This is true... ;-> But be wary of the hot features, even the cold ones; if the lake starts SHIFTING, or one side looks suddenly higher than the other... (sign of a possible eminent eruption of the caldera we're BBQing on/in...one time, it blanketed most of the Midwest downwind of it with ash for quite a ways deep, to quite an extent) And I dunno about Pijotre, but I'm not gonna use fish hooks or my claws (that'd be a dead giveaway, though at least the rangers might blame it on the bears... ;->), just tickle 'em. That way, you can be picky about getting the biggest ones, and there won't be a mark on 'em. ;-> Uwk
drags all road trip members and their buddies with her to go to the boiling river to take a relaxing soak. Come on you Kerra are you afraid of nice warm water ? after 1 hour tells everybody to pick up their towels and mount all hover craft. Onward to the fire hole river . jumps of side into big swimming hole ( skinny dipping ) ( tongas are never naked) we got's fur. after another 2 hours , guess people liked swimming around better than just sitting in a extra warm river it's time to pack up again for some winter fun in the high lands . sled time , bundle up in furs , if you don't have's your own . jingle bells jingle bells , to bad Santa is in Florida right now. Pijotre catches a fish and as he pulls it out it ends up on Cwekete s head. ONWARD to much to do to little time hurry , hurry , hurry .( don't worry with our time slowed down we had more time for each stop. Those who did not like it were on a time out , meaning they were left outside our time warp. Those hover crafts are awesome, we can get from site to site a lot faster.
Good Morning ROAD TRIPPERS!!!!! Of course we have waffles!!! We have sausages, beans, tomatoes, black pudding, mushrooms, fried bread, hash browns, toast, toad in a hole, every pastry you can imagine, scones, crumpets, croissants, biscuits, gravy, eggs, and of course our marvelous chefs are on hand to cook anything that we may be missing, if you don't see it, just ask them and its yours!!! Tickling the fish? I don't think I have heard of that. Although I did see a show on the tele about some kind of catfish hunting where they get in the water and ram their arms down the mouth of the catfish. And yes, do be observant of the wildlife and of your surroundings. All of Yellowstone is sitting on an enormous Shield Volcano, that should it ever erupt, it would be an extinction level event. There have been signs over the last 2 decades that it has been becoming active again, water levels and temperatures rising in some of the lakes which in turn is killing the fish, some of the ground temperatures are rising, the temperatures of some of the water erupting from the geysers is increasing as well, also there has been uprising in some of the land, so please do be careful. Tonight we will finish our exploration of Yellowstone due to our time delays and be spending our night at the Virtual 5 star version of the Yellowstone Lodge and Spa. Dinner at 7 pm. Tomorrow, bright and early, we will begin our drive through Grand Teton National Park, still with our time delays which will enable us to complete that by approximately 1 pm. Monday afternoon, we will be in Santa Clause, Indiana for our stop at Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. YAY, I am ready for another water park and house item shopping expedition, who else is with me????? We will be staying at a Virtual 5 star resort in Indianapolis, Indiana tomorrow night with dinner at 7 pm. Tuesday morning, bright and early, we will port over to Gurnee, Illinois for, can anybody guess, our visit to *builds anticipation* SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As per normal, should you have any other stops for Indiana or Illinois, now is the time to request them so we can alter this schedule. Alrighty ROAD TRIPPERS, lets get out there and enjoy some more of what Yellowstone has to offer!!!
I'm with you Just finished up all my shopping from Bronner's and put it all back in the guild hall so I can get ready for the next round of shopping. I'm a bit behind everybody but I'll catch up. I am enjoying these hot springs though I don't want to go get cold I think I'll stay right here in this nice warm water and eat some of the tasty sounding food our kind chef's are making. YUMMY!
that was only some of the unusual things you can do in Yellow stone It's time to go count geysers. Oh and this terraces in the mammoth springs area are just beautiful , my favorite is the Minerva terraces. This kind of formations only exist in 2 places in the world here in the US and in Turkey. To bad the spring has changed it's path after an earthquake now most of the water does not flow through the steps anymore and they will fall apart. and don't be afraid I read that all this build up of pressure is out of proportion it happens in cycles the ground inflates and deflates. And if your afraid of being covered by a 80 foot layer of ashes , move to Florida . OH forgot you got hurricanes there. And tonight if it's clear enough look up at the sky you can see the stars here.
