RVery Best Nest
Come join Joe, Mallery & I, as we travel around the USA in our RVery Best Nest. God's Favor has been chasing us down, and we are enjoying all of His blessing's, that He has created for all to enjoy!
8/28/2010Today we are at the Buffalo, Minnesota's Wal-Mart. We drove from Bemidji, Minnesota, to here. The drive was 4 hours and 200 miles with a start at 11:00. We stopped for lunch, and had 2 gas stops. We noticed in Bemidji, our first stop in Minnesota, the lovely feel of humidity. Yuck. I love the summers of the west. It is 8PM and the temperature at Wal-Mart is 78 and sticky. Here is my next blog. Sorry for the dark pictures. I must have forgot to change the setting from dusk to landscape.8/1/2010
From Livingston, Montana, we drove west 24 long miles to Bozeman, Montana's Wal-Mart. We set up then headed south to Big Sky, Montana. 
The drive was a very windy trip on Hwy.191 along the Gallatin River. 
The Gallatin National Forest and Range was to the east of the Highway. 
Big Sky is a wealthy ski resort and community, that sits in a valley. 
It was a nice place, if you are a big ski fan, but I though it was going to be more impressive.
( More big skies) 
After viewing Big Sky, we headed back to Bozeman, which was 27 miles back. 
Bozeman, Wal-Mart. I did like the town of Bozeman. 
Our sunset that night at Wal-Mart.
8/27/2010
We currently are at Fox Lake Campground, in Minnesota, just 10 miles north of Bemidji, Minnesota, for a couple of days to relax. Here is the continuation of our blog.
7/31/2010
As we left Yellowstone, we entered into Montana, which was 3 miles before we reached the official northern entrance of Yellowstone Park. 
This is the Theodore Roosevelt Entrance of Yellowstone that we exited. 
We now entered into the town of Gardiner, Montana. This is the town we drove to if we needed to use our cell phones while at Mammoth Hot Springs Campground, which was 5 miles away. 
As we go through Gardiner we see the Livingston sign directing us to our next stop. 
Gardiner has a population of 851 according to the 2000 census. 
We leave Gardiner, Montana
The Yellowstone River goes through the middle of Gardiner and we follow it going out of town, 
and as it winds to Livingston, MT. 
We drove the long and strenuous drive of 44 miles. 
Joe was so exhausted by the time we got there. 
We needed to find a place to dump our grey and black tanks, and to take showers. There is some sacrificing, full timers have to do when on a budget and the economy is struggling and retiree's can't make money on their savings. After lunch we checked out Livingston, then returned to the nest and watched as much TV as we wanted and used as much water as we wanted. 
A rain storm came through as we watched TV and then this rainbow came out. 
The other half of the rainbow.
8/25/2010
We have been driving across Hwy.2 from Montana, and arrived at the Wal-Mart in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Tomorrow, we will be going to Bemidji, Minnesota for a couple of days. We have been staying up north to stay cool while staying at Wal-Mart. Here is my last blog at Yellowstone.
7/30/2010 We stayed in Yellowstone for a total of 16 days. We saw a lot, but there were still things we didn't see, and things we still wanted to do. Joe was right, when he said you could spend a month in Yellowstone and not run out of things to do. If we only had a week or less, this is what we would recommend you see and do.
1) Midway Geyser Basin, Old Faithful, and West Thumb Geyser Basin
2) Mammoth Hot Springs
3) Boiling River
4) Hayden Valley
5) Artist Point
6)Lake Butte Overlook
We entered in the South Entrance and left out the North Entrance. While in the park, we drove the Honda for day trips to the East Entrance and the Northeast Entrance. We never made it to the West Entrance, so that will probably be a new way to come or go, the next time we are out west. On our last night at Mammoth Hot Springs Campground, I took a few more pictures of our awesome views. 
Looking northeast from Nelly Nest's door. The sun is shinning. 
Looking northwest, a storm is brewing. 
Getting darker to the west. 
A wild flower out in our front yard. 
The storm vs the sun.
I started putting things outside away. 
The storm vs sun. Which won out? 
The sun was winning out the storm! 
