July 9, 2013 - Yellowstone National Park

Today we did the Fishing Bridge to West Thumb to Old Faithful, Madison, Norris, Canyon Village, and back to Fishing Bridge loop in the park – about 108 miles round trip!

We got started about 8:30. Our first stop was Pumice Point at West Thumb. It was really beautiful! We could see across to the Geyser Basin which was our next stop. We took the short walk around the basin and took lots of pictures of the different pools and geysers. We had to wonder what the people who first saw this area thought as then encountered all of the strange geological formations.




We headed on toward Old Faithful and made a quick stop to admire Kepler Cascades waterfall. 

We checked yesterday for the estimated eruption times for Old Faithful and arrived with about 15 minutes to spare! We had great seats in time for the 11:45-12:07 show and were not disappointed.
It was really fun to hear all the children around us when it erupted!

We made a quick dash to the Snow Lodge cafeteria and grabbed lunch before taking the Geyser walk. We were treated to seeing several other geysers erupt as we made the short loop – we opted not to go the entire distance!


We were even lucky enough to see Grand Geyser erupt – some folks had been waiting over 3 hours and we just happened to arrive at the right time!
We made a stop back at the Old Faithful Inn after the walk so we could enjoy the historic architecture as well as a tasty dish of ice cream!

As we headed north from the Old Faithful area we stopped at the Midway Geyser Basin because I wanted to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. It is really beautiful and amazes me how the different organisms in the water affect the colors.
We did encounter a large group of teenagers on a bus tour who were in dire need of an education. Two of them jumped out onto the fragile ecosystem – twice. The first time to pick up a hat that had “blown” into the water, the second time shouting to their friends to take their picture. Tobey yelled at them to get out and they immediately jumped out. They knew they were wrong. We stopped at their bus and reported them – and their adult supervisor didn’t seem to know much better himself. Things like this make us worry whether these national treasures will be around for future generations to enjoy if we don’t respect them now.
On toward Madison, we took the 2 mile Firehole River loop to watch folks having fun in the river. The water is warmed by thermal activity upstream so it is quite pleasant. We didn’t swim today, but have in the past.
As the day drew to an end – about 6:30 – we made our way back to our campsite at Fishing Bridge campground. We did have a short delay on the bridge while we waited for this guy to cross!

Tomorrow we will take the northern loop from here and hope to see more wildlife!

July 8, 2013 - Lander, WY to Yellowstone National Park

We were getting settled in for the night last night when Tobey noticed something LARGE fly by the window. We went out and he spotted a HUGE owl in a tree across the river. He was at least 18-24” tall. We watched him for a few minutes before he spotted something else and took off in flight. It was a perfect end to the day!

The scenery between Lander and Dubois was quite beautiful. We loved the red rock formations.

We stopped in Dubois at the National Bighorn Sheep Center. The interpretive center had a good 15 minute film about the migration and life of the bighorn sheep along with several taxidermy specimens.

Right next door to the National Bighorn Sheep Center is the Dubois Museum. While the museum is not very large, there were several exhibits of Native American artifacts, as well as items from early settlers in the area. One of the books left from the elementary school in the 1930s was a copy of Goldenhair and the Three Bears.

From Dubois we headed north through Grand Teton National Park. We stopped at the Teton overlook and were a little disappointed at how hazy the mountains appeared. Since we are camping in the Tetons later in the week, we headed on to Yellowstone.

We checked in to our spot at Fishing Bridge Campground and were settled in about 3pm. Our friends, Dean and Eva, arrived about 30 minutes later.

Since it was early we decided to go check out the Yellowstone Lake Lodge and Bridge Bay areas. This big guy was hanging out in the parking lot by the Fishing Bridge gas station!

It was fun to walk through the historic hotel and see the old lodge taxis and imagine the days when visitors arrived here and toured the area in style.

At Bridge Bay we decided to take the hour-long boat tour on Yellowstone Lake.

