Oct 6, 2008 - Day 29

Another day of travelling began for us with the drive into Wyoming to view the Devil's Tower. This huge monolith is a sacred indian site and like our own Ayres Rock is so large that pictures do not seem to do it justice. From here we drove across the border into Montana, which around these parts is known as big sky country and I tell you the sky really does look so much bigger here, maybe it has something to do with the large flat expanses of land or maybe god has just blessed this place with more sky, who knows? but whatever it is this is...

Aug 20, 2008 - Gardiner, Montana

Wednesday, August 20 Drove 162 miles from Butte to Gardiner, Montana Temperature was in the mid 80s ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Forty eight years ago this morning I awoke with a start! I sat bolt upright in bed and searched for the clock, a gnawing fear gripping my already nervous stomach. I was due somewhere by ten forty five (at least) and I was sure I had overslept. Oh, thank God, it was only 9:30! I was due at St. Michael’s Catholic Church for a very important event...my wedding to Jean Ann...

Jun 27, 2008 - Day 3: Wolf, Elk, and Bison, Oh My

Gardiner, MT - Absaroka Lodge (thanks for the recommendation cousin Todd) 10:33 Mountain time. The Yellowtone River roars by some 80 feet below as we sit on the patio to our room. The sun has recently set but the view from the patio is incredible. We set out from Cody late morning and worked our way through the Southeast corner of Yellowstone out the main entrance and to the Grand Tetons. We sat and waited for road construction coming and going. With the views and environment being what they were, it was hard to be frustrated by the wait....

Jun 22, 2008 - Gardiner, MT - Wyoming to Montana

Well, we reluctantly leave Wyoming headed for Gardiner, Montana. We left early expecting to run into lots of traffic through the National Park. Not so, the only traffic jams were caused by the bison casually feeding along the sides of the road; this is really bison country. We headed north to canyon and then west on the loop road, the road common to the north and south loops, to Norris. This is an uninteresting road other than lots of evidence of the burn from the 1988 fire. At Norris junction, we headed north and immediately saw a bear...

May 16, 2008 - North From The Tetons, Through Yellowstone Into Montana

We are now in Montana!!! We left early this morning and drove through Yellowstone National Park from the Southern Entrance to the Northern Entrance. That is the distance of about 100 miles. Yellowstone is the first National Park formed by Congress in 1872. We saw one throwback to the old days today. The Mammoth Springs Inn must run the old yellow buses for tourists. We saw two of them on the road today. We passed through the first section of Yellowstone, which was forested areas, with deep snow banks on either side of the road. Once we...

Apr 29, 2008 - Gardiner, Montana

We have arrived at our destination of Gardiner, MT. We are staying at Yellowstone RV Park in Gardiner. We will be here until October 31. The phone service is unpredictable. So far the internet is okay. It was a beautiful drive from Buffalo, WY to here in Gardiner. We took the I-90 to the US-89. The RV Park is on the north side of Gardiner. We start working May 1 in Mammoth. A storm (more snow) is expected to arrive tomorrow and last through Thursday or Friday. It's starting to rain now!

Sep 7, 2007 - Day Four - Ennis, MT to Gardiner, MT

The previous night was a little late, as we found a great bar/restaurant in Ennis. Dean had his 7th ribeye, as that seems to be one of the few menu items available in these parts....what's a salad?...no one has heard of those here. We left after a semi-fabulous continental breakfast and fly fishing tips from the Rainbow Valley Lodge and headed out onto SR 84 at about 11am. We stopped midtrip in Bozeman where we heard they had good ribeye:-). Settled for tacos with shredded ribeye and headed to Livingston and then to Gardiner on SR 89....

Jul 10, 2006 - Yellowstone National Park-Gardiner, MT

Yellowstone was amazing and other-worldly fascinating and beautiful. The day after we arrived we meandered around town (Gardiner, MT). Gardiner is the Northern entrance to the park; which was also the first and only entrance when the park was first open. It has a huge arch called the Roosevelt Arch (Teddy Roosevelt made Yellowstone the first National Park in America in 1872). It's made out of brick and defines the entrance. We explored the park by ourselves on day two, and took a 12 hour bus tour the day after that. On our own tour we...

Jun 20, 2006 - Gardiner, MT and Yellowstone National Park

Mile 5916 Made it to Gardiner, MT after a stop in Big Timber, MT last night. Downtown Big Timber is two blocks wide by three blocks long but a lot of California real estate money is coming in. We had probably one of the best, if not THE best, meal of the trip here. Surprised us! I don't know what to say about Yellowstone (surprised?) because it is spectacular. It is a combination of lunar-like, seething sulphur springs and majestic mountain peaks; boiling geysers and clear mountain springs. We devoted 6 days to Yellowstone as there is so...

Jun 19, 2006 - Gardiner, Montana

We arrived yesterday at Gardiner Montana, and are currently at the Rocky Mountain RV Park on a hill overlooking the town and the Yellowstone River. The North entrance to Yellowstone Park is about a half a mile away. After saying farewell to the Cupps, who are planning on going on to Glacier National Park, our group of three McKenzie's left Missoula yesterday morning about 8:30, headed East along Interstate 90 through Butte and Bozeman to the Town of Livingston. A couple of rest stops along the way and refueling. This part of Montana seemed...

Aug 2, 2005 - Re-positioning to explore Yellowstone area

After several days of sensory overload in Glacier, it was time to pack up and head southeast towards Yellowstone National Park. We've just checked in to Yellowstone's Edge RV Resort, which is on the banks of the Yellowstone River and about 30 miles north of the Park's North Entrance. While Glacier to Yellowstone is a fairly easy one-day trip, we decided to enjoy the Montana scenery, take two days for the trip, and follow some of the back roads en route here. We stayed overnight just east of Butte, and it was an easy trip in this morning...

Jul 7, 2002 - Yellowstone National Park

Onward to Yellowstone. What a testimony to nature. You can see the best and the worst all within the park. The fire of 1988 is still very much in evidence, all over the park. Some places are haunting in their stark sticks still stretching to the sky (pretty good alliteration, huh!), others, hopeful in their regeneration, and still other places totally devoid of fire penetration. Almost without reason as to what happened where. The rivers, streams and waterfalls make you think this is "normal" geography, then you round the next corner, and...