Tetons, Yellowstone, Cody, WY 6/26-27/2010

6/26/10

We're witnessing glacial melt from one of the last glaciers in the Tetons cascading into Lupin Meadow. It cascaded a 90 degree slope with a thundering roar. We were on the road when we saw this and decided to get closer to witness this magnificient event. Wish the picture portrayed the power of the moment.

No explantion needed here other than we could see it this time. As mentioned before, our last view of Old Faithful erupting was in snowing conditions and hard to tell when the eruption ocurred.

On our way back to Fishing Bridge from Old Faithful we came across this female elk grazing along the roadside. Needless to say, she created quite the elk jam on the road.

We also saw a 300-400 lb black bear all to late to get a photo. You just have to take our word for it. Only moose have not been spotted.

Twin Falls, ID to Jackson Hole, WY 6/21-6/26

Took a fly fishing float trip on the Green River and pictured we were successful numerous times but only needed one picture each. The Snake is still spewing dirty water so had to make a trip to the Green by car with our guide, Will Begg from CO. The town center of Jackson Hole has four entrances welcoming visitors with elk antler archways. The antlers have been collected over the years at the elk refuge north of town. Sometimes the boy scouts are allowed to collect and sell the antlers for a fund raiser. Of course this trip would not be complete without a round of golf with the

Teton Mts. in the background. What a spectacular view, hard to concentrate on the golf game but we did survive. So far the weather has been fantastic! We're behind all the weather that has come through any of the areas we've visited. Tomorrow we're off Yellowstone for an overnight stop and go see Old Faithful while the sky are clear and it's not freezing cold and snowing like our last visit. We couldn't even tell when it blew because of all the snow!!!!...........and the journey continues

6/19 to 6/2010 Twin Falls leg

6/19/10 Guess what, you got the pictures without the text! So here we go explaining what you have received. Our adventure to Twin Falls followed parts of the Calif. Trail through Wells and Jackpot. We slowly left the sagebrush and transitioned into the fertile valleys of Twin Falls, ID. Beautiful weather and gorgeous clouds and minimal wind. We're hitting the weather just right.

6/20/10 Went to Shoshone Falls dropping 212'. It is taller than both the American and Canadian Falls (Niagara) by some 40' but not nearly as wide. This area is in Snake River Canyon, formed by a ravaging flood out of Bonneville Lake in Utah some 15,000 years ago. Within 6 weeks the lake had emptied leaving behind the Great Salt Lake and Snake River and deposited fertile soil along the way creating what is called today "majestic valley". Most of Idaho's potatoes are grown in the Twin Falls to Idaho Falls area.

The Perrine Bridge is over 450' high, spans the mile wide Snake River Canyon and it is legal to "BASE" jump from it. If you look closely at two bridge pictures, (1) full scale (2) just the under the arch there is a blue dot half way down. That happens to be 1 of 6 jumpers who took the 11 second leap of fate from the bridge and landed on a designated spot some 50' in diameter. next to the river and just behind a row of willows lining the river. We just scratched our heads and asked why? Thrill of it all is the answer as the guys we watched were our neighbors that night in the campground. They were 6 chaps from Australia on a visit to the US to jump off any and all legal spots to BASE jump. BASE stands for building, antenna,span and earth.

We'll figure out how to send the next blog with the pictures we are taking in Jackson, WY.........
the journey continues

6/19 to 6/20/10 Elko, Twin Falls leg

6/18/10 Friday

We're leaving the beautiful scenery of Graeagle passing meadows of Lupin thanks to the wet winter. Graeagle, in old west days was big in the timber industry, also part of CA Fruit Exchange, and the 1st ski area in CA is just up on Mills Peak. Graeagle is also the easterly end of the Feather River Canyon, the "route of the feather" famous passenger train service ran through here. The river is now the source of Ca water projects bringing water to southern Ca. Heading east on Hwy 70 we follow the Feather over Beckwourth Pass in the high desert of eastern CA. Beckwourth Pass, as are many across the Sierra and Cascades, are named for early pioneers who charted and guided wagon trains during the settlement of CA and other states. Our stop for the night will be in Winnemucca, NV which surprisingly is still dressed in green hillsides and meadows again thanks to late storms and lots of water. Dinner tonight is the old west and new vogue, basque soup from one of Winnemucca's old rest. and chicken from Walmart! Winnemucca is part of the old west trail system to OR & CA and was heavily settled by the Basque, who grazed sheep on the fertile valleys and surrounding hills. Eventually copper and other minerals were found and mined. Still is a strong industry here as are games of chance. Butch Cassidy enjoyed very prosperous days and once had a portrait of himself made which he sent to the president of a NV bank he robbed thanking him for picking up some of his living expenses! We're still learning how to navigate the blog laws of ligistics so the pictures are mixed up but we're sure you'll figure out that the mt. scene with the "W" is in Winnemucca! and the journey continues.................................................

This is where we've spent the last 3 days enjoying cool weather and great golf. Graeagle is in N.CA in the vicinty of Portola and Quincy where the mountains are still mostly blanketed in snow and the streams and rivers are flowing swiftly. We will officially begin are east coast push on Friday 6/18/10 traveling through Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, S. Dakota, Wisc, Minn, Mich to Ohio in Aug and points east from there. Now that we have an idea how this site works we'll add info as we go along. Hope everyone has a great summer.