Friday, May 25, 2012...

After traveling 7,481 miles and passing through 18 different states, we are now safely back in Long Lake.  It was a great trip and we certainly were blessed with very good weather along the way.  There were a few storms around the country and somehow we were lucky enough to just miss all of them.  <p>

Once again thank you for following us on our journey.  I was nice to be able to share our trip with all of you!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012...

We continued across South Dakota and into southern Minnesota. We are spending the night in Albert Lea, Minnesota. Both South Dakota and southern Minnesota are very flat and open. Minnesota seemed to have more trees and more farms where crops are planted rather than the cattle ranches. We saw none or very few windmills in South Dakota but there have been a lot in Minnesota.

One interesting thing we noticed was the price of gas in both SD and MN. The 87 octane is approximately $3.69 and the 89 octane is $3.59 a gallon. Apparently the 89 octane contains the 10% ethanol, making it less expensive.

Tomorrow we will continue to head towards home. I probably won't make any more entries until we get to Long Lake but thanks to everyone for sharing our trip with us and following us along each day. It has been fun!

Monday, May 21, 2012...

We spent much of today back in the Badlands National Park. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the temp went up to around 90. There are plenty of prairie dogs around in the park and today we got to see the babies.

Later in the day we made one more stop at Wall Drug so Jim could get his free coffee and donut (since the donuts are homemade and very good :-). They give them free to all veterans. We also wanted to pick up a couple souvenirs and now we are getting ready to head back home tomorrow.

Sunday, May 20, 2012...

Today we traveled across the rest of Wyoming and on to Wall, South Dakota (population 821). We were fortunate to find lodging some wonderful log cabins convenient both to town and to the park. After unpacking, we headed to downtown Wall to check Wall Drug. This old store started in the 1930's as a little drugstore and now has grown so it nearly fills the whole block. They were once known for offering free ice water to travelers and you still see those signs along the highway today along with signs for five cent coffee. There were a few other interesting shops downtown, too, so we checked those as well.

From there we headed out to Badlands National Park. The park land is very different from the rest of the area and it has a beauty all it's own. It was nice and sunny so we were able to get some pictures. We spotted a few prairie dogs and there were meadowlarks singing everywhere. Around dusk we spotted three bighorn sheep feeding on the grass not far from the road.

Tomorrow we will check more of the park and hopefully get more pictures. Temp today was upper 60's and tomorrow's forecast calls for temp of around 87.

Trip trivia...

Temp when we left Gardiner, MT was 50 degrees and gas cost $3.84.

Temp when we left Gillette, WY was 52 degrees and gas cost $3.55. Speed limit on Interstate 90 is 75mph.

Saturday, May 19, 2012...

We left Gardiner, Montana this morning to head back east. About ten miles outside Gardiner we spotted a Big horn sheep near the edge of the road up ahead. Luckily there was a nearby pull-off so we were both able to get some pictures of the sheep as he headed up the rocky slope. What a lucky sighting! We were both surprised at how much the sheep blended in with the landscape. If we took our eyes off him, it was hard to spot him again unless he moved. When you look at the pictures, you may have the same problem but he is near the center.

We reached Gillette, Wyoming today where we will spend the night. We will continue on to Wall, South Dakota tomorrow where we will stay until Tuesday. That will give us time to visit Badlands National Park and to check out Wall Drug which sounds pretty interesting from what we have read.

Friday, May 18, 2012...

Today was pretty cool with the temp staying in the low 40's and we had a little rain off and on all day. We decided to check out more of Yellowstone today so we headed to see Old Faithful which is about 55 miles from the north entrance. On the way we stopped by the Norris geyser basin. The geological wonders in the park are pretty amazing to say the least. Because it was such a cold day, the steam coming out of the hot springs was even more noticeable. When you see the pictures, it looks like there are fires everywhere but the "smoke" is really steam coming from the hot springs. Some of the springs have such hot water that you can see it bubbling to a boil. There were dozens of hot springs along the road on our way to Old Faithful.

When we reached Old Faithful, we were told the next eruption would be in half an hour. Apparently the eruptions are approximately every 90 minutes, give or take 10 minutes one way or the other. Luckily for us though, this one was just about right on time. We both got a lot of pictures but with the water and steam against the cloudy sky, it doesn't show up as good as we hoped. The eruptions send the geyser water up to 180 feet.

