Volcano Yellowstone?

Yellowstone was the last stop on our vacation - and we all agree that it's the first place we would visit again. I've heard for years that it is the most visited National Park in the United States - and now I get it. It is so very beautiful, so large and filled with so many animals. If we do return, I would love to do it in the winter because we've been told that the animals congregate around the geysers for warmth.

I didn't know that Yellowstone Park is an ancient volcano caldera - which explains all the geysers. Visitors are constantly warned by signs to stay on walkways and trails because they could easily step through the crust. People die every year from ignoring these signs. Amazing! 

Old Faithful - of course we had to see it. It goes off about every 90 minutes (+/- 10 minutes).  I didn't expect it to live up to the hype - but it did.

I just had to include this photo - I've probably got another 20 that look just like it. It's Old Faithful pretending it's about to erupt - which it does for about 10 minutes until it does the real thing. From the sounds of all the cameras clicking, I assume that the 500 people around me have similar shots.

Here's a shot of about half the crowd - but you can't see how deep it is - about 4 or 5 rows of people sitting and standing.

There are geysers and mud pots all over the park. The steam behind us is from very hot water. Notice the walkway we have to stay on - Henry was very nervous about it because there were no handrails to help protect him.

I like this photo because it shows how large the steam clouds get - and it's constant. There were places where the water was literally boiling.

Aren't the colors here beautiful - I promise that we didn't photoshop this at all.

Another photo from almost the same location and time - you can tell from the mountains in the background and the clouds - it's just focused on a different section.

Some of the areas smell - BAD. The motion in the mud behind us is due to boiling.

I've titled this photo: "Darwin at Work!" See the sign next to her? Tom actually pointed the sign out to her photographer and he just ignored him. She didn't fall through the crust - but if she had, I would've gotten a great shot.

The colors here are from mineral deposits.

There are a number of amazing waterfalls in the park. Henry often ends up sitting and gazing out at them.

This one reminded us a lot of Vernal in Yosemite.

Like Vernal except that you hike down to get to it and then the hard part is hiking up and out.

Henry and Jessica getting along :)

There were lots of flowers throughout the park.

You Yellowed-Bellied Marmot....and Other Cute Animals We Spotted in Yellowstone

Although we took TONS of beautiful photos of the landscape and geysers in Yellowstone National Park, my favorites are still the creatures we were lucky enough to see. We even managed to see a grizzly bear - from quite a distance.


I am impressed with how much wildlife is in Yellowstone - and how quickly the rangers appear at sightings that draw a crowd.


As an aside, this is my first post from my desktop computer. While away, I used Blogger's app and then Blogsy on my ipad - neither seem to compare with the functionality and ease of my desktop. If you have an ipad app that works well for you, please let me know. :)

This is a Yellow-Bellied Marmot - when we spotted him, we had no idea what he was. Fat squirrel? Baby porcupine? Beaver confused about where the water is? 

This was the most amazing Elk we saw in the park. What a rack! A local told us that there are a couple of bucks that must have their antlers sawed off every fall because they start charging cars and people.

We saw a few Bald Eagles in the Park.

Two baby bears sleeping WAY UP in a tree 

A close up of them - how do they manage to do it without falling out?

The top bear woke up first and did it's best to wake up the second bear. We kept wondering where Mama bear was. 

Here she comes. Mama bear came over the hill towards the babies after they both woke up.

Here's the crowd to my left - there was about the same number of people to my right. It was a party atmosphere - everyone was so excited. There was a ranger there to make sure so one got too close and to answer questions.

Here's the grizzly bera that we saw - he's a bit shy and he was pretty far away. Again, we found him because there was a crowd gathered on the side of the road - and a ranger.

Jewel Cave National Monument

While in the Black Hills of South Dakota, we visited Jewel Cave. There's something so dramatic about touring a cave. After taking an elevator the equivalent of 23 stories straight down into the earth, we emerged into a different world. We went from a temperature of about 85 degrees to a steady 49 - did you know that all caves are the temperature average of the surface?

