How I spent my weekend.........

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I attended the retirement gathering for a co-worker I've known for 30 years. Folks.........Those people in Montana know how to have a good time!..............Saturday night's dinner at the Bar N Ranch was fantastic ...the food was great and the restaraunt/ bed and breakfast was unbelieveable. You can check their website out. Rustic elegance......elegantly rustic......incredible.....Then Sunday's tour of Yellowstone.............simply fantastic.....We had a great time inspite of the driving conditions returning home..........2.5 hours to drive 89 miles from West Yellowstone MT to Belgrade MT...a car 300 yards ahead.....35mph.....their tracks were covered with snow by the time we got there......whew!..........Lolo Pass....dry roads up the Montana side......hardpacked snow on the Idaho side.....6 miles of 6% grade.....15mph.........down the 1st 6 miles..........tough driving....2 WD......So.....here's photographic evidence.......

Here's my preferred mode of travel in Yellowstone this time of year

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Here's what you don't want to meet up close and personal in Yellowstone IMHO....

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Here's the LOML and I at Firehole Falls...........
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Look at my head......proof it was an Official Creeker outting.......
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"Oh ...give me a home where the BISON roam....that's right they're bison...not buffalo.....

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[Ken Fitzgerald]

A few more photos.......

The elk search in the "warmed" areas for food

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View inside Yellowstone over the Gallatin River IIRC.....
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It was clear in the morning but that afternoon snow clouds came in and it snowed.....IF you look real hard you can almost see Old Faithful spouting off......
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The view leaving West Yellowstone MT on US 20 headed west........

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Even the animals appreciate a "hot tub"..........
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[Karl Laustrup]

Glad you had a great time Ken. Even more glad you made it home safe and sound through that nasty weather.

The pictures are fantastic. That is some really beautiful country.

Wondering if you took a dip in the river behind you in that picture? :D Looks like it would wake one up. :eek: :D

Karl

[Nancy Laird]

Wondering if you took a dip in the river behind you in that picture? :D Looks like it would wake one up. :eek: :D

Karl

Karl, a dip in that river at this time of year would have cost Ken all his fingers and toes. I spent 3 months working in Yellowstone about ?? years ago, from the beginning of June through early September, and even in the summer we wouldn't dare try to take a dip in the rivers up there. There were a couple of places where hot springs emptied into the rivers and we would go swimming in those places, but if you got away from the hot water area, you could feel the icicles forming. It was so cold up there, even in summer, that the only way we knew it was the 4th of July was the watermelon in the employee cafeteria. I lived in my full-length cashmere coat that summer! I can't imagine being up there in February!

Ken, I'm glad you had a good time and glad you made it home without mishap. Your tale of driving on that hard-packed snow on a 6% grade made my skin crawl. I would have been in the floorboard of the back seat, eyes closed and praying with all my might!

Gorgeous pictures - did that bison yell at you?

Nancy

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Nancy....the bison didn't yell......it's amazing what a telephoto lens can do from inside a heated "snowcoach"! Just watching the local newspapers... more people are injured and killed by bison in Yellowstone than by grizzlies...I cringe everytime I see the photo of some idiot tourist trying to get close to those bison for a photo op.......those are wild beasts not pets or tamed animals...treat them as such!

Karl.....you see how blue that water is.....that's the color you body parts would be if you tried bathing in it......the guide indicated the water temp this time of year...even with all the hot springs flowing into to it was somewhere between 39 and 45 degrees.....

[Joe Mioux]

That ain't so. il! ;)

looks like you had a great time, Ken
Joe

[John Shuk]

Wow looks like a great trip. One I hope to make someday when my boys are a bit older.

[Al Willits]

Never been there, they tell me its nice....

Wife spent a week there on a snowmobile trip with one of her girlfriends, she still wants to go back again sometime.

Nice pictures, does look like fun.

Al

[Dennis Peacock]

Beautiful Ken....just beautiful. Wish I was there.

BTW, did you and the LOYL get in one of them thar "hot tubs"?? :rolleyes: :D