Come on vacation with us!!

We started the day cool and cloudy - off to explore the northern "loop" of the park. I picked a few of the photos - there were hundreds! Beautiful landscape, cool animals.....

Interesting formations abound - we didn't have a guide book - just a map and wanted to enjoy what we came across. Sulfur smell was in the air at this spring....



Yellowstone river


Another spring



Beautiful vistas-


The Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River



Snow on the ground when we were out walking on a trail


Very peaceful and untouched....but you really did see signs of bear - footprints and droppings!



A different beautiful vista



This is the Lower Falls - probably one of the most photographed areas in Yellowstone - really amazing to see in person, though.....


Had to pose in front of it like a proper tourist!! Sorry for the sunglasses - but I tried to take them off and couldn't keep my eyes open!


More beauty - what can I say?



Impressive landscape....


Snow patches in the distance with hot springs steaming



Mud volcano - just like it sounds - boiling mud bubbling to the surface - smelly!!


"Sour Lake" - beautiful mineral lake - again kinda smelly!



Yellowstone River was beautiful -


And bison - everywhere!! Stay tuned for more!

Off to Yellowstone!

Bright and early we went out for one last breakfast at a local diner that my sis's family frequents....then it was off to the airport for us. A very nice facility, although the general aviation portion was rather deserted.


The first 2 hours were rainy and we were in the clouds completely....so no sight-seeing on the way west! But finally the clouds started rising above us, so we got spectacular views of the mountains approaching Cody, Wy. This is the mountain range that borders Yellowstone.


Parked on the ramp at Cody - there are two FBO's there - and they compete savagely for business. We had two people trying to park us on two different ramps.....but we had reservations with Choice Aviation for our rental car, so that's who took care of us......here the line guy is washing our windscreen.....


And we truely got the "red carpet treatment"!!!


After a few supplies were purchased at the Albertson's in Cody (we haven't seen an Albertson's Grocery since we lived in Florida 17 years ago!!), it was off to the park!

The center of the park is about 1 1/2 hrs from Cody.....as we drove, the scenery changed!!! I knew it would be snowy, but I didn't realize how much! Here are a couple of shots just out the window of the car to show you how deep the snow is in places. And this is not piled up snow - this is just where the snowplows cut the roadways out.



Our first two nights are at the Lake Lodge - in the center of the park......here is a view of the lake - still frozen in areas. (That is not surf, it's ice!)


Here is our view out of our window - a nice cozy place. Just settled in for the night - park visiting tomorrow!

More sister visiting!

We needed to give my brother-in-law some time to himself - the following day was their Confirmation Sunday and he needed to prepare. So, we went to the casino!! My nephew played at the very nice indoor pool (what other kind is there in North Dakota??)



Nicely run casino by the local reservation - we even came away with a few extra $$ playing an hour or so of blackjack. Fun way to spend a few hours.



To get to the casino, we had to drive over the "landbridge" accross Devil's Lake. The lake has been rising (due to several natural and political factors). The rising water has been taking farm land, houses and the road with it!

As a result, they are trucking in huge amounts of dirt and making this landbridge higher. Apparently, this is not the first time this has been done. The road is a mess - but everyone seems to take it in stride. Several miles of roadbed is in constant construction.

We got a kick out of these portable red lights. Everyone is so polite here, they hardly even need them.

This gives you just a small view of the road in the distance. It's like a 10 mile long stretch like the stretch across Jordan Lake - and they are raising it several feet!


Anyhoo - I was just amazed at the enormity of it all.


Next we toured an old fort dating back to the Custer days. Lots of history - very well kept with lots of original buildings.


Then on to a nature preserve that they love. Very pleasant afternoon.



Back at the ranch.....time for my sis to get the wine ready for the service tomorrow. Kindof fun to help out.

Pretty sanctuary almost ready for the service.


Then we had a wonderful end to a nice visit - a terrific meal out on their almost finished deck.

Back online, finally!

My sis and her hubby took us on a whirlwind drive around town. Very interesting and different than North Carolina to be sure!

Neat old buildings - here is a school that has been closed down a good distance from town.




This is big farming country! We passed lots of farm equipment on the road - some of it I have no idea of the function....




There was a group of Jewish immigrants that settled nearby in the late 1800's. We toured their cemetery. Some of the headstones were made of tin with nail holes punched to indicate the name/dates. I guess you use what you have!


We went out to their friend's LARGE farm. (Large by NC standards, for sure!) The friends are letting them grow a garden on some extra land. Very nice.



Duane getting some info about N.D. farming.



