Two Sundays in the Park

Posted on July 21, 2015 by liv2rv

The past two Sundays, we have ventured down to Grand Teton National Park, about 2 hours South of West Yellowstone, MT. The 40 mile long Teton Range was formed over 10 million years ago, during a series of earthquakes along the Teton fault line. The western side of the line rose up, creating the mountain range, and the eastern side sunk down, creating the valley referred to as Jackson Hole. Over two million years ago, glaciers were present, carving out the mountains, and creating Jackson Lake, which is over 400 feet deep. The lake is very popular for boating, canoeing and kayaking.

Jackson Lake

Our first visit to the park, was mainly social. We met up with friends, old and new, for lunch at the Signal Mountain Lodge in the park. It was great getting caught up on everyone’s summer jobs, and we have some great opportunities to think about for future work camping positions. Karen and Al are working at Luton’s Teton Cabins. Steve and Joan, along with Maxine and Dave, are working for a company that maps out BLM land.

lunch with friends

After lunch, instead of driving on the heavily populated main roads, Al led the pack in an off-road adventure on the Snake River. It was a great way to view the park and wildlife, without fighting all the tourists. July is the busiest month for both the Tetons and Yellowstone.

Snake River overlook

herd of Pronghorns

Once we completed our off-road adventure, we headed back to Karen and Al’s fifth wheel, to visit for an hour or so, before saying our goodbyes, as we all had two-hour drives back ‘home’. On our way back, we did stop at the sign in Yellowstone where the Continental Divide passes through the park (I like to take pictures of signs)! The Continental Divide, in case you are wondering, is the line that divides the flow of water between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Every continent except Antarctica has their own continental divide.

I stop for signs

While we were stopped at the pull-out, this gentleman pulled up with a very cool RV set-up. A Ford Falcon (year unknown) towing a T@B trailer.

a cool RV set-up

This past Sunday (July 19), we drove back down to the park to do a little more exploring, and met up again with Karen and Al. They were running a little behind, so Dan and I stopped in to check out the Jackson Lake Lodge. While we were looking at the scenery out back, a women came up to the man next to me and said ‘did you see the moose’? He shook his head and she said to follow her. I quickly followed her as well! She pointed to an area of tall brush, and we waited and were quickly rewarded with this quick view of a moose!

Moose!!!

I have never seen a moose before (Dan has while fishing in northern Minnesota with his college roommate Mike) so this was very exciting for me. And then there was more movement in the brush, and we saw a brief glimpse of a baby moose!

Mama and baby

That just made my day right there! They both went out of sight, and we waited a while, but then continued on to meet up with our friends. We headed up to the top of Signal Mountain, which overlooks the valley.

Signal Mountain View

If you look at the photo above, you will notice a uniquely shaped lake. We discussed various names, and Al came up with “Viagra Lake”. We will leave it up to you to decide what object you think it resembles! We headed back down and continued along the Teton Park Road, stopping at various overlooks. The first one overlooked Mount Moran (elevation 12,605 feet). We had low-lying clouds in the morning.

Mount Moran

We stopped in at String Lake, which is a very popular swimming and kayaking area. It is also where many of the backcountry hiking trails begin. We saw a number of very tired, but happy guys that were just completing a multi-day hike.

String Lake

We continued on down the road, and we were going to stop by Jenny Lake and the Jenny Lake Visitors Center, but they were overflowing with cars and people. We headed down towards Moose Junction to do some hiking in the Rockerfeller Preserve and noticed a lot of cars pulled over with a Park Ranger nearby trying to clear the traffic jam. We were briefly able to see another moose, fairly close to the road! This is when I am glad we have a sunroof in our truck, as I can pop up and take pictures while Dan continues driving. Now we just need to see a Bull Moose with a big rack.

Another Moose!

Unfortunately, when we arrived in the parking lot at the Preserve, it was all backed up and the Park Ranger told us there were eight cars ahead of us waiting for a parking spot. We talked it over with Karen and Al, and decided to just head out to lunch. We will plan on a hike later in August, when the park is less crowded. This is certainly a huge advantage to work camping, in that you can pick and choose when to do the things you want. Gone are the days of cramming in everything in one exhausting week of vacation. We see many people at night in the gift store that have “hit the wall” and are just exhausted from battling the crowds all day.

We had a nice late lunch at Dornan’s, which has an upper viewing deck overlooking the Tetons.

our lunch view

After lunch, we headed over to Lower Schwabacher area to view the Grand Tetons, before heading back home. The Grand Teton, at 13,770 feet, is the tallest peak in the range, with the Middle Teton and South Teton beside it. Since the clouds had finally lifted, it was a beautiful view with a nice reflection in the Snake River..

view of Grand Tetons

Life is Good

We had another great day, with friends, in the park. There are still many more things to do, and we will plan another visit in August. We also plan on spending some time in the city of Jackson, just south of the park. Most people refer to the city as Jackson Hole, but that is the name of the valley region, not the city. And we do plan on coming down through Idaho next time, so we can view the western half of the Teton Range.

