And a new day dawns....very warm today. Enjoying the sunshine though. Here are some pictures taken of the Capitol bldg in downtown Boise. Tomorrow is a travel day so I won't be posting until late evening. Baseball game in the stadium next door and fireworks after, so tonight will be an up late night.....enjoy!

This is the Capitol Building in Boise Idaho. It is impressive in it's own right although not quite as ornate as many of the ones in the midwest. The "marble" on the inside is simply plastic over concrete. Impressive but faux. It did lend a warmer feeling though than real marble.

Inside, looking up toward the top of the dome. That American flag is huge! There is lighting all around the inside of the dome so it is an awesome sight at night.











If you look up into the dome, it's only fair to look down from it as well. Here's that picture looking down. You can see the bottom of the American Flag in the upper right corner.











And of course no Capitol would be complete without chambers for the Senate and House. The Chambers were clones with one on the East side and one on the West.












Here's a picture looking down Capitol Blvd from inside the Capitol on the third floor.

And finally, here's yours truly with my grandson, Josh. That's him sitting on the cannon. This cannon was used in the Civil war and was donated to the Capitol grounds by the family of one of the soldiers who fought in the war.

As promised, here are some pictures from American Falls and a picture of our site here in Boise. We needed to fill our pantry today so we went shopping...yea!... took a half day tour of the Capitol building as well. Very interesting. Too tired to post the pictures tonight but promise to get them on here tomorrow as time allows.

Here is our site at American Falls. Only strange thing was our picnic table was on the wrong side of the coach. Apparently their site planners were not RV enthusiasts! We've run into that at some of the State Parks but not at the private ones. Of course, Willow Bay is run by the City of American Falls, so that may explain it.

Boise Riverside RV Park is a regular RV park with one notable exception. Each site used to be two sites with coaches in both directions. When they modernized it, they removed one site per double and made each it's own site. Much more room. Close to the river, but no bugs. Unfortunately, there's no pool/spa either.

For you fishermen!! As I said the other day, we toured the American Falls Hatchery and met Sherry the Ranger. She was nice enough to allow us to view some rarely seen areas of the hatchery. Here we see a bucket, a little smaller than a 5gal. one full of rainbow trout. They are less than a week old. There are about 30,000 fish in this bucket!

Since the fish need motion to survive, the bucket fills slowly with water moving the fish around. As the bucket fills, it overflows into a larger tank. Once the fish are strong and big enough to get over the edge of the bucket, they continue to grow in the larger tank. Here, these fish are almost two weeks old. These tanks will hold up to 70,000 fish!






As the fish get larger they will stay in these tanks until about two months old and then they will be transferred to the larger outdoor tanks. These fish are three to four weeks old. If you look closely you can see they are beginning to look like actual fish. Some are beginning to get their rainbow color as well. All of these fish are kept indoors and your shoes etc. must be sanitized before entering any of these areas so the fish will not be contaminated.

 Many of you have asked us about some of the campgrounds and campsites we have encountered in our travels. With this in mind, I thought I would include some photos of some of the sites where we stayed and some facts about each one. Hope you find this information interesting and useful.

Red Rock State Park  - Gallup, New Mexico
Lots of room, windy and dusty, full hookups. Quiet campground.

Bayfield Riverside RV Park - Durango, Colorado

Very nice park with several streams and ponds throughout. Very little amenities, but full hookups, a friendly staff and lots to do in the area. We went up to Silverton on the narrow gauge railway which was interesting, informative and lots of fun.

Portal RV Resort - Moab, Utah.                    

Upscale RV resort but broken up into two sections.  Front section is a campground, rear section is a resort. We stayed in the resort. Pool, spa, very clean restrooms and we enjoyed the use of the adjacent cabana in our site. There is an extra charge to use the garage which we declined. We were able to use the rest of the facility. Close to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.
 

Rifle Gap State Park - Rifle Gap, Colorado.

Nice facility overlooking the reservoir. Spacious site with full hookups on only two sites. Rest have water and electric, 50 amp but no sewers. There is a dump station. Rifle Falls is a short drive away as is Glenwood Springs. We also toured the fish hatchery and a 2 1/2 mile walk around and above the falls. Very quiet and peaceful campground.

