We see signs of Punta Gorda wherever we go. Did you know that Woody had a country store en route to Glacier National Park?

Glacier Park has some great scenery with many sheer walled mountains carved out by glaciers. It rained yesterday and there were waterfalls everywhere.

There was plenty of snow at the 8700' LarsonPass but we never saw any glaciers. You knowwhat they say about global warming... no ice here, high humidity in Punta Gorda.

These's fresh snow on this mountainside. Don't ask me why there is a blue underline here. I don't know

Arrived in Polson, Montana Sunday. We are on the southern shore of Flathead Lake, the largest natural, fresh water lake west of the Mississippi. Yesterday, we drove the perimeter of the lake which was very scenic but not conducive to good photography. The village of Bigfoot is on the north shore with a main street consisting of older buildings gentrified into a modernistic yet delightful western town. We asked a shop owner if the gentrfication was the result on a master plan. "Shucks no, no plan, no zoning, no architectural review. We just talk to one another and if a new shop owner builds somethings without talking to us, their business doesn't seem to do very well." I mean, these folks don't trust government at any level.

Flathead Lake. It's beautiful.

See anything different? It saves about 5 minutes off my morning routine.
Today it's raining but nothing like the rain in Punta Gorda. So it's a day to catch up on reading, laundry etc.
It is amazing. We have been on the road for a month now and until today experienced about a total of 3 hours of rain!
Tomorrow, we plan to do glacier National Park. Hope to get some good photos.
Stay dry everyone (in Punta Gorda).

Cody has a full fledged rodeo every night during the summer months. We went last night for a great evening of fun and entertainment.

Tomorrow is our last day in Cody and we owe our thanks to the Shuharts and Woodwards for bringing Cody to our attention. It wasn't even close to our radar screen in the early planning for this trip.








Today was an 11 hour day. We did Beartooth Pass again but coming from the opposite direction followed by the north loop in Yellowstone...an amazing day. This is picture of Penny standing by a snow bank by the side of the road. Beartooth Pass had 25' of snow last year. Not surprisingly, this snowbank faces north and sees little summer sun. The ski lift was operation at the summit and several folks were on the open slope.











In Yellowstone we saw 6 black bear, 2 brown bear, several elk, a dozen mountain goats and hundreds of buffalo, all in the wild, most nearby to our location.
Do you know the difference between buffalo and bison? Spelling. They are one in the same animal.

Brown bear

This is Beartooth Mountain located in the Beartooth Mountain Range north of Cody. We had never heard of it. Have you? It gets no publicity and has few tourists and yet is more scenic than Yellowstone. The summit is 11,900' and the highest point on the highway is 10,940. This is higher than anything we saw surrounding Lake Lucern in Switzerland last year. We did it all and loved every minute.

It was cold (in the 30s). Fortunately, the snowball went awry.

This was not Sadie's favorite weather. We actually had some snow flurries.

Ah, Yellowstone...a blend of grand exclamations and disappointment. This beautiful moose posed for us next to the crowded road. Cars stopped in the middleof the road while their drivers left their cars to get 'the piscture' causing traffic back ups until such time as the moose chose to move on.
Yellowstone had a practice of allowing the forst to do as it will. Downed trees remain down. Fire charred trees remain standing until blown down. Unlike the folks in South Dakota's Custer Park, Yellowstone officials let the pine bark beetle attack trees unchallenged. The result is that huge sections of Yellowstone are testimony to acres (as in 20,000+) of dead pine trees made barren either by fire or pine beetles. Notwithstanding these distractions, the wildlife and Old Faithful are grand exclamations.

This plume of white, white hot water is a major attraction and overcomes the other disappointments of Yellowstone. Old Faithful shows herself on average every 92 minutes.

This is Sadie's first encounter with snow.

Today is our third day in Cody. Man, the wind blows stink here. Three days of 25 knots steady with gusts up to 50. So. we have been doing museums, restaurants, saloons etc. Today's photos are primarily en route to Cody and some in Cody too.

Every mile in Wyoming brings another scenic surprise. Here's one of them.











Lots of wildlife along the way, deer, marmots, buffalo, prarie dogs with many more to be seen in Yellowstone tomorrow.











An indian pow wow at the Buffalo Bill Museum. Forty tribes were represented.

The Buffalo Bill Museum is a remarkable place. It takes two days to do justice to the place. Behind Penny is a video of Buffalo Bill (an actor) introducing folks to the museum. The video is displayed on streaming mist clouds. Very clever and very well done. Buffalo Bill Cody was quite a man and he just about created this little city. He sucessfully lobbied Congress to dam a river to enable irrigation for a large territory around Cody. It was built in 1904. In 1922 they added a power plant that provides power to four cities. He built the first hotel, started the Cody Enterprise newspaper still in existence and his memory is revered here. No wonder!

June 13, 2012

Talk about exotic geology!! This is the Devil's Tower just over the state border in Wyoming. The Park Rangers advised that geologists have varied opinions of how this tower developed but it is dramatic. Indian lore tells that an Indian family sought safety and gathered at this point and the Gods caused the land to rise which saved them from a giant bear. This, they say, explains the verticle gouges on the slopes.

Here is a view of Mt Rushmore not often seen. We were en route to the Wind Cave when we saw this. Pictures of the Wind Cave didn't turn out so hot so we'll show you some stuff we saw on the way.









This is a view from the Needles Highway in Custar State Park. The mountain formations are the needles. Notice the similarities of these formations to Mt Rushmore.

More Needles Highway... no motorhomes here. That passage is only 9' wide

These are fossils of Mammoths found in Hot Springs, SD. One of the most important archeological sites created when generations of mammoths fell into a sink hole and were covered as the sinkhole silted in.








More fossils.
Tomorrow, we are off to Buffalo, Wyoming for a 3 day stay. Rapid City was very exciting. There is much to do and see here; more than we expected. The weather was good except for two thunderstorms with pea sized hail.

June 9, 2012

South Dakota's Badlands

   The only thing that lives here are rattlesnakes

June 8, 2012

Penny and I were here with our kids about 40 years ago. The surrounding area was touristy and trashy. It was full of hawking vendors etc. Now it has been cleaned up and is a phenomenal monument. A granite esplanade leads to the viewing area and to the visitor center and a fascinating museum. It is classy and we now recommend it highly. Don't miss the nearby Crazy Horse monument nor Custer Park which we did today for the second time.

This one is for Denis

What is this??? Feeding wild donkeys from inside the car...is that legal? We must remember to look that up someday. Incidently, Sadie was totally unimpressed.

June 7, 2012
After nearly 2000 miles driving in 4 days, we arrived in Rapid City, SD yesterday. We were kind of disappointed with the RV park but this area offers a load of adventure and fun.
Today, after organizing the RV, we toured Bear Country USA, a park where the wild animals roam free while the humans remain caged in their cars. It was really well done and entertaining. Then we explored Custer State Park, a huge wildlife habitat. The scenery was spectacular and we saw buffalo, two varieties of deer, wild donkeys and turkeys. Tomorrow Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Enjoy the photos.

This grey wolf was a real rascal. Right after this picture was taken, he crept up behind a bear, bit him on the butt and then ran with the indignant bear in chase. Didn't take long for the bear to give up.

Rural South Dakota

Metropolitan South Dakota