Tuesday, August 19, 2014

June 3, 2014 (43rd Day)

Partly sunny at 45˚. Had oatmeal for breakfast
Left the campground at 8:30 am


Heading south on Grand Loop Road (191/20/278/89) to Fountain Flat Drive. We were 2nd in line when 18 bison stood on the roadway. Ten minutes passed before they finally moved to the pullout and we continued our way.




Saw swan near the little waterfall


Drove on Fountain Flat Drive. At the end saw at least 10 bison resting.
Went to Fountain Paint Pot, walked 1/2 mile loop



The colors were so pretty and vivid and the cloudy day did not allow for enhancements!



Next stop was Midway Geyser Basin - we took the 1/2 mile loop








Apparently a goose tried to land in the hot pool and got his A** cooked!





Saw a large herd of bison resting or grazing.



Another stop was at Black Sand Basin




Water and mineral runoff from years of erupting!

Bubbling hot Cauldron

This one at high boil!

We decided to go by Old Faithful to get lunch at Geyser Grill. After lunch we continued our trek to West Thumb Junction.

Stopped at Kepler Cascades




Edith started to get bad head colds. In spite of it, she wanted us to go to South Rim Drive to get to Artist Point and see Lower Falls in Canyon Village area.



Doesn't this awesome photo look fake somehow??

Saw one elk on way to Canyon Village. Lots of vehicles lined up to take pictures of it. You won't believe that some people would get out of the vehicle and walk up close to the elk to take a picture. It has been known that elk will attack people that close.  We pulled over, but rangers walked up and told us to keep moving, so we did not stay.  At least, Edith got a picture of then elk.




Now on Norris Canyon Road to Norris from Canyon Village. Virginia Cascade Drive is closed! We then turned right to Norris to go to Mammoth Springs. There was a road construction few miles north of Norris and Madison junctions and we had to wait about 10 minutes before they let us move, then 10 minutes of following the pilot car. We wanted to stop at Roaring Mountains, but were not allowed to because of construction along the route.  Then there was another road construction past Indian Creek campground, but it did not take very long before we got out of it.

Entered Montana state line at 4:36 pm. 
There was no sign of bighorn sheep at the location that we saw last year.
We exited YNP via North Entrance and drove through Roosevelt Arch. 

We got on US 89 to go to Livingston, MT.  Our original plan was to camp out near Livingston and go to Three Forks, MT to meet Keri Traver and her family the next day. However, while texting with Keri she informed us that she and her family were in Bozeman eating out, so we checked to see how far it would take for us to get there from Livingston.  We decided that we had enough time to go meet the Traver family for supper, so we continued on.

It started to rain 15 miles east of Bozeman.  Took exit 309 from I-90 for Bozeman and on way to downtown we stopped to get gas.

Went in downtown Bozeman, found a parking spot not far from the Naked Noodles, walked in the restaurant and met the Traver family and had supper with them. It was great to see Keri, Dustin, along with their 5 kids: Conner, Sasha, Nikkol, Zella and Hunter. Hunter had grown so much since we last saw him in September 2013.  Edith wanted to be the first one to hold Hunter, but Erwin got him first. :-( The supper was delicious. Edith had zonra the geek and Erwin had monkey wench.

About the Traver family: Keri co-founded The Thrifty Deafies (TTD) blog and Facebook to help deaf readers how to save $$ on groceries and shopping. Edith became a fan of TTD, and few months later Keri asked her if she would be interested in becoming a team member to share deals for fans living on the East Coast. That was the year of 2009.  Ever since then, Keri and Edith kept in touch via Facebook and Messenger.  When Keri became pregnant with her 5th child, Hunter Ray, she wanted her family and a close friend to be with her during the delivery, but neither of them could make it. Keri asked Edith if she was interested to come up to Montana to experience the birth with her and to take pictures of the delivery and the baby. Edith spent 2 weeks with Keri and family last year June and was "adopted" by the family.  She also "adopted" Keri and her family.  We came to help Hunter celebrate his first birthday.


After supper we stopped at Safeway to buy few items then to Three Forks to stay at the Traver's home.  We were really tired folks but we stayed up to chat.


Miles Driven today: 134



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