Well we had a great fast journey to Brighton. It was highway all the way and no mountains to climb although we reached over 8000 feet on the Lincoln Highway where Abraham Lincoln’s statue is.

We stopped here to go to the visitors centre and took these pictures. Don’t laugh too much!

We passed through and had a coffee break in Laramie. Jimmy Young sang a song about the man from Laramie.

Here is the MANN at Laramie!

Next we passed by Cheyenne and turned right to Denver.

Do you recognise these town names from cowboy films?

Our hotel is very lovely and we are going to use this location to visit the mountains and Denver. We are here for 4 nights.

Today we set out to see a herd of elk at Wamsutter. It was a warm 74*f but very windy. The dust and sand was being whipped up by the wind and it was heavy going to drive along the highway. There were no elk to be seen!

We returned to Green River and decided to go to the Green River in the Gorge. As we travelled along we could see the clouds building up to the West and lots of dust coming towards us. It was 74*f and within 30 minutes the cold front had reached us and the temperature had dropped 30*f.

It was now 53*f and winds gusting over 65mph. We decided to return to the hotel. It was so cold and windy.

So we watched Tv and chilled out. It is now 6pm the wind has dropped and the sun is out again. Strange weather and not for hairpin bends today!

Tomorrow we travel to Denver and back to hot weather. It’s motorway all the way so we should be there mid afternoon.

No photos today sorry.

love you all xxxx

We continue to have restful days and enjoy the weather. We went around Flaming Gorge and stopped at the Red Canyon Lodge again. We saw an osprey swoop down and catch a fish from their pond. They use the pond to let children under 12 fish for free, as long as they throw the fish caught back in. I don’t think the osprey read the rules as he flew off with it!

We watched the woodpecker and finches and humming birds while we ate our lunch outside.

We saw lots of pronghorn deer today.

Here are some more pictures of the Geology and beauty of the area.

 

Today we were in Ashley National Forest

Near Green River town, the Green River winds through a deep gorge Flaming Gorge.

We followed the road in a loop around this Gorge.

First we began to see lots of rocky out crops with the snowy Rockies behind them

We began to see Pronghorn deer and prairie dogs.

Then the rocks changed and became many different colours and shapes.

To our surprise the Flaming Gorge was out of this world.

It was named by Wesley Powell who set off from here to explore the green river and then the Colorado when the green river joined it. He eventually went down the Grand Canyon and beyond, mapping out the areas.

In Flaming Gorge there is a rift line and the mountains have been forced up and mangled. The strata is up down and in all the wrong angles! Very impressive…

We were travelling along what had been the bottom of the ocean billions of years ago. Many dinosaurs and fossils are being found here. The ancient rocks were millions of years old. I need to study geology more

 

Next we went down a geological area named Sheep Creek Canyon. We were so unprepared for the delights down there. Our photos cannot show off well enough the contrasts in rock formations and sheer sided valley sides and rock towers formations. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It was 5 miles of magic.

Back on the loop road  we stopped at Red Canyon Lodge for lunch. It is built round a small lake and has lots of water activities for families who can hire log cabins and boats. We saw several humming bees sucking sweet water from feeders. There were 2 bird tables that had little reddish finches feeding from them . We saw 2 woodpeckers on the bird tables too.

We continued along the loop to Flaming Gorge Reservoir Dam and crossed the Green River by this bridge.

Eventually we were right on the top of the mountains along a ridge with marvellous views 360* Wow!

The whole area is classed as a cold desert and rarely reaches temperatures over 80*f

Today was hot again with a warm wind about 78*f. It looks very stormy outside now though. The sky has very dark clouds maybe we are in for thunder?

(no its just passed over)

xxxxx

 

 

 

We had a very long journey today to Green River. We went through Yellowstone and out through the south entrance into Teton National Park then the road followed the Snake River to where we had lunch and a rest. Then we followed the Green River to Green River town.

This is the last photo of Yellowstone NP near the South entrance.

This is the beautiful Grand Teton national Park. We just drove straight through as we had a long journey still to complete.

The Snake River. can you spot Grandad?

And the Green River…. It is very desert like environment and dusty.

So we left Cody at 52*f, dropped to 43*f in the Tetons and now its 90*f! Well we are 300 miles further South!

This is me at Jackson Wyoming standing under an arch made of elk antlers! There are 1400 elks in this area around Jackson

We are tired and here for 4 nights so we will have a good rest.