Even though the weather turned cloudy and threatened rain, it was interesting to hear about the ecology of the lake and history of the area. Since the late 1980s, around the time of the huge Yellowstone fire, the lake has an infestation of lake trout which are killing off the cutthroat trout. The decreased cutthroat population is affecting over 40 different species of animals in the park that feed on the fish, so they are attempting to kill off the lake trout (over 190,000 so far this year alone!)


After the tour we headed back to camp for dinner and cards. Tomorrow we have an early start as we head off to the West Thumb and Old Faithful areas of the park.

July 7, 2013 - Lander, Wyoming

Tobey and I are on day one of a short, about 10 days, trip up to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Jackson, Wyoming. It has been one of our more unorganized beginnings to a trip!

We got away from home about 9 am and made it six blocks before we had to stop and fix the air conditioner. The inside part of the unit was jiggling off the ceiling! Fifteen minutes later, tools put away, we were on our way again. There was little traffic and the sky was clear as we headed north to Wyoming. 

After a lunch stop we had to work on the A/C again – the screws had worked loose again! Hopefully, they are okay now. We continued on and north of Rawlins stopped at Split Rock. Originally called the Emigrant Trail, the Oregon Trail was the main route for westward expansion between 1812 and 1869. It is estimated that over 500,000 pioneers passed along this route! Because of its unique shape, Split Rock was a well-known landmark and navigation aid. Emigrants along the Oregon and Mormon Trail often camped in the valley between the two hills along the Sweetwater River.

Just west of here ruts cut into the rocks by the wagon wheels were still visible. As we climbed back into the RV, I realized I had forgotten to bring extra camera batteries and the charger. We were already five hours from home so turning back was not an option. Tobey searched our electronics box and found a USB cable that would work to charge the battery in the camera so hopefully we will be able to make it work for the rest of the trip.

About eight miles south of Lander, Wyoming, we turned south on Hwy 131 and visited Sinks Canyon State Park. The canyon is a natural pathway in and through the Wind River Mountains. As we arrived the weather started clouding up and we had a few sprinkles.


We parked and took the 1/2 mile round trip walk between The Sinks and The Rise. This is an amazing phenomenon in which the Popo Agie River drops into a cave and disappears underground for 1/4 of a mile before “rising” back up through an underground spring and a few small waterfalls along the pool. Another amazing thing about The Sinks and The Rise is it takes TWO HOURS for the water to travel that distance!



Where The Rise pool appears again the water is very calm and filled with trout. We were standing on a platform over 20 feet above the pool and the fish were huge! One of the signs said they were between 8 and 10 pounds – quite large for trout!

With rain threatening, we decided not to take the 1.5 mile (1000’ elevation gain) hike to Slide Rock and instead headed into Lander to camp for the night. There is a wonderful city park with free parking for RVs and tents right next to the Popo River. Very pleasant! We took a nice walk around the park and into town and back before dinner. We were both impressed with the fun “Old West” playground set in the park.

From what we saw on our mile walk, we were both impressed how neat and clean Lander is. We plan to settle in for the night and get an early start tomorrow.

June 2013 - Iowa Sojourn

Even though our blog is “Travel with Tobey and Sue,” we sometimes travel separately. I just returned from five days in Iowa and thought I would share some of my experiences with you.

I grew up in Marshalltown, but one of my best friends, Kathryn, lives in Des Moines, so that is where I stayed. We had a great time!

On Thursday, another friend, Carolyn, joined us at the Reiman Gardens in Ames. The Gardens is owned by Iowa State University and is one of the largest public gardens in Iowa. The butterfly wing has up to 800 live butterflies, of 80 different species, in flight. It was wonderful! The top two butterflies are the SAME butterfly! The color when it opened it wings was incredible.


We spent about three hours touring the 14 acre garden and checking out some unique garden art by local Iowa artists. The “Eco Bug” was one of my favorites!

