Animals of Yellowstone

We thought they deserved their own post. My biggest goal was to see bison. I succeeded.

There were bison on the hilltops...

...bison laying down...

...bison in the road...

...bison on the thermal features, and even bison in the parking lots :-)

These adorable chipmunks were everywhere.

 Elk in the road!

I haven't yet identified this little guy.

Here's a shout out to the un-pictured yet still awesome animals we saw: the birds, the flying squirrels, and the mule deer. I'll be back for you bears. You cannot hide forever.

Yellowstone Photo Dump

My first visit (and Ray's second visit) to Yellowstone did not disappoint! We saw a little bit of everything. In some cases a lot. Here is the evidence!

 Ranger lead hike at the canyon.

 Bear claw markings!

 The Upper Falls at the canyon.

We watched Old Faithful erupt 3 times! 

Glacier Photo Dump

I'll start by saying that two days in Glacier is not nearly enough time. It's such a spectacular park and there is so much to do! We enjoyed being surrounded by gigantic mountains, vibrant greenery, and wildlife while we were visiting. We achieved Aubry's goal of seeing mountain goats, and we also saw a black bear, a grizzly bear, a marmot, and lots of other small mammals and birds. We will definitely be back!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Montana

Montana is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. Trust us. We've now covered about 1500 miles in the state of Montana and there's plenty more to see. Most of it seems to consist of wide open fields, hills, mountains, cows and horses as far as the eye can see. In fact, according to reliable sources there are two and a half times more cattle than there are people in Montana. Our drive through the state has taken us through some scenic stretches that are vast and lonely. This includes an approximately 20 mile jaunt on a gravel road in the middle of Nowheresville through unfathomably huge ranch lands where cattle and horses rule and the sight of another vehicle is rare.

If there's one thing we've learned here, it's that you almost always fill your gas tank at every opportunity because who knows when the next station will appear? 

Getting Close to Glacier

We are about 3 hours away from Glacier in the town of Great Falls, MT. It's been another long day of driving, but the scenery has been breathtaking and filled with cattle and horses. We are anxiously awaiting the moment when we arrive at St. Mary's campground tonight! We'll post some pictures of the Montana scenery when internet access becomes less sparse. It will probably be a couple of days before you hear from us again.

Udder Madness!

We are working our way across Minnesota and North Dakota on 94 W today. Tonight's goal is Montana. We passed through Fargo but were, sadly, unable to find the briefcase of money.  The scenery is mostly agricultural with large fields and cows, but there have been some interesting diversions along the way. We have learned that North Dakotans are very interested in creating wildlife likenesses on a grand scale.

We saw these pretty lakes all over the place in Minnesota. No wonder they call it the land of 10,000 lakes.

In ND we saw giant, golden fields of sunflowers everywhere.

In Salem, ND we located Salem Sue, the world's largest cow sculpture weighing in at 12,000 lbs.

We also saw the "Geese in Flight" sculpture which is the world's largest scrap metal sculpture.

Wagons West!

After cutting a 600 mi swath across the Mackinac Bridge, the upper peninsula, and northern Wisconsin yesterday and spending no more than 10min on interstate highways (photos below are indicative) we are ready to kick it into top gear for today's slated 11 hour jaunt across North Dakota into famed Big Sky country.