Tomorrow we hit the road again as we head back east. Our next destination is the Badlands National Park in South dakota and we should get there Sunday.

Thursday, May 17, 2012...

Today we went through the Lamar Valley again and continued on through the northeast entrance of the park and into Cooke City, Montana. This is an old mining town and it is definitely a very remote area. It was a neat little town with several places for lodging, several restaurants and a few neat shops. We went in the old general store that was well over 100 years old. They still have the original shelving, glass display cases and even some old tin bins labeled cloves, ginger, and one was gun powder.

By the time we headed back, the winds picked up, the skies were dark and we hit some rain. There were not as many animals out today but we did see some elk with horns and lots of uinta ground squirrels. These little squirrels live in holes they burrow in the ground. We also met some people who told us there has been some wolf sightings in the valley but so far we have not been fortunate to see them.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012...

We had breakfast this morning at the Two-Bit Saloon here in Gardiner, MT where they also serve a locally brewed beers is called Moose Drool. Their specialty there is a breakfast burrito which is so large that most people share it. From there we headed to Yellowstone and the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone lived up to it's reputation so it was a lucky day for us. Our first big sighting was a mother grizzly bear with two little baby cubs. We watched her take a swim in a pond with one of the babies on her back. Then they all came out, dried off and continued on their way. I only got one picture but Jim was able to get lots of them with his telephoto lens. We also saw two other lone grizzly bears in different locations and we were able to get pictures of one of them.

We saw a wolf pup but he was too far away to get a picture. We were told by someone else who was watching him that the whole family was there earlier but they had all moved on except for this one. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of buffalo throughout Yellowstone and most don't seem shy so we have seen a LOT of them. And needless to say, we have taken a lot of pictures of them.

Around the Mammoth Hot Springs Visitor Center, there is a large grassy area and a few elk seem to gather there each day to hang out. They eat the grass and sleep there, too. We took some pictures and they almost look like statues.

In addition we saw a few antelope, plenty more elk and Jim is hoping to get some shots of a wolf. The elk aren't as majestic looking at this time of the year since they have all shed their antlers.

All in all, it was an interesting day with lots of interesting sights. We have been so lucky to have good weather except for a couple days we were in Golden. We will visit some different places in Yellowstone tomorrow and hopefully find some new, interesting sights. We ended up getting some bear spray so we will feel comfortable hiking on some of the trails. It probably wouldn't matter quite as much if it was another time of the year but since the bears have their cubs now, they may be more protective, and most people seem to carry bear spray.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012...

Greetings from Gardiner, Montana!! We left Rock Sprimgs, Wyoming this morning and headed directly north. Wyoming has a LOT of wide open spaces. There are miles and miles where you can see nothing but sagebrush and quite a few antelope. Once in a while you see a herd of cattle but there is no house or ranch in sight so you wonder who they belong to. After driving about 100 miles, we began to see the snow covered mountains off in the distance. Most of the land from Rock Springs to Jackson was at an altitude of approximately 6500 feet.

We passed through Jackson and soon after that was the entrance to Grand Teton National Park. The park is beautiful with plenty of scenery. The mountains there look like pictures of the Swiss Alps.

As soon as we exited Grand Teton, we entered Yellowstone National Park. This park is HUGE!! It took us about 3 or 4 hours to get from the south entrance to the north entrance. We wanted to get to our lodging in Gardiner, MT which is just outside the north entrance. At one point, there were cars stopped on both sides of the road and the rangers were directing traffic. It turned out there was a black bear out in the field which we saw and a grizzly bear which we couldn't see. People were getting out of their cars to get pics and some setting up tripods. The next slowdown was due to three HUGE buffalo right in the middle of the road. We got a couple pictures but they didn't come out very well.

Going through the park, we climbed to a higher elevation. The lakes at that level were still frozen and there was quite a bit of snow along the roads. At least one main road in the park is still closed due to snow. Here in Gardiner, the snow is gone and spring flowers like lilacs are blooming. At the lower altitudes in the park itself, there isn't much snow either.

Tomorrow we are going to Mammoth Hot Springs and the Lamar Valley, known as the "American Serengeti" where supposedly you might see anything from wolves to grizzly bears. Jim is hoping for some great wildlife photos.

Monday, May 14, 2012...

