Glacier Park - Day 2

We decided to take a boat/hiking tour at Many Glaciers in the northern part of the park. This is the boat, which left from the lodge shown. If you wanted to spend a vacation here, the lodge is perfect.

It was a beautiful day, and the scenery was gorgeous. The tour consisted of two boat rides and two short hikes that took us from one lake to another. I was wearing my Buffalo Bills windbreaker, and a woman came up to us and asked if we were from there. Turns out they are also from Williamsville - Kathy & Tom Weaver - and she said she grew up with the Bissells and other Calvary families. Really small world.

These were taken at the last lake.

In addition to the water and the mountains, we ran into this guy - about 20 feet away, just enjoying a late lunch.

After Galcier, we headed south through Butte and west on 90.

We'll go through the tip of Idaho and be in Washington state tomorrow.

Glacier Park - Day 1

From Yellowstone, drove north on Rt. 15, staying at Great Falls, Mt. before stopping at Shelby, near Glacier National Park. Decided to take the Jeep on the "Going-to-the-Sun" road, which bisects the park east-to-west. This picture is at the lodge in St. Mary's near the eastern end of the road.

These pix show the range of the scenery in these mountains - similar to

but "craggier" than the mountains in Vail, Co.

Every time we turned a corner, there was another chance for a post card photo. There was a lot of traffic on the road (Saturday), and many of the pull offs were packed.

The pictures we did get only hint at the gorgeous majesty of these mountains.

More to come on our second day there.

Yellowstone - Day 2

Onthe second day, we drove down the east side of the park to see Yellowstone Lake and the Canyon area. Ate lunch at the lakeshore, and got this picture of the local scenery.

The Yellowstone River runs over two falls as it enters the canyon. These shots only hint at the power of the water going through the rapids and over the falls.

The canyon opens up below the falls - very dramatic - we were in awe of the majesty.

Both on the way in and the way out, we continued to see the wild life in the park. In addition to these, saw bison herds, coyotes, a grizzly sunning himself - all too far away to capture on camera.

This bison just strolled across the road in front of us - you can just see him next to the car. Of course, at any of these sightings, all traffic comes to a halt - sometimes for 20 minutes or more.

This little brown bear had traffic backed up for miles - as did the deer and her fawn.

We would have spent one more day in the park, but the brakes on the Jeep were making some noise, so took it in to a local dealer who fixed us up.

Next destination is Glacier Park in Montana. We'll post some of that over the weekend.

Yellowstone - Day 1

Drove to Livingston, Montana on Peg's birthday. Long drive, but we had enough left to celebrate at dinner.

Next morning in Yellowstone. The park is immense. The scenery is beautiful and some of it unlike anything else. From Mammoth Hot Springs in the north, to Old Faithful in the south, the western side of the park has the greatest concentration of thermal springs and geysers anywhere in the world.

Old Faithful went off within 2 minutes of the predicted time. As Peg said, we witnessed it with 2000 of our closest friends.

Saw these elk on the way out of the park. Also saw several bison, too far away to get on camera.

Buffalo, Wyoming/Bighorn Mountains

After Badlands - Buffalo, Wyoming was next stop. A camper we met in Nebraska told us we'd see more wildlife in the Big Horn Mountains than in Yellowstone. We did see a few deer, and some gorgeous mountain scenery. Peg's picture was taken on a back road near a small stream waterfall. Mine at a small, very blue mountain lake.

For any Calvary followers: Chris Miller told us about some work that David had done in Worland, Wyoming - it's displayed in their new convention center/museum. The bottom pictures show the building and two of the murals painted by David. On to Yellowstone.

Badlands

The Badlands - words fail me when I try to describe the area. It is completely otherworldly-a cross between the Valley of the Kings and the moon. A brochure quotes Frank Lloyd Wright - "---I was totally unprepared for that revelation called the Dakota Bad Lands...What I saw gave me an indescribable sense of mysterious elsewhere-a distant architecture, ethereal...an endless supernatural world more spiritual than earth but created out of it". I totally agree. The photos give some sense of it, but you have to see and experience it yourself. All we kept saying was "WOW", "AWESOME", and many times dead silence.

On a lighter note, the buffalo herd was sighted on a back road on our way out of the park. Animals almost to the horizon. Can understand the plains Indians reverance of them.

Next stop in Buffalo, Wyoming on our way to Yellowstone.

More South Dakota

Went back to Rushmore on the 5th. Much better day, as you can see from the pix. After Rushmore, drove to the Crazy Horse Monument (seen over Peg's head). This sculpture is being done privately, and will be "monumental" when finished. At the present rate, might be done when our grandchildren make the trip as adults. Quite a bit of Indian artistry and culture.

Lastly, drove through Custer State Park. Scenery was beautiful, and the brochure promised sightings of wildlife. Saw nothing until we got off the main drag on a dirt road. One buffalo actually made a mock charge at the car and surprised us so much that we didn't get his picture. The next one was about 3 feet away when I snapped her. The antelopes walked across the road in back of us after the picture, and the buffalo herd we saw later numbered 8-10.

The next day was cold and wet, but we decided to go into Deadwood. There are more casinos per block here than Vegas (not as many blocks). It's where Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane both met their ends. Visited a museum to soak up some local knowledge, and walked part way down Main Street to the saloon you see us in for lunch. Probably would have spent more time on a nicer day.