To Pendleton....

We left our new friend, Miki, and her lovely Airbnb in Hailey, Idaho this morning.  Her chocolate chip cookies and sunflower bouquet welcomed us from Yellowstone last night and her great coffee and pastries sent us off today.
We headed north to Ketchum and Sun Valley just to see what they looked like.  The Sun Valley ski area is closed but Ketchum is beautiful and thriving.

 It has a lovely upscale and very pricy downtown where Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks, Picabo Street, Adam West and Mariel Hermmingway have second homes.

...and, surprisingly, the Catholic Church in Ketchum is named Our Lady of the Snows, 

just like in Woodstock Vermont!

Across Idaho, the landscape is flat and the highway is straight.  

We spent some time listening to Kat Country 106.1 which majors in songs about love, lost love, Jesus and alcohol.  Finally, we found OPB (not "Oh poor baby" but rather, Omaha Public Broadcasting also know as NPR, thank goodness.)

Today we figured since Las Vegas we've now driven (ok--Rick has driven) 3,000 miles.  And what has Kathy been doing?  Well, this has been my salvation...

Knitting this cowl, nearly finished--thank you, Rachel, for the pattern and the tutorial! 

We had no idea that we were actually driving the Oregon Trail for a long time today but we were.  Route 84 follows the Trail and then takes a bit of a detour.  The southern section of the Trail was beseiged by Native American raids and so this more northern route, discovered by Donald Mackenzie's fur trade party in 1820, came into use for emigrant parties of Idaho pioneers in 1862.  After that, it was known as Goodale's Cutoff.  I can't imagine traveling the road we traveled today in a wagon.  Really, I would highly recommend a Volvo XC 60 SUV with cruise control, radio, heat and air conditioning....

We stopped in Boise to look at the state Capitol and get some on-the-road provisions at Trader Joe's.  

And tonight here we are in Pendleton, Oregon at our Howard Johnson's after dinner at the vegetarian Indian restaurant attached to it.  A walk along the beautiful Umatlilla river and time to relax in our room...

On to Craters of the Moon

This morning we conferenced with Apple to figure out what to do with our iphones which were both too full to take any more photos.  Of course they fixed the problem in no time and we left West Yellowstone on a sunny road headed west....

The landscape is very flat with distant hills, buttes and mountains, it is a desolate and beautiful place to travel through....

In Arco, we came upon this sight....

...and discovered that each of the local high school graduating classes from 1920

to the present has painted their year on the side of "Name Hill"!

Craters of the Moon is an unusual place, resembling a moonscape in may places--hence the name...

...the lava is often more in chunks than in "flow".

We peered down into a hole in the ground to see SNOW--along with our shadows just above it.

Before leaving, we stopped at the visitor center to add a yellow pin for Woodstock, VT to the map in the entry.  The closest pins were Montpelier and Bennington so we were proud to represent our town in Idaho at Craters of the Moon!

Our airbnb hostess in Hailey, ID had chocolate chip cookies, a washer and dryer and the most comfortable bed imaginable all for our use.  After sharinng a Thai dinner with Rick in town, having a cookie and doing the laundry. I'm going to take advantage of that bed.  Tomorrow we'll check out  Ketchum and then head for Oregon....

Day Three in Yellowstone

We got a bit of a slow start this morning thanks to the balckout curtains that meant we woke at 8:30!  I thought to title this post, "Where have all the bison gone..." a la Peter, Paul and Mary as we drove into the park this morning.  Where we had seen many bison yesterday there were only three today.  Disappointing-until later.

Obsidian Cliff held a precious Native American stone--extremely hard obsidian, perfect for arrowheads.

Golden Gate shows the difficulty of building a highway in Yellowstone.  Many twists and turns ahead.

We went on east from Mammoth Hot Springs with its amazing array of colors, toward the northest entrance to the park. 

The Undine Falles are wonderful as are so many here.  Along the way, we saw an amazing array of wildlife....

Three mule deer.

Many pronghorn deer--but this is the best we could do on getting close...

WOW!  Here's one of the four wolves we saw crossing the road.

For me, this is the shot of the day--an elk with fuzzy antlers just newly growing after losing his old ones not long ago.  And he's looking right at us!

But, ok, I could make a case for this black bear being the best shot of the day.  He or she totally stopped traffic as photographers pulled out their telephoto lenses and crowded the side of the road to get a shot.  The bear was scraping the ground and eating something.  What do black bears eat?

So, what is the Bison Count for the day after that slow start?   Maybe 2,000!  We lost count there were so many!

And now, after our last day in Yellowstone, finished off by a Buffalo Bar dinner of salad, buffalo meat balls, and mashed potatoes, it's time for sleep.  Tomorrow on to Craters of the Moon National Park....

Another Day in Yellowstone...ho hum...

Fiske BISON COUNT for the day?  202--woohoo!

Some huge bison (about 1,500 lbs.) come very close and they are quite stoic--perhaps they have seen too many visitors or perhaps they think that they own the park.  OK--perhaps they do.  You probably know we call them buffalo by mistake,  based on early visitors who thought they looked like water buffalo.  They are actually bison....

And here are two of them--a mother and child we saw today--we were priviledged to see two little ones, this one sleeping and the other nursing....

Yelowstone resides on top of a volcano and here is evidence of that--the Norris Geyser Bason.  Like most geyser basins, Norris is lower in elevation than the surrounding terrain.  The rust color in the basin below is iron based.  Many geysers and hot springs here are acidic.  No one will probably tell you this but they stink.  Rotten eggs?  Sulphur?  Someone said to Rick "you could fart here and no one would notice!"