Indiana...what do I remember about that...we had relatives on my mom's side there (ask me about old-fashioned floor heaters with metal grates...ow ow ow ow ow), and my folks at one point had a 75-acre farm, of feed corn (i.e., not sweet corn most humans eat) and soy beans (nom! Edamame!), aka "succotash." ;-> I remember smiling at the lightning rods on the house and barn roofs when I first saw them, thinking, "Aw, how quaint! I've read about those..." and didn't think anything else of it until my first "real" storm. Ground floor bedroom, highway side (REAL short front yard, relatively, since the backyard continued out for quite a ways before the crops started, and the zoning people had chopped off most of the land in front), reading in bed by a picture window late afternoon/early evening POW!! RRRRRUMBLE!! Being a So. Cal. native, I rolled off the bed on the opposite side, thinking, "Drive-by! No, wait, the glass isn't broken...lightning on the rod?! Whoa, dude! " and stayed away from that window for the rest of the storm. Watched from another, smaller window (away from the lightning rod's grounding wire) as the lightning bolts MARCHED DOWN THE PLOWED FIELD and turned the evening dark into high noon, complete with full color. We don't get stuff like that down here, since the mountains pretty much protect us from thunderhead build-up, and weather coming in from the Pacific Ocean is different from that coming in from the prairies. ;-> Uwk tossing the fish back at Pijotre's head before returning it to the river ;->
Good Morning ROAD TRIPPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had one of the best times of my life seeing Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park and now here we are at Grand Teton National Park. The views here are almost as spectacular with some more glaciers, lakes, streams, and more exploring to do. Here is a snippet of what I read in the visitors center: Grand Teton National Park is named for Grand Teton, the tallest mountain in the Teton Range. The naming of the mountains is attributed to early 19th-century French-speaking trappers—les trois tétons (the three teats) was later anglicized and shortened to Tetons. At 13,775 feet (4,199 m), Grand Teton abruptly rises more than 7,000 feet (2,100 m) above Jackson Hole, almost 850 feet (260 m) higher than Mount Owen, the second-highest summit in the range. The park has numerous lakes, including 15-mile-long (24 km) Jackson Lake as well as streams of varying length and the upper main stem of the Snake River. Though in a state of recession, a dozen small glaciers persist at the higher elevations near the highest peaks in the range. Some of the rocks in the park are the oldest found in any American national park and have been dated at nearly 2.7 billion years. Grand Teton National Park is an almost pristine ecosystem and the same species of flora and fauna that have existed since prehistoric times can still be found there. More than 1,000 species of vascular plants, dozens of species of mammals, 300 species of birds, more than a dozen fish species and a few species of reptiles and amphibians inhabit the park. Due to various changes in the ecosystem, some of them human-induced, efforts have been made to provide enhanced protection to some species of native fish and the increasingly threatened whitebark pine. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I have increased our time delays a bit so that we are not so rushed, we will still be through the park by 2 pm though and on to Santa Clause, Indiana for our visit to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari, they are open until 10 pm, so I think we will have plenty of time there to do our holiday house item shopping and have fun in the water park!!! If we stay late at the water park we can have like an amusement park supper there of hamburgers, hot dogs, et al before porting to Indianapolis, Indiana for our night at the Virtual 5 star Resort. Tomorrow, Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. *WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* I have nothing else scheduled, we have the whole day at Great America!!! An entire day of rides, games, junk food, cuddly toys and more!!!! We will be porting to Branson, Missouri at 6 pm to get settled into our Virtual 5 star Resort and will be having dinner at 7 pm. Tuesday, Branson, Missouri!!! You can visit any of a dozen or so water parks such as White Water or amusement parks such as Silver Dollar City. You can go to shows at more than 2 dozen theaters for various artists, mainly from the Country music genre, but a few others that cross genre as well. Lots of shopping opportunities and food that is out of this world!! If anybody has anything else they wish to stop at for Missouri or any stops for Tennessee which will be on Wednesday, please submit them as soon as possible. Now, just relax and enjoy the ride through Grand Teton National Park!!! Ohhhh and take lots of pictures!!!! Breanna, did you find Yogi and BooBoo in Yellowstone? If not, I would suggest giving the picnic baskets to Schmet.
