Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

We spent a week between these two parks, and have taken hundreds of photos! We'll try to select the "highlights" only - but there are still a lot!!

Welcome to Yellowstone

 Since Yellowstone is a giant caldera, the main attractions are the so-called "thermal features" - geysers, hot springs, steam vents, and mud pots.  Pretty cool:

Beautiful color

Hot Springs

Thermal features in Yellowstone Lake



Old Faithful Geyser

We went backpacking for three days in the backcountry area of the park. Unfortunately we decided to do so exactly as a cold front passed through the area.  Lows of 16 degrees F at night - thought my fingers would fall off setting up the tent and woke up with the tent coated with ice.  No more camping with temps that low for me!  I hate the cold! 

 

 

 

 

 

After the frigid backpacking trip, we decided to do some shorter day hikes for the rest of our time at Yellowstone. We still got to see some amazing stuff, and hiked over 10 miles every day!

 

 

We went to Grand Teton NP for only a day, but could have spent so much more time there!  Because of its ashy soil, Yellowstone's main vegetation is lodgepole pine - the only thing that will grow in such poor soil! They also generate a sap that when on the ground, doesn't allow for other plants to grow. Forest fires are a natural part of the pines' lifecycle - fire is the only thing that can open the pinecones to grow new plants.  But as a result many areas of the park appear burnt and dead.  In Grand Teton, on the other hand, we found much more variety in vegetation, even some nice fall colors, and also spectacular mountains!

 

 

 The sun felt so nice on our hike around the lake in Grant Teton, Ricardo decided to go for a swim. When trying to get his pants off, he lost balance and fell in the river, pants and all! We saved most of the electronic stuff in his pockets, but the binoculars were lost. And he still had to walk all the way back, about 5 miles, wearing wet pants in 40F weather! The water was COLD, about 38F!

 

We also got to see some wildlife in Yellowstone and Grant Teton.  Making noise in order not to startle any grizzleys, while hiking, I think we scared off every other living creature as well, Ricardo's voice screaming in the wild sounded like a demon from the very pits of hell! But we did see some animal antics while driving.  We saw TONS of buffalo and elk. 

 

Deer just playing and nuzzling by the road

Buffalo have the right of way



Ricardo getting a close up view of the male elk from the herd that hang out in the middle of Mammoth Hot Springs

No grizzley sightings, but we did catch this crazy little black bear climbing trees and entertaining the crowds of people who stopped in the middle of the street to watch it:


 

 

We had a great time and stayed longer here than we have in most places along the way so far.  We knew it would be an important stop on our way across the country.  Coming in the next post: Our trip to Glacier National Park.  Stay tuned!



Taking in Beauty in the Badlands

From Chicago, we decided to drive straight to Badlands.  It was a long, long stretch of plains on I-90...I don't think Mr. Garmin has ever recorded such a long drive with no turns.

Next turn in: 282 miles

 

The cub in the great plains

 

Heading west, into the sunset

We finally made it to Badlands National Park, but before entering the park we couldn't resist making a quick stop at a roadside store advertising "Feed the Prairie Dogs".  Who says Ricardo doesn't smile for pictures? Just let him feed some fat little prairie dogs:

What could be more fun than this?

That`s a fat one!

Then we spent a couple nights in the Badlands themselves - got some amazing pictures of scenery and wildlife:

 

Coyote posing for a picture

 

The first night we slept in the cub at the remote campground at the very end of the park.  We awoke to a herd of bison surrounding us!

The next day we hiked through the park and did some backcountry camping.  It was hot and incredibly dry.

Setting out

View into the valley

Where's Ricardo?

Evening view from the tent

Sunrise

View from an overlook

 

On our way out, we again were tempted by the roadside signs for one more stop...Bear Country USA, where the animals roam free and you drive through in your car.  Don't worry, these pics are all from the safety of the car, Mom! :)



 

This wolf stole the cover for our spare tire on the back of the cub.  He proudly brought it back to all his wolf friends, and they all began playing with it and fighting over it:

Most of the animals in the park seemed to have plenty of space, free to walk around, and well taken care of.  The grizzleys at the end however, were confined to a very small space.  This is what we do not like about zoos! 

 

We spent the night in Rapid City.  Next destination: Yellowstone!  Maybe we'll spot a grizzley in the wild...

Uncle Tom's Cabin and Chicago

On we went to visit the real Uncle Tom's Cabin after leaving Sarah and Matt. We did have a great time at the Niagara Falls!
We got there at night and stayed at a Walmart as usual. Next morning we headed to that museum.

 It was quite impressive, amazing, and sad at the same time all that some people had to suffer just a few generations ago simple for looking different. Those are some of the things I will never understand.

This device was used to punish slaves that tried to escape. It would go on their necks so they would get caught in the brush if they tried to escape again, and most of the time they had to carry it at night, during sleep!

The museum was small but the yards where big, and there they had many of the original stuff that Josiah Henson, the real uncle Tom, used after he escaped slavery, including the house he lived in.

 

This man really had a tough life and after escaping to Ontario, Canada, he helped at least another 118 slaves escape from the US into Canad by the called "Underground Railroad". He lived well into his 90`s. He also preached most of his life.

 

 

 

After spending several hours there, and talking to the very nice lady that took care of the museum, we headed back to the US!

Crossed the border somewhere ( don't ask me where!) we headed for Chicago, still trying to fix that stupid window from when the car was broken into. We stayed at a Walmart at some town. Yeah, I don't remember its name either and most of my posts will be like that so you better get used to it! ;)

Most of the shops in different towns, starting in Canada, were charging us between $180 and $250 for replacing the damn window, until we called Chicago and they were only going to charge us 50 bucks, so to chicago we departed!

Once we got there we made a mistake trying to look for a Walmart near the city and we ended up in downtown Chicago, during rush hour, towing a trailer!!! That was quite an adventure! Had to pretty much muster all my driving skills to get out of there, hahaaa. Later we read online that there was a festival going on, which included Celtic music from Scotland, mainly from some of the members of a Celtic music tv show in Scotland that invites great musicians to perform there and that I LOVE to watch on youtube some times. We left Cubby at a Walmart in the suburbs and took the Xterra to downtown.

 

The concert started at around 7 and we bought some beer before hand. Because we were drinking alcohol they gave us a wrist band. Apparently you had to be from the press or someone important to sit in the VIP area, but the guard there saw our wrist bands and thought we were those people, so he asked us to sit in the VIP section!! That was quite a treat! We were right in front of the stage.

 





 

Needless to say, we had an awesome time! Saw several great musicians including Phil Cunningham, Ally Bain, and Dan Tyminski, who was the one that actually sang "A Man of Constant Sorrow" instead of George Clooney in the movie "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?". He sang that song too.
After the concert we went to bed and get ready for the next destination...BADLANDS!