Hello from Rock Springs, Wyoming! After a great few days in Golden, we left Todd and Sylvia's this morning and continued our journey north. We travelled through more of the mountains in Colorado and I must say Colorado is a beautiful state. There was more snow on the higher peaks today than when we passed through on Thursday. We were happy to see quite a few antelope grazing in the fields not too far from the road.

We have now travelled over 4,000 miles. Gas in Wyoming seems to be around $3.59 a gallon and the speed limit on the interstate was 75.

Tomorrow we will head north and we expect to get to Grand Teton National Park. We should be able to travel through Grand Teton and then we'll see from that point. I'll let you know tomorrow evening.

Thursday, May 10, 2012...

After spending the night in Parachute, Colorado, we headed on to Golden, Colorado. The ride through Colorado was very scenic and I've added some pictures to the album. We reached our highest elevation to date as we went through Vale Pass at 10,666 feet. The was still quite a bit of snow up in the mountains around Vail.

We are now visiting Todd, Sylvia, Lucas and Daniel here in Golden. I probably won't add any new posts until next week when we head on to Grand Teton National Park.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012...

This morning we left our cabin in Tropic and continued on across the rest of Utah. We have found that Utah is by far rthe most beautiful state we have visited so far. Today as we drove, each bend in the road brought a more spectacular sight than the one before. There is so much public land in Utah which makes it great for hiking, camping, etc. It is also very remote. It is a very long way between little towns. On our route today, we once again drove up a mountain to the summit at 9,600 feet. The road must have gone right along the ridge of the mountain as at one point, there was just the road with a steep drop off on either side of it. About this time I realized there are no guard rails. I don't think I saw any in all of Utah. I guess they assume everyone pays close attention to their driving!!

I tried to capture the varying landscape in pictures but it was impossible. The pictures look so blah compared to the sights in person. The rocks vary in color and shape. Mixed in there are some huge fields, more rock formations and then we passed through the desert.

We made it into Colorado where we will spend the night and continue on to Todd and Sylvia's in Golden, CO tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012...

The weather was about perfect today. The winds we had yesterday were gone, the sun was out and it warmed up to near 70. We decided to return to the Mossy Cave/waterfall trail for some better pictures. We hiked up past the waterfall to a higher vantage point than we had gone to yesterday. After that, we followed an old creek bed for a ways to get some new views of some of the hoodoos. It was a very relaxing day.

Since we left home, we have seen five new species of birds. Probably the most interesting one was the Stellar Jay. It is about the size of a blue jay but the plumage on top of its head is larger and both the head and the plumage on top of its head are black. We also saw a black chinned hummingbird and the names of the others escapes me at the moment.

Monday, May 7, 2012...

I probably should first say that the town where we are staying, Tropic, Utah is at an elevation of 6,000 feet. You really wouldn't know that to look out the window as there is a huge flat field out behind our cabin and you can see mountains off in the distance. The one thing you do notice is that the air is extremely dry. Weather forecast on TV sounds much like northern NY with daytime highs in 60's and lows at night down near 40. They seem to add the "colder at higher elevations" like at home.

Yesterday afternoon we headed over to Bryce Canyon National Park. This place was another stop with amazing sights. The road through the park is about 18 miles long with about a dozen oil offs along the way wherebyou can get out and get a look at the canyon from different vantage points. Bryce is filled with what they call "hoodoos" which are pinnacles of stone created by Mother Nature. The stones are various shades of red, pink, white and a few yellow/gold colors. The last stop at the end of the park was over 9,000 feet high. Each stop brings different views so needless to say, we have taken a LOT of pictures. I actually saw a couple little patches of snow still on several of the rocks up there.

Today we went for a hike on a trail that runs along side the park where our views were more from the bottom of the canyon looking up. It is all a pretty amazing spectacle. We like the spot where we are staying so plan to stay here until Wed. It's nice to have a few days without moving on to enjoy the area.

Trip trivia...

We have now traveled over 3,000 miles.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

This morning we headed north towards Bryce Canyon National Park. On the way we passed through the Red Canyon which is part of the Dixie National Forest. This canyon had probable the reddest rocks we have seen so far. There were also several red rock arches that went over the road which was interesting.

We are now in Tropic, Utah where we have a nice cabin overlooking the mountains. As I write this, I am sitting on the back porch enjoying the beautiful view. We are just a couple miles from Bryce and we will head over there shortly.

