keeping busy: Boulder - Missoula (Mountains, Wilderness, and Wildlife)

Another busy leg of the trip, filled with visits to good friends, and as said lots of mountains, wilderness, wildlife, snow, and brew pubs. We finished up in boulder but not before some more delicious home brew, some car maintenance (a big thank you to the Boulder, Co Jiffy Lube Crew), a "quick" hike in the flatirons, and some tear filled goodbyes to Steve and Aimee, thanks guys hope to see you in SF. From there we kept our trajectory north to Rocky Mountain National Park for the afternoon. They just don't make mountains out east like this, sharp, jagged, steep and high, i think we finally broke the 10,000 ft mark. Not to mention the prolly 3 feet of snow left, but we persevered. We did a few short hikes in the park including a hike to an alpine lake (frozen) and a waterfall (covered in snow), but the reward was not the destination but the adventure itself (at least tell Kate that if it comes up).

Then on to Fort Collins home of New Belgium brewery and less importantly my ol' college roomy Mr. Jeremy Cantor (I kid of coarse, Jeremy, it was great to see you). The tour was fun, and Kate and i will both be looking for jobs at the brewery shortly, though i think the 5-6 tiny glasses of beer may have skewed perspectives. After the brewery we kept the classy beers going about town with Mr. Cantor and promptly passed out after a heated ping-pong match. The next destination, the unknown of Wyoming.

Wyoming, is big, very big, it is also cold, and most likely snowing, there will be mountains, and also high winds which will produce noises around your car you've no heard on your trip us far. This statement may contain hyperbole and is not approved by the Wyoming Dept. of Commerce. It did snow on our drive to Jackson though. Jackson, WY was pretty awesome, a true historic frontier town which beside the tourism and world class skiing sticks to that. It is also beautiful and surrounded by federally protected parks/forests/wildlife refuges. On the way to Grand Teton National Park you pass by the National Elk Refuge, one the major habitat for migratory elk. There were hundreds-thousands of these guys. Smartly Kate and I invested in the 2nd cheapest pair of binoculars so we were in business. The Park (Teton) was amazing. The mountains just rise out of the snake river valley and pierce the sky. Their peaks are rocky craggy masses and the slopes teem with avalanche slides. The snow pack was really deep so we were limited to mostly enjoying the park from our cars, but there was a bunch of wildlife (birds, elk, moose? (we were pretty far), coyote/wolf), the snake river, and the peaks to enjoy. Just driving and seeing the mountains from all these different angles and times of day was awesome. But we weren't done quite yet.

Yellowstone. There is a reason this was the first National Park, and you have to see it. Again we were slightly limited due to the ridiculous snow pack so there was no backcountry hiking for us, the but park is huge, full of wildlife, and wild geothermal features which were readily accessible. Our first day was spent in the old faithful geyser basin area, and midway geyser basin area, basically walking around the different geysers, springs, pots, pools, ect. These features have a myriad of differing characteristics based on water flow, temp, chemistry, landscape, ect. It was truly wild, the entire landscape around you is active, steam billowing out all around. The colors which come from the precipitated minerals and different microbes are stunning. Our worries about seeing buffalo were also quickly fixed, they are everywhere, other wildlife seen the first day includes various birds, a marmot, geyser mouse, and weird prairie dog ground squirrel guys. We ate dinner in the old timeie Old Faithful Inn ( i go the buffet...so much prime rib). Our little cabin was right by old faithful. Day two, was spent driving the park, seeing more geothermal features, and the grand canyon of Yellowstone Upper and Lower Falls. The falls and canyon are stunning and like much of the park an array of colors, from ages old geothermal activity. More buffalo, as well as wolves, herons, a pelican, and some kinda crazy stork, which driving by at about 40, all i could muster to shout was "Ostrich" before slamming the brakes. This is getting long so ill wrap it up...the park was amazing and i feel we only saw the tip of the iceberg. From there it was upward and onward, Montana, one night in Missoula, then on to Washington.

Kate, has decided to marry a buffalo.