Foodie interlude: Soda Fountain Style

A tri-state fire has caused a pall of smoke over Wyoming, so our drive through the Grand Tetons National Park was a disappointment - those famous mountains were faint outlines!

So a change of plan, find some good food instead. This 50's soda fountain style grill, decorated with antique ranch equipment, at the historic Jackson Lake Lodge was a treat. I love the u-shaped counters with the waiters bustling between the kitchen and the counters, the strategically placed menus and condiments and the rhythm of it all.

Food was good and the huckleberry shake even better, somehow the disappointment of the Grand Tetons being obscured dissipated.

Farewell to Old Faithful Geyser

The show continues day in and day out!

Yellowstone National Park: passing through...

We are on the road back to Los Angeles, taking our time going through Wyoming and Utah. 

And another opportunity to drive through Yellowstone to see a few places we missed out on earlier in the week.

The weather was good, clear skies and warm, so the colors were spectacular. We were lucky again to see a geyser erupting, Clepsydra Geyser, each one we see is a delight.

Clepsydra Geyser erupting

Famous Grand Basin Geyser, quiet when we saw it but apparently an impressive geyser.

A growling fumarole, as loud as an enormous generator!

A quiet deep hot spring.

Our trip in numbers...

Detail from the Hayden Valley meadow, Yellowstone

We have been on the road here in the USA for 11 weeks.
The planning started.
I talked months, then it became weeks and now its down to days...

•   travelled 9722 miles, (15646 km)

•   northern most point of the road trip, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 47 degrees 41’ N

•   southern most point of the road trip, Salton Sea, California, 33 degrees 31’ N

•   been in 8 US states – California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming

•   explored 10 National Parks - Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, Golden Gate Alcatraz, Lassen Volcanic, Redwoods, Lava Beds, Crater Lake, Yellowstone

•   visited 7 State Parks - Big Sur, Salton Sea, San Jacinto Mountain, Hearst Castle, Red Rock, Red Rock Canyon, Humboldt Redwoods

•   National Forests; 7 Sequoia, Sierra, Tahoe, Lassen, Fremont Winema. Mt Hood, Gallatin

•   slept in 21 beds; 6 hotels/inns, 6 motels and 8 timeshare units, 1 private home (make it 27 with Bahamas)

•   Shawni and Craig joined us for nights 10 nights

•   ate Ben & Jerry ice-cream, 13, Cherry Garcia; Chunky Monkey; Triple Caramel Chunk; New York Super Fudge Chunk; Americone Dream; Cheesecake Brownie; Everything but the….; Coffee. Coffee Buzz Buzz!; FroYo, Half Baked; Pistachio, Pistachio; That’s my Jam, Core; Red Velvet Cake; Scotchy Scotch Scotch

•   added 52 birds to my US bird list which is now 216 and my world list is 1499, top bird Roadrunner

•   popped into 5 museums, Palm Springs Art, Cable Car (SF), De Young (SF), Maritime Museum (Lake Tahoe), Latimer Quilt and Textile

•   farmers markets, 3; Oakhurst, Ferry Building (SF), Portland

•   decaprio 4 movie catch-up, Aviator, Gatsby, Departed, J Edgar

•   Oscar 6 movie catch-up, Dallas Buyers Club; Nebraska; August: Osage County; Zero Dark Thirty; Charlie Wilson’s War; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

•   relished organic extra virgin olive oil, 3 farms 

•   walked 200 miles; beaches, mountain trails, coastal meadow, high altitude lakes, golf courses, climbing red rocks, national park trails, canyon rim, valley trail, desert paths, Las Vegas Strip, mountain hikes, many city blocks

•   walking on schedule, 6 miles credit, (for each 50 miles driven we want to walk 1 mile)

•   longest hike 10 miles on Four Mile Trail with 3200’ climb on steep switchbacks

•   took a bike, cycled along the Truckee River for 16 miles, (26 km)

•   canoed 9 miles along the Upper Klamath Canoe Trail

•   rode a horse on a high altitude trail for 4 miles in Montana

•   watched 7 episodes of Game of Thrones, season 4

•   lowest driving elevation, 214’ below sea-level at Furnace Creek Golf Course, Death Valley

•   highest driving elevation, 9945’ Tioga Pass, Tioga Road, Yosemite

•   got cold at the lowest temperature below 40 degrees F in Tehachapi (3 degrees C)

•   was hot at the highest temperature of 115 degrees F while walking in Death Valley (46 degrees C). Car registered 125 degrees F at one point – over 50 degrees C

•   wine tasting, 2 at Tablas Winery, Paso Robles and Souza Family Vineyard

•   modes of transport, 12, helicopter over the Grand Canyon, ferry to Alcatraz, cable car, bus, metro, streetcar, bicycle, paddle boat on Tahoe, canoe, Big Pink Trolley in Portland, ski-lift at Timberline, Mt Hood, horse

•   shows/events, 5, in Las Vegas, O Cirque du Soleil; in San Francisco, Beach Blanket Babylon, SF Giants baseball in San Francisco; in Reno Extreme Bull Riding, in Reno, Rodeo

Big Sky, Montana: Horseback Riding

My gentle giant, Abby.

No better way to get my mind off Shawni and Craig leaving than planning something really challenging for the day.