Sis feeding "Charlie the horse". He's a old-timer and very nice.



More farm equip.....


Huge fields - barley, wheat, sunflowers...


Had to get a close look at some equipment.

Aren't we cute?

Picking up arrowheads and sea glass.....yes, sea glass (well, lake glass)....



More huge farm equipment....



And more farm equipment - and every one of the farmers waves at you!!! Cool...

Yellowstone!!

Sorry!! No pictures, although they will be gorgeous when you see them!!

There is almost no internet available in Yellowstone.....and no cell coverage either!!

Check back later, alligator!

Westward!

Off to North Dakota! Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating for a direct flight - a cold front was near Chicago. So we planned to go more west than a straight line to fly a little south of the storms. A fuel stop was to be at Red Oak airport in the edge of Iowa - about 6 hours away!! (hard to see, but it says distance 806 miles!!)


But, as sometimes happens, the weather was worse than predicted...so we diverted to a different airport - Sterling, Illinois. We still had to fly thru some weather - but our new Ipad with radar setup helped us wind our way thru the worst of it. (The little blue airplane shows where we were at that moment).


Sterling had a wonderful little airport - loaned us a car for a quick hop into town for lunch. Then, under very grey, cloudy skies - we were off direct to Devils Lake!! Only 540 more miles to go!


We finally broke free of the clouds over beautiful lakes....I mentioned it to Duane, wondering what state we were over (the aviation GPS does not tell you when you cross state lines because it doesn't make any difference what state you are in when you are in the air) - he said "it must be Minnesota because it is "the land of 10,000 lakes".


As we got closer to N.D. the lakes got fewer and farm land became more prevalent.




More lakes again as we approached Devils Lake


Then, finally, we could see Devils Lake - it is bigger than I was expecting. This is just a small part of it.


Pretty clear air as we descended into the Devils Lake airport.


The family met us at the airport - they're only 3 or so miles away and saw us descending in for landing from their back yard.

We went to a great restaurant and caught up all evening. We were pretty tired after the long day of flying!! Here is the final photo of the day - taken at 10PM. Teresa covered up our window with a black cloth so that the light would not bother us.....and also, so that the 4:30AM sunrise would not wake us up!!

Ready, set, Bear Mace!

So, Lindy offered to let us borrow the "Bear Mace" that they took with them on their Yellowstone visit a couple of years ago. I said "sure" - hope we don't need it!!

Now, this is a huge amount of "Mace" - included the bottle of water so you could see just how large the spray bottle of mace is. It says that it shoots 35 feet...I certainly hope that we're not within 35 feet of a bear ... and I wonder if it just pisses the bear off? Certainly hope NOT to find out!!!

Yellowstone

We soon will be Yellowstone bound!! YAY!!

We were originally scheduled to be there already......here are the current conditions:

43 F at Lake Yellowstone, WY

Winds are Variable at 4.6 MPH (4 KT). The pressure is 1014.2 mb and the humidity is 80%. The wind chill is 40. Last Updated on Jun 7 2011, 4:56 pm MDT.

So, it's cold and the webcam shows everyone with ponchos and umbrellas.....so maybe waiting a week or two wasn't such a bad idea???

Door prize for Asheboro Fly-in

Bobbi and I somehow got "volunteered" to make a door prize for the pilots who would fly in to the museum's annual fly-in. After procrastinating a bit, we finally got around to making a set of wheel chocks for each pilot. It's a simple thing, but we needed to make about 150 sets!

First, Bobbi had carefully cut out a stencil using some thin plastic sheeting.


I brought the treated 4X4 lumber to her house and we got started! Since the lumber was "wet", we used a stain instead of paint. It soaked right in and was dry to the touch within just a few minutes.


Quite the tedious process for so many!! Here they are all piled up waiting for Bobbi's husband Joe to get home and do all the cutting - poor thing, I think he got the worst end of this "volunteer" deal!


And here is the final product!

It reads NC Aviation Museum and HOF (Hall of Fame) Fly-In HBI. (HBI is the identifier of the Asheboro Airport)




The fly-in went wonderfully - here is the "pilots lounge" area where the pilots picked up their door prizes and had a very nice lunch.



The weather could not have been nicer!! Good turn-out. The Civil Air Patrol, the National Guard and the Wake Forest (Baptist Hospital) Rescue Helicopter were there too. Also, you can see a business jet parked near the terminal building. They were just flying in on business - imagine their surprise to roll up and see all the airplanes and people!! They were gracious and, to the public, it seemed like they were part of the show!!



Numerous warbird fly-by's rounded out the day. Always a good time!