sapphire mining in georgetown lake, montana

After yellowstone, we stopped for a yummy buffalo burger at a little drive in right outside of yellowstone---seriously good.  Then we headed to montana to try our hand at sapphire mining. I told shawn we were gonna find a good one:)  we bought a coffee can of gravel 1st at the store in town and sifted through it.  we found a good many, mainly because the people "salt" the gravel with tiny sapphires to begin with.  Then, because we wanted a more genuine experience, we drove up the mountain near the actual mine and bought a big bucket of gravel to sift through.  We actually found a good many sapphires, but only a few that would be worth anything.  They have to be a particular size and without flaws in order to cut and heat treat them.  We ended up finding a sapphire that was about 1.5 carats!!  It'll be around .5 carat after it gets cut and treated and worth around $400-$500:)  I really enjoyed mining and hope we can go sometime back home.  The girl at the mine said, "they have sapphire mines in the carolinas, don't they?"  I said, yeah, i think so, but this isn't the reason that we're in montana. we got to tell them all about our road trip and of course everyone thought it was too cool:)

yellowstone!

 We got there on a Wednesday morning and the lady there was giving us the 5 minute lecture about bear prevention and safety.  she said, "there hasn't been a fatal bear attack since 1986 in Yellowstone..knock on wood."  Well, she said this at around 10:30am, the SAME exact time the husband and wife were being attacked by the grizzly protecting her cubs.  so sad.  

  I continued the next two days at Yellowstone on high alert.  Shawn and I recited the words of Alistair moody over and over again..., "constant vigilance!"  after Shawn rejected my wishes for bear spray (which was $45 per can), i sucked it up and just prayed the bears would stay very very far off! very nice of my husband to value my life at less than 45 dollars. haha.

We got to visit old faithful and many of the geysers in yellowstone.  We enjoyed seeing all the wildlife and the landscapes.  it was a very beautiful place indeed. Hope you enjoy the photos:)

a nice view of the mountains in yellowstone

the morning glory spring- looks just like the flower!

Old Faithful!- we missed it twice, but finally got a picture:)

my favorite in yellowstone-  The great prismatic Spring

one of the constant geysers- wish I could remember the name of them all

a few of the elk we saw in the park

a couple of waterfalls in the great canyon of yellowstone

hayden valley in yellowstone---one of our favorite sights!

definitely my favorite elk photo.  can't believe i got it sticking out his tongue!

mammoth hot springs

little ground squirrel

see ya yellowstone!

thermopolis

Yes, thermopolis not metropolis:)  thermopolis, Wyoming is the home of the world's largest mineral hot springs.  Not exactly what I imagined.  I was thinking it would be something like bathing in a natural spring, but it's not.  This hot spring funnels into manmade hot tubs and into various water parks in the Town.  (the hot tub thoroughly grossed me out--i did not stay in long!) The town is extremely small, but we had a good time.  We ate at the Black Bear Cafe for breakfast, which I highly recommend if you take a road trip through there!  hope you enjoy the pics.

some of the scenery on the way to thermopolis

shawn getting hydrated after bathing in the state bath house

the state bath house- natural spring on left which funnels into the hot tub on right

sign says world's largest mineral hot spring

shawn found the swinging bridge and thought it was hilarious because I was terrified of it.

he forced me to go out on the bridge so I could get a pic of this:)

a whirlwind in the black hills

as you all know, i'm terrified of bears.  Shawn made us stop in at bear country USA---it's in the black hills, south Dakota.  and for all of you who saw Shawn's bear pic on his facebook....well, we took it while we were safe in the car at bear country (a ride-through animal park).  after bear country and being horrified at the size of those things, we had a few more stops before reaching Yellowstone park, or "Bear Country."
  We got to visit crazy horse and mount Rushmore.   Crazy horse was pretty cool...it's a Native American who is pointing out over the land (it's not as finished as i thought it would be.)  Mount Rushmore was pretty amazing:)  After Rushmore, we visited the wind cave....  Shawn wanted to do the crawl-through tour, but alas, i'm pretty claustrophobic, so we just did the regular tour.  The wind cave was super huge and fascinating.  the photos weren't great bc it was so dark.  but we had good fun!

                                         so cute.  makes me think of the jungle book:)