On our way to Montana and the top of a mountain!
We woke up early and Don was already outside photographing sunrise with Old Faithful erupting. We cleaned up, packed up and met him at 7:30 for breakfast. We then returned to the room, got our stuff and checked out.
We were going to spend a lot of time today in Yellowstone, seeing parts that we had never seen. .
Yellowstone is basically two big loops with entrances coming off of the circles. We drove from Old Faithful around the lower loop through Grant Village, around Yellowstone Lake to Canyon Village, and then around to left side of the top loop through Mammoth to Gardiner.
Our first stop was at Mud Volcano - more bubbling mud and geysers.....this is located between Fishing Bridge and Canyon Village - on the map above.
After Mud Volcano, we drove through the Hayden Valley on our way to the Grand Canyon. This area was home to herds of Bison, and we found them. It was very cool - we sat for about 30 minutes and watched the Bison community interact. They were running around, laying down, giving each other baths, and just living life. Very fun to watch these wild animals just live!
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| the dust would be the big beast lying down and rolling around in the dirt...crazy! |
These are Don's Bison pics:
Hayden Valley was a nice peaceful, rolling hills area of Yellowstone and then we approached Canyon Village and found the Grand Canyon.
The Hoodoos are "a spooky jumble of boulders made of travertine - limestone depsited at the bottom an ancient sea, then dissolved and redeposited by hot springs. They were pretty awesome - the pictures don't do them justice!!
On the other side of the Hoodoos was Mammoth Hot Springs... a very neat place and home to a little Yellowstone Community - a lodge, housing, stores, post office, clinic, etc.....
We then exited Yellowstone through Roosevelt Arch and into Montana.....we explored the tiny town of Gardiner and then found the road to go 10 miles UP to Crevice Mountain Lodge.
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| this is Gardiner, Montana.....you blink and you miss it! |
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| The Arch is Yellowstone, very close!! |
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| about 9 miles up the mountain we see this sign! Just a bit more... |
We arrived and Cheryl, the innkeeper was outside - she showed us which cabin was ours...we took a quick look and then relaxed...we weren't going back down the mountain till tomorrow morning and it was only 5:30 p.m.
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| the girls found a hammock... |
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| our cabin at first sight |
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| the view from above |
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| taking a hike around the mountain |
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| badminton anyone? |
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| our after dinner hike |
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| the road we drove in on |
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| flannel sheets and a wood burning stove in August...very homey - a full bathroom behind the wall beyond the table |
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| stocked with board games and cards...fun family night! |
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| the next morning before we left |
So, the girls weren't too sure - in fact Katie started out saying she would wait to go to the bathroom till the next morning...she quickly accepted the facilities that were provided. It's been decided that the Rahn girls are city/suburb girls and need people and conveniences around. Don on the other hand, loved it! Cheryl's cabin had dish TV and Verizon phone/internet service. It was a beautiful place and a nice time to remove ourselves from the craziness/tourist part of our vacation!! We truly were the ONLY people on the mountain besides Cheryl - the other 2 cabins were empty that night.
We had a 7:30 breakfast and headed back down the mountain. We were headed to Cody, Wyoming and a hotel with internet, TV and big beds - and the Rodeo!!
Stay tuned for our adventures on the way to Cody and our fist night there!!
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