Yellowstone trip Extras!

[urbpan]

There's a bunch of photos I skipped, mostly of my dad and of our food and stuff. In the interest of sharing, and in honor of his 50th wedding anniversary with my mom tomorrow, I'll post them now:



In Salt Lake City, I finally got to try Scotch eggs, which are hard boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat then deep fried. Delicious. They should keep a defibrillator on the wall of any place that sells them.


This is the engineers controls in a real 1800's locomotive engine, at the Golden Spike Museum.

For some reason the fandom community seems to be enamored of steam technology these days. So this is for you folks who love brass goggles and leather suspenders and big chunky clockwork crap. I hope that in the steampunk milieu plumbers are worshipped like gods, because they make all the technology.


Here's the quirky sign of a quirky steak house called Maddox, a little while north of Salt Lake. It's locally famous, and they get their beef from local ranches.


My first time in Idaho I tried my first chicken fried steak. That pile of white froth is what they call gravy. It was pretty good, but as you can see, there's enough food there for three or four of me. Also: real Idaho potatoes from Idaho. (I had Ralph Wiggum in my head saying "I'm Idaho," for the entire time I was in the state.)


Here's the sleepy tourist town of Gardiner Montana, which borders Yellowstone Park. This was our view of the town from our hotel, across the Yellowstone River.


Our first night there, as I was fixing up the Salt Lake photos, a mayfly landed on my laptop.


One night we ate at a place called The Antler.


Here's my dad with his many drinks: a glass of water 'cause he's thirsty, a diet coke with dinner, and a beer to toast our vacation together.


I took a few self-double portraits like this, most of which didn't come out, and the ones that did look like stills from the Beastie Boys "So Whatcha Want" video.


We went to Cody, Wyoming. This is the main street. Smoke from the wildfire 40 miles away can be seen in the sky at right.


We ate in a really nice restaurant (one of Buffalo Bill's Hotels) and then set off to see the town. We ended up in this basement bar, a rock club really, but one that was open in the middle of the day. There were two barflies drinking in there, too. We played pool on their awful (but cheap--50 cents a game!) table and listened to the local hard rock station.


Then we went to Bozeman Montana (different day). I wanted to go there because David Quammen lives there and I wanted to see what he liked about it. It was actually not very nice. We asked the gps to find a pub, and ended up going to "Pub Hippo." The decor was fascinating, and the beers were huge, but the food struggled to reach adequate.


Almost everywhere we ate had taxidermy, but usually it was North American. Pub Hippo has all African taxidermy, right down to the zebra skin and ibex horn chandeliers.


Below the taxidermy hippo head is a photo of the pub owner (I assume) standing over his freshly killed safari hippo. Bizarre. I didn't know big game hunters went after hippos.


We started to leave Bozeman, but I wanted a better experience. I navigated us toward the University part of town, and found the Montana Ale Works, an excellent brewpub/pool hall. We stayed there longer than necessary, having a really nice time. I thought I saw David Quammen, but I think all the intellectuals in Bozeman are tall men with mustaches.


Our last night in Gardiner, we ate in a place called The Mine.


In Jackson Wyoming we ate in a restaurant that had nostalgic photos and objects all over the place. I noticed this cracker tin on one of the exposed beams. I bet it's worth a pretty penny.


I spent my birthday driving almost 300 miles. We were running out of civilization when we finally stopped at a hotel restaurant for dinner. This was my birthday present: duck with blackberry sauce, and a glass of champagne.

Comments

[candent.livejournal.com]

Quote:

Bizarre. I didn't know big game hunters went after hippos.

Pretty sad: http://www.shakawasafaris.com/hunting-price-list.html
This one's especially fucked up: http://www.shakawasafaris.com/hunting-pictures-31b.html

[vuzh.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, the 119. I modeled her in pewter over the course of 4 months for a project for work. It was actually the most intense sculpture project I've ever engaged in. I've got a bunch of friends only pics here (http://vuzh.livejournal.com/755619.html). Let me know if you wanna see 'em.

[lisianthia.livejournal.com]

Your dad and you are so cute!

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Mmm, Scotch Eggs. You know, you can get them here in MA. and on the east coast. There is a little shop (we have been to it) someplace on the north shore. I can't recall what town and would have to go look it up. But they are available around here. And we have gotten them in Baltimore as well.

I'm not suprized by all the taxidermy, It's the "wild" west afterall! :)

You've had quite a vacation. Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[gigglingwizard.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of Scotch eggs. Shall have to try making them. Country fried steak has long been one of my favorites. I'm surprised you hadn't had it before. I think it's a Southern dish, but I can get it in just about any diner or "breakfast" restaurant (Denny's, Perkins, Bob Evans) in Ohio.

Trip pictures

[(Anonymous)]

Great pictures. I love the way you framed the shots of your dad above the pool balls. I like the shots of the food. Thanks for the neat shot of Gardiner, MT. I will visit there in Sept.

Richard

recipe for scotch eggs

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/magazine/13food-t-003.html?scp=54&sq=egg%20recipes&st=cse