Chatfield State Park - Denver, Colorado

This is a "must stay" park close to everything in the Denver area. The sites are full hookup, spacious, level and many activities. We enjoyed this park and would stay here again. There is a 70 acre leash free dog park on site with two separate lakes for the dogs to frolic and enjoy. Jasmine went swimming until she was totally tuckered out. 

Lakeside RV Park - Glendo, Wyoming

Only park in the area with full hookups. A short distance to the Glendo Reservoir, home to some of the best fishing in Wyoming. Friendly staff with spotless facilities. Some Proghorn Antelope wandered nearby while we were there. Good stop for a night or two but very little to do in the area. We enjoyed the rest and relaxation.

Wind River RV Park - Riverton, Wyoming.

First thought was this park was affiliated with the Wind River Resort and Casino. Not so. Originally called the Riverton RV Park, they changed the name when the Casino opened. Basically a no frills RV park with full hookups. 50 amp service and a small store on site. We explored the area and went to the casino which was a lot of fun. The casino had many slots and everyone seemed to be having a good time.





Buffalo Bill State Park - Cody, Wyoming

We enjoyed this park so much we stayed a full week and I've included two pictures of our site. Only negative was that the site was water and electric only. Dump station on site. Solid 50 amp service though. Site had several acres of greenbelt on both sides and overlooked the reservoir. The river ran alongside the campground. Very quiet and the stars overhead at night was absolutely inspiring. We toured Cody and the Buffalo Bill Dam.

Buffalo Bill State Park Cody, Wyoming

As most of you know, we just left Yellowstone National Park. With that in mind, I thought I would post some pictures of the wildlife we saw there.....unfortunately we were in the Motorhome just inside the East Entrance when we encounter some Big Horn Sheep. Since it's difficult to grab the camera and shoot while driving, we missed pictures of them. We saw several Eagle's nest but the only Bald Eagle we saw was at the Discovery Museum and Rescue Center in West Yellowstone....

The Moose above was enjoying eating moss and whatever else he could find on the bottom of the river.



The Elk on the right was enjoying an evening meal on the shores of Yellowstone Lake.

This little Beaver was swimming to join his friends on the other side of the road. It appeared he and his friends had a substantial dam started about 75 yards off the highway.

One of the many Bison we encountered. Besides lumbering down the middle of the road whenever they wanted, they were content to be photographed and talked to. They were much bigger up close than one would expect.

This guy was fun to watch. Several of us got out of our cars to get better pictures. He was looking under logs and in the grass for food until he decided to come up to the road and cross. Everyone scooted back into the safety of their vehicles before he made it to the road. I snapped this picture and hastened back to the safety of my car that my daughter had conveniently moved forward to where I was standing.

We encountered this guy about 30 yards off the road eating dinner. I got out to photograph him and he picked up the entire hind leg of a deer and moved it about 5 yards away from me, dropped it and stared at me. I noticed his tail was dropped, which is not an aggressive stance, so he was content that I was not a threat to his meal. If his tail was straight out or vertical that would be an aggressive stance and a warning that he felt threatened. After snapping this picture, I retreated to the safety of my car and he resumed eating his meal.

While walking Jasmine around Fort Yellowstone near Mammoth on the North Loop, I discovered these two babies patiently waiting for momma to bring them lunch. They were both very alert and watching everything that went on below them. Many tourists, unaware they were there, simply walked on by. We encountered several Elk cows in the town but they weren't especially fond of seeing Jasmine. It was awesome to see all this wildlife in one area !

June 2012

Here we are at American Falls, Idaho. Beautiful park with warm clear weather. We arrived yesterday at Willow Bay Campground and Marina. Today we visited the fish hatchery in the City along the Snake River just below the American Falls Dam. What an experience! We met Ranger Sherry who took us on a private tour of their facility. We were able to see first hand how rainbow trout come to them in the form of eggs, are hatched and then cared for until they are released into the wild. We also toured the back country and talked to several of the "locals". We learned that their three most prevalent crops in this area are grain, beets and potatoes. We knew about the famous Idaho Potatoes but were surprised at the number of beet fields. A little fishing tonight and it's time to call it a day.