The drive today was approximately 300 miles. We left Great Falls about 8:30 AM, after having a breakfast at the hotel (complimentary). We tried for about half an hour to find the Great Falls in Great Falls, but failed, so we just headed out.
We topped off before hitting the road.The regular gas is 85.5 octane, the Prius wants 87. I put the plus grade in at 89.Impressive building in Great Falls.Saw hundreds of Canadian geese.We left and saw this interesting pedestrian bridge.Fun art work on the supports to the bridge.
We stopped for gas and a snack somewhere in Montana. We also stopped and did a quick tour in Helena. Saw the Capitol building, the Governor’s Mansion, and a few other fun things. We also saw some actual wildlife in town. Seems we’re only seeing wildlife in towns these days.
Interesting sky today.It’s like the clouds are resting on a glass sheet.Edie’s replacement ring.Countryside is changing as we head South.Lots of idyllic settings along the way.
We know winter is haunting us.Approaching Helena, the state capitol.It is an old town with lots of character in the homes.Really beautiful churches.Back of the Catholic church.Lots of stained glass.
Lots of old cars too.
The Capitol building.Charlie Russell is big here.The grounds are grand and almost understated.
Edie is zeroing in on barns, churches and flowers.We each had a prepackaged sandwich at Lucky Lil’s Casino, I’d give mine a 3 out of 10.
The U.S. Rockies loom in the distance.So weird, statues all.
Wish they had a better way to clear the field.Barn for snow country.Lots of broken rocks on steep grades along this section of road.We parallel this stream for the last 40 miles or so.Speed dropped from 70 to 55 once we entered the park.
We got into West Yellowstone about 2:00 PM. We stopped at the local grocery store and picked up a few things as we know we won’t be going out in the severe cold. Probably be house-bound for a few days. We drove to the park before we got to our new home and discovered the West gate is closed. Bummer. I think we’ll look into some type of tour that we can see in the park.
We drove to the West entrance. It is closed to vehicles and open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic only.Back into West Yellowstone.
It is a small store and liquor store.
Painted buffalo statues all over town.
Nice statue outside Grizzly Park.
We got to our new “home” around 3:00 PM. Check-in was quick and easy. It’s a beautiful resort. Our room is on the second floor and overlooks the parking lot and some wild land. The unit is beautiful. Really liking our Worldmark as the quality is very good. The unit is very large, about three times the size of the one in Banff. Also, it has my favorite – washer and dryer. Yahoo.
We found the Worldmark.Grand lobby.Fitness center above, indoor pool behind.Nice check in area.
Nice souvenir shop.Comfortable living room.Nice kitchen.Nice bedroomBedroom TVNice big bathroom.My chair.One of Edie’s favorites.Nice lamps.
As we were leaving and heading to our room after checking-in, we were told by a very nice couple that today the Discovery Center (across the street) was free. It’s the one day of the year that it’s free (normally about $10.00 a person). After we unloaded everything, we drove across the street to the Discovery Center. What an amazing place where you can see up close and personal the wolves and bears. These are animals that would have normally been killed but they keep them in a nice enclosure and take care of them. They are still bored but alive. They also do things like hide the food and put different scents around for the animals. Nice. The bears were so beautiful, as were the wolves. They also have eagles, owls, and other raptors.
Not very far away.Wolf statue.Grumpy thinking he can beat the bear to the fish.Grumpy on the bear hug couch.Grizzlies!Playing.
The crows were in with the bears trying to nibble at their leavings.Nice statue -gives you a sense of being stared at by a wolf.A wolf resting on a little hilltop.Do you see the owl in the center?Two eagles.A Rough Legged Hawk with his back to us.Wolves getting excited.They hear the food truck driving up.They know the sound and can’t help but run.
A good primer for all our dogs.
An employee hiding food in the bear enclosure.Another employee hiding food and scents in the wolf pen.
This is Sam, a grizzly from Alaska. The Yellowstone grizzlies weigh 300 to 500 lbs. Sam weighs more than 1,000 lbs.All counter-intuitive, don’t run, stand your ground, great.
We left the Discovery Center and looked for food. We didn’t want to cook tonight but finding a place was hard. We ended up at a local hotel that had The Slippery Otter restaurant associated with it. We got a pizza and hamburger. The hamburger was amazing. We still prefer Paddington Pizza in Salem to any other (so far).
Early dinner.8″ Old Faithful pizza and …An angus burger with fries. Don’t know where they got the potatoes. Edie and I split each, and it was all good.What am I doing here? Talked to a friend, it was 80 degrees at home today.Outside our back door.Our side entrance.
We are tired. Our bottoms hurt from being in the car for two days. We’re ready to just relax for awhile.
