As we made our way south and east from Yellowstone, we spent 2 nights in the small western town of Cody, Wyoming, named after William F. Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill. We stayed at the Wyoming Trout Ranch RV a few miles out of town. It was attractive, quiet and mostly empty. And it really is a trout ranch. They have a fish hatchery where they raise several types of trout. They also have tipis, "Glamping" tents, for people who don't have an RV.

We had visited Cody before and explored the Buffalo Bill museum complex. This time we checked out the Old Trail Town Museum which contains the largest collection of local  historic buildings and historic artifacts in Wyoming. They have cabins once used by members of the Hole in the Wall Gang, Kid Curry, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They also have lots of old wagons and a carpenter shop.

There is an old General Store and a Funeral Coach.

We were most interested in the cemetery at the Old Trail Town. Several historic persons have been reburied there, including a buffalo hunter, frontiersman, trapper, two murdered men and one famous murdered woman. In addition, Jeremiah Johnson is buried there. He is of special interest to us because he and John's great great grandfather were both involved in an Indian battle in Montana in 1868. He was made famous in the movie Jeremiah Johnson starring Robert Redford. Redford was a pallbearer in 1974 when Johnson's body was reburied in Cody.

Downtown Cody has a number of attractive old signs. One store has made a bench from a bed headboard and tractor seats.

There are also a number of interesting buffalo statues in town.

          

All Kinds of Water

In our past visits to Yellowstone I don't remember so many waterfalls.  We enjoyed three on this trip.  The first we stopped at was Keplers Cascades.

Of course, there is the falls on the Yellowstone River in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

We also drove to Tower Falls in the northern part of the park.

Yellowstone lake is beautiful.

It snowed on the mountains Monday night and we got this beautiful view of the Tetons across Yellowstone Lake.

More Yellowstone

There are so many and varied thermal features in Yellowstone we got tired while looking at all of them but not bored. Here are a few that didn't erupt.

Yellowstone also has lots of wildlife--some easier to spot than others.

We saw elk a couple of times. These were near Yellowstone Lake.

Buffalo are more plentiful and often cause buffalo jams, either by slowly crossing the road or causing motorists to stop on the road for a better look.  Notice the calves in these two photos.

There are also wolves in Yellowstone, or so these people told us. Whenever you see people looking out from the road, especially if they have spotting scopes, you have to stop and see what they are looking at. They told us there was a pack of wolves in the valley below. We could hardly make out the black dots, much less tell what they were. We did believe them, however.

Thankfully, not every visitor to the park drives their own vehicle. The roads were crowded as it was. These neat old buses and tour buses take many visitors from place to place.

The Great Northern Railroad built at least one of the beautiful lodges in Yellowstone. This is the interior of the Old Faithful Lodge. If we didn't have an RV, it would be neat to stay there.

Steam's Rising

There is so much variety in Yellowstone National Park, it is difficult to decide how to share the experience. Probably the most iconic image of Yellowstone is the Old Faithful Geyser. We had a great view as it erupted. That is the Old Faithful Lodge in the background.

While we waited for that eruption, we saw another geyser blowing steam. Someone told us it was the Beehive Geyser but I couldn't find any name on the map.

We had seen a long line of people walking out into that area and we decided to follow them. From the first steam rising from the geyser to when it began tapering off was 10 minutes. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see part of the large crowd.  As we left the area after these two eruptions, we saw another geyser, Great Geyser, erupt as well.

As we were driving into the park, we had indications of what we would be seeing. Because it was cold that day and the next, the steam or water vapor was more visible than it would be on a warm day.

Not all steam came from geysers. Here is the Dragon's Cauldron and Dragon's Mouth Spring.

There were other things to see, as well. I'll save them for another post or two.

Driving to Yellowstone

We spent three days in the RV park at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort outside of Butte.

The resort was pretty nice. There was this mountain goat on the wall in the lobby.

And a beautiful indoor pool as well as an outdoor one. We didn't bring our swim suits so we didn't check it out. They also had a golf course.