Quote for the day: “The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir

YNP – Mammoth Hot Springs

Posted on July 10, 2015 by liv2rv

Mammoth Hot Springs is in the Northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park, near the city of Gardiner, Montana. Previously, we discussed how Yellowstone contains the largest hydrothermal features in the world. This area, as the name implies, contains hot springs. There are no geysers in the area. With hot springs, hot water travels underground through limestone, and dissolves carbonate materials. Water can easily flow to the surface where the heat escapes from runoff or evaporation. The water coats the surface with the carbonate materials, which hardens into travertine rock. Travertine is too soft to create enough pressure to form a geyser.

The drive up to the area is very pretty, and gives you an idea of how expansive this park is.

Yellowstone National Park

As you get closer to the area, you can see how the landscape changes, as a result of the hydrothermal features. The white colored rock is from the limestone deposits.

limestone hills

The park service has put in extensive board walks around the travertine terraces in the area, so you can spend an hour or two taking a leisurely stroll to admire the beauty of these features. The colors in the springs are from thermophiles, an organism (think bacteria) that can survive extremely high temperatures. The hot springs area is constantly changing, as it is a living, breathing eco-system.

Liberty Cap, a hot spring cone, where the “plumbing” system remained open in one place for a long time, allowing mineral deposits to build up to a height of 37 feet.

Liberty Cap

Palette Springs is a beautiful display of the hydrothermal features of this area, created over thousands of years.

Palette Springs

Hot Springs can have a life cycle as this example of Jupiter Terrace demonstrates. In 1923, it was documented that water was flowing extensively in the area. The calcium carbonate materials choked off the roots of the trees, and they died off. Since 1998, this area has been dormant. If it continues to remain dormant, new trees and grass will start to grow in the area. As you can see by this picture, a small amount of vegetation has grown over the past few years.

Jupiter Terrace

grass starting to grow

Minerva Terrace is an area that alternates between abundant water flow, and minimal flow. This changes over several years. The area of color, is where the water was flowing when we were visiting.

Minerva Terrace

Here are some additional views along our walk

New Blue Springs

Cleopatra Terrace

This is an overview of the Mammoth Hot Springs visitors center, shops and hotels.

view down to “city”

The original entrance to the park, in Gardiner, has the Theodore Roosevelt arch, which was constructed in 1903. President Roosevelt himself placed the cornerstone during construction of the arch by the U.S. Army which was stationed in the park. Dan and I remembered driving through this arch in 2004 on our brief visit to the park, and since we were so close, we decided to drive through it again. Only to discover it currently looks like this:

Roosevelt Arch

slogan on top of arch

The park service and the town of Gardiner are re-doing the entrance into the park and making the road through the arch one-way, with pedestrian access as well. There is a doorway in the arch, and people will be permitted to walk through the door. The town is also putting a bypass around the arch, to improve traffic flow. This construction should be completed later this year.

After a brief stop in the town of Gardiner, we headed back into the park, and down towards home, with a brief stop to check out the Golden Gate Canyon bridge and waterfall. The first bridge in this area was built in 1885 after blasting out 14,000 cubic yards of rock, and hauling them off via horse and wagons. By 1900, the bridge was too unstable and stagecoaches were falling off. The bridge has been rebuilt 3 times since, most recently in 1977.

Golden Gate Canyon

A highlight of our trip today was a brief visit with Christine and Herb, who were busy working at the Mammoth Hot Springs gift store. We worked with them last year at Crazy Horse. It was great catching up with them, and we hope to try to get together this summer, although our off days do not coincide with theirs.

Quote for the day: “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu

I hate fireworks!

Posted on July 6, 2015 by liv2rv

Hello everyone, it’s me again! And now that everything has quieted down, I thought I would give you a little update from the dog’s point of view.

Keeping my peeps informed!

The last few days have been super noisy here in West Yellowstone. Apparently there are no laws regarding who can shoot off fireworks in Montana, and it seems everyone in town had a pretty good supply of noisemakers. Saturday was the worst. My parents had to work, so I was left alone with all the noise for most of the night. People were shooting off fireworks and firecrackers all over town. It takes awhile before it gets dark, so the town-sponsored fireworks did not start until 10:30pm, so my parents were home by then. They took me out to try to get me to go potty, but as you can see by the photo below, I was so scared from all the prior noise that my tail was stuck between my legs!

I want in!!!

