The winter of 2025-26 has been really warm and dry in Colorado and in much of the western states. The snowpack in Colorado is at the lowest level it has been at since the 1940s when the snowpack measurements were first recorded.
In December we decided to make reservations for Crested Butte over the Easter weekend. We’ve gone skiing in early April before (Keystone in 2019, Steamboat Springs in 2013, and even Snowbird in Utah in 2003). Of those trips only Steamboat was a bit scant on snow. Snowbird and Keystone had epic levels of snow those years.
So we were looking forward to good skiing at reduced lodging rates and with thinner crowds than in the prime of ski season.
The only problem was the snowfall levels across Colorado were incredibly low. So low that many resorts have closed early or shut down a number of runs. Even Crested Butte closed part of its terrain early due to low snowfall totals.
A week before our trip we saw video of bare ground under the ski lifts and all over the slopes. Rocks, grass, and baby trees. Was it even worth trying to ski? I planned to pack our hiking boots just in case we needed an alternate plan.
Well, mother nature came through for us. Crested Butte received 20 inches of snow the day before we arrived. Enough snow to basically return the runs to a pretty decent shape for a good day of skiing.
So we got out on the slopes post-snowstorm in 50 degree weather on closing weekend. And we had as much fun as I can remember having on a day of skiing.
Warm enough to ski in a hooded sweatshirt without a coat (some skiers were wearing even less). Crowds thin on the slopes and no lines to ride the lifts. We were down and up more times than I can remember on one day and skied more trails than I remember in one day too.
Six hours of skiing with only a short break for lunch. My son now old enough to go on his own or with me as he pleased. My wife able to enjoy the resort, have coffees and meet us for lunch without crowds or cold weather. By the end of the day we were plenty sunburned and tired but pretty darn happy.
As usual we also saw a lot of wildlife in our short visit to Crested Butte too We saw a fox right outside our hotel room, some moose just down the street from the hotel, and some bighorns and a heron on the drive back home.
And we made a morning stop at Paradise Cafe (but it wasn’t quite as good this time).
Overall though, it was a good trip. We vow to NOT wait until the end of ski season next year.
And I think we’ll visit Crested Butte in the summer too.
No animal is more beloved in Florida than the manatee. These gentle giants inhabit coastal inlets across the state, but actually seeing them can be challenging.
There are places in Florida, however, where manatees can be seen with relative frequency. Florida’s inland freshwater springs are a favorite winter refuge for manatees, who travel upriver from the coast to escape cold seawater. Once within the narrow confines of these springs, the manatees are easy to view, often totaling into the hundreds over a short stretch of water.
One of the best and most famous locations to see wintering manatees is Blue Spring State Park. Just a short drive from Orlando, this is a great side trip while in central Florida.
Our Visit
Since we were traveling to Orlando in February we decided it would be a good opportunity to visit the state park, and booked a cabin to have a place to spend the night. Staying in one of the cabins would allow us to enjoy the park before the crowds of manatee enthusiasts would arrive shortly after opening.
Cabin 1 at Blue Spring State Park
While the cabin looks unassuming from the outside, these cabins are quite spacious and offer a lot of amenities as you can see in the video I made.
Booking a cabin in the park is not easy due to their popularity, but since we knew we would be coming over a year in advance, I was able to book one as soon as it became available online.
We were very happy with our decision to sleep in the park.
We ended up arriving after dark and thus experiencing the park would have to wait until the next day. After getting our beds made we called it a night. We had a busy day in store for tomorrow.
Exploring the Park
Early the following morning I was excited to get out and explore the park and visit the spring before the crowds would arrive.
I got my camera and GoPro and walked the short path to the spring. Along the way I encountered a group of white-tailed deer, largely unconcerned by my presence.
Once at the boardwalk that runs alongside the spring, I found a crystal clear waterway teeming with manatees, as well as numerous fish like longnose gar and tarpon, and even an alligator.
Interestingly, alligators avoid manatees and the one that was in the spring seemed eager to swim away from the manatees. Manatees have no real natural predators in Florida.
