Yellowstone Park - Grand Prismatic Spring and Old Faithful - Part 5

Click here to see the previous part - Yellowstone Park - a very alone buffalo and more geysers - Part 4

We left the Fountain Paint Pot area and drove down the road. By this time the weather changed. Mild and even warm midday turned into a chilly afternoon. So when we stopped next time we found more steam and white fog covering the ponds, lakes and geysers.

 

Flowers and not flowers

Spring is almost here. The days are warmer and even we have some snow every now and then we all know... Spring is coming. Meaning we will enjoy the flowers popping up here and there for a couple of months. And it slows down by mid-Summer and fewer new flowers will appear. One of these days I went outside and found most of the flowers I already saw ;)

 

Yellowstone Park - a very alone buffalo and more geysers - Part 4

Click here to look at Porcelain Basin - Yellowstone Park - Porcelain Basin - Part 3 

We left a Porcelain Basin and moved further. It was close to midday and the chilly morning was replaced by a nice and warm, almost Summer, day. We stopped here and there for just a few minutes and returned back on the road.

There are a lot of waterfalls in Yellowstone Park and every one of them look unique. The next one we found on the side of the road was striped.

 

Life of birds

There are a lot of different birds that call Colorado home. We see many of them every day, but some of them are not as common and you need to go somewhere to see them. City Park, for example. Did you know the small island in the middle of City Park is home for a big community of gorgeous black birds? Not a Blackbirds though ;) 

You can meet Double-Crested Cormorants in many places in Colorado, but in City Park they have an island where they feel at home. Stop by and watch these big birds cutting through the air with great speed...

 

Yellowstone Park - Porcelain Basin - Part 3

Click here to looks at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - Yellowstone Park - buffalos and waterfalls - Part 2 

The roads in Yellowstone Park are good. And it's a real pleasure moving from one place to another so we really enjoyed it. There are some sideroads running out here and there so we took one of them to discover something outside of the main road. We were rewarded with another waterfall we could see not far away.

 

Yellowstone Park - buffalos and waterfalls - Part 2

Click here to see where it started - Yellowstone Park - lake, river and Dragon's Mouth - Part 1

We left Devil's Kitchen (mostly because no one offered us breakfast so we had no reason to stay longer) and moved further. We had something like 150 miles of the road to cover and multiple spots to see. And 150 miles is only the main road... Totally there are over 300 miles of accessible roads in the park. And don't forget they also have a lot of dirty roads and off-road trails. Not to mention hiking trails... But because we had very little time, we only counted to cover the main road so... 10 miles later we were stopped by a traffic jam caused by buffalo's herd walking on the road.

 

Yellowstone Park - lake, river and Dragon's Mouth - Part 1

Yellowstone park is one the the most beautiful and unusual places on Earth to visit. It's easy to spend days and weeks exploring and you never are going to get bored. Our trip there was way too short - just two days. What can you do there if you have two days? Not much... just make a drive around the park on the main road and stop on the main viewpoints. But it is still worth doing even if you have not enough time for hikes or to look at anything outside the main route.

Early September is a really good time to take a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Why? For many reasons and the first is the weather - it's already not toasty hot, but also still not freezing cold (we, actually, filed for an exception and got one ;) but we'll talk about it later). Another reason is the crowd - there are much fewer people here in September when students return to school. So we started from Denver late Friday and planned to drive 500 miles overnight. We wanted to see the sunrise in the park... and we got it! It was around 6AM when we reached the south entrance and was driving along Yellowstone Lake...

 

Flowers in July

Colorado Winter is hardly cold. Some days are but mostly the weather is mild. And we also have a lot of really warm days. But... from time to time... the cold storm comes and the gloomy chilly days make us stay inside and not leave the house as long as we can. And the best way to warm up during this period is a cup of hot tea (or coffee if you prefer) and memories... Memories of a hot day in July when the hot air is wrapping you up and bright flowers please your eyes... and... yes, this is a Prickly Lettuce, the flower you can see in details here - One flower show...

 

Castlewood Canyon park. Still bare and colorless.

This place is magical. It is always beautiful, it doesn't matter if you hike there during hot Summer days or cold Spring mornings. Fall time is definitely the best (just look here if you don't believe me - Castlewood Canyon park again, but from another angle). But Spring is special. Even when the colors are faded and there is no green grass or leaves, this place still looks very attractive.

 

Echo Lake in March

It happened a long time ago. We drove to the mountains to see how Echo Lake looked frozen and covered with snow... But first we stopped to watch some buffaloes... Aren't they gorgeous?

 

Animals, animals, animals...