What made this night extra scary for me is that we were parked right in the “blast zone!” The launch area for the fireworks was about 100 yards from our RV, right across from the US Forest Service land that I like to take my walks on. We walked past to check out the area on my early morning walk on the 4th.

the launch site

Here is a closer view of all the shells…way too many for my taste!

a lot of shells

To put this in perspective, here is a view of our RV from the launch site.

our place from launch site

Too close for comfort, in my opinion! But I did get some visitors, which briefly made me happy! My parents co-workers, Tom and Ellen came by to watch. Diane and Jerry, another work camping couple that my parents met, also stopped by later, to join in the “VIP viewing section”. That’s what they called it…..I called it the scary, frightening section! Notice how no one else is around on the sidewalk? The entire street was blocked off, so only the few people living here could be in this area.

Dan, Ellen & Tom

My mom took a lot of photos of the fireworks. One misfired and landed about 75 feet away, which scared her. She went into “fire marshal” detail to make sure the burning embers were out. They said the show was quite spectacular, especially considering this is a town of 1200 people (during the off-season). I will have to take their word for it, as I refused to come out of the RV until after 1:00am. That’s how long it took before everyone in the area stopped shooting off more fireworks after the town’s show ended.

Enjoy the photos!

the beginning

red, white & blue

the finale

Thanks for following along everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful, and less scary, 4th of July! Until next time!

Quote for the day: “The United States is the only country with a known birthday.” – James G Blaine

Whitewater Rafting and Big Sky Country

Posted on July 1, 2015 by liv2rv

We decided to take advantage of a few freebies with our coupon book before they expired, and headed up to Big Sky, Montana (about 40 miles north) for a full day of playing tourist. Our pass for Montana Whitewater offered two options: a zipline tour, or whitewater rafting. When I first mentioned to Dan that I would like to try Whitewater Rafting, he was very surprised, as I do not swim. However, I knew I would feel a lot safer in a boat, with multiple people, a helmet and life jacket than zipping over trees held on by nothing more than small cable. The company offers several different tours , and we opted for the less challenging 1/2 day on the Gallatin River with Class 2-3 rapids.

If you want to go whitewater rafter, the earlier in the season, the better the water will be, in terms of water level and speed of the water. After mid-June, you will not really encounter much “rapids”, and the company will offer river tubing tours. So the earlier you can go, the more challenging it will be. Of course, the earlier you go, the colder the water temperature is! In our case, it was a brisk 40 degrees, so every splash was a bit refreshing!

There were three rafts in our group. The guides give a lot of safety instructions, and you practice your strokes as a group. Then each raft is on its own with a guide, going down the river, for the next 90 minutes or so.

the calm before the rocks

We bounced off a few rocks, and our guide Nicole, informed us she is an ‘equal opportunity splasher’, and she would turn the boat in different directions so we all got wet. Fortunately, this tour company provided free wetsuits and neoprene boots, which helped, but it was still chilly.

There were areas of calm water, followed by rocky, fast-moving water, which made for a fun morning. Enjoy our little sequence where we all got wet!

Our group

The Gallatin River runs along Highway 191, and the scenery is very beautiful.

a small waterfall behind us

watch out for the rocks!

We had a great time with Montana Whitewater, and would definitely recommend this company. The cost for a 1/2 day tour is $55.00 per person, and does include wetsuits. There are other tour companies, but they charge you extra for the suits. If you go early in the year, you definitely want to have them. We had free passes, but this was definitely something we would pay for with this company.

We stopped along the river for a quick picnic lunch, then headed into the city of Big Sky. On our drive in, we saw a sign for Lone Peak Brewery, so we decided to stop in and sample some of their local brews. Our 5 sampler came on a mini ski!

snow ski sampler!

Of the beers that we sampled, we liked two, Hippy Highway Oatmeal Stout, and a bourbon beer that was finished off for several weeks in a used bourbon barrel. Unfortunately, they do not can or bottle either of these two flavors. So if you want to try them, you will have to come to the brewery!

We continued on to the Big Sky Resort, for our complimentary scenic ski lift ride ($16/adults) from Mountain Village (7500 feet) to Swift Peak (8800 feet). There is an additional tram that will take you to the top of Lone Peak (11,000 feet), but we did not have time for that tour. The lift was very quiet, and took about 15 minutes to get to the top. I found that staring at my feet helped with the heights!

don’t look down!

Lone Peak 11000 feet

In the summer, the trails open up for hiking and cycling, and they have special lifts to take the bikes to the top.

bicycle chair lift

Even though we did not go to the top, it was still a beautiful view of the mountains.

Lone Peak double diamond trails

You can see the city of Big Sky down below.

Big Sky country

A view of the resort area coming down on the chair lift.

closer look at the resort area

For those that love skiing, there are many trails for all abilities.

