Jeanie and David's Travel Blog

THE LONG TRIP HOME!

2008-07-09T14:11:00Z

We celebrated the evening of the 4^th at our campground. They were giving out free Huckleberry ice cream and we have really come to love it. They had a fireworks display but it didn’t start until 10:30 since it doesn’t get dark around here until then. We went to bed thinking there wouldn’t be much too it, but were we surprised! We woke up to a great fireworks show and watched from our camper window.

We started heading back down on Saturday morning. We have gone almost 7000 miles so far and still have a long way home. We drove back roads in Montana for most of the way down from Glacier until we got to I-90. We went past lots of lakes and between two mountain ranges. The scenery was beautiful and much better than going on the interstate. However, the beautiful blue skies that we had seen on our way up were no longer to be seen because of all the fires in California. The past 2 weeks we have experienced a smoky haze over the entire area.

Sunday we decided to take a different direction and headed south toward Cheyenne, Wyoming instead of going back through S. Dakota. There wasn’t much to see from Casper, Wyoming until Cheyenne. Mostly rolling hills with lots of sagebrush and few trees. Also, we saw lots of pronghorn on this part of the trip.

OLD HOMESTEAD

Did you know that Wyoming is the least populated state with only about 500,000 people? You would believe this if you had driven that stretch of highway with us. There were not many houses and very few side roads.

We stopped at a RV park in Cheyenne. David was very tired. It had been a hard drive because of the wind and the difficulty of pulling the trailer over many passes during the day. We didn’t see much of Cheyenne, but did go down to the historic downtown district before leaving on Monday morning.

CHEYENNE DEPOT PLAZA

OLD TRAIN DEPOT, NOW WELCOME CENTER

SHE THOUGHT SHE WAS UP TO A GUN FIGHT

NEVER WAS A "BOOT GUY"....EXCEPT FOR HIKING BOOTS!

We drove on through Nebraska and stopped at a very nice state park near Lincoln. It was a much easier drive than yesterday. We are now near Joplin, Missouri and hope to be at our cabin in Arkansas tomorrow (Wednesday). We will check on things there and then head back to Baton Rouge.

As we headed back down to the South, we hated to leave the beauty and coolness of the mountains, but look forward to seeing our family and friends that we have missed so much. The temps have changed from the 40s at night to the 60s and from the 70s during the days to the high 80s. No more coats, longsleeves, or ski hats. We are now in shorts and trying to get used to the high humidity once again.

It’s good to be back in the South and we have a small bit of Southern trivia for ya’ll.

"The song that became the anthem for the Confederate states was written by a Northerner named Daniel Decatur Emmett, who was born and raised in Mount Vernon, Ohio. He originally wrote "Dixie" as part of a New York minstrel show, but the song took on a life of its own when it was rewarded with a standing ovation at each performance. Even though "Dixie" was adopted by the Southern states as their call to arms, the sprightly melody was so infectious that it was popular in the North as well. In fact, "Dixie" was Abraham Lincoln’s favorite song, and was played at his inauguration per his request.

Oh, as you can see, we found our mule!

THESE GUYS WERE REALLY BEGGING TO GO HOME WITH SOMEONE!

WE KINDA LIKE HIM....WHAT YA THINK?

I GUESS WE WILL HAVE TO GET SOME NEW TIRES....BEFORE HE WILL PULL IT?

Hope to see you all soon!

God Bless….

WEST GLACIER

2008-07-05T01:50:00Z

Hi all......

On our way to Glacier we passed several cherry orchards near Flathead Lake. In fact, these orchards line the hillsides of this area. I (Jeanie) love cherries so we stopped and bought some. They were so delicious!

Flathead Lake is the largest lake west of the Mississippi River. It is very clear and bluish green in color. This side of the Glacier Park area is much more populated and commercialized than the east side. It is still very beautiful and we are looking forward to exploring it.

We woke up Wednesday morning and it was cloudy and drizzling, but we decided to go into Glacier Park anyway. We found out they had just opened Going-to-the-Sun Road this morning so we decided to drive it.

The road is beautiful with lots of pull outs to take pictures. It runs by McDonald Lake for a while and then McDonald creek. McDonald Lake is the biggest lake in Glacier. It is also that beautiful bluish green color and of course very clear. Along the lower end of the lake Western Hemlock trees and Western Red Cedar trees grow in abundance. There are also lots of pine, spruce and aspens. It is very heavily wooded in this area. We did see some mule and white tail deer early in the morning.

We stopped to look at McDonald Lake Lodge. It looks like a swiss chalet on the outside and on the inside like a hunting lodge. It had all sorts of mounted animals on its walls…elk, moose, deer, mountain goats, etc.

We drove to Logan Pass which is 6646 feet in elevation. There was snow everywhere. The locals keep saying this is the most snow they have ever seen here. The trail to Hidden Lake was still covered in snow so we were unable to hike it. It is supposed to be a great hike and we were disappointed we could not hike it.

THIS IS FOR ALL OUR "HOT" SOUTHERN FRIENDS!

We drove all the way to Jackson Glacier Overlook which was as far as we could go when we were staying on the east side of Glacier the first part of June. So we can say we have driven the entire Going-to-the-Sun Road!

Almost forget, there was quite a traffic jam at the top because of all the construction. We had about 20 minute delays both ways. It was one way traffic in the construction area. They road was steep and winding but worth the drive.

Later that evening we watched the sunset over Lake McDonald at Apgar Village. We also enjoyed eating Huckleberry ice cream as the sun was setting. You have to try Huckleberry ice cream….it is the best (yes, according to David, the ice cream "expert").

Thursday we drove back to Glacier to hike Avalanche Lake Trail and the Trail of the Cedars. We hiked about 6 miles that day.

Avalanche Lake trail is one of the most popular hikes in the park. It starts at Avalanche gorge and then begins climbing up the gorge past large boulders some of which had a beautiful pinkish color to them. It was really an incredible hike! As we walked past the gorge area, the trail turned in towards the woods and went through pine, spruce and aspen forests.

As we got closer to the lake the vegetation changed to ferns, moss covered rocks and lots of green bushes. It reminded us of a rain forest. The trail opened up at Avalanche Lake which is a pristine mountain lake (crystal clear and green in color). We could see large waterfalls at a distance that appeared to be caused by the melting snow near the tops of the mountains that surrounded the lake.

