Leaving Flathead Lake by way of Swan River Valley, we traveled to Bozeman and Ellen & Michael's. Both are Chiropractors, and by the time we left, we've never felt more 'well adjusted'. Daughter Katrina also dropped in for a weekend visit. Their log home and surrounding gardens inspired envy (if it weren't for the sub-zero winters ...).

One of our day trips was to ride the scenic Beartooth Highway. It is a stretch of road through the Bear Tooth Mountains from Red Lodge, MT over a 10,947 foot pass in Wyoming to the northeastern entrance to Yellowstone. On several prior attempts, the weather conspired against us. This time it cooperated and the road, views, and experience were all we had hoped for, and more.

Another day trip was to the Lewis & Clark Caverns. Although the famous duo never had anything to do with the cave, apparently they did pass through the valley below and advertizing being what it is.... The trail to the entrance was a hot 3/4 mile trek (with a 300 foot rise). Luckily inside stays at about 50 degrees, and the hike back was level. Although the interior is interesting, it isn't particularly impressive.

Leaving Ellen's, we took US191 down the west side of Yellowstone National Park and into the west entrance. Stopping in geyser basin, we visited our favorite bubbling hole in the ground, Anemone Geyser (with Old Faithful in the background). The boardwalk runs close, and it's quite active with about a ten minute cycle time.

Continuing south out of Yellowstone, we slowly passed through Tetons National Park soaking up the views of the rugged peaks that border Jackson Hole (valley). We knew we would come back the next day for more pictures and exploration, so we continued to Jackson for the night.

Many photographers have used this view of the Snake River with the peaks of the Tetons across the valley. Probably the most famous was Ansel Adams. Being a major paved overlook right off the main artery through the park, it is ideally situated for the opportunist (not to mention lazy) photographer.

Wandering down the dirt roads that snuggle up to the base of the mountains, Ann gets to practice her 'up on the pegs' techniques that she learned at the BMWMOA rally. Actually, the practice works quite well and despite what it may look like, increases control and confidence by disconnecting your center of gravity from the bike's and using your legs as active suspension components.

As the clouds roll in, the light fades and the rain starts creeping in over the peaks. We still couldn't resist stopping to take pictures that, unfortunately, don't do justice to the grandeur and awe inspiring mood that was present.

Dropping further south, back into Idaho and around Bear Lake (a spectacular powder blue lake in a volcanic caldera), the next stop was at Barbara and Rich's, just north of Salt Lake City. As very gracious hosts, they ferried us to many places of interest in the area. On one of our day trips, we went to Kennecott Mines.

Copper ore is extracted from a very big open pit hole in the ground. It's hard to wrap your mind around the scale of things from the rim. The opposite side is two & a half miles away, and the hole can be seen from space! The trucks on the roads (500 miles worth in the pit) that are barely visible are as big as a two story house.

On one of our visits to Temple Square, we stumbled across a group of guys rehearsing their acappella vocal renditions of tunes we hadn't heard of. They were certainly having a good time and what we heard was very easy on the ears! Unfortunately, we didn't find out who the group was, or where they would be gracing an audience with their performance.

On another visit to Temple Square, we were privileged to attend a rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The music director is an exacting task master, and even though to our untrained ears, the differences were nominal, he was eventually pleased with the end result. And what we heard was absolutely glorious!

Our main reason for visiting Temple Square (repeatedly) was for genealogical research in the Family History Library. Both Barbara and Rich are avid researchers, and enjoy the luxury of having the worlds most extensive research facility close at hand. They were invaluable guides for our neophyte efforts at tapping into the resources available.

After a day's harvest, we would retire to the kitchen table to try to make sense of the data collected. Sometimes the rewards were glorious! Other times the data would have benefitted some other family line with the same surname. And that is half of the fun genealogical research! It's a very large jigsaw puzzle where each piece of information leads to three more questions.

Leaving Barbara's and after having a delightful lunch with Katrina and family in Orem, we turned west to cross Nevada along Highway 50 (a great motorcycle road). As soon as we left Utah, we took a little detour into Great Basin National Park. It's an area of the country where a raindrop ends up in neither the Atlantic nor Pacific oceans but has to evaporate back to the clouds to fall somewhere else.

Just behind the visitor's center is a spectacular cave! Almost everywhere you look in Lehman Caves (actually one large cave) nature has delighted us with a variety of cave geology that is only surpassed by Carlsbad Caverns in a public cave. It's also the only public cave that we've come across that you can rent!

Continuing out Highway 50, we went through Ely, then took a south to Tonopah. Travelling through the middle of Nevada (not on 80) is a different kind of motorcycle delight. Other vehicles are infrequent, and the views far-reaching. Coming into California, Highway 120 between Benton and Lee Vining is a particular delight (actually more like a roller coaster in some sections). Hitting the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we kept to 120 and entered the east gate of Yosemite National Park.

Although it's our favorite park, in the summer, it gets overrun with tourists so intent on the views that they forget how to drive. The valley can get particularly crowded, and normally we stay to the high country until schools are back in session. Even so, Glacier Point (a great valley overlook at 3,000 feet above the floor) can be brimming with bodies. Since it was warm, we drew a bunch of stares in our cool collars - cool vests would have been better.

Even with all the people floating around, you can usually find an isolated spot off the beaten paths to pause and absorb the incredible vistas. It really is a special place.

We followed the Merced River out of the park and headed for Mariposa. From there, we followed 49 north, enjoying the very twisty stretch between Bear Valley and Coulterville. Further north, 49 was once again one of our local motorcycle roads as we neared home.