Burlington, WA

We arrived in Burlington, WA yesterday.  We picked Burlington, Washington area to stay because we used to live in Burlington, Vermont.  The scenery was nicer and enjoyed seeing the trees and mountains.  We ran into a lot of traffic when we were going through Seattle, I could not get over the amount of cars and how slow we were moving, I could not deal with this everyday!!


The park we are staying in opened a new section on July 4th, it's nice because the lots are longer and wider.  Met our neighbors, the funny thing is they spend the winter at Picacho Peak!


We picked the car up this afternoon, and since Kohls was right there I had to check it out! :) also stopped at Camping World.


Looking forward to some sight seeing.  Weather will be perfect 75 the next 6 days.

On The Road Day 2

Columbia River

Traveling on I-90 West is a work in progress!  the first 10 miles reminded me of driving on some back country road!!  Lots of work being done which slowed us down a bit.  Worse roads we've been on.


Pictures show the last of the mountains in Montana, and how big of a change when we drove into WA, it was flat and brown looking, it changed as we continued and we started to see more green.  We took pictures as we were driving by the Columbia River, really pretty to see.

The Columbia River Gorge, an 80-mile geologic wonder that forms the border between northern Oregon and southern Washington, is proof of Nature's unbridled strength. Glacial floods thousands of years ago carved this 1,200-mile-long river, which is the only sea-level passage to cross the Cascade Mountains. With cliffs rising as high as 4,000 feet, the Gorge acts as a funnel for North America's fourth largest river.

We're staying the night in Ellensburg, WA and will arrive in Burlington, WA where we'll be staying for 10 days.

Last views of Montana

Montana

Going to miss seeing the trees & Mt

Columbia River

Columbia River

On The Road

Yesterday we left West Yellowstone after being there for 2 awesome weeks.  We are headed to Seattle WA. Our drive on route 2 was very interesting, there were so many different rock formations. As you can see at one point the wall of rocks were very close to the road, I swear if I stuck my arm out the window I would be touching the rock!  I wish you could see the true color of the one picture below where the color of the rock was very orange!  We are spending the night in Missoula Montana.


Near Butte

To Darn close!

   

Big Sky Montana

Big Sky was our destination yesterday, we were really looking forward to seeing the resort and strolling through the many shops they have, unfortunately we never made it.  There was a major accident that happen and the road wouldn't be open for another 3 to 4 hours, lucky for us we had a small car and were able to turn around but anyone in anything larger were stuck there.  So we came back to town and had lunch and walked through some of the shops we hadn't been in.


Today (Sunday) Charlie brought the car back and tomorrow we'll clean and make a laundry run!  We leave Tuesday for Seattle, WA.  It'll take us about 3 days with a couple of stops on the way.


I'm glad we had 2 weeks in Yellowstone, there's so much to see, this has been an amazing part of our journey and look forward to the many new sights in WA.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Our travels today took us to Mammoth, there we viewed the hot springs and the many terraces. It's an interesting place to visit and so different from anything we've ever seen.  Some places it looked like snow and blocks of ice.


Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellow Stone.  It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flow into Mammoth each day in a solution). Because of the huge amount of geothermal vents, travertine flourishes Travertine formations grow much more rapidly than sinter formations due to the softer nature of limestone. As hot water rises through limestone, large quantities of rock are dissolved by the hot water, and a white chalky mineral is deposited on the surface.


Next Liberty Cap, which was created by a hot spring that was active in one location for a long time.  It's internal pressure was sufficient to raise the water to a great height, allowing mineral deposits to build slowly and continuously for perhaps hundreds of years.  Liberty Cap was named in 1871 by the Hayden Survey because it resembled the pecked knit caps, symbolizing freedom and liberty during the French Revolution.


Bison and Elk are everywhere, after 5 trips into the park I want to know where are the BEARS?? 

Mammoth

Mammoth Springs

Upper Terrace

Angel Terrace

Highland Terrace

Liberty Cap

Gibbon Falls and The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Yesterday was our cleaning, laundry and hair cut day!! Gals we all know what that's like going to someone you don't know but she did a pretty good job.  There was a major power outage yesterday afternoon around 4:30 came back on at 9:30 p.m.  They came around telling everyone we could run our generators, we didn't there was a pretty good breeze and it was real comfortable in the shade.  Our neighbors came over and we had a great visit.  They are full timers and love it, they gave us a tour of their fifth-wheel it's 40 feet long with 2 full slides and 1 in the bedroom, it's huge and gorgeous, it has a fireplace, kitchen island, dishwasher, washer/dryer king size bed with a ton of storage.


Our first stop today (Wed.) was to Gibbon Falls. Gibbon Falls is located in the west central area of Yellowstone, this waterfall was discovered in 1872. This segmented cascade flows near the Yellowstone Caldera rim which was formed 600,000 years ago.


