Yellowstone

We had a blast exploring Yellowstone’s many thermal features. Forget about Old Faithful... Grand Geyser took the prize for best blast in our book. See for yourself in this photo album.

Our timing was good the day we visited the Old Faithful section of the park. We arrived about 1:30. Old Faithful went off within minutes; Daisy and Castle went off within an hour; and Grant was set to put on its show anytime... within 2 hours of 2 pm, according to the “schedule board”. Grand, “the tallest predictable geyser in the world” wasn’t to be rushed, but finally erupted at 3:58... right on schedule! It was worth the wait.

At the West Thumb Geyser Basin, the kids learned all about scat and how to track animals from Ranger Eric as part of the process of earning their Junior Ranger Badges. They can now tell you with confidence who pooped, when, why and what they ate for lunch.

We were all surprised to find scat right next to some of the thermal “paint pot” areas since the ground is so volatile there, but apparently, the smoke acts as a natural insect repellent.


No bear sightings yet... but lots of buffalo, some deer, elk and a marmot or two. We apparently just missed the wolves the day we camped in the Northern part of the park. We saw the “Wolf Ranger”, who drives a very distinctive yellow SUV, pulled over near a meadow with his telescope out. Unfortunately, by the time we found a place to pull the RV over and walk back to him, the wolves had gone into the woods.

The kids decide to pose as elk one day as we were hiking along a roadside just to see how passing cars might react. One couple actually stopped to thank them... apparently it was the only “wildlife” they had seen all day!

The “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone” and its two spectacular waterfalls was another favorite stop for us. We hiked the 350 some steps down from the canyon rim on Uncle Tom’s Path to get a great view of the lower falls, which is said to be twice as high at Niagra.


The kids didn’t care so much for the mud volcano area. They found the sulfur smell unpleasant. On the other hand, they were glad we visited since we got up close and personal with a number of buffalo on the way there.

Drew recently purchased his first fly fishing pole and had a couple of opportunities to try it out during our time at Yellowstone. He hasn’t yet caught us dinner, but it’s not for lack of effort!

Close Encounters in Wyoming

While hiking at Devil’s Tower, we didn’t see any aliens (we rented “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” the evening before our visit), but we did encounter a number of prairie dogs.

We “circumnavigated” the tower base (about 1½ miles around) and the boys did a bit of boulder climbing to get closer to the monument itself. Jake, who has always had a thing for climbing, described this activity as the coolest thing he’s ever done... so far!

We took a lot of photos. Here they are with a few from Sturgis too. It’s amazing how many different perspectives you can get of what is basically just one big rock... actually, crystalized rock - the core of an ancient underground volcano.

Jake made Pat promise he’d bring him back on his 18th birthday... either to climb it or parachute onto the top! Pat happily agreed to do either.

Wild West Weekend

We spent the weekend in Cody, Wyoming. If you haven’t had the opportunity to do any real Western camping, here’s a photo album that will give you a sense of just what an adventure it is.

Okay, so that wasn’t really us. Those photos were borrowed from an exhibit we saw at the Buffalo Bill Historic Center, “the Smithsonian of the West”. We happened to visit the Center on a holiday of sorts... National Day of the American Cowboy. As a result, the kids got to participate in some special mock-rodeo activities and won free tickets to the Cody Nite Rodeo.

Cody Nite Rodeo takes place every day for 90 consecutive each summer, providing a forum for cowpersons of all ages and skill levels to practice their sport. It wasn’t exactly a professional-level competition, but it was definitely entertaining. We weren’t keeping score, but we’re pretty sure the cows won!

Here’s the real photo album from our time in Cody.

Stay tuned for some pictures and blogging on our time in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons . . .

Mount Rushmore

Three states in three days... Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota. Our stops have included Cheyenne, Scotts Bluff, Agate, Custer, Rapid City and Sturgis. Here are some photos. (Map not included.)

Western Nebraska turned out to be an interesting drive... there was just so much NOTHING out there! At Agate Fossil Beds National Monument we hiked through a sea of prairie grass that went on for miles as far as you could see.

South Dakota’s Black Hills were a pleasant surprise. We enjoyed our visit to Mount Rushmore, but had no idea how much more there was to see in the surrounding area.

We visited Rushmore in the evening because we had heard the nightly “lighting ceremony” was a great way to see the monument. It was. We were shocked by the standing room only crowd in the amphitheater for a Tuesday night.

We had our first real (non-Walmart) boondocking experience after the show... we made our own spot at a parking area near a Black Hills National Forest trailhead on the advice of a campground host at a nearby campground. He saved us $23, plus the aggravation of having to back into a camp site at 10:30 a night!


We spent the following day checking out all the wildlife at nearby Custer State Park. At 71,000 acres, it’s apparently one of the largest state parks in the country and boasts one of the largest herds of free-roaming buffalo you’ll find anywhere. They also have a few dozen VERY FRIENDLY burrow!

Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountain hi! We spent 4 days exploring Rocky Mountain National Park from Grand Lake to Estes Park. Here are some photos.

It was a very busy weekend in the Park. We had to opt for a nearby National Forest campsite our first night, but then managed to find a nice spot within the Park for the remainder of our stay. Turns out one whole campground is closed due to spraying and hazard tree removal related to a pine beetle outbreak that is devastating trees in the area. The damage was incredible.

We did most our hiking in the area of Bear Lake... at 9,000 feet elevation, it was a nice and cool. The kids enjoyed the snow in the Park’s higher elevations, but found hiking that high up a bit too chilly!

We didn’t see as much wildlife as we had hoped to, but did come across several deer, some elk and a few other furry friends. Also, at the Fall River Visitors Center, the kids were able to complete another Junior Ranger program... this time they even got to try on Park Ranger Uniforms!



Our next stops: South Dakota for a look at Mount Rushmore & Devil’s Tower, then Wyoming where we’ll spend some time at Yellowstone & Grand Teton.

Colorado National Monument

Here’s a photo album from the day we spent hiking in Colorado National Monument.

The rock formations were cool, but the temperature in the canyon that day was not. We started on the canyon rim and hiked down to the floor. It was only a 5 mile hike and about 600 feet down, but what goes down must come up... that was the part that really got to us.

The kids had sucked down 3/4 of our water supply by the ½ way point in our hike, so it was a long and thirsty trip back. We recovered with a drink-intensive lunch and a stop at the Visitors Center where the Drew, Jake and Emily each earned their 15th Junior Ranger badges. They’re goal is 20 before we get back to Portland.

Delayed in Durango

We spent a couple of days in Durango recently. This wasn't a planned stop, but when Jake lost a filling and one of the shocks on the RV broke, some minor repair work was in order all around. We found a great pediatric dentist and an excellent RV mechanic, not to mention a really good pizza place, brew pub, playground, etc... Here are a few photos.

The road from Durango to our next stop in Grand Junction proved to be one of the most scenic byways we've ever driven on. The only down side was having to make the trip in the "big rig". Pictured above is a little comparison of Pat's view v. the rest of us!

We're updating the blog today from Cheyenne, Wyoming, in route to South Dakota and Mount Rushmore.

Coming soon: photos from our time this past week at Colorado National Monument and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Mesa Verde

We decided to turn North instead of West from New Mexico and make our way to Colorado.

Because of the 100+ temperatures we'd been hearing about in the Grand Canyon area - not to mention summer crowds and our lack of reservations - we opted to get our canyon fix at Mesa Verde and Colorado National Monument.

Here are some photos from our Mesa Verde explorations. It proved to be a great stop!