Dinosaurs find Dinosaur's (Bones)

We started the day with a visit to the Dinosaur National Monument in Idaho.  This is a very cool place – where many of the Dinosaur bones on display at museums on the east coast were actually found.   They preserved one cliff (actually built a building around it) where you can observe the dinosaur fossils as they were found.   We took another ranger guided hike to learn more about the area.

We then took a beautiful drive through the park with cool scenery and took a few minutes to climb up and explore some huge  pictographs left 1000 years ago (no we can’t remember when that happened).

Next we drove to Colorado national monument.   Beautiful canyon views and some short easy hiking.

Now we look forward to arriving in Silverthorne tomorrow to spend the next few days with Kala and Dave.  See you after Independence Day!

Fossils find fossils

So after a restful night in the cozy cabin we rented, we headed for Fossil Butte National Monument.  Fossil Butte National Monument preserves the best paleontological record of Cenozoic aquatic communities in North America and possibly the world, within the 50-million-year-old Green River Formation. (I got that from Wikipedia).

Which brings us to the main event.  Because the area is so vast, there is a private fossil dig nearby where for a small fee you can chip away for fossils.  The cool thing is, the fossils you find, you get to keep!! Karla and I chipped away at the quarry for about 90 minutes and will be coming home with several 50 million year old fish fossils.  That beats a vacation tee shirt any day! (And yes, Terry, it was my idea to visit the quarry.)

The downside to chipping away in the limestone quarry is that we were covered in dirt/dust and now the inside of Custer is as dirty as the outside. (BTW, Custer has now logged over 7100 miles so far on this trip!).

We were planning to go to Rocky Mt National park but the weather forecast altered our plans and instead we went south.  We are in Utah and will visit Dinosaur National Monument tomorrow.  The drive south was surprisingly beautiful through the dark red canyons of Flaming Gorge.  I'm liking this detour for the weather!

Why did the Bison Cross the Road?

We started the day with a beautiful drive and a hike that had a bit of everything…

From beautiful meadows and lakes,

to more sulfur pots and geysers,

to the beautiful Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

After our hike we encountered a large group of bison – some very near the road.   We decided to sit at the pull off and have a cold drink (diet dr. pepper of course) and a snack and watch the buffalo.   To our surprise the park rangers worked to move the buffalo that were so near the road away – and we were witness to a large group of buffalo (20 to 30) stampeding across the road not so far from where we were parked.  Unfortunately we pretty much missed the picture of this.

A short while later a lone bison decided to come cross the road in the other direction.  Why – to be photographed by Kevin and Karla of course…

What's that smell?

We have a couple extra days so we went back to America's first national park, Yellowstone. 

But on the recommendation of our B&B hosts, we detoured on the way there to visit Mesa Falls, Idaho. These were unusual falls in that you are almost guaranteed to see a rainbow if the sun is shining.  We got the rainbow but did not find the pot of gold.  It will be back to lottery tickets for Karla.

The park services motto this year is "Find your park".  I believe most people interpret that to mean "Find Yellowstone". So we spent the first part of the day visiting a few less popular - but still amazing - sites to avoid the crowds. Small geysers, mud pots and waterfalls fit the bill.

By late afternoon we decided to brave the basin to view some of the marquee geysers. Great colors, super displays, strong sulfur smells, and excellent weather made for a great show - despite the tour buses. More pictures today than we normally blog but it is hard to edit Yellowstone.

The Moose is Loose

This B&B my husband found (on my birthday) could certainly spoil a person.   The place is beautiful, the hosts are great and the breakfast this morning was very special.   We will be a little sad to leave in the morning.

Given our wonderful breakfast we didn’t get a really early start this morning – and learned that when the Grand Teton park is crowded – it is really crowded.   The first place we planned to hike had a long line of cars waiting to park!   We quickly moved to plan B and enjoyed a great hike around a lake.

Then we took some advice from a couple we met at our B&B and went up Signal Mountain.   With the clear sky we had great views from the top – and in spite of all the National Park warnings – the road wasn’t nearly as harrowing as several we’ve experienced.

We spotted a young male moose on our way back to the B&B and I enjoyed snapping pictures along side 2 guys with super cameras with foot long lenses.   Not sure they were impressed with my iphone camera – but we had a good time and got a pretty good shot.

We ended the day with a trip to a restaurant recommended by our B&B hosts (and a couple who were staying here from Kansas City).   The lamb enchiladas were some of the best and most unusual food I’ve had.   Back to the B&B to end the day with a nice chat with our host over a glass of red wine.  Nothing to complain about here…

58

We stayed on a ranch last night and saw an amazing display of stars as there was almost no competing light pollution. But there was noise pollution. The cattle mooed all night and the horses would suddenly decide to start galloping in the dark. Horses must have good eyesight because I didn't hear any of them trip and fall on the uneven ground. We woke up this morning to see a calf licking Custer's tires.  Ah, life on the farm. 

Today was Karla's 58th birthday and we celebrated by driving to the Tetons. (Sigh) On the way I was lucky enough to pick up a B&B that had just had a cancellation moments before which is great as Jackson is packed. It is very plush and we have a nice view of the mountains out our window. The owner is originally from Chile. Small world. 

Speaking of small worlds, we hiked to a lake in the Tetons and struck up a conversation with a couple as we were sitting on a log watching the water lap.  Turns out they are vacationing here from Cary, NC. Small world indeed.

Over the Moon

Our destination today was Craters of the Moon – which is a National Monument and preserve in Idaho.   It is unlike anything I have ever seen.   The pictures can’t really capture the interesting black/blue cones and lava formations  that make this place unique.   This area was formed during a series of huge volcanic eruptions – the most recent one only 2000 years ago.   The hot spot that is currently centered in Yellowstone was centered here at that time.  

The Lava flows also caused the formation of many small caves/lava tubes– some of which we got a chance to climb around in.   They aren’t your traditional caves with formations from dripping water, but have some similar formations from the heat of the lava flow causing melting and dripping from the roof of the caves.

I can honestly say that (even being from Kansas) I had never seen the wind blow like this in my life.   We heard there was a wind advisory for gusts up to 50 mph – all I know is that there were a few times walking where I had to work to keep from being knocked off my feet by a gust of wind.

Kevin - blowing in the wind

We were fortunate to be here in June – where certain wild flowers find a way (with very deep roots) to bloom in the cracks of the Lava.

Tonight we are staying at a nearby Airbnb that is on a large working ranch.   So far we’ve met the cows and horses.   We are really hoping the sky stays clear as we ought to be able to get a great look at the stars later on since we are pretty much in the middle of nowhere now!