Chipmunks were everywhere and they were really pests! They apparently were used to people feeding them and they were not afraid of us. We walked to the far end of the lake. The lake was even prettier there. It was also very cold!!

We walked back and then hiked the final part of the Trail of the Cedars. Some of these cedar trees were over 100 feet tall. They were huge!

On the way back to our campground, there was another traffic jam. People were looking at a Bull Moose! We had not seen a bull moose yet on this trip so we were very excited and of course David took lots of pictures as you can see.

Also, as the moose was eating in the water, someone spotted a black bear nearby. We could see it, but couldn’t get pictures.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY TO EVERYONE!!

We spent our 4^th driving back to the Going-to-the-Sun Road because the weather was better and David hoped to get some good pictures.

We stopped at McDonald Creek where David took a lot of pictures. The lighting was very good at that time of the morning. The clear greenish colored water was cascading down the beautiful creek . The rocks were pink, gray, white, lavender and many other colors. The creek was bright blue / green because it is full of glacial dust from the melting glaciers above. It was so beautiful to see.

We drove all the way to Siyeh Pass trailhead, ate lunch and then headed back. On the way back near Logan Pass we saw 2 mountain goats. That was our first sighting of goats and once again, David took lots of pictures as you can see.

We are having a great time, but we have to start heading back home tomorrow. We will continue to keep in touch on our way back.

MORE PIC'S.....

GOING TO THE SUN ROAD

LUNCH STOP AT "LUNCH CREEK".....TIME FOR A PIC

God Bless……until the next time!

CASTLE LODGE

2008-07-02T22:54:00Z

Hi all, yes we are back in Montana and loving it!

We slept in a little and then worked on our blog a while before going into Livingston, Montana to check out the town and buy groceries. Livingston is a small picturesque western town. We enjoyed looking around the town.

Then we headed back to drop off our groceries and go see Castle & Linda. We had met them in the spring when we were camping at Lake Fausse Point State Park near St. Martinville, LA, they were escaping the brutal Montana winter and enjoying the LA swamps. In our conversation over a campfire last spring they invited us to their lodge north of Yellowstone Park.

They live near Emigrant, Montana in a very scenic and remote area. They own over 1100 acres on the side of a beautiful mountain. They use to run a lodge called "Castle Lodge" where people would come to vacation. They took people hunting, fishing, rafting and on over night pack trips back in the mountains. They are now retired.

They have a beautiful home with large windows that face an incredible view of the mountains. Their daughter and her children were visiting and we enjoyed getting to know them.

Castle took us on a tour to see his property and the wildflowers were in full bloom. We saw lupine, arrowleaf balsamroot, lockspur, Indian paintbrush and even a flower called "Fairyslippers" which you can see in the picture below. Words cannot express how abundant and beautiful the flowers were…..they were just everywhere you looked! Castle said they had not been like this in quite a few years because of the drought. We felt blessed to have seen this…..it was really beautiful beyond words.

OVERLOOKING MT EMIGRANT (IN THE BACKGROUND)

FAIRYSLIPPERS (TONI YOU LIKELY KNOW WHAT THESE ARE)

He then took us to see a cabin they are working on in the very back (very remote) part of his property. It is not quite finished, but they can use it now. The view of the mountains is beautiful from this area.

We joined them for dinner. It was delicious. Linda is a great cook. We had Buffalo burgers along with potato salad and a shrimp and noodle salad that was great!

WITH OUR NEW MONTANA FRIENDS....CASTLE AND LINDA!

We enjoyed the day very much, it felt much like we had known them for years. Hopefully we can continue to stay in touch with our new "Montana friends", they enjoy coming to the south (Castle is originally from Shreveport) during the worst part of the Montana winter.

Tuesday we headed out for the West side of Glacier Park. We didn’t get to see it the first part of our trip because of all the snow so we decided to head back. It was about an 8 hr trip back up here. We are staying at Mountain Meadow Campground in Hungry Horse, Montana until Sat. July 5. This is really a nice campground. We are about 9 miles from West Glacier so we will update everyone in a few days.

YEP......MORE WILDFLOWERS EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK!

AFTERNOON VIEW FROM OUR CAMPSITE AT "YELLOSTONE EDGE"

OK, WE ARE ON THE WAY BACK TO THE WEST SIDE OF GLACIER NP, SHOULD GET ANOTHER
UPDATE IN A FEW DAYS!
GOD BLESS AND LOVE TO ALL,

GRAND TETON NP #3

2008-06-30T16:19:00Z

HELLO TO EVERYONE......We woke up to another beautiful morning. I slept in a little while David took early morning pictures. We were able to extend our stay one more night. It is so beautiful here we hate to leave.

We walked back to Swan Lake and Heron Pond that are 2 trails right here at Colter Bay. The trails were great and we walked about 4 miles. Swan Lake was almost full of water lilies and they were also in full bloom with yellow flowers everywhere. We saw a beaver dam and a lot of Canadian geese.

We then walked over to Heron Pond, which was even prettier than Swan Lake. We saw lots of pelicans and even an osprey. The reflection of Mt. Moran in the pond was a beautiful sight. Of course, we also walked through meadows of wildflowers, lodgepole pines & spruce trees. We really enjoyed this trail. It was easy to hike and we were tired from all the hiking the last few days.

We took it easy the rest of the day and got some laundry and things done because we would be heading out towards Emigrant, Montana on Sunday to visit some friends we had met when they were camping in Louisiana this past spring.

However, we did go out wildlife viewing one more time in the late evening. As you can see, we spotted a cow moose on a remote road near the Snake River. David got some great pictures that he wanted to share with everyone.

Sunday we got up and got ready to move on, but first we attended the worship service at the amphitheater in our park. It was a great service put on by student interns who work for the park service in the summer.

We left the Tetons and headed towards Emigrant via Yellowstone Park. It was a beautiful drive again and we saw lots of elk and even a bear. The yellow wildflowers were almost gone, but David managed to take a picture of a meadow that still had yellow flowers as you can see.

As we left the park we drove through the Roosevelt Arch which was dedicated by Teddy Roosevelt in 1903. This is the oldest official entrance to Yellowstone Park. This entrance is near Gardiner, Montana. This part of the drive changed to a more barren and desert like landscape. It reminded us a lot of Arizona. We followed the Yellowstone River to Emigrant.

