Sunday, July 1, 2007

Our travels the last couple of weeks

We are getting into somewhat of a routine here, if you can call it that. We set aside at least one of our two days off to explore the National Park and the surrounding area. There is so much to see, but everything involves a long trip. Fortunately, the price of gas has dropped to $3.19 now and we walk everyplace in town, so the only time we use the truck is for going out of town. The closest Wal-Mart is 90 miles away, so we only go every two to three weeks.
The weather has been ideal during the day, but we still run heat most nights. At an elevation of 6666 feet, it gets chilly when the sun goes down. It almost got real hot here this last week, as there was a forest fire just a couple of miles north of us. We had some smoke engulfing the town, but it appears they have it under control now. We felt more fortunate than most, because if they evacuated, we could take our 'house' with us. As of Saturday night, the fire burned 3700 acres and was 60 percent contained. Some people were evacuated, but no structures were lost.
Red Rock Lakes NWR, is a remote 45,000 acre refuge, with only dirt road access. This makes it a perfect place for nesting trumpeter swans. They keep their nesting areas blocked off, so we were not able to get too close, but we were able to watch a trumpeter swan pair with their 5 cygnets.
We also took a ride to Grand Teton National Park, it had been 18 years since the last time we were there. It is still a magnificent sight. We visited friends who are working there. We worked with them in Gettysburg 4 summers ago and had not seen them since.

Trumpeter Swan family at Red Rock Lakes NWR


Mother elk with calf


Yellowstone hot springs at dusk


Sunset in Yellowstone


Teton Glacier


Grand Teton National Park


Moose and calf between Yellowstone and Grand Teton


Quake Lake, formed in 1959 during a 7.5 earthquake just north of West Yellowstone, MT