In thermal areas, the ground looks fine but it might be only a thin crust above boiling hot springs or scalding mud.  I have yet to find some boiling mud but trust me, I'm looking.  Anyway, you don't know what is a safe path so you have to stay on the wooden path ways.  Some pools are acidic enough to burn through boots and some people have been scalded to death or badly burned and scarred.  So, the message is, don't go there!

OK--you can't actually see the eagles' nest but it is there on the pinnacle with a slight little white spot.  I saw it using a man's telephoto lens.   Others saw mom and dad eagle flying in and out. Another amazing experience.

At Lookout Point you can see the river in waterfall....

And Grand View is certainly that--the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.  The river cuts through more than 1,000 feet to the canyon floor and the river is still working downward today.  The canyon is 24 miles in length and the lovely colors on the sides are made by hot spring activity altering the lava rock.  There are steam vents and geysers still at work on the canyon walls though we can't see them in my photo.  Ahh for that ipone telephoto lens....

Construction worker, Jessie, took Rick closer to the gate at the North entrance of the park so he could get this photo even though the gate is closed off and under construction.  Thanks, Jessie!

And here we are on the way out of Yellowstone in a snow storm, looking forward to "home" at our "You Cater" airbnb in West Yellowstone....

On the way to Yellowstone National Park

This was a fabulous day, beginning with another stupendous breakfast created by Heidi at our wonderful airbnb in Driggs, Idaho.  Today included cheese blintzes with french raspberry sauce, fresh fruits, yogurts, bagels, english muffins, croissants, scones, banana bread and cream cheese, jams and butters.  Too good to be true--we hate to leave and look forward to coming back!  If you're ever heading this way Heidi's airbnb is the place to stay.

Going on, it was a gray day and a stark landscape as we headed north...

...this is a storage facility for the seed potatoes that are the mainstay of the area, exported all over the globe.

We saw amazingly beautiful birch groves at the side of the road.

And, of course, we had to stop for lunch--a brisket sandwich with mushrooms and gravy and lovely homemade potato chips which we split in a feeble effort to be less calorific.  The Buffalo Bar and Casino in West Yellowstone has about seven tv screens showing car racing, Animal Planet, hockey, BBC, etc. and many devices upon which to gamble.

Oh my--inside Yellowstone National Park, a lovely moose has come to greet us!

And soon, bison were crossing the road.  Bison count for the day--115!

The boiling water in the lava parks is amazing and then there's...

...Old Faithful erupting today at 3:40pm. An awesome sight. One of many geysers in the park but the most well know for sure.

Finally tonight, a ruminating bison settling down for the night.   Wow, who knew we'd be counting bison tonight to go to sleep?

A (sort of) Day Off

Today is Saturday and it's raining and we are taking it a bit easy.  Breakfast here at Heidi's is...

...coffe, tea, blueberry scones, bagels, english muffins, banana bread, yogurts, fruits, butter, cream cheese, and more.  Amazingly yummy.  Heidi, wow--you rule!!!

While in Driggs, we went to the Museum which was very informative and our guide, Simone, took this photo of us with our new friend, Ben.  He was very peaceful, gentle and quiet....

...at the museum they have a climbing wall being used for a birthday party when we were there.  It reminded us of the Quechee climbing wall.

We had to stop at the Victor Emporium for another huckleberry milkshake and Rick is drinking half of it--we split it.--way big--ok, Annie and Susan?

On our way to Jackson Hole to see the ski area, it started to snow and we aborted the attempt when the temps got close to freezing.  But the pass over into Jackson was spectacular.

On the way, we were excited to see a little moose grazing...

...look how his knees bend backwards so he can feed!

 This is a closeup of the antlers in the arches at the four couriers of the Jackson center green. 

If Only My iphone Had a Telephoto Lens...

...I would have some great photos of the animals we saw at a distance--bison, moose, elk and grizzley bear.  At one place, many people were waiting for a bear and her two cubs to apppear and when she did, all the cameras started shooting like mad.

This photo of mom and babe was sent to me by one of the photographers who HAD a telephoto lens....

It has been another remarkable day without the food overages, Annie!  :o)

We brought sandwiches for lunch and had a simple dinner of chicken pad thai.  We will rerurn to you semi-intact--we hope!

Today was a gray morning with some lovely visages--see the snow?

On the way out of Driggs, ID this morning, we saw this--an ad for the Spud Drive-In movie theater showing A-list movies but not open until warmer weather.  We understand that their Gladysburgers and Spud Buds (like Tater Tots) are yummy!

In Jackson, the cost of housing is out of sight, as in $650,000 for a two bedroon condo?  We're not moving.  At the town center there are four entrances, all comprised of real elk horns, shed by the elks, retrieved by the Boy Scouts at the end of the season and sold to individuals or to the town of Jackson to make the horn arches...

On the way to the Tetons, we stopped at the National Wildlife Art Museun which has some amazing outdoor wildlife sculptures like this elk sculpture at the entrance.  We were able to see through the museum binoculars, a huge herd of elk in the distance at the National Elk Reserve where they are fed over the winter.

 ...and here is another, smaller, herd of elk crossing the road in front of us.  We followed them for quite awhile and were rewarded by this.

At the end of the day, after all that we have seen, I remember Rick saying over and over how amazing the sights are.  We are so grateful to be able to be here and witness the amazing beauty of our country....