The RV park was OK. It seems many locals come here regularly and meet friends and family. We saw several groups sharing meals. There was even a small rally of Beaver motor homes.

The weather turned very cold our last day there, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. It was cold and rainy. This was our view as we headed out Labor Day for Yellowstone National Park.

When it wasn't raining, there were some dramatic views of the clouds.

But look at this temperature! Doesn't the weather know it is only September 5? It should be warm, if not hot.

We have been to Yellowstone twice before but we don't get tired of the scenery there. More about that in future posts.

Those Amazing Europeans

In 2005 we spent 3 months in Bryce Canyon National Park, volunteering on the visitor information desk and hiking the trails to answer questions. We learned a lot about park visitors that summer and fall. Many visitors to the national parks are international, coming from Europe and Asia. Many make a circle through Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Arches, Canyon Lands, Grand Canyon and Bryce, spending only 1 or 2 days in each park.

Often, American visitors during the summer wanted only to view Bryce from the rim, looking down at the rock formations. European visitors more often wanted to hike down into the canyon if they had the time. The character of American visitors changed after Labor Day. The young families were gone and the seniors were more interested in hiking to view Bryce. The seniors also seemed to take more time for their visit. Perhaps they had already seen the highlights and were now exploring in more depth.

This year we arrived at Yellowstone National Park on Labor Day and spent two full days exploring some parts of the park we hadn't spent much time in during our previous 2 visits. Tuesday we talked to these two visitors from Europe.

John asked them how far they had come to visit Yellowstone. When they said 4,000 miles, from Boston, we were totally amazed! We have often seen groups bicycling through these parks.  They travel by car or bus and their bikes are carried in a van.  Then they bike through the park. It was very cold in Yellowstone Monday and Tuesday. We commented on the fact fall was here. They said they had to hurry to the west coast because of the weather. They would then fly home to Denmark. The young man is from there, the young woman is German.

When I think about the fact Boston is at sea level and Yellowstone ranges from 7500 to 9000 feet higher, I am really impressed. And I'm very glad we spent Monday night in a hard-sided RV with 50 amp electric, not in the tent they had slept in.

It is so good to see increasing emphasis on physical fitness in this country, especially for young people. I sure don't know many Americans who could bike clear across this country. And who would have time to travel 5000 or so mile by bike?

Looking Around Helena

We were in Helena, Montana, for six days. Most of our time has been spent doing family history research at the library and the Montana Historical Society Research Center. We did spend a little time looking around the downtown area.

There are some very attractive old buildings.

We saw some interesting details on those buildings.

The Walking Mall is an area downtown closed off to vehicle traffic and lined with small shops. It is called the Bullwhacker plaza. This statue of a bull whacker marks the entrance. Bull whackers were used on the mule trains that brought freight from the river boat landing on the Missouri River in Fort Benton to Helena.

A statue of a newspaper boy hawking the headline on his paper recalls the days when news of gold strikes spread through the press.

Anyone for an outdoor game of chess?

There are several attractive murals lining downtown walls.

We had two blasts from the past. When was the last time you saw one of these signs?

How did a car with this Denver boot get to Helena?

We've had a relaxing week here in Helena.

Grazing

I'm not talking about cattle grazing in a field. As applied to humans, I think it means eating small amounts over an extended period. Maybe grazing appetizers at a party or grazing in the refrigerator every time you go through the kitchen. In this case, however, I am talking about grazing all the sample stations in a Costco Warehouse.

If you belong to this membership store, you know they offer samples throughout the food section, especially Thursday through Saturday. During our stay in Helena we went grocery shopping on Saturday. Our first stop was at Costco. We really like their meat selection. As we wandered the store, looking for anything else we might pick up first, we sampled everything they offered except a power protein drink. We felt like we had attended a great cocktail party before dinner--without the cocktails, of course.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the flank steak we were looking for, so we left without purchasing anything and headed to a grocery store that didn't sell everything in such large quantities.