February Trip to Montana - Part 2 (Big Sky)

 After our two days in West Yellowstone, we moved on to Big Sky, where we have skied three times before, though all the time at Christmas (Christmas 2016, 2018, and 2020). This time it was just the three of us - John, Mary Jo, and Henry - and we stayed in a smaller condo, though closer to the base area, right near the Big Bear Poma Lift. 

The snow coverage was a bit more than our usual Christmas trips, helped by about 8" that arrived the day before we did, though it was quite cold. For two of the three days we skied, the lifts were on hold for the first hour or so until the temperature rose to negative-15 fahrenheit. But fortunately there wasn't much wind so it wasn't too bad. Skies were clear and blue for two of the days, and Henry rode the Lone Peak tram one of the days. 

February Trip to Montana - Part 1 (Yellowstone)

For Henry's February break, we decided to take a trip to Montana to see Yellowstone as well as ski for a few days at Big Sky. 

For the Yellowstone portion, we stayed in the National Park gateway town to the west, aptly named "West Yellowstone", which was a two-hour drive south of Bozeman, where we flew into. On Sunday we spent the day in the park, taking a bus tour to the Geyser Basin area, seeing not only several geological features (geysers, fumaroles, hot springs), but also loads of bison, as well as some coyotes.

Sun in Arizona !

In early February, John took an indulgent trip for a week-and-a-half to Arizona to get out of the Seattle gloom and enjoy some much needed sun. The first two days were spent in northern Arizona, at the Grand Canyon and in Sedona, and then Tempe for the week that follows, with Mary Jo joining John for the final weekend back up in Sedona. The skies were incredibly clear and we got a lot of hiking in - at the Grand Canyon, in Sedona, and mornings before work in Tempe. It was hard to leave!

Return of Nat Geo Live !

National Geographic puts on 'Nat Geo Live' events in a variety of cities, and since 2015, Henry and Dad have been going to them in Seattle - about six a year, each one an hour long lecture at Benaroya Hall, the main concert hall in Seattle, and typically featuring an explorer or someone who shows photos and talks about some exotic locale. The events typically run every 3-4 weeks from January to May, but in March 2020, like the rest of the world, they stopped because of Covid. They didn't run them at all in 2021, but announced they would return in 2022, and the first one was the last week of February.

Dad and Henry hadn't been down in the area for a while, but we returned to our traditional dinner spot - Potbelly - though rather than following it with gelato (the gelato place is now closed on Tuesday nights), we got a candy bar at the new Amazon Go spot. Then on to the show, which featured a carnivore expert talking about all the vareity in species of bears around the world. Very interesting and entertaining show!