Florida Manatee at Blue Spring State Park
We were planning on kayaking in the neighboring St. John’s River where manatees can also be seen (as well as the rest of the Florida wildlife). The park offers canoe and kayak rentals.
Unfortunately, in my haste to make reservations I selected the wrong date and we were out of luck. There was a silver lining, however.
Rescued Manatees
At the time we were supposed to be on the river, a couple rescued manatees were to be released into the spring. The manatees were trucked in by Sea World and we watched as they were carefully unloaded from the trucks, were given a quick health check, had radio tracking devices attached, and were carried down to the spring.
The manatee release was a big local event with news stations and local politicians in attendance. It was a cool opportunity to see how these animals were given a new chance to survive in the wild.
When the manatee release ended we walked one more time up the boardwalk to visit the canteen for coffee and to stop by the souvenir shop. It was a cool, misty February morning in Florida.
Final Thoughts
Blue Spring is a terrific respite from the busy world just outside the park and a great place to see the natural side of Florida. While we couldn’t enter the water, in the summer months Blue Spring is a great place to swim and paddle as well.
It was a good visit for us and I look forward to visiting more of Florida’s many natural springs.
The Wildlife of Hawaii page has been updated with new photos from our most recent trip. I may have missed out on a terrific moment for a photograph when a monk seal swam past on the beach, but the green sea turtles, nene geese, spinner dolphins, and more made up for it. Check out the gallery!
I’ve updated the Wildlife of Wyoming photo gallery to include the many animals we saw in June in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and the surrounding areas.
I did realize that at the moment we saw the Grizzly Bears we were actually in Montana, and they have been added to the Wildlife of Montana gallery :). The Beartooth Highway crosses between Montana and Wyoming on the scenic roadway between Yellowstone and Red Loge, Montana.
After six years and several adventures overseas we decided that 2025 would be a great year to return to a couple of our favorite places: Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We were a little burned out on air travel (who isn’t?) and wanted a fun roadtrip that wasn’t overly distant from our home in Colorado. And we had a longing for an outdoors experience to test our new hiking and camping equipment.
One thing I didn’t want to do was rush our visit. Our prior trips in 2010, 2017, and 2019 were all relatively short. In May of 2010 we had four days to cover both parks. In 2017 we had five days of camping with three nights in Yellowstone and two in Grand Teton. In 2019 we camped the entire time in Grand Teton and drove into Yellowstone two days, spending the other three in the Tetons.
In every case, we enjoyed ourselves and brought back good memories, but we also spent a lot of time driving and had to forego many activities because of the schedule. This time I gave us eight nights and nine days to see the parks and some of the surrounding areas too. The slower pace gave us time for activities like horseback riding and kayaking, as well as several days of hiking, wildlife viewing, visits to museums and scenic drives.
I also decided that we should try going in June this time. Our trip in May of 2010 was fun, but the weather was pretty cold and many of the trails were still snow covered. I remember crossing Jenny Lake on the ferry boat in falling snow. And the other two trips were scheduled in July around Independence Day. July is the busiest month in both parks and it is especially true around Independence Day.
But June seemed a good chance to see more wildlife (it was pretty active in May of 2010) with more accessible trails and potentially lighter crowds. Well, June turned out to be as good as I hoped. Tons of wildlife, rushing rivers and waterfalls, and maybe a tad fewer people.
We did have one last minute change to our plans, however. We were initially planning two nights of camping in our RBM tent in Yellowstone. But due to a medical issue a week prior to the trip we decided to swap out the camping days for a stay in the Grant Lodge in Yellowstone and an extra day in a cabin in Colter Bay in Grand Teton.
Once we had my truck packed up it was clear that the cargo requirements for the trip with the tent and all the other equipment would have been very challenging. So the lodge stays worked out and kept our itinerary intact.
Day 1: Sheridan
I decided to stop in Sheridan, Wyoming on our first night of the trip so that we could enter the park the following day on a westerly drive across the Bighorn Mountains with a stop in Cody so we could visit the Buffalo Bill Museum of the West.
With that in mind we had a straight 450 mile drive north to make and one that we had done two years prior on our way to Glacier.
We were able to drive at a fairly leisurely pace and decided to make a couple stops along the way.