After our quick tour, we headed over to 320 Guest Ranch for our complimentary Pig Roast which they have on Mondays in the summer. For $15, you get a pulled pork sandwich, coleslaw, potato salad, beans and a cookie. While the ranch itself is very nice, we were happy that we did not have to pay for the meal. This went into our “glad it was free” category.

We enjoyed our time Big Sky. It is a wonderful, and growing city.

Quote for the day: “When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come.” – Leonardo DaVinci

A day of premature eruptions!

Posted on June 19, 2015 by liv2rv

Our friends Karen and Al are working near Grand Teton National Park, and we had planned a get together once the southern road in Yellowstone finally opened up after June 11. With the way the weather has been, picking a date (June 14) so far in advance can be challenging. But we could not have asked for a better day! Our plan was to explore the Upper Geyser Basin of the park, which contains the very popular Old Faithful. Many people stop to watch Old Faithful, and then go on to explore another area of the park. But they are missing out on a lot of other geysers.

The largest concentration of active geysers in the world are contained in the Upper Geyser Basin. Time for a quick geology lesson! Three major volcanic eruptions have occurred in Yellowstone within the past 2 million years. The hydrothermal features in the park include geysers, hot springs, mudpots and fumaroles. Three features are needed to produce these: heat (from the magma 3-8 miles underground the park), water (from the rain and snow), and plumbing (from the natural underground cracks).

Today our focus was on the geysers, which are formed when the plumbing/cracks are constricted enough to prevent the water from easily getting to the surface, which would allow heat to escape. The water beneath the surface is under intense pressure, heats up to boiling, and is eventually forced out through an eruption of water and steam. That’s the quick and easy explanation!

The National Park service now has a Geyser App for your phone, so you can easily monitor when they will be erupting. Of course, cell phone service in the park is very spotty, so you are better off writing down the times that are posted in the visitors center. We arrived early in the morning, in time to watch Old Faithful erupt. In the photo below, take note of the number of people watching.

Old Faithful in the morning

Old Faithful erupts about every 90 minutes, and goes for 1 – 5 minutes, expelling 3700 – 8400 gallons of boiling water depending on the length of the eruption. It is the one geyser closest to the visitors center, but it is not the largest geyser in the park.

Old Faithful eruption

Afterwards, we headed for a quick breakfast, and planned out our day based upon the predicted geyser eruption schedule posted in the visitors center. A side note, we were pleasantly surprised at how affordable food is in the park, compared to West Yellowstone (about 1/2 the cost for breakfast!).

After breakfast we took a “brief” hike up to Observation Point. I put that in quotes because the posted sign stated it was only 1/2 mile, but it was almost straight up a hill. From that viewpoint, we were able to watch Old Faithful again erupt,(for the scheduled 11:14am time) and take in the beautiful scenery surrounding the area. In the photo below, you can see Old Faithful on the left, and the famous (and super expensive) Old Faithful Inn on the right. The crowd on the boardwalk is getting a little bigger.

Observation Point view

We took a short stroll down to Solitary Geyser, which is named because it is far from the other geysers, and no one seems to visit it. This geyser was altered by humans, before they truly understood what geysers are all about. It was originally a hot spring, and the park put a pipe into it to divert the hot water down into a pool (around 1915). When the water level dropped, the “spring” started erupting. The pipe was removed and the water level restored, but the geyser continues to erupt every 4-7 minutes, to this day. We watched it bubble up and erupt twice while we were there. It goes a few feet in height. Al, Karen and Dan are on the left in the picture below. We had this geyser to ourselves for about 15 minutes before another couple showed up.

Solitary Geyser

Continuing along the boardwalk, we stopped to look at several small geysers on the way to Castle Geyser, which was set to erupt at 12:25pm (+/- 45 minutes). The park service has a nice trail guide (available for a $1 donation), which has a detailed map and description of all the geysers. We arrived at Castle Geyser a little after noon, and took up a spot to view the eruption. Note the lack of people in the photo in the background.

Castle Geyser

The Castle Geyser only erupts once every 13 hours (+/- 1 hour), and lasts 15-20 minutes for the water phase, followed by 30 minutes of steam. It reaches a height of 75 feet. A little after noon, the smaller pools around the “castle” started boiling, and soon the water started erupting, at first in small bursts, then in one large burst.

Castle Geyser

We were happy we arrived early, since the geyser started erupting early, and it was an amazing display. Much more impressive than Old Faithful, even though it does not spew water as high. And to be able to watch a geyser that only erupts every 13 hours was a great experience. We planned on watching the geyser for a while, since the Grand Geyser was not set to erupt until 2:25pm (+/- 75 minutes).

