Last day in Bozeman, MT

Day 7 
2014 - 08 - 24, Monday

We slept in our first morning in Bozeman and had coffee & quite the breakfast before heading out to explore downtown Bozeman. We parked near the Rockford Coffee shop and walked down Main street checking out all of the neat shops and restaurants in the area. We also walked to a nearby park. Pho Real was the name of the restaurant we had lunch at downtown. The warm pho soup really hit the spot. 

This was the view from the porch of our VRBO (vacation rental by owner), where we stayed in Bozeman. It had its own kitchen. It was much nicer, and surprisingly cheaper, than staying at one of the hotels downtown. It was only about a 10 minute drive into town and had a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The apartment was over a garage, where the owner graciously let us set up & dry out our tent while we were there.

We visited the American Computer Museum as requested by Ryan. He really loved visiting this place and we spent several hours there that afternoon. They had lots of good information and artifacts/memorabilia.

This wanted sign was unbelievable. 

Ryan standing next to a VLSI chip layout. Apparently creating this is what Ryan likes to do & did while at Georgia Tech. It still blows my mind that he can design a computer chip. 

For our last dinner on vacation, we went downtown to eat at The Garage on Main Street. It was great. Both of us got Bison burgers, which may have been the best burger I have ever eaten. We also really enjoyed the tomato-basil soup they had at the soup shack. While the food was phenomenal, the best part of our experience there was our waitress. When the hostess seated us, she said something like, "your server will be Jet Pack, she'll be here in just a minute." As soon as the hostess left, Ryan asked me, "Did she say 'Jet Pack'?" and I thought that's what I had heard as well. Sure enough, our server's name really was Jet Pack. She was a great waitress, and if we ever make it back to Bozeman again, we definitely plan to eat here!

We left Montana the next morning and headed back to North Carolina. 

The adventures of Rambling Rooster and Soulshine, to be continued....

Leaving Yellowstone

Day 6 
2014 - 08 - 24, Sunday



This was our last day in the park. We had camped at the Madison Campground, and there weren't any restaurants in the area so we had some instant coffee and were on our way. That morning we saw a sleeping buffalo beneath a tree just off the road on our way to a trail. Ryan had his binoculars ready, and it was definitely sleeping! "Sleeping Buffalo" would definitely make a great trail name for someone who sleeps soundly while camping/hiking. We decided to do one last hike that morning before we drove around the West most portion of Yellowstone and exited through the West Entrance. 

View from the trail of the area leading up to the Grand Prismatic. 

Fairy Falls, roughly 200 ft high

The cute squirrel at the falls that wanted to know if we brought snacks for him. Seriously, he was practically begging and following us around. This is why people should not feed the animals!

Spectacular view from the base of the falls

The crows in the park are nearly the size of tires... unbelievable!

We stopped by several other points of interest along the Western side of the park including Fountain Paint Pots, Chocolate pots, Artist pain pots, and Beryl Spring. Some of the photos from this area of the park are posted below.

"Bobby socks trees"

Waterfall ***

This is truly the land of the dinosaurs. 

Reminds me of the movie Land Before Time with Littlefoot.

Artist paint pots. Not the best photo of Ryan, but this white bubbling mud was one of my favorites at this site!

Beryl Spring

One of the rivers we drove along before leaving the park

View of the snow capped mountains just outside of Bozeman, Montana

On our way back to Bozeman, MT, we spotted a fox crossing the road that was carrying it's dinner (squirrel or some other rodent?). In Bozeman we stayed at a nice VRBO rental that had its own kitchen. We picked up groceries from the local Co-op in downtown Bozeman.

Hydrothermals: This is where the Dinosaurs lived

Day 5 {Part 2}
2014 - 08 - 23, Saturday

After we ventured around Old Faithful, we explored a few more Hydrothermal areas that were incredible and almost unreal to see.

Boardwalk across the river to the grand prismatic

The Grand Prismatic. Unfortunately it was quite cold and the steam 

prevented us from seeing all of the beautiful colors

This aerial photo really puts the size of the grand prismatic in perspective. Our photo was taken from the tiny board walk in the lower right corner noted on the photo of this display.

These crystal formations were made by thermophile bacteria

 Water flowing from one of the larger pools of boiling water (pictured above) into the river. 

We kept seeing this RV everywhere we stayed and were certain another group was traveling the same route as we were... until we saw about 4 identical ones parked in the same lot. 

More hydrothermals in the "Biscuit Basin" near Old Faithful

The Sapphire Pool

Shell Spring

This one really reminded me of a volcano. This geyser has not erupted in several years. 

Firehole Springs, where white hot flame like water spouted from the base of the spring