There was even a pond filled with lily pads which offered the red-winged black birds a cool resting spot!

http://www.reimangardens.iastate.edu/index.cfm
On Friday, Kathy and I went to Marshalltown and we joined Carolyn and Sandy at the Maid-Rite for lunch. If you are from the Midwest, you will understand and appreciate the trek for a Maid-Rite! Nothing compares to this loose-meat hamburger! Taylor’s Maid-Rite opened in Marshalltown in 1928 and has been in its current location since 1958!

I have to admit, I was excited when they added catsup as a choice on your sandwich because until a few years back they didn’t even have catsup in the restaurant! (I used to bring my own with me!) A Maid-Rite is perfect when accompanied by a chocolate malt!

http://www.maidrite.com/maid-rite_history.html
On Saturday, Carolyn, Kathy, and I had a busy tour day in Des Moines. We started at Terrace Hill, the Iowa Governor’s mansion. It was interesting to learn about the mansion and imagine the rich history of the original residents. They don’t allow pictures inside the mansion for security reasons.
http://www.terracehilliowa.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrace_Hill
After the Terrace Hill tour and lunch, we toured the Iowa capitol building. The tour was free and well worth the time.

Our tour guide told us about how the original capitol was in Iowa City, then moved to Des Moines in 1854. A three-story brick building served as a temporary Capitol and was in use for 30 years, until destroyed by fires. The “new” building includes their Supreme Court Supreme Court Chamber, the House of Representatives. the Senate, and the Law Library, as well as other offices. The spiral stairways in the law library were so beautiful, as well as the dome!

Being a quilter, I especially liked the patterns in the tile floors. It was impressive.

We finished our tour day with a tour of some shopping malls. Our son is getting married in November so I needed to find a mother of the groom dress – and we were successful! WOOHOO! No pictures of that … we need to wait until the wedding!

We rounded out our weekend by going back to Marshalltown and doing the tour of all the houses we have lived in.

Afterwards, we had to cool down with homemade ice cream from Ev’s – a Marshalltown tradition.

I had a great time and look forward seeing them all again soon, but it is always good to be home!

May 2013 - Rocky Mountain National Park

It’s been a while since we have been out in the motor home – last September to be exact! We have a group of friends from church we make an annual Memorial Day trek with, but we are all retired now, so we can wait and go after the holiday rush. We headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park on Monday afternoon for our four night stay.

We had a beautiful view over Moraine Meadow from our RV and a great view of Long’s Peak. Monday was spent visiting with friends, sharing a great potluck dinner, seeing a beautiful sunset, watching the deer walk through our campsite, then stories around the campfire.

On Tuesday, Tobey and I, along with friends Marcia and Dean, took the 3-1/2 mile hike around the meadow. Last fall, the Fern Lake fire came down and skipped around part of the meadow, burning one home. We were able to see some of the damage, but were happy to see areas greening up. It was fun to spot a marmot sunning himself on a rock near the stream, as well as a large herd of elk. (http://www.nps.gov/romo/naturescience/currentfires.htm)




Tuesday night we again shared a wonderful meal together and Penny had fun being the center of attention!

The weather changed Tuesday night; the wind blustered bringing the rain. The wind and rain (sometimes sleet, sometimes snow) continued off and on through Friday! The RV shook and we sometimes felt we were going to be flown to Kansas! It was our first outing and we both forgot to pack stocking caps and gloves! Thank goodness we stayed toasty warm inside.

One of our traditions is a huge breakfast potluck which we held on Wednesday. We usually eat outdoors, but the weather was too cold and wet to do that this year. Fortunately, Lewis and Linda have a huge 5th wheel trailer which accommodated all 14 of us for the meal!

We spent lots of timed playing cards and board games with friends. (I beat Tobey at every game of gin!) It was lots of fun, even if it was cold and windy. Friday we packed up and headed back home after a great first trip of the season. We have revised our packing list and hope to be ready to go again later in June.