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Our September vacation trip was wonderful this year. The trip to Yellowstone National Park was full of adventure and surprises. We saw and experienced many things. Our time together was refreshing and relaxing.
The adventure began the very first day. We stopped at the Wild Horse Monument at the Columbia River where it crosses Interstate 90. There we decided to join the horses. We climbed up the big hill and actually walked between the horses and enjoyed the view.
The next day while traveling along we saw the countryside and enjoyed the larger than life mountains and awesome views. The car handled very well as we crossed the Continental Divide and headed for the park. We just had to stop at one of the roadside trinket stores in Montana. And yes we bought our share of trinkets.
We entered Yellowstone Park from the north gate. Driving through the arch and up to Mammoth Hot Springs was awesome. There were many historic buildings there. We stopped in and watched a video about how the park was built. We continued on and took Norris Canyon Road over to Yellowstone Lake. On the way we had a spectacular waterfall view of the Virginia Cascades on the Gibbon River. We also got a long smelly look at the bubbling mud pots at Sulfur Caldron and Mud Volcano before we arrived at Lake Yellowstone Hotel.
The hotel was originally built in 1898. Downstairs was a very large lounge with big leather chairs and a wonderful fireplace. It was just the place to sit and visit and meet new friends. It also explained why there was no TV in the hotel room. We needed to find other entertainment. And we did.
That evening we took a moonlight walk along the lake. With the stars out and the Moon shining and reflecting off of the lake you couldn't have asked for a more romantic time. We both burned that into our memory.
The next day we continued our tour around the park. We saw colorful sulfur cones, roaming bison, a herd of elk, steaming pits and bubbling ponds. We finally came up on Old Faithful. It was just great. We arrived, parked the car, got out and walked over to the fountain area. There we asked someone when was it supposed to go off again. We only had to wait about 5 minutes and what a wonderful display we saw.
After Old Faithful, we headed south to the Grand Tetons. What spectacular mountains they are. We continued heading south instead of crossing through the mountains because there were some pretty bad thunderstorms going on up there.
Our next big adventure was Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. It was recommended to visit by one of my bus passengers. Another awesome place to see. Here again we got out of the car and climbed up the black soil of Inferno Cone and took a look at the wonderful viewpoints. We also went down into one of the lava tubes in Indian Cave. It was real interesting to climb down there and see just how the lava flowed through the ground.
It was also recommended that we stop and see the waterfalls while in the city of Twin Falls. However that didn't turn out so good. There was no water going over the falls. Being late summer there just wasn't any water.
We followed that with a tour of the Pendleton cloth factory. It was interesting to see how they gathered the wool and made the threads. Then they made the cloth that they used for making coats and other clothing.
We stopped at the Bonneville Dam and took a tour on both the Oregon and Washington sides. It's always fun to see the big generators. It was kind of interesting to see the difference between the two power plants.
Finally, we made our way up to the viewpoint at Mount St Helens. There we saw several videos of how the mountain exploded. It was fascinating to see just how nature can be so destructive and yet all the life that is there today. We had a dramatic view of the area as the weather was cloudy and rainy at times.
Our vacation was fantastic and we will always remember the fun things that we did together. Now it's time to start planning for next September. Thinking dinosaurs.
Click here to see page 1 of the pictures.
Click here to see page 2 of the pictures.
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