We intended to skip Yellowstone.  We had heard stories of how over-crowded it is, and standing around waiting for Old Faithful didn’t seem that exciting. We thought we might just go straight to Grand Teton. When we mentioned this to folks we met along the way, there was unanimous agreement that Yellowstone Is A Must See.  So we went, and ended up staying there five nights; our longest stay in any one place. What was so great about it?

Wildlife

Here is a list of what we saw there; not counting numerous birds that we couldn’t identify.                                                                                                                                             Elk                                                                                                                                                   Deer                                                                                                                                                 Black bears                                                                                                                                   Grizzly bear (with cub)                                                                                                     Pronghorns                                                                                                                             Bison                                                                                                                                             Big horn sheep                                                                                                                 Mountain goats                                                                                                                           Wolves (white, with cubs) The wolves are of great interest to wildlife watchers and photographers.  They were too far away to photograph unless you had crazy special gear.  Fortunately, there were generous people who let us look through their big eyes.                                                                                                                                       Canada geese                                                                                                                         Mallards                                                                                                                                         Osprey                                                                                                                                 Groundhogs                                                                                                                       Chipmunks                                                                                                                                   Robins                                                                                                                                   Ravens                                                                                                                                         Magpies                                                                                                                                 Trumpeter swans                                                                                                             Coopers hawks                                                                                                                         Squirrels (different varieties than the ones we see in the east)                                           Loggerhead shrike                                                                                                               Mountain bluebirds

We were so charmed by the herds of bison we saw; hundreds of them across the Lemar Valley in the Northeast part of the park.  We were less enamored on the day we left, though.  We got behind a herd going down the road and got stuck for two hours!

Geothermal features

There are thousands of hot springs, geysers, mud pots and fumaroles in this park. Many of them have miles of boardwalks for hiking around and over these landscapes.

It is unlike anything I’ve ever seen or imagined.  We went to see Old Faithful erupt; it seemed somewhat obligatory, but this was the least interesting of all the features we saw.

I know these photos don’t look real, but I promise we really saw this!!

 

Diversity

Canyons, mountains, valleys, meadows, waterfalls, a very large lake, and of course, the geothermal features.

Campgrounds

Yellowstone has several campgrounds and some are located in villages with stores, restaurants, and other facilities.  There are more primitive camping options, too.  We stayed at Mammoth Campground.  They allow RV’s, but the sites were not too close together, and overall it was fine.

We noticed this trail going up a hill in the campground and thought we’d trot up there to check out the view.  Halfway up we realized we were on some kind of animal trail (mountain goat, I think).  It was so steep I was walking almost parallel with the ground by the time we got to the top.  The view was pretty good, though!

For all these reasons, I would put Yellowstone in the top five list of parks I would most like to see again.  We came at a great time of the year; most of the park was open and although there were a lot of people in the villages, it was not too crowded. Summer would not be a good time here, though.  I can just imagine the traffic jams and fleets of tour buses.  So glad we listened to trail wisdom and didn’t skip this incredibly rich and beautiful place!

Tuesday, May 16-Friday, May 19

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center                                                                                         Great Falls Montana

We spent the night in Great Falls and visited the Lewis and Clark Center.

We were greeted by a volunteer and his Newfoundland hound, Seaman.  This dog is named after the Newfoundland that accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition, and he is one big guy!

The center is located on the Missouri River, and it tells the story of the expedition’s portage of the five great falls of the Missouri.  We learned a lot as we watched a video and toured the exhibits.  Everything here is really well done.

Chico Hot Springs Resort                                                                                                       Pray, Montana

While we were in Great Falls, one of the shop owners told us about this place.  She and her husband have been going there since they were in college.

We had to drive over this mountain to get there.

We drove over the pass in a pretty hard snow.

The resort was built in 1900.  It has an old fashioned fine dining room, a spa, stables, and other activities for guests. Our room had a shared bathroom in the hallway and indoor access to the hot springs pool.  There is a small pool under roof, and a larger one outdoors.  The small pool is about 102 degrees and the larger one is around 98.

There’s a bar right next to the pools.

Andy added a hat to the collection.

We stayed two nights, and I will always remember sitting in the outdoor pool on the first night, looking up at a jet black sky and feeling the snow hitting my face.  Definitely a highlight of the trip for me!