We camped at Yellowstone’s Edge RV Park. What a great place to camp! It is right on the Yellowstone River and on Sundays they have an ice cream social for everyone in the campground. It was all the ice cream you could eat for $3.50 and as you know, David loves ice cream. We had a great time and enjoyed meeting people from all over the country. Some people come here and spend the entire summer. Fishing is supposed to be great here, but right now the Yellowstone River is very high and swift so the fishing is not so good.

We will visit Castle & Linda tomorrow and then head out. We are thinking about going back to Glacier National Park because we hadn’t seen everything we had hoped to the first part of our trip.

We will let you know our plans as soon as we know.

Thought for the Day as seen on an email I received:

"Live Simply, Love Generously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly & Leave the Rest to God."

TRIVIA QUESTION FOR TODAY: WHAT WINDOW WAS THIS PIC TAKEN FROM?
HINT....SEE BLOG FROM SEVERAL DAYS BACK

ENJOYING AN AWESOME EVENING

JACKSON, WY.....TOWN SQUARE

Hope all is well with everyone......until the next time!

God Bless

GRAND TETON NP #2

2008-06-28T22:34:00Z

Hello all....

We decided that we would hike Taggart Lake Trail, but as is common, on the way to Taggart Lake, there was a traffic jam. We found out it was a grizzly bear that had everyone’s attention. We stopped and watched for a while and took lots of pictures. This grizzly bear happened to be tagged so we knew she was #399 and that she had just kicked her 3 cubs out and was looking for a mate. The cubs were about 2 years old. We didn’t see them, but saw pictures of them later and they were almost as big as she was.

A few miles down the road at the entrance to Jackson Lake Lodge we saw people looking at something so we stopped again. It was the cow moose and her calf that we had seen earlier in the week. We took more pictures and then moved on to Taggart Lake.

Finally, we made it to the trailhead. The hike to Taggart Lake was about 4 miles and took us about 3-4 hours because we like to stop a lot and take pictures. It was another beautiful hike through wildflower meadows, aspen groves, lodgepole pine forests and along a beautiful mountain stream.

LOOK CLOSE FOR MARY AND JEANIE...way down the trail!
It's a long climb to the top of Grand Teton!

Taggart Lake is another pristine mountain lake and the hike was moderately easy. The day was beautiful and the view of the lake was great. Some people were fishing, but we didn’t see them catch anything. The lake was crystal clear.

We headed back to the camper because we were so tired. Bilgem you will be glad to know we enjoyed the salmon from Seattle and we cooked up some great Salmon patties. Mary will give you the recipe when she gets home.

We were very tired so didn’t go out wildlife viewing.

The next day we decided to drive to Jackson, Wyoming, which is a small western town but in the summer months has quite an influx of tourists. We toured and shopped in the historic downtown district and then rode the ski lift at Snow King which is a winter ski area in Jackson. We had a great view of the Tetons, but there was a haze over the mountains because of some fires in Sacramento, California so we weren’t able to get any real good pictures of the mountains.

We drove back through Teton Village which is another ski area and entered the park through the Granite Canyon Entrance Station. This is a more remote area of the park and has just been developed. Lawrance Rockefeller donated his land as a wildlife preserve and they had just opened this part of the park this summer. The visitor center was closed as we came through and we will come back tomorrow to hike Phelps Lake Trail.

On the way back to our campground we drove to Oxbow Bend to do some wildlife viewing and once again, we saw a large crowd and knew something good was up the road. It was a large grizzly bear. We found out that it was one of #399 cubs. David got lots of good pictures as you can see. After that we saw another moose and a herd of elk. It was a good night for wildlife viewing.

We woke up Friday morning to a beautiful clear morning and the smoke was gone from the fires in California. We had to get Mary to the airport by noon so we got ready in a hurry to go take more pictures since the sky was so beautiful.

After dropping Mary off at the airport, we headed towards the Lawrance Rockefeller wildlife preserve and the hike to Phelps Lake.

This was probably the best hike we have taken. There were not that many people on the trail and the trail wound through sagebrush meadows, fir, spruce, and lodgepole pine forests, and beautiful aspens groves. There was also an area that looked very much swamp like. We followed a beautiful stream to the lake. Phelps Lake is a beautiful bluish green mountain lake. Probably the prettiest we have hiked to. This area was the Rockefellers private ranch for years and he wanted to share it with the public.

To quote Rockefeller "This land was given to the American People to help us connect with nature and enrich our lives—it is ours to cherish and protect". He wanted to inspire the public to become better stewards of the land and hoped to do this by creating this preserve.

We wanted to share two quotes we saw at the Lawrance Rockefeller Visitor Center.

"We see the Great Peaks mirrored in water—Stillness, Wholeness, Renewal.

Reflection leads us to restoration".

"Nature quiets the mind by engaging with an intelligence larger than our own".

MORE PIC'S

JACKSON LAKE (short walk from our campsite)

GRAND TETON

CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

BISON ON THE RANGE

MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN THE US....JUST HAD TO DO IT!

ENJOYING GOD'S AWESOME BEAUTY

REFLECTIONS

OK, WE ARE OFF INTO THE SUNSET......TILL THE NEXT TIME.

God Bless…

GRAND TETONS NP

2008-06-25T23:06:00Z

Hello all…..we are now in the Tetons. What an incredible beautiful area! The Tetons are the youngest mountain range in the Rocky Mountain chain. The mountains are more jagged and steep. We dropped our camper off at Colter Bay RV Park. These sites are not as close together and much nicer than Fishing Bridge.

We were all very tired and at a much slower pace today. We rode down to Jenny Lake to get a feel for the area. Jenny Lake is a beautiful greenish color, high altitude mountain lake with lots of trails around it. We found out that the best picture time for this area is sunrise which means getting up at 5am.

On the way back to Colter Bay RV Park we saw two bears as we turned into the campground’s main road. One was a black bear and one was a cinnamon colored black bear. They were just meandering through the woods eating and finally crossed the street where we lost them. David & Mary got lots of pictures.

Monday morning we got up at 5am in order to drive to see the sunrise at Signal Mountain overlook. It was beautiful and there was no one out but us. We then rode down to Jenny Lake and did a 4 mile hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point.