After about 15 minutes of watching the geyser, we started hearing people screaming in the distance. We turned around to discover the Grand Geyser was also erupting way ahead of schedule. Again, there was very few people around the Grand Geyser at the time.

Grand Geyser viewed from Castle Geyser

The Grand Geyser is considered to be the tallest predictable geyser in the world (just not today!!). Since the duration of the eruption is only 9-12 minutes, we sprinted up the boardwalk to watch the remainder of the eruption. Within the Grand Geyser is also the Vent and Turban Geysers, and they were erupting as well. Vent, on the left and Turban on the right are mostly steam, with Grand in the middle spurting the water.

Vent, Grand, Turban Geysers

Vent, Grand & Turban Geysers

While this was going on, the Castle Geyser had switched over to the steam phase. You can see it in the distance from the Grand Geyser.

Steam phase of Castle Geyser

Unlike the Castle Geyser, when the Grand Geyser ends, it is if someone turned the switch to “off”, because everything just stops. It just looks like a dormant geyser. Note how the trees near the geyser have turned white from the steam and water spray.

Grand Geyser

By this time, it was a little after 1:00pm, and the next scheduled eruption was 1:50pm (+/- 30 minutes) at the Riverside Geyser. Thinking we had plenty of time, although aware that everything else had gone of prematurely, we headed down to see the very popular Morning Glory Pool. We passed the Grotto Geyser on the way, which has no predictable schedule. It is very unique in its shape.

Grotto Geyser

The Morning Glory Pool was named after its likeness to the flower. The pool is a hot spring, not a geyser. People have thrown coins and other objects into the pool over the years, which have clogged up the steam vent. As a result of this vandalism, the temperature in the pool has been lowered, and more bacteria has grown. The park service has tried to lower the water level and vacuum out many of the objects, in order to restore the pool back to its natural state.

Morning Glory

And yes, while viewing the pool, we again heard more screams in the distance, and turned around to discover the Riverside Geyser was also erupting early!

Riverside Geyser in distance

The Riverside Geyser erupts every 6 hours, and lasts about 20 minutes. It is on the bank of the Firehole River, providing a very scenic display.

Riverside Geyser downstream

Riverside Geyser across stream

We sat and watched the geyser for about 10 minutes, before making the almost 3 mile walk back towards the visitors center. We stopped along the boardwalk to view a few more geysers, and stopped to watch the Anemone Geyser. The geyser is actually two geysers close together, and are named after the Anemone flower. Most people just walk right on by, not realizing these little geysers erupt every 7-10 minutes. It is worth the wait, because you could get splashed by this geyser, depending on which way the wind is blowing.

Anemone Geyser

We ended up with a splash of water and steam.

Anemone Geyser erupting

After a reasonably priced, and tasty meal at the Old Faithful cafeteria, we headed over to the Midway Geyser Basin to try to view the Grand Prismatic. At 370 feet in diameter, it is the largest hot spring in the park. It is also difficult to see, due to the constant steam (blue colored) floating up from the spring.

Grand Prismatic

another view of Grand Prismatic

To get a good view, click here, for some google photos. Some folks do go “off trail” and hike up the hill you see in the background of my photos.

According to Al’s fitness app on his phone, we walked over 12 miles in about 8 hours. It was a wonderful day with good friends, and spectacular eruptions. We feel very fortunate to have been able to view so many geysers erupting in one day. If you have the time, don’t just watch Old Faithful and leave. Go take a walk around the entire Upper Geyser basin, and look at all the wonderful thermal features. Perhaps if people realized this is the only place on Earth to see so many, they would spend more time here.

Oh, remember my first photo of Old Faithful (yes, I know this is a long blog) showing a few hundred visitors? This is what you will encounter when you go in the afternoon (taken when we were leaving the area). Thousands of people crammed together! Go early!!

the tourists have arrived!

Quote for the day: “I don’t drink water, because if water can erode rock, think what it can do to flesh.” – Jarod Kintz

How do you start a horse?!

Posted on June 16, 2015 by liv2rv

One of the perks with some work camping jobs is free passes to local attractions. Last summer, we were fortunate to receive VIP passes for working in the Black Hills, and were able to see and do many activities, free of charge. This summer, we did not think we would have that opportunity, but happily, we were wrong! If you are considering work camping jobs, asking if there are any free perks/passes is a good idea.

The Big Sky and West Yellowstone Chambers of Commerce have created Host Week passes. These are passes to many local attractions and restaurants that offer free or reduced prices. The only caveat is that it only valid for 10 days in June. So we did our best to cram as much as we could on our off days. As such, I will have several blog posts of our activities over the next several weeks.

Work itself is slowly picking up. Most schools should be out by now, so bring on the tourists!! I can only dust the same items at work so many times!