Sunday, May 14-Tuesday, May 16                                                                                             Bad Rock B&B Columbia Falls, Montana

We’re finally in Montana!  It sure is beautiful, and the sky sure is big, just like they say!  These are scenes from the car.  Andy has driven almost every mile of this trip.  I’m happy to sit in the passenger seat, looking at the map, making reservations for the next place, and soaking in the scenery.  We like listening to audio books, which I get from Audible, or sometimes I’ll download them free from the library.  We have especially enjoyed Tony Hellerman’s books about a Navajo police officer and his various adventures on the Navajo and Hopi reservations and in other parts of Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.  It’s fun to hear about places that we have now seen for ourselves.  I’ll include a list of all the books we heard and read at some point in the blog.

It was still snowing in Glacier, and all the roads were not yet open for the season. We thought it would be too cold to camp, so I  found this bed and breakfast on-line and it was a good choice. We were the only guests, so we got to pick our room.

I’m sorry I didn’t get more pictures of this place, and the people we met there.   Mark the owner is from Tennessee, and has had a career in biomedical technology; a very sharp guy.  Donna is the manager and chef.  She found the job on a website for seasonal employees; she is from New York and wanted to see some of the country, so she took this job sight unseen and has been coming for 3 summers.  We met a lot of people who do the same thing; some work for the Park Service, others work in restaurants or hotels.  The idea kind of appeals to me, but I wouldn’t want to give up summers in Maine.

Anyway, Mark and Donna both know a lot about Glacier and gave us great advice about hiking.  Mark lent us some bear spray.

This is the time of year when the bears are coming out with their cubs, and they’re hungry.  Glacier is home to the largest population of grizzlies in the lower 48; about 1,000. Mark predicted that we would see at least one, but we didn’t.  I was kind of disappointed and relieved.  The weather cooperated for us; it was sunny and cold but beautiful!

Lake McDonald

There are 25 glaciers in the park, and 200 lakes.  We didn’t see any glaciers; either they were covered with snow, or the roads weren’t open to get to them.  I would like to go back and see them before they’re gone.  Global warming has already reduced them by a third, and they may be gone entirely in a generation.

These pictures are from the Trail of the Cedars, a lovely short walk through ancient cedar and hemlocks.

 

We hiked to Avalanche Lake

then drove up the west side of the park to Bowman Lake.

The road had just opened that day.  On the way we stopped at the Polebridge Mercantile; a country store kind of in the middle of no where. They have a bakery and are famous for their bear claws.  Mark told us that his European guests have read about this place online and ask for directions.  I didn’t have a bear claw, but I got a savory pastry that was pretty amazing.

The next day, we explored the east side of the park.

 

Glacier makes the cut as the most beautiful park so far.

 

 

Friday, May 12-Sunday, May 14                                                                                       Vantage, Washington

After staying in hotels for a few days, we were happy to find a place to camp. It was sort of cool and pretty windy at night, but this campground was a nice one. Wanapum is located on a large reservoir.

The parks are next to each other but camping is at Wanapum.  Ginkgo has a small museum and there’s a cool local gem shop.  The shop is family business with all kinds of local stones, geodes, and of course, petrified wood.

Thousands of 15 million year old trees have been discovered here; we saw examples of redwoods, walnut, birch, maple, oak, and of course, ginkgo.

These are scenes from our hike. The trail wandered up and over rolling hills, we saw sagebrush, dramatic skies, and labeled examples of petrified wood in enclosures along the way.

We visited the nearby Wild Horse Wind Farm.  This is one of the only wind farms in the country with a visitor center.  We took a tour and got to go inside one of the huge turbines.  They were surprisingly quiet; no louder than a dishwasher up close, and almost silent from just a short distance away.

We learned a lot, and I think this is a good look for us!!

Thursday, May 11-Friday, May 12                                                                                       Ellensburg, Washington

We wanted to see Mt. Rainier, even though the road was only open as far as the Paradise visitor center, and even though there’s a legend (could be true) that no one has ever actually seen this mountain top.

It was chilly and rainy at the south entrance to the park.  There is a small museum and inn there; we had lunch and got in a short hike before driving up to Paradise. The rain quickly turned to snow, and it was coming down pretty good by the time we pulled into the parking lot.

All around us were walls of snow; probably 20 feet deep.  The visitor center was surprisingly busy with groups of students and other adventurers.  Some groups had been out on snow shoes.  Buzz really wanted to try that, but there weren’t any in his size.

We watched a film that made me want to come back and see the mountain when the wild flowers are blooming.  There are over 100 species here, but they don’t appear until mid summer. We did see some glacial lilies on our hike.

