Yellowstone to the Tetons, 10 minutes apart

In Bozeman,, Montana we stayed in a La Quinta Motel with a pool that I usually use no matter how late we arrive, but this night I collapsed at midnight.

July 14th:  Up for our one and a half hour drive down Route 89 to the north entrance of Yellowstone.  Lying before us was the Yellowstone River Valley.  Prosperous ranches lay on both sides of the river nestled at the foot hills of towering steep mountains.  The swift river ran thru the grass, cattle and horses sprinkled through the green pastures.

Before entering the park we stopped at the visitors Center where we found a useful book:  Yellowstone in a Day, and the guide there suggested the must-sees:  lunch away from crowds overlooking vast wildflower covered meadows with glades of trees, boulder outcrops surrounded by Rocky Mountains, then the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake and Old Faithful.   With the 17% increase in attendance the ranger said "pack your patience" and we remembered her words as we waited in the long line of cars entering the park. 

 Parking at each crowded scenic overlook was the biggest difficulty.   One elk we saw laying down in the woods, his antlers stuck up between a fallen tree with its branches camouflaging the Elk's antlers.

The mountains are on both sides of the river that rushes out of Yellowstone Park.  I had to stop and stand next to the river just to feel the air and grandeur.  How small we are in the midst of all of this.


Looking up the hill during our little lunch.

Looking up the hill during lunch.

And looking down the hill at the wildflowers.

The waterfall at the Grand Canton of Yellowstone.  The distinctive features were the mineral stairs of yellow, red, pink, white made by the hot springs and geysers.   The steam comes out at the shores of the river and the canyon.  The geothermal origins are from deep fissures leading up to geysers, hot pools, mud cauldrons, hot springs that we see at the surface.  The rhyolites are what we see and the stinking sulfur is what we smell.  The park is known for its Grizzly and Black bears though we didn't see any. Three times people said, "Oh, you just missed a bear."  "Oh, the bison just went into the woods." 

Path to the lake

Mineral pools.  bubbling mud pools and colored rocks and waters from all of the unusual minerals in the area.  See the orange in the background, the turquoise in the pool.

We arrived with the crowds.

 Hundreds of people started sitting about an hour before Old Faithful was to go off.

 It shot out for about 5 minutes and reached maybe 60 feet high.  They had a sign saying it would go off at 5:18 and it went at 5:10 so they are pretty accurate.

We left the park with the other hundreds, but fortunately fewer cars were going our way as we drove south toward the Tetons.  What a greeting those Tetons gave as we rounded a curve and there they stood.

We drove for Casper, WY and another La Quinta for the night.

Along the way:

A double rainbow.

On to the #1 National Park hands down, Glacier in Montana

After leaving the Sitka spruce, Western cedar and Douglas fir of Olympic National Park and Washington state we drove thru the skinny top of Idaho.

 All across the USA there are thousands of orange cones on the highway that are frequently for nothing.  On the sides, in the highways...sometimes to reduce traffic to one lane with no construction going on.  If you want to invest in something - orange cones.

 Me taking a picture of MT towns since we missed the welcome to Montana sign mounted on an overpass.

Forward to Montana on route 90.  We exited for a coffee at Sage's and a couple of many home made deserts - Rice Krispi treats and Grandpa's bars.  It is the prettiest state with the longest, most far reaching views in the country (though I haven't been to Alaska, Alabama or Arkansas.)  Around 8 pm in the fading sunshine (sunset at 9) we arrived at Lake McDonald

 A chirping small family of prairie dogs in the grassy circle at the log and stone lodge entrance.

  The 3 story log post lobby was full of animal heads - deer, antelope, moose and taxidermy birds.  It was the only place for wifi and a nice place to work.

    Following a path over a running, babbling brook past the library and auditorium for Ranger talks we entered a log cabin with a few other rooms and shared bath/showers sort of like a dorm, but the rooms had sinks.

 Every room we stayed in at every cabin, hotel, etc. had pillows like this

Everything was new, working and with substantial log furniture, bare bones, but comfortable.


There are 3 major lodges in the park, and we found McDonald to be the nicest size and feel overlooking calm Lake McDonald.  It has a dining room, gift shop, boat, boat dock, beach, creek and paths.  Drew felt it was the best place we stayed during our entire 39 day trip because of the lake/stream/ mountain lodge setting.  Almost as soon as we arrived I vowed we are coming back to experience all the things we're missing this time.


There are unique, red touring cars, Xterra, that take tourists to the various sites so they don't have to deal with the atrociously crowded parking problems that exist throughout the park.  Apparently this is a record breaking year for attendance at most of the National Parks.

