On Tour in the USA

[ZenGum]

Awesome pics, and the last one is very dramatic (but also makes me wonder, exactly when did you notice the weather? )

I'm mildly surprised there isn't a bunch of hippies trying to renovate that place as an organic commune.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The last of the Hippies moved out in the '60s. The Federal BLM (Bureau of Land Management) owns it and I doubt they would let anyone move in for long.

[diminished]

Yeah,we noticed the weather more or less when I took that first shot,far too late.We sheltered under that verandah for at least an hour,but the main part of the thunderstorm eventually skewed away from us.

Likewise,because of the BLM rules we didnt remove anything from the site,although there was a lot of quartz on the ground (the original Gold Strike which boomed the town was found about 1/4 of a mile west of the place,on a quartz outcrop.).Also there were some rocks which seemed suspiciously heavy for their size.I did mention to Persistence that we could well be walking over a King's Ransom,but taking stuff just didnt seem like Cricket.In fact,we found a few bits and pieces and added them to the table of finds within the verandah.

Tonight,we also had to cool it on the fireworks a bit (tho not the beer).We're left with a pack of 3 big firecrackers,and a string of around 1500 little ones.We blew off a few rockets,but then saw a family of feral cats cowering in the corner of the parking lot.We remember how much our cats at home hate fireworks,and so ceased and desisted our gunpowder frivolity.Scaring animals = not cool.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ha, those are American cats, they were just waiting for a chance to run out and scarf a finger or two off the ground.

I strongly suggest getting rid of the rest before you cross any state lines. The laws vary greatly and you could find yourselves in deep shit.

[diminished]

There's a local and rather unimpressive ghost town around here called Winton,which is extensively vandalised by the local teenagers.We'll just head out tomorrow morning and set them off there.Cheers for the tip tho,I had my suspicions about that.

[Elspode]

Y'all win the Cellar.org photo thread so far.

Great ghost town pics. I've stomped the same grounds you've recently been through a couple of times. Great country, cool history, beautiful vistas.

[diminished]

Anyone who follows failblog.org might recognise this vehicle.

I was absolutely thrilled when we pulled into our motel for the night and this car followed us in.

Business name fail.



By diminish3d, shot with DMC-TZ5 at 2009-07-05

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by diminished

Business name fail.

I wonder how many times they get "No thanks, we'll just put ours to sleep."

I can just imagine some the the feedback they get on their website.

[diminished]

Sorry all,been a bit of time since our last update.

We've been through Yellowstone Park now,and I've got a little advice for anyone going that way.

Firstly,dont think that by staying further away from the park that you'll save a bit of money on accmodation.We tried that the first couple of days we were there,and quickly realised that time spent travelling to and from the park really cuts into time available for seeing stuff.

If you shop around a bit,cheaper accomodation may be had.Our reccommendation is the Evergreen Motel,just outside of the center of West Yellowstone village,which is ran by a very pleasant young couple.The rooms are a bit small,but well decorated and have what I describe as my Holy Triumvirate of facilities (Fridge,Microwave and Coffee-maker,Amen).There's also a good,if a bit pricey,restaurant next door called 'Kiwis'.They sell meat pies,and proper fish and chips..a bit of a thrill for us slightly homesick Brits.

We used West Yellowstone as our base mainly because its more or less the same distance to everything in the park from the west entrance.

Word to the wise tho.The earlier you can get into the park from that side,the less time you'll spend queueing 5 miles or so inside the gate,where a Bald Eagle has set up nest next to the road.We lost nearly an hour the first couple of days because of that.

We didnt encounter much wildlife to start with,spending the first couple of days in the south end of the park,admiring the geysers and other geothermal phenomena...we must have seen 'Old Faithful' spout a good 7-8 times before our time in the park was done,but its also worth checking out the others.Castle Geyser is particularly good,and spouts away for ages.

Third day in,we took a wrong turn,and ended up going towards Mammoth Springs in the north.I'd just turned to Persistence to point out our mistake,when I was struck dumb,and ended up pointing out of the window making odd noises.We'd just trundled up about 5 metres from a Bison,who was quietly breakfasting by the roadside.

It turned out to be the first of many we saw,and I found them endlessly impressive creatures.It should be noted however,it doesn't do to disturb them too much,as apparently many more people are hurt by Bison in the park every year than the other large wildlife.

We did see a bear too.I'd more or less given up hope by the middle part of the 4th day of seeing one.In a last shot to encounter bear,we'd headed down the Hayden Valley in the east of the park,and we just happened to notice a couple of cars pulled up by the side of the road,and people outside of the cars with binoculars.

'Ah well,another Bison,' I said,as we pulled up for a look.Its worth noting,that if you're a bit crap at spotting stuff like I am,watch for cars pulled up at the roadside,but not in the provided turn-outs.Its usually an indicator that theres something worth looking at.

Anyway,I grabbed the camera,as Persistence scraffled in the back seat for the binoculars.I jumped out and trotted up to a couple of ladies chatting in a low and excited tone.

'There's a Grizzly up there,' one of them volunteered to me.I spent a desperate and fruitless couple of minutes scanning the tree-line,and was joined by Persistence,who pointed it straight out.And there it was,a good couple of hundred metres away,but definately a bear.
I went snap-happy,wishing I had a much better zoom function.I was however,absolutely thrilled.

The spell of the moment was only broken when we all realised that much,much more traffic had now parked up,and we were witnessing a truly bizarre spectacle provided courtesy of the human animals

Much like in Saknussem's thread in the quality images forum,I could hardly believe my eyes.There was a cavalry charge of parents carrying children up the slope towards the bear.It was like watching some sort of twisted,macabre game-show,the parents charged forth it seemed in an attempt to get their kids eaten by a bear first,with a vigour that suggested a large cash prize was at stake.Or at least an appearance on 'Americas funniest videos'.

I was particularly impressed by a plaid-shirted and baseball capped gentleman who burst through the front of the field,with a toddler stuffed under each arm.

Luckily,a Ranger appeared to stop the madness,although plaid-man must have got to about 10 metres before he was halted.

The bear,I have to say,was remarkably un-phased by all the ruckus.He was having far too much fun pulling bark from felled trees,looking for bugs I guess.He shuffled back off into the woods,hopefully very unimpressed.

We've moved on quite a bit since then,I'll update this thread more tomorrow.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I witnessed a woman painting her kids face with honey. She explained to the apoplectic ranger, she wanted a picture of the bear licking her kid's face.

[Pensive Monkey]

How unfortunate...I'm very close to St. Louis and could have directed you to the Piasa bird. Did you go to Grafton? The City Museum in St. Louis? St. Louis has a bad rep, really...not my favorite city ever, but better than it's rumored to be, and not nearly as scary. If you stay away from certain parts of the city, of course.

[dar512]

What town are you in, Pensive? I grew up in STL.

[Pensive Monkey]

Edwardsville, IL

[dar512]

I lived in Collinsville a long time ago when I was first starting out. I liked Edwardsville, though.

[Pensive Monkey]

That's cool. I didn't grow up here, but we really like Edwardsville.