Gero, who is still tired from his car camping trip..., does a quick imitation of Haywood Banks and his song 'Toast'... ( hits a toaster with a fork.) I like toast !'.
Well..... I did not find Yogi because you know why, my old age and CRS kicks in and I flup it LOL eh Yellowstone, Jellystone close but no cigar. Schmet will love the picnic basket I'm sure LOL
ahh the quiet before the storm , all this beauty the lakes reflecting the mountains the grazing buffalos did you see that moose? and I even saw a bear sow with her cubs they are so cute ( reaches out to grab one , thinks about it better and pulls back arm before the bear mother pulls it out of it's socket.) and last night did you hear those wolfs howl ? If you ever get to Yosemite NP you better don't have any food in your tent or even vehicle If you think yogi is smarter than the average bear , think again those real life bears are expert burglars they don't just grab a picnic basket they grab the whole fridge. but the most dangerous animals in Yellowstone are the buffalos and the elks and moose's.( hmmm chocolate moose.) hey if we come through Indiana lets go to the neighboring state Kentucky there is this tiny cave called " Mammoth Cave " Sigh the US is so beautiful . up high and down below. I think after this road trip people should have an idea where to go to next time they want to go on a real life vacation.
One advantage of having a relatively huge country, size-wise. I do know we're about the same size as continental Europe, if you leave out Alaska and Hawaii, and after having been to Europe (very briefly), I'd say we both have very pretty areas. Another advantage, I guess, is that we really haven't had the sort of intense city-building kind of thing for as long as Europe has, so it's a bit more "wild" here (though the original Native Americans/First Nations had definitely left the mark of human habitation on the place in many ways), and the whole national park concept seems to be ours. I will say this about Europe in general, with everything I saw: European cities, especially old ones, strike me as being founded in very logical places: a crossroads, a river bend, a good defensible area, etc. That would be the "Old Town," with the "New Town" (a mere few centuries old ;->) around it, then either industrial parks and suburbs or suburbs and industrial parks, then, oh, I dunno, FARMLAND (y'know, so people can EAT?!) or woods or pastures until the next logical place to build a city. The thing that can really annoy me here about us (especially, perhaps, in California ) is when we deliberately plunk a "city" (or what we call a "bedroom community" for a bigger, real city that will take hours worth of commuting; really, it's just a bunch of houses in a chunk) out in the middle of freaking nowhere: no infrastructure support, except maybe the nearest freeway; no schools; no sewers (usually everyone has a septic tank, I think); no gas lines; no this, no that, no nothing. See, if no one buys the houses that paved over animal and plant habitat or someone's farm, then it's a tax loss they can write off. If the houses do get bought, profit! Win/win for them, loss of that land forever for everyone else. Drives me crazy -- well, crazier. Uwk
Thats what I call civilized thanks Schmet! About fishing, I don't hunt for sport but for food, so if I have to release them I see no point in it, you'd just hurt the fish with hook or claw but get no benefit apart from the aforementioned selfie. So have fun Uwk! Tosses the fish he tossed on my head back into the river and mutters something about fish not being his favorite food anyways. I agree the US, Russia, India, China and Europe (as a whole) are spectacular due to their diversity of landscapes which is obviously linked to their size. Regarding National Parks, Yellowstone was the first that used that term but (wikipedia): "However, the Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve (established in 1776), and the area surrounding Bogd Khan Uul Mountain (1778) are seen as the oldest legally protected areas, predating Yellowstone by nearly a century." Also it always amuses me what people in the US define as old, I grew up in a suburb that is more than 1300 years old (used to be a separate city that got incorporated into a larger city that is "only" 800 years old) and my parents house was built a few years before the US independence
