emissions.

Lewis & Clark Caverns

Near Whitehall, MT is Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park. We stayed overnight in the park, and did the tour of the cavern. It's a half-mile hike up the mountain to the entrance, and we were the only ones signed up for the 4:30 tour, so we got a private showing, just the two of us and our guide. It's a really good cave, and worth the trip, if you're in the area. There are a couple of formations that look like people

and one that is Santa's elf

Lots of big rooms and big cave formations.

More pictures here.

The night we were there was a meteor shower, so we went on a short walk with a ranger to view them, but it was mostly cloudy and all we saw was a couple of satellites.   

National Bison Range

The National Bison Range is near Ronan, Montana. Besides the bison

they have pronghorns

bighorn sheep

deer

and elk, though the only elk we saw were the ones in this picture, and we didn't know we were seeing them until we enlarged it.

The animals live in a mostly natural habitat, as they did before we got here. Much more interesting than a zoo.  The bison like to wallow in sand pits, to remove bugs from their fur

Outside the park is a roadside restaurant where they serve – of course – bison burgers. Very tasty.

The park includes some small mountains, which you drive up and down and around, and some short walks to scenic views of the surrounding valleys and mountains. 

 In the visitor center you can learn all about the bison and their history in the US. It's pretty far off the beaten path for most tourists, but when you're on the way from here to there in your RV, it's not that hard to get to.

More pictures here.