Our Two Weeks Out of Touch

It has been a long time since we have been in the technology world. Our time has been spent in National Parks where our tax dollars do not supply many amenities. With just the generator to supply electricity and the Verizon guy not hearing us now, it has been impossible to connect with the rest of the world. Every now and then we spend the big bucks to rejuvenate.

I'll begin with 4th of July weekend. We drove a very beautiful scenic drive, route 191, from Wyoming to Utah. Spent 5 nights in the Flaming Gorge National Rec Area. Visited the Dinosaur National Monument. Although the quarry wasn't open to the public the park itself had a nice auto tour. One of the sites was the Elephant Toes Butte.

Visited Nine Mile Canyon which was really 70 miles of historic back country. It made for a long day but we hiked a few short trails to find petroglyphs and see cows in the middle of the dirt road. Beautiful landscape all through the Northeast corner of the state. I should mention, we love living at 7,000 feet, 70 degree days and 40 degrees at night. Wildlife we saw, big horn sheep, a couple marmets and deer.

Back to Wyoming and the Grand Tetons. We stopped in Jackson for a picture of the Elk Arches .

The Tetons were impressive but I was disappointed that we couldn't drive up, over or around them. It was more of a drive-by. We took the SeaEagle out on Jackson Lake for a peaceful 4 hours . Had a deer walk behind us when we beached for lunch and saw a golden eagle

fly overhead and land in a tree near us.

Yellowstone National Park was awesome. Yes, Diane actually loved every minute of Yellowstone. The mud volcano's, sulphur caldron's, paint pots and the geyser basin were all fascinating. Artist Point at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was impressive. Not impressed with the eruption of Old Faithful , thought Clepsydra Geyser was much better

Drove to Mammouth Hot Springs to the terraces and into the town where elk are everywhere. They say people don't have lawn mowers because the elk keep the grass short.

It's all about wildlife. Bison were everywhere. We saw them in the fields, in the road and in the river. We just happened to be right at the pull off when 2 bison came out the water. Me and my camera and Austin in the car yelling at me because I guess I was a little too close when the pair walked right in front of the car. Me and my new buddy made eye contact and he grunted and smiled for the camera.

Spent 4 days in Yellowstone, I think we covered every nook and cranny of the park. Animal sightings, bison, deer, elk, a grey wolf, 2 bald eagles, 4 black bears and a grizzly with 2 cubs. Only needed the binoculars for the wolf and the grizzly.

It's been a great two weeks and we now find ourselves in Idaho at a KOA Campground near Crater of the Moon National Park. Decided to camp outside the park for a couple nights to get the laundry done and give the generator a rest.