Pijotre I absolutely agree with you I grew up in Europe in Munich , when my grandparents built the house I grew up in the place was in the middle of nowhere. The road was gravel and in winter the kids would poor water on it so they could go ice skate I was trying to say that there are many beautiful places to visit in the US that people here don't even know about. there are some National parks in Germany too to protect nature. Hellabrunn (zoo) in Munich even bread back two species. unfortunately we lost our last wild bear about 200 years ago, dam hunters. anyway now on to the road trip at hand , I think after all this nature I don't feel like going to 6flags. Anyway that's what I meant with the quiet before the storm , because it's back into the wild life in the city and the excitement of human entertainment and thrill rides.
Ahh Munich, that explains your name, I always wondered if you spoke german hehe. The only time I visited Hellabrunn was about 20 years ago and it was the most crammed (as in, too little space per animal) zoo I ever visited apart from the London Zoo. Has that ever been fixed? Thankfully wolves are starting to come back (as of 2018: 73 packs, 30 pairs and 3 lone wolves). I'm sure bears will come back too as many neighbouring countries especially in the southeast have bear populations. So far though only very few made it to germany, like Bruno. Ahh c'mon it'll be fun think of all the sweets you rat(onga)s love. And you can dry your fur in the rollercoaster wind
Of course we can pop into Kentucky for Mammoth Cave and while we are in Missouri, we can hit Meramec Caverns near Stanton, Missouri. I have been to both of these and having a Masters Degree in geology which I obtained because I had visited both of these as a kid, I can tell you they are something to behold, even if you are seeing what the National Park System wants you to see, it will still make an impact on you. And since we are going to stay a bit longer in Missouri, we can pop over to Jefferson City as well, my grandpa fell in love with the natural areas outside of Jefferson city and purchased 500 acres about 50 miles outside of the city. Its not a tremendously huge city, that is just the name, but my grandpa has passed, and the land is now in a family trust, my brother and I have rights to 55% even though there are 3 other grandchildren in the trust and that 55% will go to my 2 children so that land will never be developed, we have already determined the course of the future for it. Since neither of my children want children, when they pass on, the land goes into an irrevocable trust that is to preserve it as wilderness land that cannot be sold or developed in any way, and there are funds in the trust to cover the cost of the taxes on the land for a minimum of 100 years and its earning interest and the other 3 grandchildren cannot touch those funds as they were given to my brother and I and that is what we chose to do with them to preserve that land as my grandpa wanted it to be. I think you will all love doing a bit of exploring on this land, there is a lake with fish, there are streams with small wooden foot bridges, its all forested except for a meadow around the lake, there are snapping turtles, other species of turtles, lots of butterflies, ladybugs, squirrels, chipmunks, all sorts of little critters, and big critters alike.
