Top of the World to You!!
On Monday night, our family shared one room at The Yodeler, which sleeps 5 people, and Gigi bunked up with Steph and her kids in their room. You may be wondering why I'm starting off the blog this way, but we've often joked that sleeping in the same bed with Francey is like sleeping next to a helicopter... You get one guess who slept in my bed. ;) After waking up with legs that kept flopping on me, I finally gave up and never went back to sleep. At 4:45 a.m. the birds began doing their loud singing, which they always do at the first flicker of daylight on the horizon. This really surprised me, since when we drove into Red Lodge at almost 10:00 p.m. there was still remnants of the lingering daylight from the sunset... Then I realized why the days are so much longer here: we are at a much more northern location!! The teacher in me then had to do a Google search of our current latitude compared to ours at home. Yep.... Sure enough, we are almost 10 degrees higher here, which explains why the days are so long (normally I consider only eastern/western placement within the time zone ). I'm sure most of y'all are like.... YAWN... but these kind of things fascinate me.... What else am I passionate about? Running!
As soon as there was sufficient daylight, I fumbled around in the dark and gathered all my running things. Before long, I was out the door and running through the quaint town, more like a village, of Red Lodge, Montana. There are so many perks to running, but one of my favorites is how easily one can explore new destinations. As I ran down Main Street, I peaked around corners and if anything looked interesting, I just ran in that direction, and then moved back to Main Street. Peering into store fronts and enjoying the quaint architecture of this sweet town were the highlights of my run. Since temperature was a perfect 55 degrees, when I made it back to The Yodeler, I thought I would walk a bit to cool down. Hearing a rushing sound, I thought... what a delightful mountain breeze.... except there was no breeze... no leaves were moving... Then I saw a bridge, so I had to go check out what was creating such a sound... What a beautiful rushing river, full of snowmelt from the mountains... Here are some of my favorite pics from the run...
After surprisingly delicious breakfast at The Red Lodge Cafe and a visit to the town drug store and grocery, we loaded up and headed up the legendary Bear Tooth Highway. For months, my husband has been talking about our planned route into West Yellowstone, Montana. Excitedly, he noted that many claim this highway to be the most spectacular in the "Lower 48" (states). Wow.... Just Wow!!! Climbing mountain passes to almost 11,000 feet and dangling on the side of mountains, our jaws dropped at the beauty we took in... The Bear Tooth Highway is about 70 miles long and it took us several hours to journey and explore... Here are some of our favorite pics from our time traveling on this famous highway.
The Bear Tooth Highway ends in the town of Cook, Montana and we were all ready to enjoy a late lunch in this tiny town before getting back on the road for Yellowstone National Park. Entering the park around 7:30, we spent our time in the car catching glimpses of the different wildlife as well as the mysterious geysers and hot springs. Teaming pools with unique hues, we were captivated by them.... After pulling over to check out a few, we made our way to Old Faithful. Learning that it would be 45 minutes before it would erupt, we thought it would be a great time to explore the conveniently located gift shop. Before too long, we all reconvened at the viewing area of Old Faithful. Bundling up with coats and blankets retrieved from our cars, we anxiously awaited for Old Faithful to do her magic.... Sure enough, she began to blow at the predicted 9:31. It lasted for about four minutes. Midway through, Francey, louder than I would have liked, remarked, "We drove 3 hours to see this???" Thankfully, since it was later, there was a smaller crowd - with a few chuckles to her honest commentary.... Here are some of the pics from Yellowstone and, what I thought was pretty amazing, Old Faithful....
After a long day, we arrived at our condo which is situated in West Yellowstone, Montana... Just a few miles from the park entrance. We will be here for a few days, exploring the park... But this morning, we rest.. And this early bird got the blog... up and running ;) ...
As soon as there was sufficient daylight, I fumbled around in the dark and gathered all my running things. Before long, I was out the door and running through the quaint town, more like a village, of Red Lodge, Montana. There are so many perks to running, but one of my favorites is how easily one can explore new destinations. As I ran down Main Street, I peaked around corners and if anything looked interesting, I just ran in that direction, and then moved back to Main Street. Peering into store fronts and enjoying the quaint architecture of this sweet town were the highlights of my run. Since temperature was a perfect 55 degrees, when I made it back to The Yodeler, I thought I would walk a bit to cool down. Hearing a rushing sound, I thought... what a delightful mountain breeze.... except there was no breeze... no leaves were moving... Then I saw a bridge, so I had to go check out what was creating such a sound... What a beautiful rushing river, full of snowmelt from the mountains... Here are some of my favorite pics from the run...
Even though it has been a hotel since the early 1900s, looks like it became groovy in 1964!
After surprisingly delicious breakfast at The Red Lodge Cafe and a visit to the town drug store and grocery, we loaded up and headed up the legendary Bear Tooth Highway. For months, my husband has been talking about our planned route into West Yellowstone, Montana. Excitedly, he noted that many claim this highway to be the most spectacular in the "Lower 48" (states). Wow.... Just Wow!!! Climbing mountain passes to almost 11,000 feet and dangling on the side of mountains, our jaws dropped at the beauty we took in... The Bear Tooth Highway is about 70 miles long and it took us several hours to journey and explore... Here are some of our favorite pics from our time traveling on this famous highway.
We had brought along sunflower seeds to feed the Alpine Chipmunks. Somehow, they knew exactly what to do.... *wink, wink
I took a pic of the drop-offs ... GULP
Guilty... He had so much fun getting them!
The Bear Tooth Highway ends in the town of Cook, Montana and we were all ready to enjoy a late lunch in this tiny town before getting back on the road for Yellowstone National Park. Entering the park around 7:30, we spent our time in the car catching glimpses of the different wildlife as well as the mysterious geysers and hot springs. Teaming pools with unique hues, we were captivated by them.... After pulling over to check out a few, we made our way to Old Faithful. Learning that it would be 45 minutes before it would erupt, we thought it would be a great time to explore the conveniently located gift shop. Before too long, we all reconvened at the viewing area of Old Faithful. Bundling up with coats and blankets retrieved from our cars, we anxiously awaited for Old Faithful to do her magic.... Sure enough, she began to blow at the predicted 9:31. It lasted for about four minutes. Midway through, Francey, louder than I would have liked, remarked, "We drove 3 hours to see this???" Thankfully, since it was later, there was a smaller crowd - with a few chuckles to her honest commentary.... Here are some of the pics from Yellowstone and, what I thought was pretty amazing, Old Faithful....
Hmmm..... Sulfur.....
After a long day, we arrived at our condo which is situated in West Yellowstone, Montana... Just a few miles from the park entrance. We will be here for a few days, exploring the park... But this morning, we rest.. And this early bird got the blog... up and running ;) ...
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