The trail followed Jenny Lake for about 2 miles and went through some beautiful mountain meadows with plenty of yellow and lavender flowers. Then we started the climb to Hidden Falls which followed a mountain stream up to the Falls. We walked through some beautful alpine forests of spruce, lodgepole pine and aspens. The trail started getting a little harder as we walked towards the falls, and it got really steep as we continued up to Inspiration Point. As you can see in this picture, I am hugging the side of the mountain for the last 50 feet to the top (Joyce, you would have hated this part of the hike).

We were all really tired by the time we reached the top, but the view of Jenny Lake was awesome and well worth the hike!! We ate lunch at the top which was about 7200 feet and then headed down. We took the shuttle across Jenny Lake on the way back to cut off a few miles of walking because we were so tired by then.

We continued our drive south towards Moose on the Inner Loop of the Tetons. We stopped at Lupine Meadows were the lupines were in full bloom. The lupines are a beautiful lavender color and they smell wonderful. Also, the yellow flowers that look like sunflowers are called arrowleaf balsamroot.

Next, we stopped at the Chapel of Transfiguration which is an Episcopal chapel built in 1925 that still has services. The chapel was made of logs from the area and the pews were made of aspen trees from the area. There was a large glass window behind the altar that had a magnificent view of the Tetons.

We drove down to Moose and the new visitor center that has some great exhibits of the area and then headed back to our campground by way of the Outer Loop. This was a much quicker way back. We saw bison, pronghorn and elk in this area.

BISON

PRONGHORN

We were exhausted by the time we got back and crashed!

We woke up again at 5am on Tuesday morning to get ready for our raft trip down the Snake River. We met the group at a hotel near us and were shuttled down to the river. Our guide Phillip was wonderful. He had a great knowledge of the area and it was a good float trip down the river. We saw eagles, otters, all kinds of birds, and pronghorns and a beaver den.

After our raft trip we continued down the Outer Loop and drove Antelope Flats Road and visited a Mormon settlement of the late 1800s. This was a thriving community until the mid 1900s and there were several home sites still in fair condition that we could see. Near this settlement was a herd of bison grazing in a field of yellow
flowers. Of course, David took lots of pictures.

We were all very tired so decided to take it easy in the evening.

Trivia Question: Who named the Grand Tetons and what is the meaning of the name?

Quote for the day: Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away.

We have had many of those breathtaking moments on this trip.

God Bless….

MORE PIC'S.....

JENNY LAKE

HIDDEN FALLS

OK THIS IS FOR MY BUDDY CHUCK THAT IS ALWAYS IN NEED
OF THIS....OR, AT LEAST NORMAN IS ALWAYS BLAMING HIM FOR
STOPPING....IM NOT SURE OF THE GUILTY PARTY?

OK, that is all for today, hopefully we will get another update in a couple of days.
Love to all,

YELLOWSTONE #2

2008-06-23T03:16:00Z

We got up early because we were going to drive Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph Scenic Highway. Beartooth Highway is a National Scenic Byway and crosses the highest elevations in both Montana and Wyoming. Beartooth Pass reaches an elevation of 10,947 ft.

On the way to Beartooth Highway we had several good wildlife sightings. We saw two elk on the side of the road with large racks. Next, as we were heading east we saw a lot of cars pulled over so we knew we had to stop and see what they were looking at. It was a grizzly bear and we were finally able to get some good pictures of one. He just sat in the grass and once and a while would look up and pose for us. The ranger said grizzlies forage in the early mornings so he probably was done and would be resting for most of the day.

We moved on to Beartooth Highway. It is such a beautiful drive, lots of switchbacks as you climb to over 10,000 feet. We stopped all along the way to take pictures. The road had only opened to traffic about 3 or 4 days before we drove it. There was lots of snow on the way up and as you can see, snow banks of 20 to 25 feet along the highway. The view from the top was breathtaking and we decided to stop and eat lunch there.

We drove to Red Lodge, Montana, which is named for the Crow Indians’ custom of decorating tepees with red clay from the nearby mountains. It is a small quaint western tourist town.

As we headed back toward Yellowstone Park and before we reached the ChiefJoseph Scenic Byway we stopped at Bear Creek which is a little town of about 100 people and we ate the best banana cream pie at Hungry Bear Café. The book I’m using for a guide said don’t miss this stop. The pie was delicious!

As we continued our drive, the first part of the drive on Chief Joseph Highway was red rock formations similar to those of Sedona, Arizona. The road climbed to over 8000 feet and the view was beautiful once again. This side of the drive goes around the other side of the Beartooth Mountains. It also has more trees (lodgepole pines and aspens).

When we got back to Yellowstone we spotted a big horn sheep on the side of the road. Then we saw another black bear and more elk, deer and bison.

We were tired and thought we might have to move Friday morning because we originally only had 4 days reserved, but we woke up Friday morning and David went down to the campground office. As David walked into the office a lady asked if he was Mr. Howell saying that she had taken care of him. She went on to say she had overheard the conversation the night before with the other park employee. After we left she went in to the computer system and arranged for us to keep the same site for our remaining time here. It turns out she was from Slidell and said that she always takes care of her fellow Louisianans. She introduced David to her husband and we got an update on the LSU baseball playoffs. They offered us a free campsite to work here for the rest of the season. We are wondering if gas would be cheaper in September to get us home?

We decided to see the geysers, fumaroles, hot springs, and any other thermal activity today. We drove over to the Norris Geyser Basin which is the hottest bed of thermal activity in the park. In fact, according to some guide books, it may possibly be the hottest thermal area in the world.

We walked both the Porcelain Basin & the Back Basin. The paths and boardwalks pass through hot springs and spouting geysers. We had to stay on the paths because the ground around us was very active, hot and changing. There are warnings throughout the park not to get off the paths or touch the water because it is so hot that it will take the skin off your body. It was very tempting to put your hand in one and feel the water temperature, but decided we didn’t want our skin to be taken off of our hand so we refrained from this.

Also, many pools of the hot springs were beautiful color, bluish, green, rust, and many other various colors.

We went to the Midway Geyser Basin and the Fountain Paint Pot area. At the Fountain Paint Pot area there was always some geyser spouting and mud pots gurgling, but never erupting.

We went back to Old Faithful to walk the Upper Geyser Basin, but it started raining so we just waited by the Old Faithful Inn until Old Faithful erupted which was quite a sight. It probably went as high as 100 feet and behind it was a rainbow which David was able to photograph. It was a much better eruption than on Tuesday.