Fort Fetterman
After a brief lunch stop we wanted to take a break from driving and followed a sign for Fort Fetterman near Douglas, Wyoming.
Fort Fetterman was an outpost at the southern end of the Bozeman Trail that led pioneers and fur traders to Montana. The only buildings at the site today are a reconstructed officers’ quarters and a toolshed. The rest of the site is marked out to indicate where buildings once stood.
The fort didn’t have as much to see and do as we had hoped, but it was interesting nonetheless, and the views across the rugged prairie are a reminder of just how remote and lonely these forts would have been for soldiers stationed there in the 1800s.
On our way back to the I-25 from the fort we saw some pronghorns and I was able to get some photos from my truck.
As most travelers through Wyoming know, pronghorns are fairly common throughout the state. But I was happy to get these photos only a few hours into our trip.
We still had some time to burn and I looked online for museums and historic sites that we could stop at on our route. There are some museums in Sheridan itself, but by the time we arrived there they would have been closed or near to it.
But there was a historic site in Casper we hadn’t yet visited: Fort Caspar.
Fort Caspar Historic Site
Fort Caspar (notice the spelling is different than the modern city of Casper where it’s located) had a much larger museum and more to see and do than Fort Fetterman.
We spent an hour walking through the buildings and learning about the fort and its history. The recreated barracks and officers’ quarters actually looked fairly comfortable and the surrounding landscape more lush and hospitable than the very stark surroundings of Fort Fetterman.
Fort Caspar sat near the North Platte river and was a trading post and pony express station, then was an army outpost to protect emigrants. The fort is a National Park Service site but is operated by the city of Casper, Wyoming, so you cannot pay for admission with your National Parks Pass.
Following our time at Fort Caspar, we continued north to Sheridan. I had reserved a conestoga wagon at the Sheridan KOA Journey and we proceeded there first before looking for some dinner in the town.
After reviewing our options we decided on the Pony Grill and Bar. We found the rustic, low-key atmosphere to be just what we wanted. the food was good, but nothing fancy. We were tired and just wanted some burgers and beers and the Pony Grill delivered.
After dinner we headed back to the KOA and settled into the wagon. Before bed, however, we decided to make use of the fire pit since we had some firewood and s’mores ingredients.
Overall the conestoga wagon was a good way to have some fun for our first night. The reservation was $180 compared to the $250-$300 per night at the hotels in town. It had a private bathroom, a king bed, and bunk bed for our son.
I slept reasonably well, but my wife did struggle to sleep due to the noise of trains passing nearby the campground. Also someone was shooting off fireworks (we think just outside the campground). Definitely not cool.
Day 2: Sheridan to Yellowstone
As I mentioned before, my decision to stop overnight in Sheridan was driven by my interest in entering Yellowstone on a westerly drive through the Bighorn Mountains. And so the next morning we started up Highway 14 and entered the Bighorns Mountains Scenic Byway.
The road ascended quickly with roadsides telling the relative ages of the surrounding rock formations. Interestingly the rock layers grew older the higher we went.
I had been debating whether to follow Highway 14 or it’s alternate route 14A for months (honestly). Highway 14 would take us to the Shell Falls overlook area (which looked really neat), while 14A would be a steeper route with the possibility of stopping at the archaeological site of the Medicine Wheel.
As we approached the fork known as Burgess Junction my wife (who was driving) asked me to make the decision. At the last second I chose the regular Highway 14.
Within minutes we found a whole herd of moose grazing jus off the roadside.
I was still learning the many functions of my new EOS R50 and tis was one of the first moments where I had to really recall all the functions for focusing at a distance and adjusting brightness in dimmer lighting.
I took a few more practice shots of the surrounding mountains then found this healthy marmot waiting nearby the road for a portrait shot.
Shell Falls
As I mentioned, my primary reason for choosing HIghway 14 over 14A was the Shell Falls Interpretive Site. Well,, when we got there it was closed. Seriously.
Rather than simply drive onward, however, we found a pulloff near the site entrance and walked to a spot with some views of the falls. They were spectacular, even if we couldn’t walk down to the primary overlook.
