2023 week 2

Tuesday 26th September

We next travelled to the city of Great Falls to our 4th Airbnb. It was very spacious and comfortable.

Museum day! We visited two museums today. Firstly the interestingly named “Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center”. Basically, this was a record of the exploration party, led by Lewis and Clark in 1804, to find a route to the Pacific via the north West passage across the Rockies.

: The Missouri River

Next was the CM Russell Museum, dedicated to the Cowboy painter, CM Russell.

Wednesday 27th September

Today we took a closer look at the Missouri river. The Giant Springs State Park was first, with the shortest river in the US flowing into the longest. It’s actually several springs bubbling up to form a 70 metre river. We then drove for ages to find the Morony Dam. A bit of a wild goose chase as there was not much to see, but the river was very impressive.

: Shortest river in US

: Morony Dam

: miles from nowhere

Thursday 28th September

Today we drove for 5 hours through contrasting scenery to our next cabin, near Yellowstone Park.

: The cabin

: Inside the cabin

: Great views

: More Great views

: We followed The Missouri

Friday 29th September

A visit to the massive Yellowstone Park to see the thermal features, including the famous “Old Faithful” geyser. This geyser erupts every hour and attracts a large crowd.

: Bison

Saturday 30th September

Our second dip into Yellowstone Park ahead of a potential shut down. We travelled to the North entrance and Mammoth falls. More steam, all over the place. Not the colours of New Zealand but mega amounts of steam.

: Bison

: Steam

: More Steam

Sunday 1st October

A short drive today to our next Airbnb (the 6th out of 12) in Ririe, Twin Falls

: Autumn

Monday 2nd October

Today we visited Yellowstone Bear World and Pauline bottle fed 4 bear cubs. They were all 9 months old.

: Bear World

: Bear feeding

: climbing – not!

: Waiting to be fed

: Feeding deer

: These couldn’t wait to be fed

Tuesday 3rd October

The weather was poor so we decided not to go to Grand Teton National Park. Where we were staying it was raining heavily, but in Grand Teton, the forecast was for 3 inches of snow!!

Instead, we made our way to Idaho Falls to visit the town museum. We learned much about the history of Idaho, from Dinosaurs to the wild west and the Indians.