We were really tired because we have not stopped since we have gotten here. We are up early and stay up late to watch for wildlife and sunsets. We slept in a little on Saturday and decided to stay in the Fishing Bridge area.

We hiked Elephant Back trail which is a 3 mile trail to the top of a mountain that has a spectacular view of Yellowstone Lake and the surrounding area. The hike had a lot of switchbacks about half way up, but we made it! The view was beautiful and we ate lunch up there. The hike back was much easier on our breathing, but tough on our toes.

We hiked another trail and then headed back to the camper to get ready for out boat tour on Yellowstone Lake. We really enjoyed that too.

After the boat trip we went back to Lehardys Rapids to see if we could catch sight of the cutthroat trout jumping up the rapids to spawn upstream. We were so blessed to see that. It was something to watch the trout jumping up the rapids. We had to be patient because you watched for a while before you saw a trout jump up the rapids.

Cutthroat Trout Jumping the rapids

One other thing we wanted to mention was all the people we have met here from all over the country and world. We have met people from New York, California, Malaysia, Russia, and so many other places. All of them have been so friendly and nice.

We hope all of you are doing well and we will write in another few days. We are on our way to the Grand Tetons
and will be there until Saturday, June 28

MORE PHOTOS

.

Yellowstone Lake from our boat ride.

LA Pelican fishing on the Yellowstone River!

OK, WE ARE DOWN THE ROAD TO THE GRAND TETONS! We will get another update in a couple of days!
Love ya,

YELLOWSTONE NP

2008-06-19T20:54:00Z

It was a beautiful morning as we left for Yellowstone. The drive was great , the weather was wonderful and there was no wind.

We stopped by Madison River Canyon Earthquake Visitors Center in the Gallantin Forest area. The earthquake happened about midnight on August 17, 1959 and at that time, it was one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded on the North American continent. It measured 7.5 on the Richter scale. It was really interesting to hear how the area was changed because of that event, causing a huge tidal wave throughout the canyon, winds as high as 170 MPH were created by the falling rock. Groundwater levels reportedly fluctuated throughout the US.

We moved on to Yellowstone, but didn’t stop much because we needed to get to Fishing Bridge campground and drop off the camper so we could drive down the Jackson Lake Lodge in the Grand Tetons to pick up my sister, Mary.

The drive down to the Tetons was beautiful. We saw a moose and her calf close to the hotel where we were picking up Mary. On the way back to our campsite we saw a grizzly bear on the side of the road. We weren’t quick enough with our cameras to get a picture.

Tuesday was our anniversary and Mary’s 60^th birthday. We had a great day. We walked Storm Point trail which led to a view of Yellowstone lake and our first sighting of a yellow bellied marmot. He was not afraid of us and in fact wanted to join us for lunch.

l
Lunch overlooking Yellowstone Lake

Yellow-bellied Marmot

We drove towards Canyon Village and stopped at LeHardys Rapids which is a very scenic area where you can see cutthroat trout leaping in the air to go upstream to spawn. We were disappointed because we didn’t see this happening, but we will try to stop there again before we leave.

We drove to the Mud Volcano area which is a series of mud springs and fumaroles (vents of steam). There was a lot of boiling water and steam coming up. The sulfide had a rotten egg smell. We also so a few bison hanging around there.

We drove on up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and hiked to a view of the Upper falls. The hike was not difficult and the view of the falls was beautiful.

We had to hurry back to get ready to go celebrate our anniversary and Mary’s birthday at the Old Faithful Inn Restaurant because our reservations were for 6:15.

Old Faithful Inn is known as "the showplace of the park". "It’s thought to be the world’s largest log structure. Its lobby is 7 stories high and quite impressive. Our dinner was great and we really enjoyed the evening.

We were able to see Old Faithful erupt. It doesn’t last long. Probably just a few minutes, but was very impressive. It probably reached a height of close to 100 feet.

On the way back to our campground we were blessed with a magnificent sunset. It was over a geyser basin and the reflection of the sun on the water in the geyser’s looked like they were on fire.

After that incredible sunset, we were blessed with a beautiful full moon. The reflection of the moon on the river was something to see. David took lots of pictures. We all had a wonderful evening.

We woke up Wednesday morning and decided to drive to Mammoth Hot Springs. Of course we stopped a lot. We walked to the Lower Falls trail of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It was quite a hike. You have to walk down 358 steps in order to get the best view. It was not too bad going down, but it was very hard going up.

On the way to Mammoth Springs, we saw a black bear, some elk and bison. The black bear sighting caused quite a traffic jam. We drove over Dunraven Pass which is at an elevation of 8859 feet. This is the highest point you can reach by vehicle in the park. There was lots of snow up there as you can see.

We finally made it to Mammoth Springs, but were not too impressed with the terraces. However, we did see a lot of elk there.

We are having a great time and look forward to driving the Beartooth Highway tomorrow. We hope all is well with everyone back home.

Trivia question of the day: Yellowstone lies within the borders of how many states and what are their names?

God Bless…

TRAVEL TO YELLOWSTONE

2008-06-16T04:19:00Z

The drive down towards Yellowstone was much easier than when we were going to Glacier. We had a strong head wind all the way to Glacier, and some spotty showers, but coming back there wasn’t as much wind. The weather was beautiful and we stopped along the way to take a lot of pictures. We saw plenty of pronghorn antelope grazing in the fields along the interstate.

We drove to Ennis, Montana, a small fishing area about 70 miles north of Yellowstone. It was so pretty there that we decided to stay another day and visit the old mining towns of Virginia City and Nevada City. They are about 30 minutes from here.

Main Street in Nevada City

On weekends Nevada City has reenactments of its history around the 1860s. It was very interesting. Everyone was in period dress and talked like they were living in the 1860s. It was hard to follow at first, but after a while we got into it.

Gas is still on the rise and we're still looking for a mule!

Both cities were boom towns because of gold mining back then, but after the gold rush days they became almost deserted. Both towns have been restored and preserved as living examples of the Old West.

We really enjoyed the day and decided to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon.

We will be heading to Fishing Bridge Campground in Yellowstone tomorrow (Monday) and don't know if we will have internet service while there. We will be picking up my sister, Mary in Grand Tetons tomorrow evening. She will be traveling with us for the next two weeks. We are looking forward to seeing her. We will get an blog update as soon as possible.

