Other Places – Page 3

There are some beautiful things that you can miss simply by being a bit early or late, looking to high or having a different target in mind. Most of these shots are of little flowers on plants somewhere between ankle and knee level that waited quietly and posed quite patiently. The chipmunk understood the busker ethos and was quite a performer for us with pauses that were rarely longer than a blink. Here are some of the less splashy stars of Yellowstone.

Geysers

photo of Old Faithful — Kay and Jay at the sign with the Old Faithful geyser still gasping in the background

It’s why you go to Yellowstone isn’t it? Geysers? Old Faithful?

So we went south, clockwise around the Great Loop road from Bridge Bay Campground at 45 mph maximum, often reduced to 35 mph and occasionally to 25 miles per hour. We kept telling ourselves, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” and “We’re here to see the animals, it’s their park.” Unfortunately, we didn’t see any animals bigger than Ravens and they were staying way up high, way out of our way.

We got to Old Faithful and found parking about 10 minutes before she blew and that was barely enough time to find it behind the Visitor Center – which does dominate the area. However, most of our fellow spectators clearly had no trouble finding it. I had trouble with the zoom on my camera too, so you might think we were a little disappointed, but we weren’t. Check out the girls’ smiles as they posed in front of Old Faithful while it calmed back down and the power of the eruption was waning. Really, it took us longer to find and order ice cream.

Kepler Cascades

DSCN8761photo of West Thumb Geyser Basin — Kay and Jay study the interpretive signs in the West Thumb Geyser Basin right on the edge of Yellowstone Lake

We retraced our path around the Great Loop, counter-clockwise this time, stopping at the Keppler Cascades before working our way back over the Continental Divide and stopping at the West Thumb Geyser Basin which doesn’t seem to have any eruptions that reach for the sky, but has fiercely hot pools of fantastic colors that change as the water overflows its cauldron’s edge and trickles toward the lake. There were mud pots where the thick bubbles popped and stunk with disolved sulfer.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

photo showing a gravel spit separating Yellowstone Lake on the left from a small oxbow pool on the right — Gravel spit separating Yellowstone Lake on the left from a small oxbow pool on the right

Our last stop was at the edge of Yellowstone Lake and we proved first hand that the water in the lake was as numbingly cold as the water in the pools was scalding hot. The little spit of land that separated the lake from a smaller pool was made of granite gravel and was extremely cruel to bare city feet. The heat of the day which inspired that dip was quickly forgotten.

Dee, Jay and Kay

Kay regretting bare feet

Jay and Kay knee deep in the pool

Dee, Jay and Kay and Lake Yellowstone

Bridge Bay

Just around the corner of Yellowstone Lake from no-Fishing Bridge is Bridge Bay where there is a marina and campground. We stayed there – at the campground – but the marina is pretty and we went by it a few times.

In fact we felt like we won the lottery when we pulled up to our campsite. The tent only campsites were all taken and we settled for an RV/tent site. We were assigned a site on the far end of the “B” loop from the access road which turned out to be in the trees and above what we thought of as the valley of 10,000 smokes because of all the campfires we could see.

Bridge Bay is actually named for a near-by natural bridge. Near-by means an easy 2 – 3 mile round trip hike. Natural Bridge was carved out of the stone by something called freeze-thaw plucking. Say that five times fast! It can be done – but why?

Horsing Around Canyon

What does everyone want to do when they’ve arrived at Yellowstone Canyon? Well obviously, they go for a ride on horseback! It is only after that craving is satisfied that one can concentrate on the marvels that the Yellowstone River has carved out of the rock.

The Bozeman Junket

We spent the first night of our trip at a Kamping Kabin at the KOA in Cody, Wy. The next day we drove to the Bridge Bay Campground, took care of registration and pitched our tents and took off to Bozeman to see Andrew.

We took the circle counter-clockwise, via Canyon and Tower, which proved to be a mistake because the road was filled with construction projects that guaranteed that we would go at an average speed of 25 miles per hour instead of the posted 45 mph. Still, there were highlights: we saw a little bear, the really large Bison above (ever see that bumper sticker that says, “As a matter of fact, I do own the whole road”? Well this Bison did.), Mammoth Springs, and Andrew.

Visiting Andrew was too brief, but very fun. He took us on a whirlwind tour of Montana State University and then down Main Street. We ended up at Burger Bob’s for dinner. We talked about college and friends and work and living arrangements. We sure hope he gets those living arrangements worked out before school starts.

We also got to spend the night in Livingston,MT at the Rodeway Inn because we picked up a couple nails and one of our tires was leaking air faster than we could get back to camp. No one knew of anyone in town who would repair a tire on Friday night. The town was almost full up and they only had a smoking room left – with a broken air conditioner at that. The staff was very nice, but they couldn’t overcome the negatives. We had our least favorite night of the trip. Tire-Rama fixed us up the next morning.

On the Road Again

We decided to go to Yellowstone National Park by way of Cody, WY, with a side trip to Bozeman, MT to see Andrew. And then, after a couple daysof geysers, canyons wild animals and mud pots, to return home via Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area and Rifle, CO. Here are some pictures of the road to Cody.

