Wyoming and its National Parks

 

Hello to all!   Between camping in National Parks and dry camping we have been without wifi and unable to get a post to the blog!   But here we go......
We had a great 10 days wandering through Wyoming (Carol's birth  state) which is the 10th largest state size wise - but is the least populated of all 50 (somewhere over 500,000 for the whole state!
We spent 2 days in Yellowstone - one day by way of driving from Livingston, MT up the Yellowstone Riverr valley to the north entrance and exploring the Mammoth Pool area and the second time from Cody, WY up the Shoshone River Valley to the east entrance and exploring the Yellowstone Lake and Falls area.

 

Scenes from Yellowstone N.P.

 

 

Drive up the Yellowstone River Valley to the Park

 

 

 

 

 

 It had been quite a few years since we had visited Grand Teton N.P. and we made a last minute decision to spend a few days there.  Absolutely gorgeous and a real highlight!

 

 

Jackson Hole

 

 From The Tetons we made our way south through Wyoming to Rawlins and Cheyenne and we are now in Kinsley Kansas spending time with my  cousin Sally and husband Al and visiting with their son Mark and Family.  We will be here a few days and then start heading east without our trailer which we are leaving behind for our next leg going back to visit friends in North Carolina.
We are looking forward to spending a night in Lawrence, KS with Sally and Al's daughters Josena and Anne before we leave Kansas!

More to come.  Hope you are all well     Don and Carol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cody Wy and Buffalo Bill Museum

 

 

 

Missoula, Montana and Glacier N.P.

Tomorrow we leave for Cody Wyoming -  so we wanted to update you on are time in Montana.
We really need to spend more time in this amazing state and hope to do so in the future, but we have a long trip ahead and have to keep ramblin' on!
We had a short but very nice time at Glacier N.P. - which was an area we had not visited because our former winter only travel schedule with the Rhody.  We actually just got it in by the skin of our teeth as the weather turned the day after we got there and had snow at higher elevations.
We knew the weather was coming so we set out right  away on "the  Going to the Sun Road" which is the hallmark drive through the park.  We were not disappointed and the scenery and  vistas were everything we had heard about. 

The Going to the Sun Road is the only road that crosses Glacier and is about 50 miles of windy narrow turns that looks out at mountains, glaciers, valleys, etc. at every turn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going-to-the-Sun_Road

From the West Glacier Entrance you follow MacDonald Lake and its namesake tributary and finally reach Logan Pass at 6640 ft. before descending towards the east side of the Park and the town of St. Mary.  You also pass St. Mary Lake on this side of the pass which is the site of one of the several fires that afflicted Glacier this summer.  Recently they reopened this end of the road and we were able to see some of the devastation.  It was encouraging to see some new growth so soon after the fire's destruction!

From Glacier we drove the east side of Flathead Lake to Missoula and stayed near the small town of Turah just east of Missoula.  We had great timing in having a visit and dinner with Carol's cousin Ardis and her daughter Jennifer at the same time that Carol's brother Alan (and his wife Lynn and daughter Linnea) were in the area and to help Ardis celebrate her birthday.

We spent some time in Missoula driving around - U of M Campus, Indian Food for Lunch and mandatory stops at Goodwill and Costco.
We took a beautiful drive in one of my favorite areas  - up Rock Creek Rd to Philipsburg and back down hwy. 1 - making a very nice loop with beautiful river and pastoral views and sightings of big horn sheep and deer.

We may not have wifi for a few days or so -  and will update you when we do on our time in Yellowstone N.P, Cody Wy. and parts beyond.
Hope all is well at home and the sun is shining.

Don and Carol

September 6, 2015

As we prepare for our 10 week road trip all the way to North Carolina we are excited to be near completion of our new garage which has been a project we have been talking about for 30 years.
Of course near completion means finishing the outside and when returning from our trip finishing the inside including wiring, insulation, etc. as well as building a work bench in the shop.
It will be a good winter project when we return in the middle of November.

The garage nearing completion

We are looking forward to seeing friends and family as we wander across Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and then East to North Carolina to see friends we haven't seen since we were in Spain 14 years ago.
On our return we will spend a week in the Smokey Mountains and Nashville in Tennessee and meander back west from there.

September 13, 2025

We are now in the town of Whitefish, MT  on our way to Glacier N,P.  We stopped into an interne
café in the hopes of sending out this first blog of our road trip!
We had a great couple of days in at Heyburn S.P. in Idaho with our friends Carl and Mimi and their 2 daughters and friends Driz and Cari.
We road bikes on the "Trail of the Coeurd'laines and went into Spokane to see Megan Burtt
 (Mimi's niece) perform

 Lake Chatcolet

 At Megan Burtt's Show

After leaving Heyburn Carol and I drove to Flathead Lake and spent the night at beautiful Big Arm S.P. and are heading to Glacier -  which we are especially excited about - having never been there and missing out last year as it snowed 7" the day we planned on going there.
So........that is all for now .....but will post again soon. 

Don and Carol

 

oh yea..... lunch and a parade in Wallace, Idaho on the way to Flathead Lake

A great place to read - on the shore of Flathead Lake