   The next day we drove the "Road to the Sun Road" over the incredibly high mountains, climbed some trails like the wildflower meadow Lunch Creek Trail, and passed the gigantically high waterfalls.  The road is carved into the sides of the mountains, a difficult decision to scar the pristine perfect geology of the mountains, but one they made to allow more people to have the experience of seeing it all. Sharing the scenery gives everyone a stake in it and then hopefully be willing to support the parks, support them with tax dollars when the time comes.

 You can see evidence of forest fires and the renewal with young trees.  The fires are frequently caused by lightening strikes and are now treated as a natural process of forestry.

 The beautiful blue is caused by the minerals in the rocks.

 Dwindling glaciers

 Every pull off was full of cars.

 Painters with their easels.

The road leads from the west side to the east side of the park at Mary Lodge. 
describe Glacier as spell binding. Around every turn, at the crest of every hill a new vista lay waiting for view and exclamation.  Mountains higher than expected, waterfalls taller, vistas perfectly designed.  These pictures, especially with my poor camera and picture taking, can't do it justice.

Shawnee update, through OR and WA Olympic Nat. Park

 July 7 written on July 18th
I am getting farther and farther behind in the days because we are now spending about 8 to 10 hours driving east through the north route home leaving very little time to write and download pix for this blog.   I'm adding a page at the top of places we've stayed on our trip across the USA so you can see the route.

This is primarily a boat blog temporarily morphing into a travel USA blog. Although I have no work pix, Shawnee is getting 2 coats of bottom paint with Sea Hawk Cukote, followed by cleaning and waxing the hull and decks.  The mast and redoing the furling gear has been a job.  The furling gear got jammed in when we winched it too tight after it was already completely furled in.  Don't do that to your own.  Quite a repair.  Of course the Bristol Finish on all the teak is a huge job as well.  The work is being done at Zimmerman in Mathews, VA.  We may leave the boat there and sail it to FL in the fall.

We arrived in Oregon

and stayed at Grant's Pass July 8th, a nice little town in the middle of OR with a good La Quinta Motel. I belong to their membership program.  They have a good standard, eco things around the edges, a pool and a hot tub I use. We saw a bit of OR.

A foggy beach, the fog covering larger mountains.

 Notice how close the trees are to the road.  Frequently they covered the top of the road like a tunnel.

 As we drove into WA we saw massive clear cutting, but replanting as well.

At 9 we arrived at Quinault River Inn, Amanda Park, Washington, our hub for 2 nights as we explored Olympic National Park seashore and Hoh Rainforest.  That's me on shore and the view out of our room window of the Quinault River.  It stayed light pretty late because of how far north we were.  Amazing stars as well, but didn't get to see aurora borealis, the northern lights.  It's on my list of must-dos.

Hoh Rain Forest is the largest rainforest in North America.  It's a rainforest because they receive 12', yes feet, of rain a year.  It misted the whole time we were there, serious rain fell only while we slept.  We never saw the sun and never saw the spectacular peaks of the glorious mountains there.  We didn't take in the northern part of the peninsula.

I LOVED the rainforest.  We took our longest hike here.

 Moss walk.  It droops down from everything.

 Moss covers whole trees, every branch.

 
 Right off of our walking trail we saw an elk with a full rack, face to face for about 5 minutes.

 Me standing next to the largest recorded Western Cedar.  Most of the tops of the largest trees had fallen down, but they are still alive so they can still hold the record, I guess for the largest girth or age or something.  I'm in some of these pictures just to give you an indication of the scale.

Oxalis Oregana are the floor of the rainforest everywhere.  Some had a 5 petal white flower looking like shamrocks.

 The rainforest primeval:

 Drew took a video of the Hoh River that runs through the forest.  There is water everywhere in small lakes, ponds, streams and rivers.

We stopped at recommended Ruby Beach and Beach 4 that had giant boulders in the ocean and a pebbly beach.  The steep walk down was worth it.

 On our way back, near dark, Drew had to drag me out of that forest...there are tons more photos...we ate at a log built resort restaurant at Kalaloch Lodge with an ocean view.

The next morning, July 11th, before we headed 3 hours to Seattle and another welcoming relative, Eileen, we did a highly recommended loop drive around Quinault Lake with a couple of short walks in.  It had everything Hoh rainforest had and more with wonderful waterfalls and 4 record breaking trees.

See how small the picnic table is.

 Largest spruce - whole tree.

We drove to Seattle and had dinner at well known and excellent Ray's Restaurant with Eileen, her brother, Chris, and her mom, Shiela.  They all love it here and have added to a wonderful community.  Here we are with our view of Pugent Sound in the reflection of the window.