Saturday In Manhattan

When we woke on Saturday, it was to find Pluto staring out the window as if to fix the Port Authority Bus Terminal permanently in her memory. Pluto is the Bernese Mountain Dog puppy plush toy received as a Christmas present eight or so years ago that seems to travel on all family vacations. We did some packing, but before we left Manhattan, we had to visit the New York University Visitors Center and feed the fire to learn that burns in the heart of every young person. OK, I’m not that old, I haven’t forgotten my attitude toward the fonts of knowledge – or their gatekeepers. What worked for me was a sort of hypnosis or hysteria that could not consider anything less than a Bachelors Degree – in something.

In addition to Pluto, here are a couple shots of Washington Square Park which, as the girl in the Visitor’s Center put it, “doesn’t belong to the University, but might as well.” We close our trip with a picture that I didn’t take on purpose, but which sums up my New York experience – it’s a bit blurry, but it looks like everyone is going very fast.

Friday in Manhattan

First, The Cloisters. To get there we had to take the “A” train. That was cool. No way to tell who else thought so. We also found it interesting that the ceilings Subway stations in Midtown Manhattan were very dark – at 190th street, the ceiling was white. It felt nicer. As we walked through Fort Tryon Park on the way to this extension to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we thought it was fun that Broadway bordered the park on the east. Simple minds – simple pleasures.

After returning to Midtown, we ate lunch at the Heavenly Rest Stop which, more than anything else reinforced the notion that one shouldn’t try to buy their way into Heaven. The staff was great, the building was fascinating, the shelter from the midday sun was a Godsend and our panini were tasty. Actually, we didn’t like the texture of the cooked cucumber in the Vegi Panini but that really only bothered the Vegetarian.

We crossed another street and there was the Guggenheim. Now, I really don’t know what their problem is, but they have one. It seemed to me that there are enough people in New York that want a job that they could hire people who weren’t angry just for coming to work. Either that or it’s policy to hire and train staff that resent visitors and are rude to them so that they will leave. It wasn’t just us; I could see docents abusing guests where ever I went in the building, most often when they stopped to view the exhibits. We were grateful to leave that place behind us. There were a couple interesting things about our visit, but if we old anyone about them, we fear that we might have to forfeit the memory.

We arrived at the Circle Line Cruises office to learn that the only ride we could take that fit our time frame was a 30 minute sprint on a speed boat they called “The Beast”. It was a perfect next step. They turned up the throttle, turned up the music and took us for a quick spin down the Hudson River to see the Statue of Liberty and back (we’re afraid she lies, but she’s still a grand old dame.) We got a little smarter and caught the 42 bus back to as close as we could get to our hotel.

The younger members of our party went to see Cinderella and the elder members to dinner at McGee’s on 57th. we had no idea at the time, butt McGee’s claims to be the inspiration for the gathering place in How I Met Your Mother. Not only that but we felt they took good care of us.

The Beast

Thursday Night in Times Square

So, on Thursday, things didn’t go according to plan. The camera stayed in the hotel room during the day. We received email notice that our attempt to win ‘Shakespeare in the Park tickets through the lottery had failed. The Guggenheim was closed. (More about the Guggenheim in another post.) Central Park is much bigger than we realized. Our feet still hurt from the day before. And, yes, that would be a slight note of whining that you hear.

We took the Subway up the west side of Central Park intending to get off at the American Museum of Natural History. Well, we got off one stop early and walked north and arrived at the museum just as it was opening. We had a great morning: we saw the Giant Squid in mortal combat with the Whale, we saw the Heilbrunn Cosmic Pathway and we saw the Hayden Planetarium program. Well, we didn’t see all of the planetarium program, The planetarium was awfully dark, and the chairs were very soft and we didn’t get to bed until 2. We ate lunch there too, after we woke up.

After lunch we took the Subway to the south end of the park, across to the east side and up Eighth Ave., (2 transfers! and we discovered later that there’s a bus for each of the cross-park streets.) to the stop nearest the Guggenheim. The sign said, “Closed Thursdays” so we walked back south to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We got lost in there – several times! We also received complementary tickets to The Cloisters – a collection of Medieval Art and Architecture located way at the north end of Manhattan. It’s embarrassing to admit, since we were so into using mass transit, but we took a taxi back to the hotel. There was time for another nap before The Social – finger food, beer and wine (sorry kids – how does left over pizza sound?)

We devoted the evening to Times Square and had a great time – even though I’m still not really sure if there is an actual place that is Times Square. I’d say the the New York Times Building. That’s on 40th street and 8th Avenue. Except for the absence of the Times building, 42nd Street and Broadway is a strong candidate, but it would be nice if there were something square there. The folks who really care say that its the intersection of 7th and Broadway (nope – not square). The photos of the evening would convince most folks like us (residents of Denver, near downtown) that the entire population of New York was in and around Times Square to spend the evening. In fact, we ran into friends from Denver. That happy interaction didn’t keep us up too late, we were in bed by midnight.