The hiking is reported to be fabulous, and many climbers attempt to summit the 14,000 peak of Mt. Rainier, but only half are successful.  We thought it was worth the trip, even though we didn’t have much time to explore and couldn’t camp (obviously!).

We spent the night in nearby Ellensburg, a nice college town with some good restaurants and interesting shops.  We had dinner at a restaurant housed in an old church which has been painted yellow. It has a rather obvious name, Yellow Church Cafe!  The food was really good.

One of my favorite stops on the trip so far; Dick and Jane’s spot.  These guys have been working on this masterpiece for many years, and it’s really cool!  I especially appreciated the liberal use of bottle caps, one of my favorite decorative items. Andy read my thoughts as we walked around, and said “don’t even think about it.”  I think our house would lend itself to come inspired art such as this, but I won’t push my luck. Andy’s patience level is cosmic, but even he has his limits.

 

 

Tuesday, May 9-Friday, May 12

After leaving Redwood, we headed for Mt. Ranier in Northwest Washington.  We drove up Highway 1 through Oregon and then turned east to drive through Portland. The coast of Oregon is just as beautiful as we had heard.

We spent the night in Florence at this seaside motel.  Every room has a view!

It was too cold and windy to sit out, but we enjoyed walking on the beach.  We had a lovely dinner at a local restaurant.  (Maple Street Grill) We ate at the bar, and the bartender slipped me a couple of beautiful little cocktails in addition to the wine we were drinking.  I think I reminded him of his mother or something.  I said, “what’s this?” and he just grinned and said, “it’s for you.”  They were good! My favorite one was called “The Odd Pair.”  It had triple sec, pear vodka, rhubarb shrub, lime juice, and club soda.  No, I didn’t memorize the recipe, Andy wrote it down.

The next day, (Wednesday) we stopped at the famous Sea Lion Cave.  Someone recommended we go to this place, which looked like some kind of tourist trap, but turned out to be really cool.

It’s been a family owned operation since 1932.  The large sea lion colony stays in the cave during the winter, and in the spring they come out to the rocky ledges to mate and birth their young.

There weren’t too many sea lions in the cave; most were outside.

We stood on the viewing deck for a long time with the binoculars, watching these guys sunning and swimming in the beautiful water.

We saw two momma gray whales with their babies; this is the time of year they migrate north to the Bering Sea.  Not a great picture, I know, but we just wanted to show proof that we actually saw them!

I would like to come back to Oregon when it’s a little warmer!  So beautiful…

We didn’t stop in Portland, although it looks liked an interesting city.  We have deliberately avoided making this a city trip; that’s for another time.  It felt a little strange to be driving east.  I started to realize that this trip really is going to end!  We still have a ways to go, though.

The next night found us in Woodland, Washington.  It was rainy and cool there.  We stayed at the Lewis River Inn and ate in a local pub called the Fat Moose.  It reminded us of our neighborhood pub, Rollie’s.  I liked this guy’s shirt.  Mikey would have liked it, too.

 

 

Sunday, May 7-Tuesday, May 9                                                                                   Northwest California

 

I have thing about trees. I spent many happy hours of my childhood playing in the woods, making play houses around the roots of the large oak trees and climbing as many trees as I could. I love looking up at the bare branches of the winter trees on Maine’s country roads. I gain strength and comfort from their solid presence and their beauty. Maybe this explains why Redwood National Park will definitely make my top 5 list of favorite parks.

We had our own private redwood right in our campsite. At Redwood, the state park service collaborates with the national park service and the campgrounds are maintained by the state.  This was the only park collaboration that we found.  It seems like a good idea to combine funding, especially considering the budget cuts that have been on going for some time on a federal level. Jedidiah Smith campground, located in the northern part of Redwood, is one of my favorites so far; the sites are large and not too close together.  And of course; trees.

Not only does this park contain 350ft tall redwoods, it also has my other favorite landscape; coastline and beaches!

We hiked through amazing forest groves one day,

and the next day we walked a trail that brought us here…

Along the way, we encountered the famous banana slug (yuk)

We had a beach all to ourselves

We left little monuments to our visit here.

I am not forgetting this place; gotta come back!

Thursday, May 4-Saturday, May 6                                                                                              Sugar Loaf Mountain State Park

Andy had never been to the wine country of California, and I was here once for just a day.  We were both looking forward to good food, good wine, and beautiful scenery. We chose a campground conveniently located near some of the vineyards and the town of Sonoma.

