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Monday, August 22, 2011

From High Plains CG, Gillette, WY

We are still in the campground across the street from the Cam-Plex, the site of the 2011 Escapade.  Today is the 11th day we have been here, and the fun continues non-stop.  Several dinners with our friends, including a trip to Las Margarita.  A total of five couples including Joe & Marcia, Rich & Mary, Bob & Molly, Wallace & Wanda, and Donna and I.

The margaritas and the food were great..  not one negative comment from anyone.  In fact we had so much fun, the lady next to us said:  " Ya'll are having so much fun, where are you from?"  Of course the answer was Ky, Ga, Tx, Va, and Il.  -:)

 
The Las Margarita Dinner 

But before I get into all our activities here in Gillette, I need to mention a few things about our time back in West Yellowstone and then at Cody, WY.

While we were in West Yellowstone we managed to go see 3 plays at a couple of downtown theaters.  All were very entertaining and we enjoyed them immensely.  Of course, no photography was allowed so I have no pictures.

We also went to see a car show in West Yellowstone at a city park.  Was really a great turnout with maybe 300 cars in attendance.  I sure would have liked to have tried to buy this 1957 Chevrolet HT, that is until I found out it was appraised at $95,000.  Oops !

 
1957 Cheverolet HT

One day Donna and I drove over to Virginia City, Id, stopping in Ennis for lunch.  We ate at a really cute little diner that was part of a pharmacy.  After driving over the pass between Ennis and Virginia City, we spent a few hours exploring the old town and all the old original buildings.

 
Part of Main Street

 
One of the several bars 

Several of the old merchantile stores had been restored (maintained) as they were during the boom days.  Although you could not enter I mangaged to get a few pictures through the windows.

 
Grocery Store 

On the way back from Virginia City we took a little detour by Earthquake Lake and Higben Lake.  Earthquake lake was form in 1959 when and earthquake caused a landslide damming up the Madison River.  It seems I totally forgot to take any pictures of this area.

We moved over to Cody a couple of weeks ago.  We had a couple of great dinners there with just the two of us.  One nite we ate at the Proud Cowboy Saloon and had some huge portions of Prime Rib.  Then the next night was at a great little Italian place right on the main drag.

We spent a lot of our time at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

 
Buffalo Bill Historical Center 

This museum is absolutely fantastic with much more to see and do than can be accomplished in one day.

There was even an outside demostration of Chuck Wagon Cooking.

 
Checking the beans

 
Admiring the biscuits 

The museum was really fantastic, with actually 5 museum in one location.  Absolutely worth the trip.  Different areas included the Plains Indians, Western Art, Bill Cody info, guns from 1800, and Yellowstone Natural History.

I think this just about concludes our experiences up until we got to Gillette, which I will continue in the next blog. 

More From Island Park, ID

Friday, August 19, 2011

From High Plains Campground, Gillette, WY

While parked in Island Park and in between visits to Yellowstone, we had quite a few other adventures.

West Yellowstone Museum

One such adventure was to the West Yellowstone (the town) Museum housed in the old Union Pacific RR Depot that displayed a lot of the history of the area including information about the Union Pacific RR and its impact on Yellowstone NP visitors.

 

 
Pack Mule to haul supplies to Ranger Outposts.

Madison Hotel 

The Madison Hotel was built in the early 1900's and is still operated by two sisters who are the grand-daughters of the original owner.  Although the hotel has been expanded several times, the original six rooms of the hotel is still as it was back then, and furnished as they were originally.

 
The original staircase 

 
One of the six original rooms

 
The front of the Madison Hotel 

Top Of Mountain Trip

One day, with our friends Kevin and Arlene, we drove to the top of a 10,000 foot mountain where there is some huge radio (radar) installations.

 
The antenna installation

 
View from near the top 

 
Wildflowers along the road to the summit

Meanwhile, back here in Gillette, waiting on the Escapade to start, we are having a great time with some really good friends.  We arrived here at High Plains Campground a week ago today and that night had a great dinner with Bob and Molly at The Chop House in an old hotel downtown.

Joe and Marsha stopped by on Saturday.  We had a great visit, then we went for Chinese dinner.  Although Bob and Molly were gone all day, they managed to catch up with us at the Chinese place. 

More in my next blog... 

 

Yellowstone - Trip 3

Thursday, August 18, 2011

From High Plains CG - Gillette, WY

We took another day to further explore Yellowstone National Park.  It just takes a long time to see even the highlights.  This was our last tour of the park and there was so much we did not get to see.  Our plan was to visit the Canyon area and the Lake area, probably some of the most interesting areas of the park.

We first visited the Visitor Center at the Canyon area.

 
Canyon Visitor Center

We visited the Lower Falls viewpoints to get several perspective of the Lower Falls.

 
Lower Falls - Notice the greenish water and the folks at the brink of the falls.

 

 
Lower Falls from a farther distance. 

 
The canyon downstream from the lower falls. 

As we traveled toward the Lake area, we ran into a Major Buffalo Jam, with a hundred or more cars simply stopped in the road watching a huge herd of buffalo.  The park rangers attempt to keep traffic moving, but it still moves at a snail's pace.

 
Buffalo Jam 

This big dude decided to take him a big old 'sand waller' right by the side of the road as we passed by.

 
Buffalo Sand Waller 

Arriving at the Lake Area we crossed the lake at Fishing Bridge.

 
Yellowstone Lake at Fishing Bridge  

We returned back to camp by way of some 'pots' that we had visited before, but we got to see one of the geysers erupt.

 
Start of the eruption

While waiting on the geyser, we learned a new way to eat Cheeto's without getting your fingers all orange colored.

 
Use Chopsticks

Going to Yellowstone NP was not the only thing we did while at the Valley View CG in Island Park, ID.  We also ate out a couple of times in West Yellowstone, visited the Museum, saw three 'melodramas', visited John Sack Cabin, visited Virginia City, ID, even had a few happy hours with our fellow RV'ers. 

I will try to get most of that covered in my next blog or two. 

Yellowstone N.P. - Trip Two

August 15, 2011

We got up early to try and beat most of the traffic in the park.  We had only gone a few miles into the park when we met this buffalo walking right along the roadside.

 

We drove on up the western Loop Road toward Mammoth Spring, near the north entrance to the park.

 
Mammoth Springs

Because of road construction the Upper Loop road was closed, so we passed on trying to walk around the springs.

A little further down the road we spotted this thing.  Don't know just exactly what it is..  maybe a coyote or some coyote / dog cross.

 
Just what is this??

Around the visitors center and the commercial there were nearly a hundred elk just hanging around on the lawns and in the esplanade of the main road.

 
Relaxing in the Esplanade 

We also headed out to the northeast entrance through Lamar Valley where we saw hundreds of more buffalo, but I won't bore you with a lot of buffalo pictures.

 
The Classic Northeast Entrance

We also stopped at the Tower Falls Overlook to get a view of these real nice falls.  The visitor center at this location was fairly new and very nice. 

 
Tower Falls 

More on our third trip to YNP in the next blog.