Bears, Whales and Wolves

Our journey got off to a bad start as our flight to Salt Lake City was delayed which meant we would miss our connection to Bozeman. Luckily, we were transferred to Minneapolis and arrived just a few hours late. I am glad I booked us to stay overnight though as it meant Brian could have a good night's sleep before we collected our car for the 90-minute drive to Yellowstone.

We were staying at the Mammoth Hot Springs hotel in a frontier cabin as part of the "Spring Bear and Wolf Discovery" package that I had booked. This included 4 nights’ accommodation, breakfast and lunch daily and one evening meal with our group, plus the services of a very knowledgeable guide for our 3 days looking for various wildlife which as well as bears and wolves included elk, bison, moose, pronghorn, mountain goats and various birds.

We concentrated our searches in the Lamar Valley which is home to the Junction Butte Wolf Pack. Spring is a great time to visit as it is less busy than summer and many of the animals have young, our favourite being the Red Dog (baby bison). You can experience 2-3 hour waits to get into the park in the summer if you are staying outside.

Mammoth Hot Springs is home to the Terraces; an area of colourful limestone and hot springs which have developed over the years.

Our accommodation was fairly basic - no TV or Wi-Fi in the cabins so if you need comfort stay in the hotel which was being refurbished when we were there. You can get Wi-Fi in the hotel lobby if you need it. We did not miss it though as herds of elk and bison wander through the grounds regularly. There is a restaurant on site as well as a fast food/snack place plus a shop where you can get pretty much all you need. If you want to venture out to eat, the town of Gardiner is just outside the north entrance.

Our next major stay was in Seattle, but to break up the driving we stopped off in a few places on the way. We could have flown to Seattle from Bozeman but we wanted to see some of the country that you would not normally see and the scenery was spectacular.

Our first stop Butte which was one of the biggest suppliers of copper in the world and still has an active mine. Unfortunately, a lot of the toxic waste went into the river system and the town has been busy cleaning it up so that it is safe to use again. You can do a tour of the Berkley Pit and Old Town which we did and was a great way to see everything. Another main attraction here is "Our Lady of the Rockies", a 90-foot statue of the Virgin Mary which sits atop the east ridge overlooking the town. The story behind it is that of a resident whose wife was seriously ill - he vowed that if she were to survive, he would build a statue of Mary in his garden, but it turned into the huge monument that can be seen today. You can only reach it on an organised tour and only in the summer months.

Next up was Missoula - famous for the film "A River Runs Through It". It’s a lovely place, great for hiking and biking. You can also surf on the river.

After Missoula was Spokane - a much bigger town. We were staying in a centrally located motel, so it was easy to walk into the centre where they had a large shopping mall. Next to the mall was a lovely park with lots to do including a carousel, a skate and scooter track and the sky ride over Spokane Falls.

Our last stop before Seattle was Yakima - wine country. There were lots of vineyards offering wine tasting. I should also mention that both Montana and Washington have numerous craft beer breweries. There are lots of ales to try but they seem to be much stronger than those in the UK.

We arrived through the mist and gloom in Seattle. It is like San Francisco in that the mist seems to hang around in the morning but is gone by the afternoon. We were staying at the Thompson Hotel, which was well situated for the Waterfront and Pike Street Market. Seattle is also home to a multitude of coffee shops and is famous for the first ever Starbucks which has hordes of tourists taking photos of it (no I didn't!)

Like San Francisco, Seattle is quite hilly - I have never gone up and down so many steps! The waterfront has lots of attractions and is home to various cruise terminals as many ships leave here for Alaskan cruises. The best way to see the famous Seattle skyline is from the water - there are a multitude of boat trips you can take. We did a cruise round the harbour - one during the day on a small boat and the other a sunset cruise on a yacht. We also took a water taxi over to West Seattle and walked along Alki Beach. You get great views from here and can also sometimes see seals and whales.

A longer trip we took was on the clipper up to Friday Harbour in the San Juan Islands (4 hours). This is a great area for whale watching and is home to the southern residents (orca). We did not see them unfortunately but did see some humpback whales, seals, sea lions and bald eagles. We also got to have a look round Friday Harbour and visited the whale museum which was very interesting.

For sports fans Seattle is home to the Seattle Sea Hawks football team and the Mariners Baseball team. They have 2 huge stadiums just outside the city - there are also soccer and rugby sides.

If you want to get out of the city you can take a day trip to Mount Ranier or Snoqualmie Falls - most trips pick up from your hotel or close by.

Our final destination was Lincoln City, Oregon - an odd choice you may think as we in the UK don't tend to visit Oregon. My reason was that it is home to Depoe Bay (just 20 mins down the road) which is known as the whale watching capital of the Oregon Coast. Gray Whales migrate up to Alaska from Baja California, but some have decided to stick around in Oregon. We did a trip from here and within minutes saw some Gray Whales. You can also see whales from the coast - we saw them from Boiler Bay and also from our hotel balcony!

Oregon has great scenery - the beaches go for miles and miles offering wonderful walks. We stayed at the Coho Beachfront Lodge which was lovely with great facilities. we had an ocean view room with a balcony.

Lincoln City is a small town but has plenty of shops and restaurants and is only 2 hours from Portland.

If you want something different - Oregon has it all.