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awesome pictures.
I unfortunately will be driving through Ft Stockton wednesday (shudders)
Dinner tonight: buffalo burgers and fresh blueberry pie - Montana ftw!
awesome pictures.
I unfortunately will be driving through Ft Stockton wednesday (shudders)
Great pictures!
I loved Santa Fe/Taos.
32nded.
Completely awesome, have fun.
My wife and i, with our son, are considering a road trip to Yellowstone later this year, or maybe early next year.
How long would you suggest to plan for? could you do it in a week? 2?
Awesome pics so far, im jealous.
Depends on how much you want to do on the way up. I'd give yourself 2 weeks if you're driving - Manny and I could have spent even longer on the drive if we'd had time, and that was without factoring in a return trip. And the park is ginormous, so you need several days just to do that. The pass you buy to get into Yellowstone also works for the Tetons, btw.
Also, if you or anyone else is interested in going to Mt Rushmore before the new year, we have a parking pass that's good until then if someone will use it. Save $10 - you know you want to.
great pics, thanks for sharing
sweet
not one fkn site of hot chicks?
I'll be back in SA tomorrow so I'll probably post more pictures.. Yellowstone is pretty much the coolest place I've ever been to in my life. If any of you plan a trip there do it for more than a day or 2, try to stay up to a week. There is an insane amount of places to see and experience. We drove the park 2 days and I spent another 3 hiking and I still didn't see but a fraction of the stuff I wanted to see. Even if you're just going to do the stuff right on the roads its going to take you more than a day. We tried to cram a bunch of stuff in today before I left and while we saw a good chunk of the park today we didn't even do half of the things on the main loop.
Can't wait to see the pics; especially the stuff you took hiking.
Monday we moved Jess into her room, then we checked out Mammoth Hot Springs which is literally about 200 yards from her building.
These are pictures of the main terrace and pool.
Above the main terrace there are some additional features. The coolest was Orange Spring Mound which was just a big ass block of calcite and bacteria. Bacteria are what give these formations their color and the color depends on the water temp and mineral composition.
Up close look at the water "erupting" out of the side mound vent.
Also, saw a random chipmunk there. You tend to see a ton of these.
Next day Jess started work so I spent the day hiking one of the trails. 5 mile loop up a gulch and over some meadows and past some beaver ponds. Pretty easy hike and just wanted to become acclimated to the al ude (+/- 7000 feet at the housing). For some reason most of my pictures this day came out crappy so I don't have too many. I saw a lot of wildlife this day including dusky grouse, elk, deer, etc etc.
View back from the start with a small melt water steam flowing out.
Almost stepped on this dusky grouse. They didn't seem too afraid of me at all. Wonder how they taste.
Not even 300 yards down the trail I ran into this dude struttin his stuff. He was also doing what I guess is a mating call and blowing up his air sacs. It was really deep (Barry White of Woodland Chickens I guess) and I got some of it on video so I'll post a youtube of it eventually.
View from one of the beaver ponds. I saw dams but no beavers.
And because I forgot to include it above, this is a mat of bacteria at Mammoth Hot Springs.
Duplicate - kinda.
Last edited by MannyIsGod; 05-30-2009 at 09:10 PM.
I love your pics! Thanks for posting them. I can't wait to take a vacation there when our boys are old enough.
Next day went on a hike that was 6 miles and had much stronger elevation gain and loss throughout. Saw a decent amount of wildlife, rock formations and views.
Oh yeah, and Jess has what basically amounts to a pet bison. Depending on who you talk to his name is Daniel or Mr. Moose ( don't ask - I don't know) and he likes to hang out right outside the building. He's freaking HUGE and since you're not supposed to get within 25 yards of any Bison (they're ing mean man - you really don't want to) it can make for some interesting entrances and exits from the building.
Random ground squirrel from the hike
And a cotton tail
Found this elk skeleton and figure it died in the winter and was frozen there. When things started to thaw, Mr. Bear probably came and tore that up. Bones where all over the place but the fur on the top of the skull made it look pretty fresh still.
Nice toupe
Saw some marmots on the ledge. These ers chased each other like crazy and were pretty loud and entertaining. I took video of them as well so I'll upload that to youtube at some point.
Hike was pretty rocky and went up and down a lot, but ended up with a killer view of a waterfall, mountains, and an alpine valley. The pictures really do it no justice.
Best part of the day was that evening after the hike when Jess got off work. We drove to the waterfall so she could check it out, and as we were going we had a mother black bear and 3 cubs cross the road not 10 yards in front of us. But like a fool I left my camera back in the room so I didn't get pictures. It was amazing though.
I'm pretty sure you and RG tip the nerdy scales in the same way Jess and I do. If I'm right about that, you guys would love this place. Its phenomenal and awesome in the true sense of the word.
Man, I am very jealous ! I want to take the family to all these places and even Alaska. Enjoy it and take as many pictures as possible.
Wow. Just wow. Thanks so much for the tour. If the pics are this good it must have been incredible to be there. Great stuff.
Manny and I want to go to all of the national parks, so I'm going to have to drag his tropical self up to Alaska eventually
I'll try to update here when I get really cool pictures. I don't plan on going anywhere without my camera.
Here's a couple to add to Manny's:
This was taken right by the Rio Grande gorge by Taos. I <3 New Mexico.
A prairie dog out in Wyoming.
Antelope out at Wind Cave National Park - dude was posing quite nicely for us.
A giant concrete prairie dog out by the Badlands.
We were in the Badlands around dusk, so this picture is dark, but the colors in this part of the park really were this rich.
This is why we turned around at 11,000 feet and drove back to the lower part of Rocky Mountain National Park - I don't drive in the Rockies with 0 visibility.
We do indeed.
RG and I have both been there as kids with our families. I loved it. Our boys are too little to appreciate it now, so it'll have to wait.
Good pics Manny, I have had the opportunity to live in both Idaho and Colorado and have been to Yellowstone many times. I agreee, everyone should go, especially you Texans that don't recognize all those smaller, wussier states.
However, I can't believe you were in Ft. Collins and didn't go out to old town. You missed perhaps one of the best times in Colorado.
Badlands looks incredible. You're right Manny; pictures never do justice to amazing places like that.
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