Sugarloaf is clearly a favorite of families and scouting groups.  There were lots of kids running around and having a blast.  The campground had showers; a welcome amenity.  Most national parks do not have showers or hot water; some have pit toilets and no running water.  State parks generally have better services for campers. Not sure why that is but it must be a question of $$.  Any way, Andy and I were glad to jump in one of the shower rooms (they always require quarters) for a five minute dose of soap and water.  The water came out at a drip, and was kind of lukewarm. We failed to notice that the lights were on a timer, so after about two minutes we were plunged into total darkness.  This resulted in a lot of somewhat hysterical laughter, but we did the best we could. (Sorry, no pictures!!)

We spent two days driving through this beautiful country and visiting vineyards.

This one specializes in sparkling wines.  It was a nice way to start the day!

Each winery is different.  Some are very elaborate, like this one.  All are surrounded by acres of vines and beautiful flowers.

The Sonoma and Napa Valleys are known for fine dining.  We had lunch in at Botega in Yountville, a town that features several well known restaurants. The food was fabulous!!

We had a great time exploring this lush area.  Most people who live within the region have vines growing in every bit of space they can find around their homes.  One day we took a shortcut road that runs between the two valleys.  It was the twistiest road I’ve ever seen;  one hairpin turn after another.  The weather was so nice we didn’t even need to put the rain fly on our tent.

We have really enjoyed the fresh food here; especially the fruit.  Cherries, strawberries, blackberries, and apricots.  Oh, and avocados.  Oranges.  Wonderful. We could definitely hang out here for a while longer, but we’re headed for the Redwoods!

We left the campground on Saturday and had a lovely drive up Highway 1; another twisty road that hugs the coast.  There was a bicycle race that day with hundreds of peddlers competing for our lane.  Interesting!

We spent Saturday night in Eureka, California.  We stayed at the Eagle House Victorian Inn.  It was described in our guide book as a slightly down at the heels hotel in a building that was formerly a brothel.  We were surprised to find a crowd of people in the lobby when we arrived, laughing and drinking champagne.  Turns out the hotel was recently purchased by two couples and they had opened their doors to the community in an opening celebration.  We had a good time and enjoyed the decor and ambiance.

 

 

 

Monday, May 1-Thursday, May 4                                                                                             Hodgon Campground

Yosemite is a really large park; our campground was in the southernmost area but we drove around quite a bit to get to the main village and see Yosemite Valley.

We liked the camp; we had our own Sequoia stump to split wood on and a personal Stellar’s Jay.  Yosemite has a lot of black bears and the rules are very stringent; everything has to be stored in a bear box at the campsite; nothing left in the car.

This park is home to groves of giant Sequoias.  We took a nice hike through a grove of these beauties; so majestic and wise.  (Can trees be wise?  I think so.)

Our main goal here was to hike Yosemite Falls. These falls (there are three of them, although they seem to merge into one), are the highest in North America.  We visited Yosemite at the time of year when snow melt causes the falls to be at their most dramatic.

The hike is about 7.5 miles round trip. Much of the trail is rock, there are many places where water runs across your path, and there is a 2700 ft gain in elevation.

It was pretty exciting to approach the falls, hear the thunderous roar, and feel the spray as the water pounded down.

There were great views of Half Dome, one of the most famous features of Yosemite.

We were pretty tired when we reached the top, but were happy to be up there, and figured the way back would be easier, since it was all down hill.  It turned out that coming down on tired legs over slick, wet, rocks was just as difficult as going up.  We made it, though! Definitely our most adventurous hike so far.

There was another conquest, too.  Andy bought some mousetraps and caught four mice who were residing somewhere in the car; we never could figure out exactly where.  Sorry guys, but we don’t want you chewing important wires and stuff under the hood, not to mention nibbling on every snack we leave in the passenger compartment.

 

 

 

Sunday, April 30-Monday, May 1                                                                                         Friant, California

We stayed one night at this sweet campground as a stopping point on our way to Yosemite. The campground features a lake on one side and lovely rolling green hills on the other.

In our short stay, we saw a coyote, a road runner, house finches, ravens, western king birds, a great white heron, and grossest of all, a giant wolf spider on the sink in the bath house.  It was here that we discovered we had some uninvited guests in the car; something was nibbling on a bag of dried fruit left in the front seat. We unpacked everything and looked in all the corners and crevices, but didn’t find the culprit.