Sunday, June 26, 2016

Secondary Blog - Lesson Learned

Just a short little secondary blog to show that one thing I learned is to NOT wear a hat to Yellowstone National Park!  And I didn't photograph the first 2 or 3 I saw because I didn't realize it was going to be a "thing"! 







I tried to wear this one



Montana and Yellowstone National Park

I recently went to Montana for business.  It was my first time visiting this beautiful state.  After my appointments on Tuesday, I drove 90 minutes to one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen...Yellowstone National Park.  I wish Eric had been with me.  I wish I had had more time to spend exploring. I wish I had seen a bear (from a great distance!) It was a quick trip but I hope to someday go back and see more of this beautiful national treasure.

Here are some photos from that trip.  Enjoy!
Along the drive from Billings to Bozeman

Yellowstone River along my drive

Along the drive from Billings to Bozeman

Yellowstone River along the drive from Billings to Bozeman

Antelope greeting me upon entering the park


Inside Yellowstone National Park


Mammoth Hot Springs - Lower Terrace

Mammoth Hot Springs - Lower Terrace

The smell of sulphur was strong!

It looked like ice crystals and water was trickling down

Steam rising off the terrace

Liberty Cap
Another spring in the Lower Terrace


Mammoth Hot Springs - Upper Terrace



Beautiful colors of the Upper Terrace


Minerva Terrace








The Gallatin Ridge

Electric Peak in the distance - 10,969 ft

At a pull-out along the winding roads of the park

Nypmh Lake - another pull-out along my drive in the park



Black Sand Basin


Black Sand Basin

See the steam rising in the distance?!

Emerald Pool




Cliff Geyser

Rainbow Pool





Rainbow Pool

 
Sunset Lake
 

Stunning Colors of Sunset Lake!



Lower Geyser Basin

Celestine Pool at Lower Geyser Basin
 


Silex Spring in the foreground and Bacteria Mat behind it

Silex Spring looked bottomless!

Red Spouter


This guy was SO loud and sounded like it came from the depths of hell!  LOL

 
Missouri River in Great Falls


Sway bridge crossing over to the falls

Great Falls discovered by Lewis and Clark now provides power to Great Falls, MT

These flowers were EVERYWHERE

Backroads of Great Falls

Backroads of Great Falls

Overall, Montana was a little too slow-paced for my tastes.  But Yellowstone was amazing and I hope to go back!  I had never experienced hot springs before so I was amazed at how HOT they were...I got a facial just standing near them and the smell was so strong.  I saw lots of deer but no bear or moose...I see a camping trip in my future.  In an RV and NOT a tent...you best believe!


April 25, 1805
I ascended the hills from whence I had a most pleasing view of the country, perticularly of the wide and fertile vallies formed by the missouri and the yellowstone rivers, which occasionally unmasked by the wood on their borders disclose their meanderings for many miles in their passage through these delightfull tracts of country. . . . The whol face of the country was covered with herds of Buffaloe, Elk & Antelopes; the deer are also abundant, but keep themselves more concealed in the woodland. The buffalo Elk and Antelope are so gentle that we pass near them while feeding, without apearing to excite any alarm among them, and when we attract their attention, they frequently approach us more nearly to discover what we are, and in some instances pursue us a considerable distance apparently with that [in] view.

—Meriwether Lewis