St. Mary lake, Goose Island

We saw lots of wildlife in Glacier, but then came accross
this "Wildlife Sanctuary" on the trip out of the park?

That's all for now, hopefully we will have another update from Yellowstone soon....love to all.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK 2

2008-06-15T05:40:00Z

Thursday morning we woke up to rain, but it cleared quickly and turned out to be a beautiful day. After all the rain & snow we had it was great to see sunshine!

We decided to drive north to Many Glacier and hike around there. We saw some mountain goats near the entrance to the park. They appeared to be very used to people and just meandered around us. In this area the mountain peaks appeared to be more massive and snow covered from the recent snowstorm.

We hiked Redrock Falls Trail which was about 4 miles round trip. It took us about 3 hours to hike because we stopped a lot along the trail since everywhere we looked was so beautiful. We crossed several mountain streams, hiked through alpine forests of spruce and aspens and past Swiftcurrent lake on our way to the falls. Redrock Falls was very pretty and we ate a picnic lunch there. It was an incredibly beautiful hike. We hiked another trail that was just as beautiful. We also saw a moose eating on the side of the road.

We thought we would finally stay up to see the stars, but it doesn’t get dark around here to almost 11 and we were exhausted from all the hiking.

Friday, Going to the Sun Road was supposed to be open, but the opening was delayed because of all the snow. We were disappointed, but decided to check out the Two Medicine area of Glacier Park. It is south of where we are staying.

The drive down was beautiful. Hwy 49 is a very winding road with little or no shoulders, but the views were incredible. Wildflowers were blooming everywhere.

We hiked Aster Park Trail in Two Medicine area . The hike went to another waterfall. It was nice but not as spectacular as the other water falls. The trail was nice and went through aspen groves, alpine areas, and mountain streams & meadows.

On the way out of Two Medicine we saw a mother brown bear and her 2 cubs and the side of the road eating.

We drove over the East Glacier to see the Glacier Park Lodge. It is another lodge built by The Great Northern Railroad. The hotel is worth visiting just to see the lobby. The lobby was erected using 500 to 800 huge old Douglas Firs. It is quite something to see.

Stopped and had huckleberry pie and ice cream in East Glacier. It really was good!

We are now headed to Yellowstone, travel days Saturday and Sunday. Will be there on Monday.

Hope you enjoy the pic’s, will write soon. God bless…

Incredible Park.....just look behind us!

We watched Elk graze every evening

Aspens and wildflowers were beautiful

Lunch at Redrock Falls

Snowfall on Tour Boat - Swiftcurrent Lake

Swiftcurrent Lake reflection

Virginia Falls

St Mary Lake

Sunset at St. Mary Lake

Panoramic from our campsite

Many Glacier area

Brown Bears along roadside

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

2008-06-11T20:21:26Z

Sorry this update has taken so long. We have been "snowed in" for a couple of days....the connection to outside world from over here has been down!

Ok......we finally made it to Glacier National Park. Words cannot describe how beautiful this place is: Awesome, Magnificent, Majestic, are just a few words that come to mind.

We are now staying at St. Mary National Park Campground. We have no electricity or water, but the campsite view is incredible! It’s worth a little inconvenience. When we woke up this morning it was about 35. I talked to my son David who said it was 95 and miserable in Baton Rouge. It’s hard to believe because it has been in the 40s and 50s for the most part up here.

Yesterday we drove the "Going to the Sun Road". It is not open all the way yet and we hope it will be open before we leave and Saturday. It was a beautiful drive.

We hiked to St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls which was about a 3mile round trip hike. We are starting to get adjusted to the altitude and the hike did not bother us as much as we thought. It was so beautiful. Lake Mary is a pristine mountain lake about 9.9 miles in length. It is crystal clear and bluish green . The hike through the woods was also so very beautiful. It was so awesome wherever we looked (majestic snow covered mountains, cascading waterfalls, yellow, blue, white wildflowers, huge pine trees and glistening aspens). We saw a herd of elk grazing late in the evening, but have not seen much other wildlife.

The weather around here is starting to turn bad. They are expecting 1 to 1 ½ foot of snow by this evening. We decided to drive to Many Glacier area (35 mi north) and see how the weather was there. The Many Glacier area is even prettier than St. Mary. It started snowing there so we decided we would go back and spend more time towards the end of the week when the weather is supposed to be better.

We decided to drive to Waterton, Canada because the skies looked a little clearer there, but the weather seemed to be following us. We did however, make it to Canada but decided to turn around because of the weather. The drive there was really beautiful. There were meadows full of yellow, purple and white wildflowers. David stopped to take some pictures. On the way back we saw a huge grizzly bear about 50 yards from the roadside. He saw us and stood up on his hind legs and then ran off into the woods. We were excited to see the grizzly.

Back to our camper we spent the rest of the evening watching it snow. It was coming down hard, and was beautiful. It was in the 30s and I was a little worried because we don’t have any hookups, but our little stove kept us warm.

We woke up to rain and it has been raining most of the day here.

We will do another update in a day or two.

Hope all is well with everyone.

A few facts about Montana: It is the 4^th largest state in the nation in area, but the 6^th least populated state. There are fewer people living in the entire state of Montana than in the city of Phoenix, Arizona.

Trivia question of the day: What is Montana’s Nickname? There are two correct answers.

\
Gas has become so expensive, we are looking at a new purchase, now if we can find a mule to pull it!
It even comes with an open air skylight.

What happened to the beautiful sky?

Wildflowers overlooking St. Mary Lake

View at upper St. Mary Lake looking at Goose Island

View looking South from our Campsite

Virginia Falls

St. Mary River down from St. Mary Falls

Pronghorn Antelope accross the Prairie

Hopefully will get another update tomorrow!
Love ya, David and Jeanie

MT. RUSHMORE

2008-06-09T17:31:00Z

We left Game Lodge Campground and headed for Horsethief Lake Campground in the Black Hills National Forest near Mt. Rushmore. This is a national campground so there were no hookups, but it is a beautiful campground near Horsethieft Lake. We really didn’t have much time to enjoy it because we were sightseeing a lot in this area. The campground is only about 5min. from Mt. Rushmore.

