2014 August Bozeman to Big Sky to Yellowstone NP

August 20, 2014. Wednesday:  56 degrees inside the LD when we awakened.  I was up at 6:30 am.  We went to Bozeman to find a tea steeper, bought some "sisters on the fly" stuff and had lunch.  Jim and Bev Moore, other LD owners came over for wine.  Very cold tonight.


Jim and Bev Moore, fellow LD owners

August 21, 1014. Thursday: We both slept in.  It was 56 degrees outside when we awakened at 9:30 am. Ed washed the RV and car while Jeanne cleaned the inside of LD.  With some great urging from Jeanne, Ed accepted the ice water ALS challenge.  So already cold and wet from washing LD and Jeep, Jeanne got me a container of ice water.  Ed accepted the ALS challenge from Katie, Dylan and Alex and then challenged Ann, Megan, Beth and Butch.   Jeanne videoed while Ed dumped the ice over his head and posted the event on Facebook.   We then returned to Bozeman to shop and lunch at MacKenzie River Pizza.  Returned to do laundry at the campground and ate leftover pizza for dinner.

August 22, 2014. Friday: Time to leave Bozeman and head to the Big Sky area.  Left the Sunrise CG and went to Costco to buy a new Garmin (our old one died) and on to Target to buy groceries.  Left Bozeman at 2:00 pm MT and arrived at the Red Cliff National Forest CG about 3:30 PM.  Heavy rainstorm.  We were pleasantly surprised by this pretty CG next to the Galatin River.  Thank you, Mike Coachman for this CG recommendation on your blog.   We had site 05 reserved from August 22 and departing August 28.  Cost for these 6 nights with electric only (with senior discount) was $81.    We stayed in this evening to catch up on our blogging.  Temperature at 5:30 pm was 46 degrees.  Brrr.  We will stay in tonight.  We plan to spend a few days with Bob and Ginger Kreisberg in Big Sky.  We are about 5 miles south of the road to Big Sky on Rt. 191.

August 23, 2014. Saturday: Arrived at Bob and Gingers about 11:15 am for lunch at their house. The house is beautifully decorated with mostly a cabin theme.  It is very warm and welcoming with lots of beautiful western art work.  Also contained much of Ginger’s furnishings from her Mobile house and bay house. 

Bob was recovering from his knee replacement and now dealing with a broken left wrist.  He attends therapy in Big Sky daily.  Ginger gave us a driving tour of Base Camp at the base of Lone Mountain ski area.  Tonight we had dinner at “Buck’s T Four”, a very nice western atmosphere with wonderful food.  Ed had the prime rib which was so big, it could have been split four ways.

August 24, 2014. Sunday:  Ginger served pancakes and applewood bacon for breakfast.  After, we rode to the Lodge at Lone Mountain where we took lots of pictures.  This evening Ed cooked salmon with salad and baked potatoes.  As usual, it was wonderful.

 

Pancake Breakfast

Ginger under a snowy Lone Peak

Making friends at the lodge

Entrance to Moonlight Basin

Cutest Bear Proof Trash Can

Our hosts, Bob and Ginger

Setting sun at Big Sky

August 25, 2014. Monday:  We went to the RV to check on Sassy and get some more clothes while Bob went to therapy.  Late morning we all rode north about 30 miles to the “Coffee Pot” near four corners for lunch.  This is also the location of “Mountain Arts,” a well known local place for great pottery.  On the way back Bob showed us the gravel road that went through Ted Turner’s Flying D Ranch.  This road remains public because it led to a campground.  It was 9 miles of some of the most beautiful land we have ever seen.  Everywhere we looked the scenery was breathtaking.  Hard to believe someone owned all of this.  Jeanne Googled Ted  Turner and discovered that the ranch we had driven through was 113,000+ acres and one of four buffalo ranches he owns in Montana.  In addition, he has ranches in several other states and Argentina.  He is the second largest land owner in the US. 

The Coffee Pot for Lunch

Entrance to Ted Turner's Flying D Ranch near Bozeman

The Beauty

August 27, 2014. Wednesday: Jeanne went for a pedicure.  Afterwards we went to the RV and stopped at a couple of outfitters on the way back. We went for a hike on the trail behind Bob’s house which was great as we were going down, but to get back uphill was difficult because we are not used to the altitude here.  We did our wash in anticipation of leaving Big Sky, then went to the weekly Big Sky market.  Lots of great stuff by local artists.  We bought a small table for Jeanne’s camper trailer (which she hasn't bought yet) from Distinctive Reclaimed Wood Furniture for $155.  We had dinner with Bob and Ginger at Olive B's.  It was a wonderful dinner and we highly recommend it if you are in the Big Sky area.  We said our goodbyes and stayed the night in our LD at Red Cliff Campground.  Our cat Sassy was VERY excited to see us!