One of our first “free” attractions that we visited was a horse ride courtesy of Parade Rest Guest Ranch. A one hour ride through the Custer Gallatin National Forest is normally $55.00 per person. Since we booked so early in the season, Dan and I were the only two people during our ride with Tristan, our guide, which made for a more personalized experience.

They make it easy for beginners, as you mount the horse from stairs.

Beginners Mount

My horse was named Buck, and Dan’s was on Rowdy. When we started our ride, Dan and our guide took off, and I just sat there. I was a bit puzzled on how to get the horse moving! Our guide gave us a lot of safety instruction, and how to steer the horse, but not how to “start” it. Tristan quickly noticed I was not moving, and told me to kick Buck. I don’t want to kick an animal, so I gave Buck a gentle tap….and he did not budge! Then Tristan yelled “kick, kick, kick, kick, kick!” So I followed his instructions and kicked and kicked. And off Buck went, a bit too fast for my liking! I quickly realized that saddles have no padding. If they can make bicycle shorts, I wonder if they have saddle pants?!

Buck quickly settled down, and probably realized I was an easy target, as he frequently stopped for a mouthful of grass. We kept a leisurely pace well behind Tristan and Dan.

not keeping pace

Our ride started out in prairie grass, but quickly climbed up through the forest.

through the woods

After about 20 minutes, we came to a scenic overlook, where we could view Hebgen Lake down below, with the mountains in the background. It was a beautiful and peaceful view.

Hebgen Lake

Dan and Rowdy seemed to get along nicely. He was a pretty big horse. I think our guide said he is a Quarterhorse.

Howdy from Rowdy!

Buck just continued snacking along the route. I tried to pull up when he put his head down, but he was stronger than I was.

Buck is snacking

The views throughout our ride were beautiful!

North of West Yellowstone

a beautiful ride

happy trails

As we started to descend back down the hill, we had an overview of the barn and corral at the Ranch.

Parade Ranch below

We had a great time on our ride, and would definitely recommend the Parade Rest Guest Ranch for anyone interested in a horse ride in West Yellowstone. There are several companies that offer rides, but given that this ranch has a special use permit to ride in the forest, made for a challenging (up and down narrow trails), fun and scenic ride.

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES!!!

Dan and I also want to give a special shout-out to my nephew Jeremy, for graduating from a very challenging Nurse Anesthetics program in Minnesota.

Congrats Jeremy!!

Also, congratulations to my niece Molly, for graduating from High School!

Congrats Molly!

One of the few downsides of this lifestyle is that you are going to miss some special occasions. So hugs and high fives from Montana!!

Quote for the day: “No hour of life is wasted, that is spent in the saddle.” – Winston Churchill

Rain, Rain and a brief park visit

Posted on June 9, 2015 by liv2rv

Since we arrived in West Yellowstone, MT three weeks ago, it has rained every day. The locals are happy about the rain, as they did not have much snow this winter. As many have put it, more rain in May means less smoke (forest fires) in August. I’m thinking it will be a bumper crop for mosquitos this summer!

The forecast for this past Sunday indicated it would be nice until the afternoon, so we decided to get up early and head over to Yellowstone National Park for the morning. We got up bright and early….to thick fog! The best wildlife viewing is early morning or just before sunset. We decided to wait a few hours for the fog to lift, so we were not expecting to see much wildlife on this visit. Since we are here for the Summer, we have decided to do the park in small sections. The park is divided into eight sections, and we decided to head to the Canyon Village area, to view the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, along with the Upper and Lower Falls.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

The canyon is over 24 miles long, and is continuously changing, due to wind, water, earthquakes and other natural occurrences.

Along the way to several viewing positions, remnants remain of the glaciers that melted over 10,000 years ago. This boulder, as big as a small home, remains nestled in the pine trees.

glacier boulder

At 308 feet, the Lower Falls is the tallest waterfall in Yellowstone National Park.

Lower Falls

The Lower Falls

The Upper Falls, is named because it is at a higher elevation on the river. However, the waterfall is only 109 feet.

The Upper Falls

We did stop and view one geyser on our way to the Canyon Village area, but I forgot to take a picture of the sign, so I have no idea what this one is called. It was very small and all by itself.

unknown geyser

The highlight of the day was encountering two beautiful Elk that were hanging out near the parking lot by the Upper Falls viewing area. Elk shed their antlers late March thru April, and then begin re-growing them almost immediately. They can grow as much as 2 inches per day. They are velvet covered during the period of growth, and by summer the blood flow stops to the antler, and it hardens. The Elk scratch their antlers along trees to scrape off the velvet.

Big Daddy

Hello!

We are very excited about having the entire summer to take our time exploring the park.

