Business and Pleasure–Days Seven and Eight: Another Shot at Yellowstone
The night fell… and so did the snow. The next morning, I made the decision to take advantage of the low number of visitors due to the snow to see parts of Yellowstone I had not seen previously. I worked my way to the easternmost park entrance, taking lots of pictures along the way: Yellowstone’s bison roam freely across the park. This one got a bit too close for my comfort: The rest of my pictures of this Yellowstone winter wonderland are available at https://singin1.pics/piwigo2/index.php?/category/glacier-and-yellowstone-nps-may-2024-day-6. I guess most folks would find it hard to believe that all of this was happening the week before Memorial Day weekend, but I had had a similar experience ten years earlier and had lived in Iowa for eighteen years. Winters here can be intense and long, even when the calendar says it is Spring. I exited Yellowstone from its East Entrance Road and made…
Business and Pleasure–Days Five and Six: More Glacier
The forecast on Tuesday morning was, if anything, more ominous than the one from the night before. But even if I hadn’t been checking the forecast, I could see that darker clouds already beginning to form in the distance. My GPS routed me through a back road rather than the main roads between my hotel and the park. It was not crowded, so I could take my time and enjoyed the scenery. I went by the Apgar Visitor Center to get my usual walking stick medallion and magnet, as well as to talk to a ranger to get information about the best use of the time I had available. Even though I had looked at information on the website, the ranger’s info is always up-to-date, and they can answer specific questions I have. I learned that, not only was the middle portion of the Going-to-the-Sun Road completely closed due…
Business and Pleasure–Days Three and Four: Glacier at Long Last
And thus began two days of marathon driving, over 1100 miles from Minneapolis to the eastern entrance to Glacier National Park. I’ve driven distances like this before, but I was trying to beat a strong winter storm that was forecast to approach from the west by Wednesday. If I met my schedule of arriving by Monday afternoon, I would have about a day and a half to enjoy the park. Interstates took me from Minneapolis into Montana, primarily via I94 through North Dakota. The interstate actually cuts through the south portion of another national park, Theodore Roosevelt NP. I didn’t stop since I had already visited the park less than a year before (see http://singin1.com/a-quick-trip-theodore-roosevelt-np-day-two/). This was also not my first visit to Montana, having driving through initially ten years earlier during my first Goin’ West trip. The scenery was glorious, and I hadn’t even reached the park yet. I…
A Final Crack at Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park is at the top of my NP Bucket List. It suddenly occurred to me that I might have an opportunity this month to make a quick trip there along with at least one other park before I leave Iowa. While Juneteenth is a federal holiday now, it’s not a national holiday. I’m hoping that means the park–one of the most popular ones in the system–will not be at overflow levels that weekend. I have two routes to consider. The first and most likely to be feasible would be to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota then across to Montana and Glacier. Under the category of wishful thinking is to add another stop to Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. This would add another day to the trip because the route from Voyageurs is all state roads rather than almost all interstate driving if I don’t go there.…
The Singin’ Tourist in the SW USA (Afterthoughts)
It’s hard to believe that it has been a month since I finally made this trip that has been on my wish list for a decade. And what a difference a decade makes! I still don’t feel like I’ve fully recovered from the trip. Yet, I’m already contemplating one more venture while I’m still in Iowa. This time, I want to visit Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana. I was close to visiting it in the summer of 2018, but from Missoula I had to decide to go 250 miles due north to Glacier or continue on my originally planned route towards Seattle. Time and budget–and just finishing an incredible visit to Yellowstone NP–were the deciding factors. Now, though, I’ve got the option of taking Amtrak there or driving the Silver Bullet. It will be hard to leave the car and the freedom to change plans, but I admit that…