Site 05 at Red Cliff Campground, near Big Sky

Hiking Big Sky

August 28, 2014. Thursday:  It was very cold during the night.  We had our heat on and it felt great.   Jeanne forgot her tea at Bob’s and drove back to get it and buy milk in the Village.  We left Red Cliff and arrived at Fishing Bridge Campground in about three hours.  We secured a site at Fishing Bridge with an open southern sky to accommodate satellite for the PSU-UCF game that was played in Ireland and televised at 6:30 am on Saturday morning.  We had already reserved 6 nights for $325.92.  Also, bought a 7 day park fishing license for $25.  We hung out at the Lake Hotel for a wine and then home for hamburgers on the grill and baked potatoes.

Finally made it!

Yellowstone River

Fishing Bridge, cell service, but no data service

Lake Hotel Touring Wagon

No fishing from Fishing Bridge!!

August 29, 2014. Friday: It rained most of the night. We caught up on some blog notes early morning and then decided to take a long drive to Cooke City.  It took about 8 hours to drive from Fishing Bridge to Cook City with all the stops for pictures.  We arrived back at the LD at 6:30 pm.   Jeanne numbered a Yellowstone map with our stops:  1. LeHardys Rapids, 2. Big Bull Elk in the forest, 3. Mud Volcano, 4. Hayden Valley, 5. Buffalo herd, 6. Upper Falls, 7. Lower Falls, 8. More scenery pictures, 9. Tower Falls, 10. Slough Creek,  11. Buffaloes crossing the road in Lamar Valley,  12. Lamar Valley, 13. Cooke City.  We ate at “Buns N Bed Deli and Cabin” owned by a guy from Pittsburgh who was a huge Steelers fan. They advertised bar-b-que which meant they were cooked on a grill.  Nothing like what we imagine when we think of bar-b-que!!  14. Lamar Valley on return trip, 15. Scenery pictures same location as 8, 16.  The light was so different coming back making the valleys look very different and beautiful.  We just happened up on a double rainbow at Dunraven Pass that Jeanne uploaded to Facebook.  Lots of response.

LeHardy Rapids

Bull Elk

Mud Volcano

This guy was posing for us

Gridlock!

Lower Falls

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Tower Falls

Love the Cowgirls!!

Everywhere we looked, it was this kind of beautiful

Lunch spot in Cooke City, Montana

Ed looking for a bear, didn't see one...yet.

Double Rainbow at Dunraven Pass

Double Rainbow and an wild animal

August 30, 2014. Saturday:  Ed awakened by his friend Glenn from Florida calling about the PSU-UCF game in Dublin, Ireland.  The game started @ 1:30 pm Dublin time and was broadcast starting at 6:30 am where we were. Fortunately, Ed was able to see the entire game which PSU won 26-24.  Then we jumped in the car and drove two hours to Cody, WY.  It was raining and overcast coming and going. About 80 miles each way. Ate late lunch at the Millstone Pizza Company and Brewery hoping to catch the Alabama West Virginia game, but it was blacked out there. Then we toured the famous “Buffalo Bill Center of the West.”  The museum had been renovated and some of the changes didn’t appeal to us but it has just about everything western you can imagine. We were there for only 2 hours and could have a used a day to see it all.  We returned, ate leftover pizza and watch part of the LSU-Wisconsin game before bed.  Can you tell we are football fans???

Hailstorm in the mountains

Cody Museum

Ed wanted to spend the night here

Some of Jeanne's ancestors

Rough riding??

Help!

Good thing we had our Senior Pass.  No charge for us!!

Dramatic shelf cloud over Lake Yellowstone

 August 31, 2014. Sunday:  It rained all night and is still raining this morning.  Since we have no internet in the park, we drove to the Lake Lodge to buy some internet there.  The only signal is in their lobby so we stayed there and caught up on our blog, check e-mail, Facebook, etc.  Bought 3 days of internet.  

September 1, 2014.  Monday:  Today is Ed's birthday.  We decided to leave Fishing Bridge two days early because we got so much rain there and at our campsite we were virtually sitting in a mud puddle.  So we made reservations at the Grizzly Campground (recommended by our friends Frank and Kay King) in West Yellowstone.  It was only a few dollars more than Fishing Bridge and when we got there the sun was shining!!  Also, free WiFi and cable TV.  We were happy campers!  We are planning dinner out tonight to celebrate Ed's birthday.  Our friends from Louisiana are here work-camping, Gerald and Charlotte.  We will ask them where to go for dinner.

This ... versus.......

 

This!!

We think we made a good choice!!  

Happy birthday Ed!!