I was happy to get out of the car anyway and hopefully we’ll come back this way when the falls site is fully open. But then again, we need to go the 14A route too.
We drove onward, enjoying our homemade muddy buddies Chex mix until we arrived in Cody. Once there we made our way to the museum I had planned on visiting before, but failed to see in the prior visits to Yellowstone.
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
The BBCOTW encompasses five museums (Natural History, Buffalo Bill, Firearms, Native Americans, and Western Art). I wanted to visit all five but we were too hungry to stay long enough to visit the Western Art Museum (the Buffalo Bill Museum contains impressive western art too).
We first visited the Natural History Museum and perused the exhibits. The focus is on the natural world of the Yellowstone area, which makes it an informative stop before continuing on to the park.
Next we visited the Buffalo Bill museum and learned all about the life and career of the larger than life western hero William Cody. I have been to a few places that were historically significant to Buffalo Bill including the Scout’s Rest Ranch in North Platte, Nebraska and his grave here in Colorado. But I learned more about the man in this museum than I had anywhere else.
Following the Buffalo Bill museum we went to the Firearms museum, which I consider the best of the museums we visited. The collection is just astounding and more than you can imagine. The entire history of firearms of every sort is on display. And you can test your skills in target shooting (without real bullets but a laser target).
The Native American museum was next and it seemed a little sparse in my opinion. I know that many tribes have demanded that artifacts be removed from museum displays, and sadly this makes it harder to learn the history of these tribes and to be educated about their customs and ways of life.
After that, we were starving and decided to head to the exit (with a stop at the gift shop first). We decided on pizza and followed the directions to Wyo Dough. The directions led us to a less atmospheric building the the photos of Wyo Dough on TripAdvisor. This restaurant was called Cody Craft Brewing.
Apparently, Cody Craft Brewing and Wyo Dough were merged int one restaurant. Fair enough. Some good beer would be nice too.
The pizza was very meh. The beer flights were better. But with a continued drive ahead we couldn’t have much. Anyway, it won’t be at the top of our list when we come back to Cody.
Since it was Father’s Day I thought about going to the Irma Restaurant which is in Buffalo Bill’s historic Irma Hotel. But we were in a rush really. So next time.
We got some gas and set off for the entrance to Yellowstone via the Shoshone River Canyon that Theodore Roosevelt considered the most scenic drive in the country. He never saw the Beartooth Mountains road or Going to the Sun Road, but this is certainly a beautiful drive.
Yellowstone National Park
The east entrance to Yellowstone is over Sylvan Pass and right at that moment we saw a bighorn sheep sauntering past us by the roadside.
The bighorn was molting its winter coat with the transition to summer temperatures. But nevertheless, it was a pretty good ndication of just how plentiful wildlife would be in the park.
We proceeded onward along the shores of Yellowstone Lake (and a sadly ugly stand of dead timber from a past fire) to Lake Junction.
Turning north we proceeded into one of the prime wildlife viewing areas of Yellowstone: Hayden Valley.
We saw our first bison of the trip. It’s always good to see the bison herds and to know that indeed you are in the heart of Yellowstone. It was especially cool to see all the bison calves since it was still only June.
We made our way slowly north toward the Canyon area until we came to a car jam and decided to check it out. I’m glad we did. Our first of many black bears.
This is one of my favorite black bear photos that I’ve ever taken, looking directly at the serenely content bear in the woods.
After unjamming ourselves from the car congestion we continued to the south overlooks for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
I believe the view of the Lower Falls from Artists Point is one of the most spectacular viewpoints in all of the national parks. I’m pretty sure I’m right.
After taking our photos from Artist’s Point I convinced Shelley and Evan to take a little known trail from the overlook toward Ribbon Lake. Alongthe way there are some beautiful views of the canyon.
Along the way there were also some voracious mosquitoes. With no repellant on, we decided to cut the trail short and made our way onward to the hotel to check-in at the Canyon Lodge.
Our room was in a Western Cabin and it was a nice choice overall. It was tucked back from the busier main lodge area, had ice available for our cooler, and there was a trail to the north rim of the canyon nearby. Xanterra put ridiculous sideways recycling trash bins in the room, which I’ll discuss later.
