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Post by ChrisB on Jun 26, 2018 22:12:55 GMT
When you enter Yellowstone, the wildlife comes at you thick and fast. There's so much more to this incredible park than the geysers. How about bumping into this guy when you round a bend in the road?  About what should have been 40 minutes away from our motel, we sat in a short queue of traffic for almost 2 hours, waiting for a large herd of them (complete with calves) to move off the road. Just before that we were extraordinarily privileged enough to witness an Elk calf, so young that it was still wobbling on its feet while enjoying the first meal of its life. In the meantime, mum was safeguarding it from wolves, bears and coyotes by eating the evidence of the birth.   When we arrived at the motel, there was a wildlife related greeting awaiting us...  |
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Post by ChrisB on Jun 27, 2018 22:22:09 GMT
Wednesday 13th JuneA full day in Yellowst one today. Lots to see and do. The Grand Prismatic Spring   Elk  Northern Flicker (woodpecker)  Yellow Bellied Marmots  Bear!! 
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Post by jandl100 on Jun 28, 2018 14:41:50 GMT
Did you try skinny dipping in the Grand Prismatic Spring, Chris? Interesting link
-- nothing of the man remained – except his wallet and his flip flops. |
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Post by MartinT on Jun 28, 2018 16:41:03 GMT
Darwinism at work, and cleaning up afterwards to make SURE his genes contribute no further.
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Post by ChrisB on Jun 28, 2018 17:02:37 GMT
Ah yes, someone told me about this guy. Oops!
Not at this particular pool, but just a few miles down the road, I was walking along one of the boardwalks and the wind took my hat off. Luckily, I had already seen several hats lying in pools improbably far away from the approved walkways and I had, rather prudently, I thought, threaded my camera strap through the chin-strap of my hat. According to my plan, the hat just came to rest behind my head. "Phew, it's a good job I'm so bloody smart", I thought to myself. Until Mischa pointed to my glasses, which were lying in the pool beside the boardwalk. Luckily, the pool was only a couple of centimetres deep at that point, so with the help of a remarkably game Japanese gent, I was able to retrieve them. I have been forced to conclude that there is, after all, a place in this world for selfie sticks!
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Post by ChrisB on Jun 28, 2018 22:33:17 GMT
Thursday 14th JuneAnother full day at Yellowstone. A couple of longish hikes, plenty more wildlife including another Black bear and a lot more geological stuff. Having visited this park back in 2005, we had already seen Old Faithful and many of the other geysers and pools, so we didn't bother with that this time. We did pay a second visit to Mammoth Hot Springs in the north of the park though.    Then we moved on to Cooke City, where we had a room booked in a different motel. The purpose of this was to be close to the Lamar Valley, which is the place to see predators. Watch out Yogi, we're coming!
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Post by ChrisB on Jun 30, 2018 15:39:15 GMT
Friday 15th JuneAfter a night in Cooke City - We love this little town and spent a couple of nights here back in 2005, the last time we were in Montana. We had dinner in a bar with excellent Montana IPA beer and perhaps the best pizza I have ever eaten in my life (especially surprising for me, the world's champion carnivore, as it was a veggie topped one). To cap off a perfect night, there was The Grateful Dead on the jukebox all night! Up at the crack of a sparrow's fart to get some breakfast and then just a short drive back into the park and get set up for a stake-out for bears and maybe wolves in the Lamar Valley. Breakfast was in the Bearclaw Bakery. Excellent - where else in the world can you buy corned beef hash, eggs over easy and freshly baked sour dough bread, then turn 90 degrees to the other counter and get a new drive belt for your snowmobile?! Superb!! Mischa bought herself a cinnamon Danish for a mid morning "snack". No word of a lie - it was three inches tall! The Lamar Valley is often described as the Serengeti of Yellowstone because it's here that you can see big herds of Elk and Bison, predators and vast, sweeping views.  We found a spot that had a few people already there, squinting intently through binoculars and spotting scopes. A quick chat and we established that we had just missed a female Brown bear with two cubs, who had just dropped behind a hill in the distance. There was, apparently a male somewhere on the hill but the spotters had been distracted by the others and had lost track of him. I took a turn searching through my binoculars and after twenty minutes or so, we spotted him. Unfortunately, he was too far away to photograph. This was a great moment for me, as I have wanted to see a Grizzly at home on a Rocky Mountain meadow for many, many years. Turning to another hilltop, we could see a herd of Elk beginning to bunch together, moving into defensive mode. Following their gaze, we could see a pair of Coyotes moving just below a ridge-line. Compelling stuff to watch! When the cold weather due to the high altitude finally got the better of us, we moved off in search of coffee. Plenty of short stops on the way though, as there is always something to see in Yellowstone.    
