Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Travels Past: 1992

 Alaska Highway in 1992, this was your warning for what followed.

 The road damage from the previous winter and a short window of time for repair.

 Sign Forest on the Alcan.

 In 1992 Exit Glacier had moved forward 14' over the previous year.

 Sitka totem poles, this is a city not to be missed if you take the inside passage to Alaska.

 Typical view from the ferry deck. We had our car in the hold. We rode up and drove home. 

 Never get tired of this place.

 1992 prices for car, 2 adults, 2 children

Saturday, February 23, 2019

A Different Time


If you click on the image you can get a more readable size font. I found a quote by Richard Nixon on page 1 very interesting, "Among the great privileges that we enjoy is the privilege of hearing President Eisenhower pray at the beginning of his inauguration," he declared. "That could not happen in half the world today." While Richard Nixon would come to have issues with his morality in the future this article does demonstrate a change in American culture. Church attendance climbed during the Eisenhower administration demonstrating the power of the presidency to impact American culture. Ike never mentioned a specific church nor a specific religion, he encouraged people to attend church and pray. There may be a lesson for our modern world and its leaders. 

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Final Yellowstone Adventure Part IV

 During our week in Yellowstone we took two tours, one in a snow-coach and one on snowmobiles. The snow-coach took us to Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone while the snowmobile tour went to Old Faithful. We stopped to get these bison photos, yes their head is pushing snow out of the way to gain access to food. Notice the bison in the river in background searching for an easy way out (yes, it made it).


 Gibbon Falls was a stop on our snow-coach route.

 Vicki visiting with our guide, Pierre. He was excellent, always on the lookout for wildlife, knowledgeable in the science of Yellowstone.

 Steam at the Norris Geyser Basin. Really provides a wonderful effect to pictures. Overcast day helped contribute to the consistent color hues.

 Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Pictures struggle to capture the beauty of this place in winter.

 Barb helping you see the snow depth since the hand railing is to her left (our right).

 Pete and I taking pictures of each other at Norris.

 Another view of the Norris Geyser basin.

 The next few pictures are from the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. This is a worthwhile stop on any trip to the area. Staff goes out of their way to try and keep these animals (who can't be released into the wild) as wild as possible.


 Grizzly are BIG! Sam weighs in at about 800 pounds. They don't hibernate because they are fed. The staff does drill holes and make the bears dig for treats to keep using the skills all bears possess.


Saturday, February 16, 2019

Yellowstone Adventure Part III

 If you saw my last post about snow shoeing in fresh powder, this is exactly the opposite. This great trail system leaves from the town of West Yellowstone and we followed the main trail for 1.5 miles and then headed down to the Madison River.


 Vicki and Barb

 Barb, Pete, Marilyn and Vicki


 Madison River from trailside.


 Pete thought this would be a great place to nap.


 Heading uphill on our way out. In just a few more feet we will have to wait as 3 cross-country skiers were coming downhill. Great trail system and a great day to be out in creation.

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Yellowstone Adventure Part II

 Decided to try our hand at "breaking trail" in deep powder snow behind our rental (direct access to national forest land). Vick had fallen earlier and struggled mightily to get up. Remember, you have nothing solid to push off except your ski pole which as you see from the next picture didn't offer much help due to depth of snow. We learned that trails where others have packed the surface are much nicer way to travel.



We decided to create a trail for about a quarter mile and then walk back via the same route which then left a pretty good route for someone else to extend (someone much younger than us).


Saturday, February 9, 2019

Winter in Yellowstone Part I

We just returned from a fabulous week in West Yellowstone and Yellowstone National Park. I have included some photos from early in our trip.
 Sunday arrival at our rental 8 miles south of West Yellowstone.


 Morning picture from our rental looking to the west.


Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Stock Show: January 25, 2019





Stock show is in town and for the next 10 days there will be cows, horses, sheep and every kind of rodeo you can imagine. We went and watched the single and team calf roping and then went downtown to see the horses that will be sold. No, ranch horses trained to herd cattle are way beyond our price range. One of the sponsors is Butler CAT so I had to include a CAT advertisement since we are originally from near Peoria.

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Ed Lemmon, "a real cow hand"

Image result for Ed Lemmon  This brief account of Ed Lemmon came from, "Black Hills Pioneer Stories," by Carl Leedy, 1973.

"Ed Lemmon was a real cow hand. I have taken the trouble to read about his activities. In the saddle at the age of thirteen, he became a cow hand near Cheyenne, WY. Six years later he was following the long dusty lines of bawling Texas longhorns as they wound their wearisome course to the northern ranches. Lemmon had no notches in his gun, no medals for bronc busting, no prizes for trick riding or roping. His honors cover achievements won the hard way, through the years of adherence to duty and long hours in the saddle. According to the National Livestock Association, Ed Lemmon held the world's record for saddle handling (a term used by early cow men which meant cutting out a certain brand of cattle from a round-up). He held the record for the largest number of cattle cut out and brought to the branding fire during a round-up in a single day with a total of 900 head. He covered nearly every foot of range in Wyoming, Montana and Nebraska on horseback, and knew every important brand for many years. He was manager of the L7 rance.
In 1902 he leased 865,000 acres on the Standing Rock Reservation, enclosed it with a three wire fence, made the largest fenced pasture in the world, and built a herd of 53,000 head of cattle. In 1908 he sold out and moved to the town that bears his name."

Ed was born in 1857 and died in 1945.

http://www.lemmonsd.com/


For those of you who have no idea what ranching entails just read the numbers again. 865,000 acres equals about 1351 square miles of fenced land with about 16 acres of grazing land for each cow which means the land wasn't overgrazed. If Ed worked a 16 hour day he was able to take 56 cows per hour to be branded, no small feat for one man and he probably worked a longer day at branding time. The people who settled the west were tough and hard working. Success didn't always follow them but they kept at it day in and day out.