Quote for the day: “Think of your life as a waterfall; it may come crashing down at some point, it may have it’s ups and downs, but in the end, it will continue to flow.” – unknown

Back to Work – our summer home

Posted on May 20, 2015 by liv2rv

After our unexpected delay in Rapid City, SD to repair Dan’s truck (under warranty yay!), we spent the next two days travelling to our summer job in West Yellowstone, MT. It was a beautiful drive, and we knew our destination was ahead when we hit this sign.

Welcome to Yellowstone

We were pleasantly surprised by the town of West Yellowstone, population 1300, located at the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. For such a small town, it has a lot to see and do in the area, besides the big park. We feel this will be a good summer for exploring.

There are a few RV parks in town, but they charge very high daily fees. As such, work campers are usually tucked away in spots throughout the town that locals rent out to businesses. If you drive around and look in the alleys, you will see RV’s tucked all over town. We are on the edge of town, in a quiet area, with one other RV. It is not a glamorous spot, but it has 50 amp full hook-ups, and will be free, to us, for the entire summer.

our ‘spot’

Across the street from our spot, is US Forest Service land, which has some nice trails and a place to let Makena play off leash.

place for Makena

And beyond the forest, lies a beautiful view!

view for the summer!

The day after we arrived, we started our summer jobs. We will be working at Homeroom at Madison Crossings, a cabin decor gift shop. There is one other work camper couple, Tom and Ellen, that recommended the job to us.

Tom and Ellen

The building was the old school in town. Originally built in 1918, it was a 3 room school, and expanded over the years. In 1954, a gymnasium was added on, and that is the location of the gift shop. It remained in use until 1992, when a new school was built. In 1993, an elevator and 2^nd floor was added to the gym. The floor, wood beams, and two of the lights are original to the building.

Madison Crossings

Homeroom at Madison Crossings

view from 2nd floor

Down the hall is the old gym (a “half court gym”) and the stage. Today it is used for banquets.

half gym & stage

For those curious about work camping and what it pays, we will be making $9.00/hour, with a 50 cent an hour completion bonus for every hour we work. In addition, we will receive free access to the fitness center in the building, ($40/month value), and our site is free, including electric. We will also receive a discount on any purchases we make in the store as well as the restaurant that is in the building.

We already had visitors! George and Laurie (Owens on the Road) stopped by for a visit on the way to their summer job in Montana. It was great getting caught up with some fellow Amazon workers. We will be working Wednesday through Saturday, eventually working 10 hour days once the tourist season gets in full motion.

George and Laurie

The store sells many items, including a variety of signs. I took a photo of one of the cute signs, and that will be the Quote for the day:

Quote for the day

I need to lose 1/2 pound!

Posted on May 11, 2015 by liv2rv

Hello everyone! While my parents are busy waiting for their truck to get fixed, I thought I would update the blog. For those new to the blog, I like to give a perspective on full-timing from the dog’s point of view!

Keeping my peeps informed!

While I was sad when we left Florida, I was eager for new sights, smells and places to pee. I especially enjoyed our trip to North Carolina, because I had a big house to explore and play in. Austin and Cole were eager to play with me, and throw my football. Kids have so much more energy than adults do, so I get to play a lot longer with them. They even wore me out! Superhero’s can do that!

Cole & Austin

Cole even wrote about me in his school journal. Perhaps his mom and dad can think about getting a dog?? Thank you Jodie and Chris for letting me come and play!

Cole’s journal

Eventually we made our way back to “Camp Meyer”, which is my dad’s sisters house in Wisconsin. I really enjoy my off-leash time at Doug and Linda’s house, especially when the popcorn fairy magically leaves a few pieces of popcorn on the floor. While I was hanging with my gnomies this year, a strange thing happened. This little baby popped into the picture, and I was no longer the center of attention:(

Hanging with my gnomies

Baby Ellie seemed to upstage me, but I am hopeful she will get bigger and I can teach her how to throw the football to me! Congrats to Kyle and Lauren and their first child!

I need attention!

My parents took me down to the Milwaukee area to hang with my cousins, and get my doctor’s appointment. The doctor was not happy that I have gained 1/2 pound since my last visit. This may not sound like a big gain, but he is being pro-active, and I appreciated that! He didn’t comment on how much weight my parents have gained since Amazon, but the two are related! They promised the doctor they would get back into the habit of daily walks for me. The doctor also wanted to have my teeth cleaned, but my parents are hesitant to do this, as they would have to put me under. They have heard about other dogs that did not make it through a routine cleaning, so they are afraid to do it.