It was raining when we got there so we decided to check out the town of Keystone. It’s a quaint little mountain town near the monument.

We went to the Borglum Museum. He is the man who created the Mt. Rushmore monument. He was a very interesting and driven man. It took 14 years to complete the project and he died 6 months before it was finished. Money was the main hindrance for him. His son completed the project after his death.

The four presidents he chose where Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. The following is a quote from the museum at Mt. Rushmore:

"The four American Presidents carved into the granite of Mt. Rushmore were chosen by the sculptor to commemorate the founding, growth, preservation and development of the United States. They symbolize the principles of liberty and freedom on which the nation was founded. George Washington signifies the struggle for independence and the birth of the Republic; Thomas Jefferson the territorial expansion of the country; Abraham Lincoln the permanent union of the States and equality for all citizens, and Theodore Roosevelt, the 20^th century role of the United States in world affairs and the rights of the common man."

Friday morning was beautiful. The skies were clear and the most incredible blue. We were fortunate that we went to the monument early because by the time we left, the crowds were huge. We walked to the bottom of the monument and around on the President’s trail. It was so awesome to be that close, we were proud to be there. We came away with such an appreciation of the early days of our country and what our "founding fathers" stood for.

Since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to drive up to Deadwood north of Mt. Rushmore & drive the Spearfish Canyon Scenic drive." Deadwood was an old mining town in S. Dakota, made famous because Wild Bill Hickock was shot in the back there. It’s now quaint, but a very busy tourist area and full of casinos.

Spearfish Canyon was beautiful. We went to several waterfalls. We hiked to Roughlock Water Falls. The canyon is full of aspen, blue spruce & Ponderosa pine trees. It was very heavily wooded and the Spearfish river runs through it. Dances with the Wolves was filmed there.

We left there and went to the Crazy Horse monument. It is still a work in progress. We learned it was started in the 40s and they are still working on it. The sculptor wouldn’t take any federal money so it is privately funded. He is dead, but his wife and 10 children are still carrying on his legacy.

We left Saturday morning for Glacier National Park and arrived Sunday evening around 7:30pm. We are ready to be out of the truck and start hiking Glacier.

We will write in a few days and let you know about this leg of the trip. By the way, we have driven 3,150 miles so far. This is the farthest point before we start heading back down. We will be here for about 5 days.

Trivia question: What does Tatanka mean?

We will leave you with this thought for the day: "It only takes a smile to brighten someone’s dark day."

God Bless…

Our campsite at Horsethief Lake Campground

Horsethief Lake

Mount Rushmore @ Night and @ daytime

Roughlock Falls

Spearfish Falls

CUSTER STATE PARK

2008-06-05T20:53:00Z

We arrived at Custer State Park on Tuesday and camped at Game Lodge Campground. Our campsite was overlooking to a beautiful creek on one side and the mountains on the other.

For those of you who are geographically challenged, Custer State Park is located in the Black Hills of western South Dakota. The park is around 71,000 acres of is very diverse in its landscape. As we drove the different scenic roads, we went through open prairies to pine forests to aspen groves and pristine mountain lakes.

We drove the Needles Highway which is a 14 mile road with spectacular scenery through pine and spruce forests, meadows, aspen groves and rugged granite mountains. It took us about 4 hrs to drive this highway because it was so scenic and we stopped a lot to take pictures. We stopped at the Needles Eye formation which is a unique rock formation created by wind & rain and freezing and thawing. It looks like the eye of a needle. There are several tunnels on this road that only 1 car can get through at a time. We were amazed to see a tour bus going through with only inches to spare.

We also stopped at Sylvan Lake and walked around the lake. It was a beautiful pristine mountain lake surrounded by huge rock formations.

The next day we drove the Wildlife Loop and saw quite a variety of wildlife (reminded us of Caves Cove over in South Carolina). We saw herds of Bison (they don’t refer to them as buffalo here) crossing the roads. The bison are huge and they don’t get out of your way, you just have to wait form them to move. We also saw wild turkey, mule deer & white tail deer, pronghorn antelope & big horn sheep. The wildlife was everywhere and not afraid of the tourists.

We hiked the Prairie Loop Trail which was a hike 3 miles through a mixture of prairie grasses and pine forest and small creeks. Wildflowers of yellow, purple, blue & white were everywhere. The elevation was around 4400 ft so we are getting acclimated to the higher elevations slowly as we head toward Glacier National Park.

We rode to Mt. Coolidge overlook which is at 6023 ft and saw an incredible view of the area. It was a little cloudy but with binoculars you could see the Crazy Horse Monument.

We then drove the Iron Mountain scenic road. At certain parts you could see Mt. Rushmore. We are headed to Horsethief Springs campground tomorrow which is very near Mt. Rushmore. We will tour that area for the next few days.

Trivia question: Who are the 4 presidents carved into Mt. Rushmore? First response on the Blog with the right answer gets a special souvenir!

Bison have the righaway in Custer State Park!

Abundant wildflowers!

Sylvan Lake

Prairie Loop Trail Hike

Our Campsite (next to the creek!)

More Photo Postcards from us to you! What a beautiful country!
God Bless.

The Badlands

2008-06-05T20:33:00Z

As we left mid South Dakota the countryside changed from hilly to rolling grassland prairies and eventually to peaks, gullies, & buttes of the Badlands.

We arrived at Badlands National Park on Monday. We camped at Cedar Pass Campground in the Park. There were no hookups, but that was ok because it was beautiful and was great to be in the park. We drove the Badlands Loop Road. We stopped a lot to look at the views of the buttes, prairies, canyon & jagged peaks. As you can see from the pictures it has a beauty of its own.

We saw pronghorn antelope, bison, prairie dogs, deer, & rabbits. It’s like being in a zoo. We stopped to watch the prairie dogs at Roberts Prairie Dog Town. We know they must be a pest for the people who live around there, but they sure were cute to watch.

The sculpted spires looked like giant sandcastles scattered about the plains. These buttes & spires had vivid red bands that stood out against the lighter colors.

A bad storm came through in the evening. It came up so fast that several tents in the campground were blown across the prairie. Most of them rode it out and the storm passed quickly. These fast moving storms of rain & wind are what sculptured this vast landscape.

We got up at 5am Tuesday, to see a beautiful sunrise over the peaks. The air was clean & fresh from the evening showers. We saw many deer grazing on the side of the road. There were only a few people out that early in the morning. Most slept through the prettiest time of the day.

