Yippee-i-aye-ride-em-cowboy

Ok so once we had discovered that the short 2 hour road out of yellowstone was closed and we had a 5 hour trek instead (saw 90% of Yellowstone as a result though) we headed on out to a place called Cody. Over the Dead Indian Pass - can see why it is called that - pretty freaky high up road but awesome views.

Mike in the wind on Dead Indian Pass

Cody is named after Buffalo Bill - his name was William Cody. Buffalo Bill is a legend in this town. Check out who he was on this link - Buffalo Bill. Basically became a superstar as we know it in American folklore. 

We stayed at the Ponderosa Campground. Right down the street from the Buffalo Bill Historical center - which was this awesome museum. (Mike and Suzy collectively rolling their eyes). I got up early and walked down so I could check it out - apparently rated #2 after the smithsonian (find that hard to believe). The museum was excellent - and finally Mike and Suzy turned up and grudgingly admitted they thought it was quite good also. Check it out here - Museum link

We were disappointed that the rodeo didn't start to the following weekend and we weren't quite up to a chuckwagon country music evening. So washing, tidying the RV and finally got the cable TV going - wow - the real world all of a sudden.

Yogi bear lives on....

We took this photo of ourselves - it was too hard to describe how cold it was

We made it to Yellowstone. Through the ice and snow we went Yogi bear hunting....This place is MASSIVE! - it has five territories - we spent most of the time in Geyserland (or geezerland as they say here). It is the world's first national park, and has history to boot. I loved it but it was bitterly cold. We watched Old faithful the geezer erupt - a little like Rotorua on a grander scale and then headed to find a camp for the night - ah the carpark will do! For dinner we went to the old faithful lodge/inn. This place is amazing - all made of wood and the inside is incredible, 7 huge stone fireplaces, and beautiful lights and timber structure. Check it out on the link. This place makes your jaw drop. Saw a few elks, bison, a wolf or coyote, the odd squirrel.

molesting animals?

Geezerland

awesome morning glory pool

old faithful geezer

Mike sneaked out into a paddock and took this up close and personal of a buffalo while the ranger wasn't looking 

found yogi - can you see him?

On the way out of the park we went to do the hike around the geezerland and pools when the ranger told me the road we wanted to leave on was closed. So instead of 2 hours we took 5 hours to get out of the park.....at least it was scenic, saw most of yellowstone and saw a yogi bear in the distance. All good.
If you blow up the yogi bear photo it really looks like this.....click here

Grand Teton National Park rocks

Well - a guy in a bar said - (say this in an American accent) "if you are heading to Yellowstone make sure you stop at this park, it is right next door and often overlooked but is real pretty". He wasn't wrong. We did stay in Jackson as in previous post but drove through the most amazing scenery. We couldn't do any hikes or ferry's across the lake to the glacier because of the snow and the lake was still frozen but it was stunning anyway - here's some shots....

Grand Teton National Park

just like a postcard

No hiking today - everything is frozen

Ah oh

Just beautiful

The snow angels

Check out the glacier

The glare off the ice made us dark but that was the lake we were supposed to take a ferry across to the other side on.....

Check out this marina - crazy! Especially who left their boat there!

Wyoming - the wild wild west

Leaving Colorado now and heading to the wild west of Wyoming. People talk about the great plains - they are not wrong! Lots and lots of great plains which stretch on for miles and don't make for the most interesting drive - plain boring actually. As we go north, the weather has been getting colder - apparently spring is late - wish it would hurry up and arrive - had to stop at Walmart to stock up on thermals.

Although it may be a late spring for the locals, it's a real bonus for us having driven through mountains of fresh snow creating some really stunning scenery.  Stopped off in Caspar – only because it was on the way….Everyone was wearing cowboy hats – so couldn’t resist the urge. Headed to the outfitter in town – Lou Tauberts – what a shop – rhinestones and three levels of jeans plus hats and boots galore. They tried to sell me a hat made of kangaroo – WHAT! Buffalo only please. Stayed at a wet mushy campsite = snowed and bit of a dive…..

After a quick stop up we headed off towards Yellowstone – diverting through an area called Jackson hole. This was awesome – like a mini queenstown. Boardwalk shops, cowboy bars galore – the million dollar cowboy bar to be exact – kitsch but cool, purchases of $10 hoodies. Had a drink at a saloon and then tried to find food. After 9 is a disaster for food so ended up at Hong Kong buffet – eesh.

Lunch was fab at an old hotel saloon bar – awesome spot – highly recommend this place for a stopover. Think we are all good to go hunting Yogi bear in Yellowstone now……

Hi - I'm Mike and it's cold

Check out my $1 Walmart hat

Not quite like Vegas in Wyoming

We think it's fake...

the great rolling plains....

More rain on the plains....

Colorado....and the lemon

Colorado as a state is awesome. We stayed in a few cool places - but we did have to hunt down an RV place as Harvey was falling apart at the seams. We had a few issues so ended up wasting a day hanging out at an RV service joint and ended up replacing the vehicle - we now have Harvey the RV II. This is much better and not quite so munted.

Tripped through the outskirts of Denver and Boulder and onto Rocky Mountain National Park.

We headed to a place called Estes Park - right at the foot of the Rockies. Amazing place but freeezzzing cold - and it snowed - all night. This place is fantastic though - shame it was such rainy horrible weather. Campground was a bit dire on the gravel but hey you can't win them all. The funny thing about Estes was the elk (kind of like a deer) roaming through the town streets. We would have gone to the Rockies themselves but the weather was not good enough and a bit dodge for the old RV Harvey II.

All that people say about Colorado is true - will return here.

Yes it's snowing

I don't know who owns this ute but I wanted a photo of the snow

Where am I?

The new Harvey the RV II

Some shots of Bryce Canyon National Park

The scary tunnel we paid $15 to enter

This is one of my fave spots... plus we had to pay an 'escort' fee to get through the 1934 tunnel one way - the rangers stop the traffic so big vehicles can go through.

Bryce Canyon

Arty dead tree shot at the canyon

Funny how there are no fences - T on the edge

shot of the canyon

Arches National Park

Arches national park was awesome - mentioned it below but didn't really say a lot about it. We didn't spend nearly enough time there that's for sure. It is described as one of the Southwest's most gorgeous parks and it boasts the world's greatest concentration of sandstone arches. It's a bit like Mars and weirdly you can roam all over the rock formations. Anyway - here are some shots....

The leaning tower of pisa shot just had to be done

Walking the rocks

The delicate Arch

Life on Mars

Harvey the RV at the campground