Yellowstone National Park

"We may say in brief, that the entire basin of the Yellowstone is volcanic... at a period not very remote in the geological past, this whole country was a scene of wonderful volcanic activity."

Geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden, 1871

I finally found a little bit of time to blog about my weekend in Wyoming. Co-worker Kathy and I did a trip to Yellowstone National Park during the weekend we were in Wyoming. That Saturday, the weather was great and the park entrance fee was free. It had been two years since my last trip to Yellowstone. I took over a hundred photographs and narrowed it down to the ones you see below for the blog.

Dragon's Mouth Spring.

Mud Volcano.

Bison near the Mud Volcano area.

Carnivorous squirrel.

Excelsior Geyser at Midway Geyser Basin.

Excelsior Geyser.

Excelsior Geyser.

Grand Prismatic Spring at Midway Geyser Basin.

Grand Prismatic Spring.

Spasmodic Geyser.

Chromatic Pool.

Castle Geyser.

Camping at Millers Flat

With Ginger being out of town, our good friends the Densley's invited me to go camping with them up at Millers Flat in Fairview Canyon. Bryon's mom had gone up earlier in the week to reserve a camping spot. It turned out to be a good thing because by Friday when Michelle, Larry and I arrived all the camping spots were full. It was the busiest that anyone had ever seen it up there.

We spent Saturday morning and afternoon fishing on Miller's Flat Reservoir. Between the three of us fishing we caught eight rainbow trout. Most of them were released but we kept two to cook up for dinner.

Bryon adding the second fish that we kept to the chain.

I cooked up the fish with some butter and spices (courtesy of the Denlseys) and wrapped them in aluminum foil and cooked them on the coals of our camp fire. One fish got completely devoured before I even had a chance to take a picture. Even the people who don't usually eat trout said they thought it tasted good.

Dinner provided by the lake. He wasn't big, but he sure was tastey!


Larry with a mischievous look on his face.

After dark we were sitting around the campfire enjoying some conversation. Bryon got up to go see a man about a horse and while wandering off in the dark he heard something scuff the ground a few yards away from him. He came back to the fire circle and got a flash light so see what had made the noise. The flashlight quickly revealed two deer who were grazing on the foliage right in the middle of the campground! We shined the lights on them and even tried to see how close we could get before they trotted off a couple of times. The deer didn't seem too concerned with the sluggish bipeds who were more of a nuisance than a threat.

Picture take of the dear with the nightvision mode on the camera.

All in all, it was a great relaxing weekend in the mountains with good friends. I am greatful that they invited me and look forward to more adventures in the future.

Cody: Things to do, places to go...

Tecumseh's Old West Miniature Village and Museum: The diorama consists of thousands of 2.5-inch high figures that trace the history of Wyoming and Montana from the 1600s to the late 1890s. The museum also contains thousands of Western artifacts and full- and head-mount displays of big game animals from North America and Africa.

We also visited the Cody Mural Visitor Center, which contains a famous mural painted in 1951 by Edward T. Grigware on a domed ceiling (36-ft diameter and 18-ft to the top).

FOOD!!! Bubba's BBQ is right next to my and Kathy's hotel; I had their special: salad bar, garlic bread, 1/2 rack of baby-back ribs, and 2 spare ribs, which equaled two meals of leftovers.

Photographs from Cassie's Supper Club & Dance Hall:

Old Trail Town

Located on the original town site of Cody City, the Old Trail Town collection consists of 26 buildings, which date from 1879 to 1901. From remote locations in Wyoming and Montana, these historic buildings were disassembled, moved to the new site, and reassembled at Old Trail Town by Western historian Bob Edgar and friends.

The Arland Cabin - 1883 (above)

The Rivers Saloon - 1888 (above)

Grave site of Jeremiah Johnson (1824-1900)

The grave of Jeremiah Johnson was relocated to Old Trial Town on June 8, 1974; over 2,000 people attended the reburial service (they say, this was probably the largest burial service in the history of Wyoming).

Cody, WY

I am currently working in Cody, WY - named after the Colonel William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody in 1896. My hotel, AmericInn Lodge & Suites, has some wild decor (as you can see from the following photographs). I am hoping to go to the rodeo later this week and find myself a cow-girl hat to purchase; missing all of you back at home.

Statue: "September Morning" by Vic Payne 2008 at the hotel.

The Irma Hotel: located in the middle of town, this hotel was built by Buffalo Bill in 1902 and was named after his youngest daughter.

Today, we came across a master bootmaker, Mr. Scott Wayne Emmerich, of Falconhead. Falconhead boots sale from $500 to $50,000; some of the celebrities Falconhead has designed for include: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Billy Bob Thornton, Bruce Springsteen, Cameron Diaz, Johnny Cash, Madonna, Sheryl Crow, and many more. Yeah, I don't plan on spending all of my per diem (and some) at one place, so no boots for me.