Next on to the lower Canyon Falls, also known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, depending on the time of the year, anywhere between 5,000-60,000 gallons per second of water plunges over the lower falls. The 308-foot Lower Falls may have been formed because the river flows over volcanic rock more resistant to erosion.  We stopped at the Canyon resort for lunch, did a little shopping and headed home. We saw Bison all over the place today as well as Elk.  Another perfect day, weather 70's-low 80's. 
 

Yellowstone is a marvel, full of waterfalls and amazing sights.
Remember to click on pictures to enlarge.

Gibbon Falls

Gibbon Falls

Gibbon River

Lower Canyon Falls

Lower Canyon Falls

Yellowstone Grand Canyon

Canyon View

Canyon View

Canyon View

Earthquake Lake

We drove to Earthquake Lake, I'm going to give you a little of the history of the area.  What happen was very tragic and you can still see where some of the landslides were.

A trip to earthquake lake will teach about one of the most impressive geographic phenomenons of the west. Rivers are known for carving valleys and canyons, not for their relationships with earthquakes. However, when the two natural forces (flowing water and plate tectonics) blend, the result can be astounding. An example of that natural phenomenon lies only 25 miles from West Yellowstone at the Madison River Canyon Earthquake Area.

An area 38,000 acres, the reserve is testimony to one of the most violent earthquakes that shook the west on Aug. 17 1959 at 11:37 p.m. At that time, the Red Canyon fault and the Hebgen fault, both in the Madison River area, moved simultaneously and triggered an earthquake that measured 7.5 on the Richter scale. That earthquake forced a massive landslide that screamed down mountains and hills at about 100 miles per hour. Tons of rocks and earth crashed into Madison Canyon. The results were catastrophic. The force of the slide caused a flood and high winds swept a giant wave downstream. Five people died in the flood alone. The landslide killed another 28 people. It also dropped the north shore of Hebgen Lake 19 feet. Cabins on the shore washed into the water as huge waves crested over Hebgen Dam. Three sections of Highway 287 fell into the lake, the dam cracked in at least four places and hundreds of campers were trapped. The landslide eventually stopped, essentially damming the Madison River and creating Earthquake, or “Quake Lake,” a 190-foot deep, six mile long lake. 

Today the lake and surrounding area is beautiful, and I'm glad we had the opportunity to visit.  Our lunch stop was at a little café off the beaten path, the food was great and the interior was "charming" I had my doubts when I saw the outside of the building! But like they say never judge a book by it's cover!

Weather this week in the low 80's lows in the 40's.  Enjoying the cooler temps!!  going to be hard going back to AZ.

Old Faithful

Todays trip took us to Old Faithful. The drive there was wonderful, it's so breath taking.  We waited about an hour for it to erupt and it put on a great show for us.  We had a wonderful meal at the Old Faithful Lodge.  As we we're walking by it erupted again this time shooting up higher!  We left there and stopped to view Yellowstone Lake, it's beautiful with the mountains in the background.


Yellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park. The lake is 7,732 feet above sea level and covers 136 square miles with 110 miles of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is 139 ft its greatest depth is at least 390 ft.


Next stop was to West Thumb Geyser Basin. About 150,000 years ago a volcanic explosion formed the small caldera know as the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake. Under water hot springs and geysers keep some areas of West Thumb free from ice in the winter.


On the way home we saw a family of Bison, I couldn't get over how huge the male was!  and about a mile down  we saw a herd of female moose.  The male was nowhere in sight.

West Yellowstone

White Dome Geyser

Midway Basin

Fountain Paint Pot

Fountain Paint Pots

Fountain Paint pot

Excelsion Basin

We arrived in West Yellowstone Wednesday afternoon.  The park we are staying at is in the best location, we can walk to all the shops and restaurants and are a 5 minute drive to the entrance of Yellowstone.  Yesterday we hit all the shops.  2 minute walk and we're at a movie theater that sells huckleberry soft ice cream for .50 might be making this a nightly stop!!  I can just see the pounds adding up between that and hitting the bakeries. We sat out last night and could hear  some wild turkeys, and you would not believe how huge the black ravens are!!


Today (Friday) we visited Yellowstone's basins and geysers in the area between Madison and Old Faithful. It's so unbelievable to see all the different colors in the basins each one is so different and amazing.  We even got sprayed a couple of times.  Our timing was perfect at the White Dome Geyser, we met people who had been waiting for over a half hour for it to erupt an we were there just 10 minutes! The drive was beautiful, we did get to see bison and elk but only at a distance, I'm sure we'll see more since we have about 5 more trips into the park scheduled. I got a sunburn on my neck forgot to but lotion!!  ok that's it for now we're off to you know where YUP ice cream!!!  :)

Firehole Falls