We stayed at Mammoth Hot Springs for 6 days. We enjoyed the views, but wish they had full hookups. They did not have a dump station or a shower house available. The only way we could stay as long as we did, was by Joe carrying out 3 buckets of water a day to the camp bath house to dump our dish and bathroom sink water. The camp bathroom was about 1 block away from Nelly Nest. Joe never saw anyone else carry water to the bathroom, so wondered if other people were dumping water out their doors, and not following the rules. Or maybe they just didn't stay as long, or have bigger gray tanks than us. Camp rules were generators off at 8 PM. With no hook ups, the only way we could watch TV was with our generator on. Joe hated that rule. I had some so so internet that entertained me. Joe ended up going to the rangers talk programs at 9PM every night to be entertained. Then he would come home and tell me what he had learned. All in all, we enjoyed our stay at Mammoth Hot Springs Campground and would recommend it to others.
8/23/2010
Today Joe and I drove 303 miles from the Wal-Mart in Havre, Montana to the Wal-Mart in Williston, North Dakota, on Hwy.2. We are headed home to Iowa to see our mom's and to see some Dr.'s for yearly appointments. While in Glacier National Park we had stayed in two different campgrounds. The first campground I had so so internet service. At the second campground I had none. Hence, I haven't blogged lately, putting me further behind in our travel blog. I still have 2 blogs of Yellowstone, then I will move on. 7/29/2010
After our visit at our favorite hot spring area at the Midway Geyser Basin, we drove down to Old Faithful, because there were still many boardwalks we still had not walked on to see more springs, mud pots and geysers. Before we got started, I told Joe I was going to run into the lodge and get a cup of huckleberry ice cream. I told Joe to go ahead, and I would catch up with him. When I finally caught up with him, I found him standing across the stream from Beehive Geyser. He told me that he had heard that this geyser was going to go off soon, and it was thought that it would be very impressive, as it was showing strong readings. You can see the people across the stream who are waiting for the geyser. We could see a couple of kids who had put on their rain coats. 
I gave Joe the camera, as I was enjoying my huckleberry ice cream, and then my daughter, Alisha called, so I had no more hands to take pictures. It was starting to go off, so I talked to my daughter, ate my ice cream, and watch the geyser. 
Oh big stuff! 
OK, fast forward to the next pictures. 
OK, so it's like Old Faithful. 
Joe had to show you it was getting up to the clouds. 
It didn't fit in the whole picture, I guess. 
Wow, look at the Beehive Geyser go! 
And it is lasting a long time. 
Oh my gosh, it was spraying across the stream, and getting into my huckleberry ice cream. 
I ran back away from the geyser telling my daughter how the geyser showered in my ice cream. 
I thought I was far enough away, but soon I was getting showered again, so I had to run farther back, as Joe stayed up front with the camera across the stream from Beehive Geyser. 
It was an amazing geyser, much better than old faithful, but my ice cream had all that nasty smelling egg sulfur smell in it. 
My daughter said, " you're not going to eat it now are you?" 
I said, "Yes, I paid $2.50 for it." 
It really didn't taste different, but I was worried about all the bacteria that live in the geysers, so I didn't enjoy it much. These next pictures Joe took of Old Faithful going off right after the Beehive geyser ran out of steam. 
Joe ate the last bit of my ice cream, because I was going to throw it out, and he thought I was being silly. 
I told Joe, that they should have signs up that say, " Warning, Don't eat ice cream while watching geysers, as some can get so high, and shower into your ice cream." These are pictures of Old Faithful. 
Since they don't have a sign, I'll tell you, " Don't eat ice cream around geyser, because it can ruin it for you!" 
The beehive geyser lasted longer than 12 minutes. Old Faithful only lasts about 4 minutes. 
After we walked around the boardwalk, we got to the other side to see the Beehive Geyser. Hard to believe this small geyser could put up such a high flying show. 
Hope you enjoyed the Beehive Geyser, just don't eat ice cream in it's presence.
The drive was a very windy trip on Hwy.191 along the Gallatin River. 
The Gallatin National Forest and Range was to the east of the Highway. 
Big Sky is a wealthy ski resort and community, that sits in a valley. 
It was a nice place, if you are a big ski fan, but I though it was going to be more impressive.
After viewing Big Sky, we headed back to Bozeman, which was 27 miles back. 
Bozeman, Wal-Mart. I did like the town of Bozeman. 
Our sunset that night at Wal-Mart.