Zoo is the best place to meet some animals you never would have come up with in nature. Even seeing them in the cages is still an experience you might never have had otherwise.

 

Barr Lake in March

Early March is not the best time to visit Barr Lake. The lake is frozen and very few birds are still there. But... If you have patience you can find something nice there even in March ;) But first you need to look at the lake from the high ground...

 

One day in New York - wrapping it up

Click here if you'd like to have a walk in Central Park - One day in New York - walking in Central Park or off the rails again ;) 

Before returning to the streets of New York we found a nice bench on the sunny side and had our lunch. This short break helped a lot and we felt like we had gotten the second wind.

 

One day in New York - walking in Central Park or off the rails again ;)

To learn about our movement before we got off tracks click here - One day in New York - back on track and through the heart of the city 

We were walking for over 4 hours now and... we were tired for sure, but more importantly we were overwhelmed with all these new impressions and our minds needed some rest. So many buildings... so many skyscrapers... so many people on Fifth Ave... We were looking for some escape and mental rest and... we found it! It is called nature and they have a big chunk of it just in the middle of Manhattan. They call it Central Park and we were just there ;) The long line of horse carriages stayed waiting for the passengers, but even tired we still preferred to walk...

 

One day in New York - back on track and through the heart of the city

To glance at people celebrating Easter click here - One day in New York - along Fifth Avenue 

We left the crowded Fifth Ave and all these celebrating people and walked around the block. We planned to discover new places and intended to stay on tracks (however bent these tracks were)... We walked deeper into the heart of Manhattan... The area where the tall skyscrapers are neighboring old five-seven story buildings. Many of these buildings were highly decorated and we also found a lot of Art Deco time landmarks. 

 

One day in New York - along Fifth Avenue

To see what we saw before this moment click here - One day in New York - beginning...

That day we moved across New York like the shuttle moves in the loom. We were zigzagging between the Park Ave and the Avenue of the Americas and slowly moving up toward Central Park.

 

4th of July parade in Park Hill

What can be nicer than to sit in the shadow on the road shoulder and watch the 4th of July parade? Many things, actually, but... this is one of the best things you can do when the Summer sun is so hot, the asphalt is melting... Just make sure you have enough water and the shadow is deep ;)

 

One day in New York - beginning...

A few years back we visited Philadelphia. It was a short one week trip in mid April and we had a really good time exploring this city. Before the trip we spent hours planning it so we wouldn't miss anything and at some point we found something interesting. First we realized that Philadelphia is just a couple of hours from New York. And the second we dug out we could get there incredibly cheap - just $18 round trip. We couldn't resist seeing the Big Apple and we bought bus tickets once we got to Philadelphia and were waiting for the following Sunday to see the city we landed in almost decade before (but had no chance even to glance at). When Sunday came, we boarded Yo Bus in Chinatown (in Philadelphia) and were excited to see the most famous city in the World.

 

One flower show...

This plant was like a puzzle for me from the first time I saw it. And when I noticed it it wasn't blooming (so there weren't the flowers that caught my eye).

 

Bright and sad...

February is the most depressing month of the year. Or, maybe not ;) Anyway, February is a cold and colorless month. I can handle the cold (thanks to the warm clothes) but dull colors make me wish for the Spring to come and change it. But those are Fall pictures that cheer me up - I like the bright colors but also the sadness of seasonal change that happens...

 

A day in the Botanic Garden

Isn't it nice to spend a day in the Botanic Garden? Especially if it is a warm and sunny November  Saturday. And when you come here early, when the morning dew is still sparkling on the grass and flowers...

 

Just flowers...

What can be better than looking at the bright flowers when the snow is covering the ground and the temperature dropped to single digits? I don't know... Maybe just a cup of hot tea, a couple of cookies and looking at the pictures of the flowers...

 

Steamboat Springs between rains

Click here to look at Meeker, the town where rain didn't bother us ;)

We left Meeker and moved further to Craig, which we passed without stopping there. But we stopped in Steamboat Springs. We got out of the car and took a loot at the sky... We didn't like what we saw - deep brown clouds didn't foreshadow anything good so we just jumped back into the car and drove along the town streets under the heavy rain. We stopped again about 15 minutes later - when the rain stopped. Next hour we were walking along the main street, looking around and enjoying the fresh air.

 

Meeker, the town with the story

Next morning we woke up early in Vernal, had a light breakfast and returned back on the road. We planned to be home by night. But sure we decided on taking not the shortest, but the nicest way and it didn't matter how much time we needed for it...

 

Yampa and Green rivers

It was around 5PM when we completed the tour in the dinosaur quarry. The sky finally cleared and we decided to reach one more destination before the darkness covered the Earth and forced us to find a hotel...