Hellooooooooooooo ROAD TRIPPERS!!!!!!!!! Its Tuesday and we have had a small change in plans due to some suggestions!!! Wonderful changes at that, I think you will all be pleased. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! Today we are in Gurnee, Illinois at Six Flags Great America!!! Its been a while since we were at a full amusement park as we kind of started adding National Parks to our Amusement Parks, Water Parks and Safari/Animal Parks ROAD TRIP, but we just couldn't go past them and not stop. But here we are and FUN we shall have!!! We can stay here until 8 pm local time and then we must pop to Branson, Missouri to check in to our Virtual 5 star Resort and have a semi-late dinner for those that may still be hungry after a day of junk food and sweets. And by the way Schmet, I read that this Six-Flags, has a shop called Nut World, you can get almost every kind of nut you want and you can get some candied, some covered in chocolate, all different kinds. Tomorrow, you can visit any of a dozen or so water parks such as White Water or amusement parks such as Silver Dollar City. You can go to shows at more than 2 dozen theaters for various artists, mainly from the Country music genre, but a few others that cross genre as well. Lots of shopping opportunities and food that is out of this world!! We will stay on at our Virtual 5 Star Resort in Branson, then pop over to Stanton, Missouri first thing Thursday morning for our visit to Meramec Caverns, these are guided tours that I selected the option of 9 am to 2 pm. Then we will head to the Jefferson City, Missouri area to visit land owned by my grandpa which is now in a trust. You can all explore to your hearts content, then we will camp or glamp and the chefs will be barbecuing and the bakers will be baking so get your special requests in by the time we arrive in the Jefferson City area please. Friday, we will go to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. This will be an entire day or two. If you want two days, let me know. This is a cave system that is over 400 miles long. They also have Diamond Caverns, Hidden River Cave, Lost River Cave, Mammoth Onyx Cave, Onyx Cave, and Outlaw Cave. There are also above ground things to do, like fishing, canoeing, boating, waterskiing, kangaroos, dinosaurs, rollercoasters, horseback rides, ziplining, and balloon rides. Additionally, museums, farmer's markets, antique shops, gift shops, and seasonal festivals. Lets get out there and make ourselves sick on junk food, rollercoasters, bumper cars, and fill the luggage trailers with cuddly toys!!!!!!
True; we have little to no sense of history here, at least the Old World ancestry folks. :-/ On the other hand, lots of folks came to America for that precise reason... Thanks for this, you two! You really made my day and re-affirmed my near-dwindling faith in RL humanity. Seriously. Uwk
Good Morning ROAD TRIPPERS!!!! AB FAB day at 6 Flags Great America, I don't know about anybody else but I got about 12 huge cuddly toys, had to call in the Cabana Boys to take them out to the trailers, I even got a Witch on a BROOM MOUNT!!!!! I think I ate so much cotton candy or candy floss as we call it that I will turn into it and popcorn and caramel corn, mmmm, nom nom nom.!! Today we are exploring Branson, Missouri and all that it has to offer. Amusement parks, water parks, shopping, restaurants galore, theater shows, and outdoor activities, a little bit of something for everybody, and since we are booked into the Virtual 5 star Resort and Spa, you can also choose to spend all or part of your day just relaxing and enjoying the amenities there, but I would recommend seeing at least part of Branson first. Dinner is scheduled for 6 pm as most of the evening shows begin at 8 pm so in case any of you wish to catch one of those you will have had time for a nice dinner first. Tomorrow, Thursday, we are heading to Stanton, Missouri for guided tours of Meramec Caverns, and then to the Jefferson City, Missouri area to a large acreage owned by my grandfather so you can explore the land which is all wilderness with a lake, streams, forest, meadow, critters, et al. We will be camping/glamping and barbecuing there. Friday, we will go to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. This will be an entire day or two. If you want two days, let me know. This is a cave system that is over 400 miles long. They also have Diamond Caverns, Hidden River Cave, Lost River Cave, Mammoth Onyx Cave, Onyx Cave, and Outlaw Cave. There are also above ground things to do, like fishing, canoeing, boating, waterskiing, kangaroos, dinosaurs, rollercoasters, horseback rides, ziplining, and balloon rides. Additionally, museums, farmer's markets, antique shops, gift shops, and seasonal festivals. Lets get out there and see what Branson has to offer. I think I am going to go and find which theaters I would like to see a show at and which times they are so I can plan those out!!!!