Today temps are in the upper 50's and it is sunny.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Today we spent at Zion National Park. The park was totally different from the Grand Canyon but it was definitely spectacular!! The rock formations are just amazing. Again it is hard to capture the vastness of it all in pictures. In the Grand Canyon, you are getting your views from the top of the canyon. In Zion, much of the viewing is from the bottom up. We both took lots of pictures. Jim won't be able to download his until we get home but I have put some in an album (thanks to Margaret's help) so hopefully you can see them there.

during our travels today, we reached an elevation of well over 8,000 feet and at that altitude, the leaves were just starting to come out and the temps were upper 50's. Back at regular altitude (not sure what that is but probably around 5,000 ft), temps were upper 70's.

. Tomorrow we are off to Bryce National Park, Utah.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Yesterday was our most interesting day so far. We stopped at Richardson's Trading Post in Gallup, New Mexico. This was the one good find on the old Route 66. The store has been there for 100 years and it is stuffed from floor to ceiling with authentic Native American items. Some are brand new and others are probably antique. The store is also a pawn shop so I'm sure that is one way they get such neat items.

. Soon after leaving Gallup, we entered Arizona. Apparently you are gradually going up across Arizona and periodically theybpost a sign giving the elevation. By the time we reached Flagstaff, we were at approximately 6,000 feet. In Flagstaff we turned north towards the Grand Canyon. We passed Mt Humphreys which is the highest peak in AZ at over 12,000 feet. The highest elevation sign we saw on the road was about 8,500 feet. We were very fortunate to be able to get a room right in the Grand Canyon National Park and we were within walking distance of the rim of the canyon. WOW!! What an amazing site the canyon is!! It's hard to capture the vastness and enormous size of the canyon in pictures. The same holds true for the whole area of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.

This morning we left Grand Canyon and headed north towards Zion National Park. The scenery on our route was totally spectacular!! We traveled on route 89 which passes right through the largest Navajo Indian Reservation in the country. There were lots of little shacks along the road where some of the Native Americans were selling their hand crafted items. We stopped to check a couplenout.

Tonight we are staying at the Zion Ponderosa Resort which is just a few miles from the entrance to Zion National Park. We will stay here for a couple days and go into Zion tomorrow. We lost an hour today.

Trip trivia...

I forgot to mention earlier that once we left Springfield, MO, we traveled along Interstate 40 which follows along path of the old Route 66. While most of Route 66 is now part of the interstate, there are still a few places where you can get on the old road.

There are lots of websites and apps as well as books telling about the old route but to tell you the truth, we found very few places on the old road that were worth checking out. Most places were just shells of the old building with the windows missing or the building looked like it's age without much renovation. We stayed on Interstate 40 to Flagstaff, AZ. From there we headed north to the Grand Canyon.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Today we made it to the Grand Canyon! We are staying right in the park tonight within walking distance of the rim. I'll try to post more tomorrow. We gained one more hour today.

Trivia on trip...

Today, May 2, we gained another hour in New Mexico. The cost of gas has been going down as we traveled west. It was $4.17 when we left Long Lake and at our fill-up today we paid $3.55. In Oklahoma the gas was 100 percent gas with no ethanol added. Also in Oklahoma, many of the road names were just letters. The sign might say junction AA and YY or K, etc.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Today we traveled the rest of the way across northern Texas and into New Mexico. About 75 miles west of Albuquerque, we have stopped for the night in Grants, NM. The weather was good and the scenery is spectacular. Today is the first day we have noticed a huge difference in the landscape.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Today we traveled through Oklahoma and on to Shamrock, TX where we are spending the night. It was a nice day with no storms. Temp reached 93 with lots of wind but for some reason, it doesn't feel that warm - maybe because the air is drier. We stopped at an interesting store in Oklahoma called Atwood Home and Ranch and it seemed to combine the inventory from a Lowe's, a grocery store and a farm store. Just to give you an idea of the variety, a few of the items they sold were hardware, groceries, hunting supplies, fishing gear, cowboy hats and boots, camping supplies, live baby chicks, ducks and turkeys, deer pellets, plants, gun safes, animal feeds, fencing, etc. We also stopped at the Cherokee Trading Post where they had lots of interesting Indian gifts.