On the positive side, after my visit, my parents stopped at the pet store and bought me some new footballs, and a box of dental chews!!! WooHoo!! Treats and toys! Thanks you doctor!! I am really liking these, and my parents hope they work! They also bought a toothbrush and toothpaste….we’ll see how that goes! I did get to spend a few days with my grandparents, and they took me for daily walks and lots of playtime!

yummy!

If you ask any full-time RVer, they will say it can be easy to lose track of what day it is. I have no idea about the days of the week, but I do know about the seasons. It should be warm, warm, cool and a little cooler. But I was all mixed up yesterday when I woke up to this nonsense! Who put all this snow in my play area at the campground? Yuck!

What???

But at least my parents are still getting me out to play, so I can lose my 1/2 pound! I think we will be ‘hitching up’ soon, and getting out of this crazy weather to head west for the summer. I am looking forward to more areas to play, and I hear there is a lot of wildlife to see (from the comfort of my parents truck)!

Take care everyone!

Quote for the day: “Dogs love company. They place it first in their short list of needs.” – J.R. Ackerly

A busy few weeks in Wisconsin//Stuck in South Dakota!

Posted on May 8, 2015 by liv2rv

Our time in Wisconsin has gone by fast, as we get ready to head out to West Yellowstone, Montana for our summer jobs. I spent several days getting poked and prodded with all sorts of medical tests. I knew I was in for some fun when my doctor said “welcome to your 50’s, let’s get a colonoscopy!!” Makena also had her veterinary appointment, but Dan declined any visits at this time. He wanted to wait and see how our new insurance will cover all my tests, before he undergoes his own. We were happy that they covered everything at 100%. Unfortunately, Assurant Health has decided they were not making as big of a profit under the new law, so they are going to sell off their health insurance line of business, but keep the more profitable ‘pre-paid funeral expenses’ and other ‘disability’ lines of insurance. So next year we will be looking for a new carrier. We will try to schedule Dan’s appointments in the fall, before we start back at Amazon.

The truck had some recall work done, an oil change, and new brakes done for 1/3 of the cost the Ford dealer wanted! (thanks Kevin!). Dan is feeling better about taking the 5th wheel up into the mountains this summer. (more on the truck later)

We cleaned and defrosted the refrigerator, and fully restocked our freezer and pantry. The nearest Wal-Mart to West Yellowstone is 84 miles (one way), so we wanted to stock up on food. There is a grocery store in town according to our employer, but with being in such a remote area, we are anticipating “sticker shock” on the food prices.

We were able to visit with some friends and family, but time goes by too fast to see everyone. My niece Molly had her last all district choir concert, which we were able to attend. Not sure who was more excited….my niece or my sister and brother-in-law realizing they did not have to attend any more of these performances! We did enjoy Molly’s performance.

Margie, Molly, Greg

We also celebrated my sister-in-law Annette’s birthday.

Annette, Brian, me & Dan

Dinners with friends Dave and Angie, Mike and Karlyn and Robin and Mary on various nights reminded us we need to start exercising again! Good thing there a lot’s of hiking trails in Yellowstone!

And we had our now annual ‘patio beer’ with my former co-worker Amy!

Cheers

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY!

I started a draft of this blog a week ago, and was planning on posting it when we left Wisconsin. We had to leave a few days earlier than expected, because of some additional repair work that needed to be done on the 5th wheel. Look for a future post on that. After leaving Indiana, we had two very long driving days to get out to Rapid City, SD. Our goal was to meet up with Tom and Ellen, our co-workers for our summer job. And we wanted to visit with Phil and Rudee, our co-workers from last summer at Crazy Horse. We did make it here in time, and had a nice get together.

Unfortunately, the truck started making a bad noise about 20 miles before we arrived to Rapid City, and eventually the ‘check engine’ light came on! So a trip to the Ford dealer revealed the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’. Some exhaust tube thingy in the engine broke, blowing exhaust fumes into the dash, and melting part of the windshield wiper fluid lines. The part in the middle that is all black is the culprit.

burned out part

The good news is that all of this is covered under the 100,000 mile manufacturer’s engine warranty. The bad news is they have to order parts from Colorado, and they will not arrive until Monday. Therefore, we will not be able to start our summer jobs on time.

And now for the UGLY: There is a winter storm warning this weekend! 6 – 12 inches of snow is expected by Sunday here in Rapid City! Ugh!

The Ford dealer is hoping the parts won’t be delayed by the storm.

So we are just going to sit still for a few days. We are trying to take a positive view of all of this. “No rain. No rainbows” is a popular slogan in our favorite state of Hawaii. A simple saying, but sometimes you need a few bad things as a reminder to always appreciate the good things. Wish us luck!

Quote for the day: “There is something good in all seeming failures. You are not to see that now. Time will reveal it. Be patient.” – Swami Sivananda

Liv2RV

Living and working around the country in a RV