Leaving Yellowstone Through the Northeast Portal

This is my favorite way in or out of Yellowstone.  We get to see where Yellowstone got its name:

The Yellowstone River is the last undammed, large river in the lower 48 states.  Because the river is so pristine, it is a premier trout habitat sought by anglers worldwide.  It begins high in the Absaroka Mountain Range, flows into Yellowstone Lake, wanders up through Hayden Valley, drops over the Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls and down into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (shown above.)  Then it continues its 671-mile journey to the Missouri River. 

We were parked at an overlook at just the right time of day to see an army of elk emerge from the forest far, far away, and move down into Hayden Valley - always a great place to watch for wildlife (and your best chance for catching a glimpse of Yellowstone's wolves.)

They just kept coming and coming, closer and closer to us.  Dozens and dozens.  So mesmerizing.

Going out the Northeast portal we pick up Chief Joseph Highway - again one of my favorite roadways.  Just look at these stunning hillsides.

It's a highway of very sharp downhill turns and wonderful vistas.

Dawn in Yellowstone

The very, very best time to get wildlife photos in Yellowstone is at the crack of dawn.  Campers with children are still in bed or fixing breakfast.


This was pretty magical for even us old timers.  The golden glow of the morning. the chill of the day, the silence, the peace these behemoths would live in if we would just leave them alone...

About 30 seconds into the video you will find two bulls pawing the ground at each other over a cute lil' lady buffalo.

When we back out from the domestic scene those of you not familiar with Yellowstone will see that Old Faithful is not the only hot spring in town!

Elk were to be found, too,

and deer and ducks!

The last vestiges of summer are lining the lakes and trimming everything in gold.

Yellowstone Tremors, Fires and UFO's

We rested up for a week after the grandkids went back home to Texas - and then we were off again.  Praise the Lord for our Travelers lifestyle and the health we have to pursue it!  We're camping again - only this time WE get the big tent.

Notice the layers of sleeping bags - and even an electric blanket!  It was supposed to get down into the 30's - but I was prepared!

You know, sometimes on our contracts I have teased that, "if we have to live in a tent, we can."  That's a queen size air mattress.  Looking at these photos, you know what?  I think we could!!!

But someday I think I'd like to stay in one of Yellowstone's rustic lodges.

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How many of you know that Yellowstone National Park is mostly made up of the huge caldera of an ancient monster volcanic eruption?  Did you know that every day there are tremors in Yellowstone that could be precursors to the next "big one?"

They have seismographs all over the Park and these recording graphs set up in the Canyon Junction Visitor Center. We were there September 12, 2015 - and this is what we saw.  We never felt anything - but they were there!

When we got back on the road, we see this:

Yellowstone was on fire!!                And then we saw this in the sky!

Is this a UFO?

Remember Those Geodes?

The grandkids couldn't wait to get home and attack those rocks (that promised to be geodes) with their dads and hammers.  The results were pretty rewarding!

This was so much more fun than buying them already cracked open - and cheaper!!

The Journey Is Not Over

Now that we have all of the family back where it belongs, Granpa has decided to take a vacation from the vacation!  Having a week off of work every other week is certainly the way to enjoy life!  Everyone should work 12 hour days one week and have the next week off!  Except ...

(Got this meme off of Facebook)

So instead of going directly back to Kingman, Granpa has decided to detour up to Red River, New Mexico and circle back to Albuquerque.  It wasn't much of a detour, but he really likes touching base
with Red River.  Spending a week there on vacation simply does not do the same as getting a contract and living there for three months.  But we do what we can do.

The End of the Vacation

Yes, when we reached the hotel in Tucumcari to meet Jamie, Calin was acting a bit strangely.









He had Elly pretty spooked about what was behind that door!

It was just the surprise birthday-for-her ending to their long vacation with Granma and Granpa!

Last Visit to the Rock Shop, Petrified Forest and Painted Desert

In the Rock Shop outside of the National Park the kids each selected a nice round rock the size of a softball.  Inside, supposedly, there were geodes - but they would have to break the rocks open to find out.  They carefully chose two rocks, hefted them in each hand, and took home the lightest one hoping it was hollow inside.

Then it was on to the Petrified Forest Visitor's Center.  THIS is what Arizona and New Mexico looked like before the Flood.

And this is what it looks like now.

 

The biggest animal you'd find out here now is a snake - oh, and some really tired grandkids...















 
 Some of whom have not lost all of their enthusiasm!

















But time is growing shorter and shorter for us to get to Tucumcari and meet Daddy.  So, we gotta put the rush on.

 And that suits someone just fine!

And A Stop At Montezuma's Castle

Granpa and I have a post of our first visit to Montezuma's Castle.  http://www.thetravelerstwo.net/2015/02/montezumas-castle.html  But this is a first visit for the grandkids (and Kristin.)

Oh, my goodness!  It was a hot, hot August day!  I can imagine the ancient peoples that lived here reveled in the breezes that that height made, the shade and the safety of cliff dwelling!

Kristin asked one of the Park rangers how the children kept from falling off.  He opined, "The parents told them not to."  It certainly was a simpler time back then!

Traveling should be an education for children.  Can you imagine if they had flown to Arizona to see us?  All of the things they would have missed seeing!  It's unimaginable to me that parents or grandparents would choose to fly hither, thither and yon rather than driving!  Especially with a traveling companion like Kristin to read books to them, play games with them, challenge them to memory verse competition...

(And then there are always the evening dips in hotel pools.  Can't get that on an airplane!)

Well, That's About It For The Grandkids - Except For .... Tuzigoot

One last visit to their favorite gold mining town of Oatman, Arizona.

 

Then it's back to Texas for them.  Their daddies are freakin' out because they've been here for so long!  But who says the fun is over?!?  There's plenty to see on the way to meet Daddy!

First there's Tuzigoot.  (I am so glad someone finally told me how that name should be pronounced!  TWO-see-WHOODT - and I'm glad it was written out because I never would have gotten the last part.)  This ruin was here before the Apache or the Yavapai.  They didn't name it, but in the 1930's there was an Apache on the excavation crew who suggested Tu zighoot, which means "crooked water."  So, the archeologists Caywood and Spicer went with that - almost.  Tuzigoot (TWO-see-goot) is actually not an Apache word meaning anything.  Now you know what people mean when they say something gets lost in the translation...

Regardless of the name, the these guys did a mighty good job of construction.  They obviously intended to be here for quite some time.  This rendering shows a cut-away of what the original structure might have looked like - minus one wall.  There were no doorways, so the archeologists concluded that, once again, access was from a hole in the roof.  There was great security in that!

By the time archeologists discovered this dwelling, however, this is what they encountered.  I wonder what made them believe this was once a housing project?

Ultimately, this is what their excavations uncovered.

 And this is what we found that day.

 Are they looking into the past? or looking for Daddy??

 We are on or way to meet Daddy - but there's much more between here and there!

Grand Canyon Caverns - Spooky!

Here's one that not a lot of people have been to.  It's a wee bit spooky getting there and even spookier when you are there.  These grandkids are game for just about anything, so, here we go, down an elevator to get to the huge cavern.

Once there, we discover that it gets even spookier!











You can rent out the cavern for a night!  Sleeps 6,


You can share the space with a mummified bobcat, circa 1850, and a giant sloth from prehistoric times that fell into the caverns and never could climb back out!

This sloth is about 20 feet tall!

(The mummified bobcat is icky so I chose this photo instead.)

 

There would be no concerns about starving or dying of thirst.  This is one of the many caves around the country that are designated fallout shelters - and this one is still stocked from the 1950's.