Russians On The Road » Uncategorized

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming – Day 2

Euge — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:06:39 +0000

Day two in Yellowstone was very interesting. We saw many hot springs and geysers. Some were completely inactive, some made lots of steam, some erupted a little water and one erupted a lot of water (old faithful). We also saw one bubbling mud pit – very cool. We made our way to old faithful, a very popular geyser, as you can see by the gathered crowd. The rangers can predict its eruptions within 20 minutes. We waited a little bit and it did not disappoint. It started slow but then began to spew water like a large fire hydrant 120 feet into the air – a very impressive sight to watch. In the parking lot, we saw cars from every state, even Hawaii, Alaska, and many Canadians. The only state we could not find and have not seen anywhere else is Washington DC. These politicians need to get out more!

Afterwards, we drove to Yellowstone lake, the largest lake above 7000 feet in the US(maybe the world?). It was a truly beautiful lake. As we kept on driving, we eventually left the park and are now on our way to Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore.

Watch all the videos with the sound on!

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming – Day 1

Euge — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:26:15 +0000

When entering Yellowstone National Park, Aleksey and I crossed borders quickly. Within a day we crossed from Washington to Idaho, to Montana, and finally to Wyoming where the large majority of the park exists. Yellowstone is a completely unique part of the world, at least to me. It is constantly changing due to one of the largest volcanoes in the world existing underneath its surface. In addition, the wildlife is really abundant compared to everywhere Aleksey and I have been so far. Within two days we saw 5 herds of mule deer, 2 Grizzly bears, a Pronghorn, and 8 or 9 huge Bison. When I say we saw them, I don’t mean at a distance, I mean we were right next to the animals (except the grizzly bears, they were about 60 – 80 feet from us). You will see in the pictures and the video just how close the Bison was – it was incredible(from the 2nd day)!! What a HUGE animal.

Our first stop in the park was the Mammoth Hot Springs, a place with a lot of terraces made from travertine – calcium carbonate, which is brought up to the surface by hot water from beds of limestone underground. As it is in the majority of the park, the travertine here was multi-colored due to the bacteria, Archaea, chlorophyll (green), sulfur (stinky, I mean yellow) and other thermophiles thriving in the hot water. We hiked around for about an hour and returned to our car. It was now getting late so we decided to call it a night and go to sleep.

Seattle, Washington

Euge — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:22:58 +0000

First thing we did when we entered the city was head straight to the Pike Place Market, an indoor farmers market where local farmers and artisans sell their produce and wares. The Pike market is famous for the fish flinging seafood sellers who scream in unison and throw fish that people buy to each other. I personally expected a larger market with more venders at a cheaper price. I did however buy some of the best peas I have ever had from the market – yum.

Afterwards we head over to the old town district and took a quick stroll around. We visited a glass blowing shop with some incredible artwork and a glass-blower working. Back to Pike Market for Sushi!! We read in our guide book that Seatlle has some of the best Sushi outside of Japan, so Aleksey and I decided to inspect this for ourselves. Mickey’s Place is NUMBER 1!! It did not even come close to comparing with Mickey.

We visited the space needle and the surrounding park. One of the highlights of this part of the day was finding a free parking spot. The parking meters are even MORE expensive than in Manhattan: $2.50 for an HOUR!!! What the hell! Later we visited the Troll under the Aurora Bridge in the Fremont Disctrict. I had seen this troll in pictures and was thrilled to see it in person. As you will see in the pictures the troll had some company: Christmas Carolers. Next: a statue of Lenin brought to Seattle from Slovakia and a farmers market where I loaded up on fruit.

Back to Pike Market for Seafood!!! We read in our guide book that Seattle has some of the freshest Salmon and sea-food in the Country so we, yet again, decided to inspect the claim. We went to Pike Pub and Restaurant, a very nice and cozy restaurant overlooking the Pike Market. Aleksey got a combo platter with smoked Salmon, a crab cake, and something unidentified. I got char-grilled Salmon on rice pilaf. We both really enjoyed our food – yum yum.

Off to Yellowstone!

Portland, Oregon – A small big city.

Euge — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:18:25 +0000

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Portland. Aleksey and I spent the vast majority of our time inside the “Pearl District,” a small collection of streets in the north western section of downtown Portland. The city has the most restaurants and microbreweries per capita in the United States. For lunch we decided to eat at a health conscious restaurant at the edge of the Pearl District, where Aleksey quickly ordered a grilled hamburger. The food was excellent, and not too expensive. Later in the day we visited one of the many microbreweries and had a beer each (I had a brown ale that was OK, and Aleksey had the “Russian River Damnation” which he thinks was SO-SO). Off to Seattle, Washington.

The best named city in the United States: Eugene, OR

Euge — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:16:19 +0000

I wanted to drive through Eugene, Orgeon for two reasons. The first: simply to see what it was like… we do share the same name after all. The second was to take the following picture:

Highway 1 – Driving North

Euge — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:15:04 +0000

We awoke to a hazy morning several hundred feet from the Pacific Ocean. We reached Highway 1 on the California Coast the prior night intent on driving it north along the coast through California and South Oregon. The drive was spectacular in all regards: the road was windy in places but still sustained a good speed limit, the air was fresh and cool, and the scenery: stunning. The morning drive was through thick fog, while the afternoon was completely clear. The pictures will speak for themselves.

Napa Valley

Aleksey — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:10:10 +0000

We arrived in Napa pretty late (6 or so). The only thing that was open was this wine tasting place next to the visitor’s information center. This turned out to be very good for us. Inside we tasted 5 wines for $10 bucks. The host was very nice and explained everything to us, answered all our questions – showed us the ropes a but basically. He also gave us a complementary salmon and spinach dip and an extra wine to taste. He also threw in a free bottle of wine to take with us. The wines were good all around – white, red, and desert.
Napa itself was very beautiful to drive through. Vineyards surround you as you drive on a two lane road with grassy mountains flanking your left and right. Leaving Napa was a beautiful but very long and windy road. It was not a very pleasurable experience as it got dark and the road entered a forest. We were constantly on the lookout for animals. In addition, I hear that some passengers in our car may have almost gotten sick. We were very glad to reach Highway 101, which runs along the coast. We stopped for the night and were on schedule to get an early start the following day.