We left for Custer State Park early so we could get a campsite at Game Lodge Campground.

We’ll write again soon to tell you about our visit to Custer State Park.

Our Campsite

Great overlook Sunrise in the Badlands

Ok, here are some Photo Postcards of some of my shots from us to you...love you!

The Great Midwest

2008-06-02T14:30:00Z

We had a great weekend with Kristy, Chad & Anna. Even though it took us about 10 hrs to get to Viking Lake State Park Campground, it was a fairly easy trip. It was a very family oriented park. It had a lake and a lot of trails. The weekend was beautiful, the temperature was really nice. Cool enough to enjoy a campfire. They even delivered a Sunday paper to the campsites……what great service, we’ve never had that happen before.

What a great time playing with Anna……she is so cute. At nine months old she’s crawling and trying to pull up now. It was good to be able to spend some time with Kristy & Chad & Anna since they live so far away from us.

We headed out Sunday about noon to S. Dakota. It took about 7 hrs to get to Chamberlain, S. Dakota. We are staying here tonight, then moving on to the Badlands National Park (Monday morning). This is a beautiful place. We are staying in a campground that is overlooking the Missouri River, the water is so clear and blue/green.

Had a little rain last night and the temperature has dropped a little. Should be in the 50s at night & 70s during the day. Moving on now to explore and photograph the Badlands.

We’ll give you an update on the Badlands in a few days as we get a connection.

Here we all are at Viking State Park Campground.

Great smiles....Looking ready for the great hike! .....and on the Lake Trail.

Overlooking the Missouri River in central South Dakota.

ARKANSAS STOP

2008-05-29T22:52:00Z

We have a slight change in plans. Kristy, Chad & Anna are no longer meeting us at the cabin. We are disappointed but understand. Chad is having some bad headaches and had to see a doctor. Please pray they find out what is causing these headaches.

They will however meet us in Southwestern Iowa at Viking Lake campground for the weekend. It is only 5 hrs from them. It is on our way to Mt. Rushmore. We have never camped in Iowa and are looking forward to trying this campground. We really got excited when Kristy told us to bring firewood because it is still cool enough for campfires in Iowa!

We are looking forward to camping with them this weekend. We will leave early Friday morning and should be there by late afternoon.

We have had a great few days at the cabin and had a chance to do a little hiking around here. Here’s a picture we took on our Meadows trail behind our cabin that we cleared the last time we were here. As you can see, things are quite green and grown up around here.

Also, David has included some digital postcard pictures he took on the mountain. We hope you enjoy them.

We will update again when we get to South Dakota. That should be the first of this coming week.

We pray all is well with everyone. Many of you made comments and we appreciate your comments. Look forward to hearing from all of you in the weeks to come.

A thought for today from our morning devotional:

"Change starts in your mind. The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act. So wash your mind, feed your mind and program your mind with God’s Word.

Have a great weekend.

.

THE PARTY!

2008-05-27T17:47:00Z

Our first stop was Alexandria for David’s mother (Clara) 90^th birthday party. We boiled crawfish and all the trimmings. Most of the Howell clan were there. We had a great birthday celebration for MawMaw. She really enjoyed the crawfish and almost made herself sick eating too many. However, she was doing fine the next day when we saw her.

Thanks to Lisa & Dave for opening up their home for the party. Thanks to Wynn for all his hard work….THE CRAWFISH WERE GREAT!

We are now in Arkansas at our cabin, spent the day yesterday working in the yard, cutting grass and briars! Getting ready for our visitors, Kristy, Chad and Anna. We are looking forward to spending the weekend with them, showing them the beauty of the Ouachita Mts.

We will be moving on to the next leg of our trip on Monday and should have an update after that.

Here are a few pictures from Mom's big Birthday Party.

Here is an overview of our National Parks trip itinerary

2008-05-14T21:36:00Z

Well, ya’ll, we are just about ready to leave on our long anticipated retirement trip out west.

Thought we’d let everyone know our plans.

We plan to leave on Friday, May 23^rd and go to Alexandria, LA., to celebrate David’s mother’s 90^th birthday. His whole family will be there for the party. We’re going to have a crawfish boil/ birthday party for Clara.

From there we leave to our cabin in Arkansas to spend the next week. We will meet my daughter, Kristy, her husband Chad and daughter, Anna the next weekend (May 29^th –June 1^st). We’ll do some hiking, sightseeing and playing with our grandbaby (Anna).

On Monday, June 2^nd, we leave for South Dakota. We are allowing 2 days to get to Badlands National Park. We will be there briefly and then move over to Horse Thief Lake Campground near Mt. Rushmore. We will be there June 5^th and leave on June 7^th.

Then it’s off to Glacier National Park (Montana) where we will stay from June 9^th to June 14^th. We are really excited about this stop. We have reservations at St. Mary Lake Campground in the Park. It has no hookups so we will be doing some primitive camping there. Everything I have read says that lake is beautiful. Part of Glacier Park is in Canada, It is known as Waterton Lakes National Park and we are also planning to make a day trip up there.

We’ll then move on down to Yellowstone National Park. We will be there from June 16^th to June 20^th. We will celebrate our 13^th anniversary there and we have reservations for dinner at Old Faithful Inn on June 17th. We have camping reservations at Fishing Bridge RV Park in Yellowstone. If someone needs to get in touch with us there the campground number is 307-344-7901.

After we leave Yellowstone we head to the Grand Tetons. We will be there June 22^nd until at least June 27^th. We will be camping at Colter Bay RV Campground in the park. The number at the campground is 307-543-2811. You will find a map at this link:......... Map_US_Route.doc

After that, we have left time to go visit some people we met at Lake Fausse Point Campground a few weeks ago. They are from Montana and invited us to come see their place. We are looking forward to seeing them.

Then we start heading back home. We are not on any timetables so we are just going to go wherever we feel led.

When we get started I will be updating this blog and let you know what we are seeing and doing. David will also be posting pictures along the way. We recommend you subscribe (note block in left-hand corner). This will alert you via email as I post additional entries.

We look forward to your comments and any communication along the way.

If you need to get us along the way, my cell phone is (225) 324-6274 and David now has a cell phone (225) 955-0875 and we will be checking email as we are able.