Purple ZR-1 Road Trip to Yellowstone and the Pacific Northwest

[Vette73]

Impressive.....Looks like your getting some good weather so far...I have to ask-that sucker is radar equipped right? I'm sure it is...Which one are you using? Report back to us on its effectiveness, I'm looking to purchase one..
Enjoy !!!

[JThomas]

Jim:

Glad to hear you had safe travels through Michigan. On your return, if you pass through, give me a shout and the beer is on me.

[batchman]

Fabulous, another road trip. That is wonderful.

If you've not been before, Yellowstone is absolutely unreal and wonderful. I hope you have significant time booked there - many many pictures wait to be taken!

Safe travels,
- Jeff

[PhillipsLT5]

Estes Park To Evergreen looks good as is the rest

[QB93Z]

On Thursday, we left Grand Rapids, MN, but first we photographed some areas that captured our attention. Grand Rapids is the birth place of actress Judy Garland, and we found a large mural paying tribute to Garland in The Wizard of OZ:




Near our motel we were surprised to discover the Mississippi River where it is about 10 feet wide:



We headed west to North Dakota. The drive across central Minnesota showed a variety of environments. First we found a giant American Eagle and a life sized Paul Bunyon:





Central Minnesota is heavily wooded with some boggy areas:

[QB93Z]

We crossed North Dakota on I-94, basically a straight line for 350 miles:



The eastern portion of North Dakota is heavily agricultural. The are many very productive farms:





to be continued.....

[QB93Z]

In western North Dakota, we visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We toured the Southern Unit of the Park, an extensive Badlands area.





Since we were limited in the time available to visit the park, we drove the 35 mile loop tour of the badlands. We spotted some buffalo grazing on a hillside pasture:




We were greeted by a very large community of Prairie Dogs:




The power of nature to shape a landscape was dramatically on display in every area of the park:




We finished our trip across North Dakota and stopped in Glendive, Montana for the night.

Jim

[C4Ray]

Enjoy your trip and be safe.

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by QB93Z

The power of nature to shape a landscape was dramatically on display in every area of the park:




Jim

Thrilling pix, you two!

A "factoid" you may already know, but the "badlands" is the result of ash from an ancient "super volcano(s)" which have punched through the earth's crust, marching to the northeast, beginning in southern Utah, some 2.1 million years ago, IIRC. The northern end of the string of 3 eruptions, and the location of its latest caldera, is Yellowstone Park.

Ash from the eruptions covers (especially) the western portions North and South Dakota and Wyoming and parts of Montana; the deepest deposits forming the white, gritty, (very slippery when wet!!) "badlands" resulting form the erosion of the ash, leaving spires capped with harder volcanic rocks as the softer ash eroded from under them (See Lyndi with formations in the background). Just in case anyone likes geological history...like me!

[GOLDCYLON]

http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/

Posted so you keep an eye on the wildland fires in your planned road trip route. GC