Hope you are all ok and look out for our postcards Love you all xxxx

Sadly its our last day here. We’ve enjoyed seeing all the scenery; the mountains, lakes, wildlife and friendly people. We went over the Chief Joseph Pass and through the Lamar Valley today.

We saw cowboys with lassoes and horses on a ranch. We got great action pictures. It was actually a photo shoot that we very cheekily watched from the road and used it to our advantage.

Grandad has a new leather hat…its a long story but he looks good in it.

We saw where 2 wolf dens are but did not see the wolves. We saw a bear and loads of buffalo. Then on the way back I saw what I think is a crane. So….. here are the photos.

We have had 2 days of exploring mountains and lakes. Around here are 3 different great mountain passes. We enter Yellowstone by the East entrance and travel 50 miles through beautiful valleys and mountains with buttes and hoodoos.

Yesterday we went along the Chief Joseph Highway and then up the Bear Tooth Pass.

We have seen lots of wildlife especially bison and a few moose.

We especially were delighted to see buffalo swimming across the river

 

 

 

And a mother moose paddling with her baby moose

Today we stayed around the huge Yellowstone Lake.

Hope you like the photos…. xxxx

 

Hello Anona Lily Louis Otis Xavi and Alice(oldest to youngest!)

We got some good sitings of bears today. Grandad will send some photos too ( mine are not too sharp though)

We were nearly entering the lake area of Yellowstone when we saw lots of people with cameras so we stopped to see too. It was a grizzly mother bear and one cub!

They were at the top of a hill a good distance away from the road but we still managed to photograph them. What a lovely start to our morning.

After we stopped for breakfast we went up to the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River. The waterfall was very full with loud sounds of gushing water.

At one viewing station there was a steep path down. I stayed at the top but granddad walked down. The return up the path was very steep.

We continue to have hot sunny weather.

On the way back to Cody we again saw the mama and cub and stopped again to see them.

Here are some yellow flowers that grow all over the hillsides as you travel towards the park. They are very pretty and as big as marigolds. Oh and we saw a marmot, heron geese, buffalo, deer and chipmunks today.

Really looking forward to seeing you all again. We are having an amazing time but still missing you

Love from

Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Another early start today as we wanted to visit Mammoth Hot springs. We saw lots of wildlife on the way there and back, but no chances to photo as we were driving.

We saw deer, elk , 2 bears, 2 kyotes and many different birds. The wild flowers are so beautiful at the moment

. We also saw rapids on the Yellowstone River where the trout have to jump up stream. We saw a trout about to swim off but didn’t see him leap.

Yellowstone River Lower falls were terrific with very powerful water.

Next we saw the volcano area and the sulphur bubbling lakes. The hillside is described as a cooking pot.

Louis and Otis there is a dragons hollow where he breathes out steam!

When we got to the area around Mammoth Hot Springs it was very hot and sunny and as it is Sunday there were masses of people. We walked on the board walks and viewed the very pretty mineral staircases, sparkling in the sunshine. You would have loved it Lily and Anona …its very magical.

We were hot and tired so drank lots of soda with our lunch then set on the return trip.

Our sat nav took us back the quickest way on a fantastic road through Lamar valley where we saw hundreds of buffalo. I’m not exaggerating! It was so good to see them all and you could imagine how America should be if the pioneers hadn’t killed them all in the 1800s.

We then went up up up into the mountains of the Shoshone National Forest. The road felt like you were on top of the world looking over to the Rockies. It was like driving in Norway Alex and Matthew.

We went round many hairpin bends but felt safe as the road was wide and had crash barriers all the way.

Hope you like the photos. I shall never forget this road it was amazing.

The weather continues to please with blue skies and sunshine. We set off at 7am to go to the park and spent all day there. There is so much to see!

We found the snow and frozen lakes

Beautiful Lake Yellowstone was breathtakingly beautiful.

We saw an elk paddling.

We also saw mountain sheep and birds

Then we hit the geysers and bubbling waters with sulphur clouds.

Here is Old Faithful

We walked along boardwalks all day, looking at different geysers and features.

This is Castle Geyser it erupts twice in 24 hours. We watched it for over 20 minutes and it was still throwing water into the air for an hour!

I took far too many photos today, so I will have to delete loads and just keep the best.

Really looking forward to tomorrows adventure!

xxxxxx