Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Yellowstone National Park

We really enjoyed Yellowstone. It is quite a large park. We would make a lunch and leave the MH around 9 and drive one of the loops in the park. We would find a picnic area for lunch and then drive somemore until dinner time. There is quite a lot to see. We would pull into all the visitor points they had, such as the various glacier areas and falls. Sometimes we would also take other drives off of the loop drives. We would also get out and do some walking up to the points of interest. We walked the loop at Old Faithful in order to see the other geysers in the area. On the second day, we took a drive on 6 plateaus and were able to see the baby bears up in a tree. There are lots of buffalo in the area. Here the buffalo rule the traffic. They get on the road and sometimes just stand there which causes traffic to back up. Of course, some of the people stop their vehicles in the middle of the road to take pictures which also causes the traffic to back up. We were able to see buffalo, black bear, mountain goats, grizzly bears, antelope, moose, marmut, wolves, bald eagle, elk, and deer. I divided my pictures into ablums for each day. We saw the black bear cubs on the second day. We were not close enough for me to get pictures of the grizzly or wolves. We had to be content to view them through a spotting scope.
We are slowly making our way towards Glacier National Park.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Yellowstone National Park



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Moose and baby, Grand Teton National Park

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Yellowstone National Park

Orange Spring

Angel Terrace Posted by Picasa

Buffalo, Yellowstone National Park

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Grand Teton National Park

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Gary and I at the Tetons

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Bear cubs Yellowstone National Park

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Morning Glory, Yellowstone National Park

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Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park

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Buffal Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wy

We were in Cody for 3 days. We sure had a lot of fun. We went on a trolley ride and learned quite a lot about Cody and Buffalo Bill. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center houses 5 museums. They have an outstanding firearm museum with guns from all historical eras. The Buffalo Bill Museum houses lots of things that belonged to Buffalo Bill and some of his entainers such as Annie Oakley. The Center also has a wildlife museum and Indian Museum. There is also an art gallery. There is a gunfight downtown every evening but Sunday. We also attended a cowboy variety show which was really entertaining. We also went to the Rodeo and the Tecumseh miniature village museum.

Buffalo Bill's coat

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Eagle Feather War Bonnets

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Chief Red Cloud's Shirt

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Old Trail Town, Cody, Wyoming

This is the building that the Hole-in-the-Wall gang used. It was moved to Old Trail Town. They have pictures of the gang, Butch Casiday, etc. in the building.

Looking down the street of Old Trail Town in Cody, Wy. We really enjoyed this little town. They had quite a lot of museum items in each of the buildings. The saloon even had bullet holes in it from some of the shooting that took place. More pictures on travel photo link. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Battlefield Museum, GarryOwen, Mt

We visited the Battlefield Museum. This museum is located where the Battle of the Little Big Horn began. It has quite a lot of interesting items inside. We were able to view a movie about whether or not Custer was betrayed by Captain Reno and Bentein. Could they have saved him? The museum includes lots of black and white pictures taken of many of the Indian chiefs that were in the battle. Cost to view the museum was only $3 per person. More pictures in our travel photos.
War bonnet worn my Cheyenne chief during Battle Of Little Big Horn.

Moccaisins worn my Chief Sitting Bull's son John Sitting Bull.

Shirt worn by ghost dancer. Posted by Picasa

Big Horn Battlefield National Park

We visited the Big Horn Battlefield National Park located between Hardin and GarryOwen Montana. After our visit we were able to understand the Battle. We also listened to a Park Ranger give a talk about the battle. More pictures of the battle are on the webshots.

Battlefield of Little Big Horn

Marker showing where Custer fell
tribute to Indidans who fought on Battlefield

uniforms worn by Custer at West Point, Civil War and Plains Posted by Picasa

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Dakota Dinosaur Museum, Dickinson, Nd

We visited the Dakota Dinosaur Museum today. Cost to view musuem is $8 per adult. 91% of the exhibits are the real thing. They have 11 full-scale sculptures of dinosaurs and then have the bones laid out around them. Besides the dinosaurs, they have displays of worldwide minerals, fluorescent minerals, mamals, a bison skeleton, fossils, and seashells and sea life. We really enjoyed seeing the real Triceratops skull.

Dakota Dinosaur Museum, Dickinson, North Dakota

Real Triceratops skull.

Shades of Jurasic park. A mosquito in amber.

Fluorescent minerals. Quite a display Posted by Picasa

Hettinger County Historical Museum

We stopped in Regent to take a picture of the last sculpture along the Enchanted Highway when the guide for the museum invited us in. She gave us a wonderful guided tour of the museum. The museum covers 4 buildings. There is truly a large amount of items to see. 2 of the buildings are the oringinal general store and then the doctor's office which included a soda fountain and pharmacy on the bottom floor. The extra information from the guide really added to our tour of the museum. If you get to Regent, be sure to go through the museum, I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as we did.

Hettinger County Historical Museum, Regent, ND

One of four marble soda fountains left in the US. Fountain is still in original building.

Baby stroller

Pharmacy downstairs under doctor's office. Posted by Picasa

The Enchanted Highway

We took a ride along the Enchanted Highway to view the six metal folk art sculptures which can be seen on the way to Regent, North Dakota. The artist is Gary Greff a former educator. The sculptors are, Geese in Flight, The Deer Family, Grasshoppers in the Field, Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again, Pheasants on the Prairie, and the Tin Family. We really enjoyed these sculptures and the drive along the Enchanted Highway. You can get on the Enchanted Highway by taking exit 72 south off of Interstate 94.

Sculptures along Enchanted Highway

Teddy Rides Again. This sculpture is a tribute to Theodore Roosevelt's part in North Dakota's history. The sculpture was built of used well pipes. Teddy and his favorite horse stand 51 feet tall and weigh over 9000 pounds.

Pheasants on the Prairie. Three dimensional sculptures made of wire mesh that was originally used for screening gravel. The rooster is 70 feet long and 40 feet tall. The hen is 60 feet long and 35 feet tall. Chicks are 20 feet long and 15 feet tall.

Geese in Flight sculpture is in the 2002 Guinness World Book of records as the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world. It was built of used oil well pipes and oil tanks and weighs over 75 tons. The largest goose has a 30 foot wing span and is 19 feet long. The sun ray is 156 feet long and 110 feet tall. Posted by Picasa