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Post by Tim on Jun 30, 2018 16:49:18 GMT
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Post by brian2957 on Jun 30, 2018 17:49:56 GMT
Beautiful pictures again Chris and a very vivid description of your adventures 
Not been on the forum for a few days because we were in Brussels for a few days . I'm afraid that I wasn't impressed with this city . It was very busy , expensive , and dirty 
We did go to Bruges for the day though , and it was beautiful , but again very expensive
I think I would rather be where you were Chris .
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Post by MartinT on Jun 30, 2018 20:36:23 GMT
I rather like Brussels, more than Bruges to be honest.
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Post by ChrisB on Jun 30, 2018 20:41:27 GMT
I have never been to either.
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Post by brian2957 on Jul 1, 2018 9:18:23 GMT
Brussels maybe worth another visit in the winter months Martin , when it's a bit quieter .
Both worth a visit Chris , however , just for a short break IMO |
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Post by Tim on Jul 1, 2018 10:12:32 GMT
I have never been to either. I love them both Chris, lots a great photo opportunities in both cities - you'd enjoy them I reckon.
Hanging out in the Grand Place is wonderful, possibly one of the best squares I've been to, easily beats Piazza San Marco in Venice IMO. Now that's a place I didn't enjoy, Venice is more like a theme park these days. Pretty nasty until you find out where the locals go, which is nowhere near the centre 
Such a big world and so little time!
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Post by MartinT on Jul 1, 2018 11:15:39 GMT
There is an air of ease and friendliness about Brussels that is hard to find anywhere else. Good sights, good eating, good drinks, chocolate, coffee, friendly. There's nothing not to like.
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Post by Tim on Jul 1, 2018 11:34:36 GMT
Spent a bit of time there in my 30s as the father of my girlfriend at the time worked for the UN. I loved it, not been back for sometime though. The only woman I was officially engaged to!
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Post by brian2957 on Jul 1, 2018 12:24:32 GMT
TBH there was a nice vibe about Brussels , particularly the square . Just too many people for me . Obviously went at the wrong time , or maybe it's just me  |
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 1, 2018 12:30:11 GMT
Back on the road again, then. Time to turn west and start heading back towards the coast. We want to be in south-west Idaho, so heading that way, we start looking for a place to stay the other side of Idaho Falls.  We land in Arco, which is a rather strange sort of town. The population benefit from all sorts of local amenities that you and I could only dream of having. There's a mountain covered in numbers...  A roadside submarine conning tower...  (complete with public torpedo sideshow). Check out the serial number of the sub! And all sorts of casual references to things nuclear...   It becomes more clear when you see the illuminated City Hall...  |
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 1, 2018 20:27:02 GMT
Saturday 16th JuneFascinating hifi related fact: Arco was originally called Root Hog, which I believe is a fantastic name for a town! They requested that it be changed to Junction but there were already several towns going by that name. Instead, the Postmaster General suggested that it should be renamed to honour Georg von Arco who was visiting Washington DC at the time. He was an inventor and a pioneer in the field of radio transmission and would become the lead engineer of Telefunken. There's a nuclear research facility nearby, which employs most of the residents. The submarine and torpedo are there because the Navy used to do weapons testing nearby and the numbers on the mountain are painted by each high school year as they graduate - a tradition since 1920. The plan for today is to visit a couple of ghost towns but there's a lot of driving involved. We ended up just inside our seventh and final state - Oregon. I was all for making a small detour to visit and photograph the sign welcoming us to the town circled in red on the map here, but sadly, it wasn't to be! 
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Post by MartinT on Jul 2, 2018 5:50:59 GMT
Arco looks interesting, would have been even stranger as Root Hog.
I wonder what happened in Dickshooter?!
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 2, 2018 6:02:06 GMT
Neighbouring Wickahoney is equally intriguing, though perhaps less violent!
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