 

At one point, the ranger turned off all the lights so that we could experience total darkness - which was wild until I accidentally blew it by accidentally taking my camera off sleep mode. Even though my kids weren't standing next to me and there were 31 people on the tour, Henry immediately called out "Mom!"

 

It was difficult to get photos but here are our best attempts....

Taking a quick break - there were over 700 stairs that we climbed.

One of the walls of the cave.

Beautiful crystals on most of the cave walls and ceiling - gorgeous but worth almost nothing.

Jessica looks cute but you can't see the amazing wall behind her.

I saw spots for a couple minutes after this photo as my eyes readjusted

This caves version of stalactites

This is called cave bacon -the whole piece was about 20 feet long.

 

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Donkeys and Bison and Antelope - Oh My!

I love Custer State Park in South Dakota - and 5 days ago, I had never even heard of it. I have so many fun photos of this place, I was going to divide it into a couple of posts - but I want to make it CLEAR that these were all taken in the same park, along the Wilderness Loop. We returned to the park 3 times during our stay - it was that amazing.

 

First, the antelope. We were so excited to see the first dozen or so antelope that we pulled the van over and took photos. I love watching them run.

Next were the bison/buffalo. I figured that "seeing" the buffalo meant that they would be far off in a field - and that I'd need the big camera lense to get a good shot. Boy, was I in for a surprise - at one point, we had a herd of about 500 buffalo crossing the road and surrounding the van. And did you know they make this weird growling noise that has a monster quality to it? Most of all, they have such personality and are fun to watch.

Tom took this from the driver's side van window. We were "stuck" here at least 30 minutes.

I can't leave out the big horn sheep. I've been trying to spot them in Palm Desert since we moved there last summer - without ANY luck. It just figures that I have to go all the way to South Dakota to see them.

Whenever you see 2 or more cars pulled over to the side of the road in any state or national park and people looking in the same direction, slow down and look - usually they've spotted something good. In this case, it was the sheep.

Doesn't it look like he's smiling?

Finally, my favorite animals in Custer Park - the donkeys! The donkeys were originally brought to the park for some reason (I don't remember). Once there was no longer a need for them, they were just set loose. Since they were originally domesticated, we are allowed to feed them. The ranger recommended carrots or celery. We went through 10 lbs of carrots and 2 lbs of celery over two feeding sessions.

The first time we fed them, I suddenly looked around to find Tom and the kids back in the van with the doors shut - while I was still outside. Apparently, Tom made the mistake of carrying the WHOLE bag of carrots with him and the donkeys rushed him.

This donkey ended up rubbing the inside of his lower lip up and down Tom's whole window.

Is Tom trying to feed him or stick the carrot up his nostril?

All vehicles must pay the feeding "toll" before proceeding

Dude - that's my sideview mirror you are rubbing against.

Yes - I am feeding this donkey AND taking a photo.

Can you tell that Jessica is trying to escape this donkey and he is being quite persistent?

We weren't the only ones feeding the donkeys.....

 

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I Never Thought I'd Get to See Mount Rushmore

Back when Tom was planning this vacation, the kids requested that we add Mount Rushmore to the trip. South Dakota isn't really near anywhere we were going to visit but they were excited, so we added the old dudes on the wall - and I'm really glad that did.

 

While staying in Custer, SD, this week, we have also visited Custer State Park and Jewel Cave - I'll add those photos under separate blog entries because both were just as amazing as Mount Rushmore - and I've got lots of photos!

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln

 

They had an evening event here that ends with the lights - very beautiful. Henry somehow thought light show meant laser light show.....with Pink Floyd in the background?

I love this shot because it's after the rain and it changed the color of some of the granite to give the faces stripes.

Eating our ice cream as we walked the loop trail in the rain.

 

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