The Canyon area overall, however, for as large as it is and with it being in one of the prime areas of the park, lacks any good restaurant options.
When we camped at Canyon Campground in 2017, there was a sit-down restaurant in the Canyon Village. This is now gone and the only option is a crowded cafeteria-style eatery with limited menu options. The cafeteria was also running out of ingredients and we didn’t get our side dishes because of it.
The staff looked frustrated too and acknowledged that the cost of the food versus the quality was a total mismatch. The woman at the cash register let us have our drinks for free to make up for the missing side dishes.
Xanterra just isn’t doing a very good job managing the lodges and restaurants in Yellowstone, in my opinion. We visited Glacier National Park in 2023 and the restaurants there are also managed by Xanterra, but the menus seemed better and the staff seemed a bit more relaxed.
I will state unequivocally that Xanterra seems too focused on virtue-signaling efforts for sustainability (like the laughable trash bins) and isn’t putting enough into the overall comfort and quality of the visitor experience.
As I wrote in my review, most visitors are there to hike and enjoy the outdoors. When we return from a long, tiring day and want to celebrate with a good meal, the last thing we want is overpriced cafeteria food or ridiculous woke choices like jerk tofu. Seriously. How about BBQ Mac-n-Cheese like we had in Glacier?
After settling into our room we decided to drive over to the north rim of the canyon. I would actually visit the north rim a few times on the trip since we were nearby.
The Brink of the Lower Falls
We drove over to the North Rim (since we hadn’t yet found the trail from the cabins) and stopped off at the Brink of the Lower Falls trailhead.
Evan and I made our way down the steep switchbacking trail to the bottom where a platform overlooks the Lower Falls. And it was flowing at an incredible rate. Almost too fast and powerful for comfort.
We walked onto the platform to view the falls before feeling like the platform would erode away beneath us. It was cool to see, but just a tad too powerful for comfort.
We hiked back up and felt pretty good about the day’s experiences. We were only at the beginning of the trip and had already seen bears, a moose, a bighorn and some terrific scenery. We had a hike planned for the next day and we wanted to be up early to enjoy a full day in the park.
I’ve added new photos from our trip in October to the Bahamas to the Wildlife of the Caribbean page. We had a great time snorkeling there and were able to see a diverse array of fish species along the reef, as well as a green sea turtle and a conch. We also saw a heron and a curly-tailed lizard on land near the Atlantis resort. Check out the gallery…
I’ve created another wildlife photography page in our never-ending quest to collect a glimpse of nature’s denizens in all the places that we travel. We were in Arkansas in October of 2023 and spent enough time outdoors at places like Hot Springs National Park, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Eureka Springs and Mount Magazine to discover some of its wildlife.
It’s a smaller collection since we were there only a few days Wildlife of Arkansas. And as always a lot of what we saw escaped our ability to capture it with our camera. But here is the Wildlife of Arkansas.
Despite living in Colorado for 12 years, we had not yet driven up the Mount Evans Scenic Highway as a family. With summer winding down I decided it was time to finally do this before winter set in (the road is only open a couple months each year in the mid to late summer).
I had once before taken a drive up to the summit with my older brother all the way back in 1997 when I was in college. Now twenty-six years later I wanted to take my family to the top to enjoy the scenery and the alpine wildlife, which frequently includes mountain goats, bighorn sheep, marmots, and pika.
We actually had more of an experience than we planned on. We hit a torrential downpour on the I-70 west of Denver that cleared up before we took the road south toward the mountain at Idaho Springs. Then we hit some of the thickest fog we’ve ever driven through. Still, like many others on the road that day, we carried on with a can-do spirit and had a really enjoyable time, even if we couldn’t see for a hundred miles.
We saw plenty of mountain goats and I took the short hike to the very top to get a photo of the very worn survey marker. When the clouds did part we had some fleeting vistas with impressive displays of light and cloud.
Montana now joins the list of wildlife photography pages. In only a few days we saw quite a number of animals and enjoyed the beautiful flora as well. It was unseasonably warm and I think that led to some animals retreating to higher and more remote ground, but I think you’ll find the gallery quite good all the same. View the gallery...
