Before we get to Debbie and Kerry’s home in Houston, we wanted to see something our son-in-law told us about near Amarillo.  You drive along this small road for about 9 miles with nothing to see but this……..

Scenery prior to arriving at Palo Duro Canyon

Then all of a sudden there it is and you understand why they call this the #1 State Park.  This is Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

View of Palo Duro Canyon from Visitors Center

It rained most of last night so all the hiking trails were closed and even a portion of the driving road, but Jim still managed to take some really pretty pictures.

View of Palo Duro Canyon from Visitors Center

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Vistas of Palo Duro Canyon

Since our time in the park was limited, we decided to see some of the other sights in the area rather than waiting until tomorrow.  Around here, no matter what the weather report says, it could always be different.

Our first stop was the RV Museum which turned out to be in the oldest Winnebago dealership in Texas and really fun.  It had the first “camper” designed in 1921 created by Ford called the Lamsteed Kampkar.  It came fully equipped and mounted on a Model “T” Ford chassis.

There were too many to detail in this blog, but he also had the first Airstream which I think looked a lot like the ones you see today (no slam intended) and the 1976 FMC owned by Max Factor, Jr. of the Max Factor Cosmetics family which, as you can imagine, was top of the line for the time.

Our last stop for the day was the Cadillac Ranch advertised to be a “roadside sculpture allowing for personal creativity, but bring your own spray paint”.  I was thinking local artist’s works displayed on the bodies of old cars.  What I saw was, well you decide.  Is this what Amarillo calls art?

Cadillac Ranch – Amarillo, TX

We finished the day by seeing the movie Ben-Hur.  Spectacularly done to rival the original but extremely intense.

We leave Monday for our trek to Houston with only driving and one night stops.  I guess this is the last post for our trip.  That is unless something really interesting happens.

Over the past 2 million years there have been 3 volcano eruptions in the Yellowstone Park area shaping and creating the geothermal features that the park is noted for.  Instead of getting caught up in the rush of people who usually enter the park mid morning, we left our RV at 7 a.m. and headed for the Granddaddy of all geothermal features, Old Faithful.  On the way, we just couldn’t resist stopping at Beryl Spring.  The early morning cold temperature and heat coming from the cracks in the earth made it look like something out of a horror movie.

Beryl Spring

Beryl Spring

Geothermal features along roadway in Yellowstone

Sight as we drove

We arrived at Old Faithful in plenty of time to get front row seats to have a perfect picture position.  We had to wait over an hour, but it was worth it.  There were at least four false starts, and then we knew the real thing was coming.  Without having something to give you perspective, there is no way to show the size and power of this gushing water spewing into the air.

Old Faithful beginning of eruption

Old Faithful erupting

Old Faithful erupting

The next stop in the Caldera (what they call the volcano area) was Midway Geyser Basin.  The pictures get progressively more impressive.

Water running into Yellowstone River at Midway Geyser Basin

Prismatic Pool at Midway Geyser Basin

Opal Pool at Midway Geyser Basin

Designs in pool at at Midway Geyser Basin

Grand Prismatic Spring at Midway Geyser Basin

Grand Prismatic Spring at Midway Geyser Basin

Grand Prismatic Spring at Midway Geyser Basin

Excelsior Geyser Crater at Midway Geyser Basin

The West Thumb off of Yellowstone Lake had more to see.

West Thumb Geyser basin with Yellowstone lake in backgound

Abyss Pool at West Thumb Geyser Basin

Black Pool at West Thumb Geyser Basin

This Mud Volcano area was really different than any other area we saw today.  The last volcanic eruption was 664,000 years ago and had a force 1000 times greater than Mount St. Helen.  The entire Caldera area is sitting over the volcano which provides the immense heat.

Dragon’s Mouth Spring at Mud Volcano

Churning Caldron at Mud Volcano sight

In 1995 there were 500 earthquakes that increased the temperature in this mud pool from 150 degrees to 170 degrees.  This looked like a giant pot of mud boiling on a stove.  Pretty impressive photography for a amateur to get the bubble just as it flared.

We only spent a short time at Mammoth Springs.  We had started out early and I was beginning to feel my injury so we only drove the upper terrace where we took these pictures.

Mammoth Springs – Yellowstone

Mammoth Springs – Yellowstone

Tomorrow we have to leave Yellowstone and we are going to Buffalo, Wyoming to an RV Park that can accommodate us for 6 days.  Its a small town with a population around 4,400 and nothing to see or do, so we will just be sitting around relaxing with nothing interesting to write, we hope.

We have discovered that we have at least one follower who is using our blog to see places and things he/she may never see otherwise, so off we went to see what we could see.  It was late when we started and the line into the park ran the length of the drive all the way back to the arch so we decided to take the roads less traveled and avoid some of the crowds.

Jim got lots of good pictures:

Cars waiting in line to enter Yellowstone

Cliff along road in Yellowstone

Coyote crossing road

Tower Falls

View from Lower Falls in Yellowstone Grand Canyon

Lower Falls Yellowstone Grand Canyon

Grand view of Yellowstone Grand Canyon

Yellowstone River in Grand Canyon

Lower Falls in Yellowstone Grand Canyon taken from Artist Point

Different colors in rocks at Grand Canyon

Yellowstone River

Mammouth Springs – Yellowstone

Buffalo crossing the road

Elk in grassy area at Mammoth Springs

Cancel all the plans for today.  At 6:50 a.m. this morning I tripped in the RV and had a nasty fall requiring an ambulance ride to the hospital 55 miles away to find out that I fractured my collarbone at the shoulder.  It’s like fracturing a rib or toe.  It just has to heal by itself.

“And that’s all I have to say about that.” Forrest Gump

It was mid-afternoon before we arrived  and we could hardly wait to see Yellowstone National Park after all we had read about it.  Since we have a Golden Pass for seniors that allows us to enter all the National parks for free, we decided to go into the park and see a few things right away.

We are  staying in Gardiner near the North Entrance of the park which is also the place with the Roosevelt Arch (that’s Teddy you know).  which shows the date it was made a National park.

Here are some of the pictures Jim took:

Roosevelt Archway at north entrance to Yellowstone Park

Vista inside the north entrance to Yellowstone

Elk grazing in Yard at Mammouth Springs

Yellowstone River flowing through the valley

Main Street in Gardiner, MT

Yellowstone River from bridge on main street in Gardner, MT

Rock formations along road in North Yellowstone