Fred and I also needed a gentle day after the 3 days in Yellowstone.

So, how about a horse ride, we are after all in Montana where the horse is integral to life.

I ignored the fact that I have no recall of ever being on a horse.  Perhaps at some time as a child on the family farm near Bloemfontein with my Dad and cousins but that is a long time ago.

Shawni had also cryptically said it would be another mode of transport for my listing - true.

Deep breath, Fred booked with Cedar Mountain Corrals just up the road from our condo and we just did it….

High up on the trail with lovely mountain views.

Gorgeous, high altitude trail, 8500' at times, with views across to Lone Peak and surrounding mountains. The trail also took us through lodgepole pines, interesting pine of the interior that requires fire to germinate its cones which are coated in resin. Explains why Yellowstone has so much new growth pine after the 1988 fire that burnt a third of the park.

Old lodgepole pine forest on the crest of the trail.

Lone Peak photo. Fred was there too! on Tanner and taking these great photos, thanks!

Yellowstone National Park: Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic Spring.

Yellowstone's largest hot spring, 370' in diameter.

The deep blue of the pool and the rings of yellow and orange thermophiles surrounding the pool, plus the run-off slopes made this the stand out attraction for all of us.

The second visit, Fred and Craig climbed the hill behind the spring - no trail, a scramble straight  up and down, thin air of the high altitude and Fred came back with these incredible photos.

Shawni helped me up to a point on the same hill, despite the dust and all the mosquitoes biting us, what an amazing view. What a place. Love at first sight.

Hectic climb straight up the hill, but certainly worth the view!

Yellowstone National Park: bubbling boiling mud

Family, bison and bubbling mud, what a place to be together.

Mud Volcano, a hydrothermal zone along the Grand Loop and an bleak, ominous place of bubbling mud that made me feel anxious.

Interesting that hot springs and geysers did not have the same scary impact as did the mud.

Roiling muddy water, rather than boiling. Escaping gases cause the mud to roil.

Vast mud cauldron

The remnants of the Mud Volcano.

Dragon's Breathe, noisy, steamy and water that rumbles underground and comes to the surface in waves.

Yellowstone National Park: herds of Bison

Hayden Valley meadow.

The broad, rolling meadows of the Hayden Valley from the Grand Loop was a good spot for sighting the herds of bison in the park with their young.

We also saw lone bulls in interesting places - near hot springs, bubbling mudpots, steamy fumaroles and even walking across the road.

One of the best giggles for the day was Shawni's encounter with the bison crossing the road right in front of her, Craig was nervous for her, yelled out which gave her a huge fright and she high stepped out of the way with a scream.

Huge molting bull, taking it easy in the afternoon sun.

Yellowstone National Park: Wildlife

Cottontail

Among the natural wonders of the park we loved finding the wildlife from the stately Elk to the little gems like an American Marten, the Mule Deer, a Jackrabbit,  a Cottontail, loads of cheeky Least Chipmunks and Yellow-bellied Marmots.

Yellow-bellied Marmot

A fierce looking American Marten

Gentle scene on the Madison River

Magnificent rack, Elk set in the desolation of the fire in the mid 80's

Yellowstone National Park: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

Lower Falls, 308' roaring with winter snow melt.

The American explorer John Muir wrote of the High Sierra's:

'We are now in the mountains and they are in us…'

I so appreciate his sentiment, each time I am exposed to the mountains whether its the Coast Range, the Sierra Nevada's, the Cascade Range, the Rockies, I am in awe and feel energised by their majesty.

Day 3 in Yellowstone and we drove the Grand Loop.

One of the highlights of the park is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River with its impressive waterfalls and steep colorful canyon walls.

Yellowstone River from the South Rim Road.

Colorful canyon walls from blinding white to deep ochre.

Yellowstone National Park: Norris Geyser Basin

Porcelain Basin, Norris Geyser Basin

The large acidic Norris Geyser Basin has the display of the hottest, oldest and most dynamic geysers. 

Steamboat Geyser is located at Norris and is the world's tallest geyser, erupted last on the 31 July 2013 reaching a height of a 30 story building. It has frequent smaller eruptions from 3 to 14 meters  we watched the smaller eruptions and missed the more impressive 10 meters. I was secretly hoping for the biggie to celebrate my upcoming birthday…oh well, Vixen was just as much fun.

Steamboat Geyser

Yellowstone National Park: action from a boardwalk

The park has well laid out boardwalks that meander around the thermal basins.

Fumaroles and bubbling hot springs are a constant.

We have been so fortunate to be walking on a boardwalk as a geyser erupts.

As did Vixen Geyser in the Norris Geyser Basin.

She is a perfect rock vent, which looks man-made in its symmetry. The geyser vent fills up and drains much like a toilet, and in between erupts with style.

Each water drop was gleaming in the late afternoon sun.

Fabulous Vixen Geyser.

Yellowstone National Park: Mammoth Hot Springs

Day 2 and another very special day seeing how geology and biology interact!

At some point a sea created the limestone layer at Mammoth Hot Springs, add the super heated water plus the thermophiles and you get a vast stepped, cascading plateaus of travertine stone. As it is being built it is as soft as chalk.

So graceful and beautiful.