Yellowstone, Yugoslavia, Yemen, and the Yukon

This is one of only 2 posts I wasn't able to write and schedule ahead.  I kept racking my brain for a topic and or location that started with the letter Y.  Last year at this time I wrote about Yellowstone HERE.  Seemed a cheat to write about the same thing again, so instead I'll leave a link.  

This years model for my A-Z has been topics that start with whatever our letter of the day is and then linked it to a post I previously wrote about a location that started with that letter.  

Year and Yummy is all I can come up with.  A year...we all know that's 12 months, the significance of a year with regard to travel.........you might need to plan that far ahead.  We pretty much do, for example when we returned from Spain in April (which will be blogged about in May), we planned next years location for April which will be Arizona.  Some trips you don't need to plan that far ahead, in fact you can't really book airlines that far ahead; but if you're trying to book a popular destination it's a good idea to get your lodging that far ahead...........we had Spain booked a bit more then a year ahead.  

Yummy........one should eat yummy food, which does NOT include fast food chains when you travel.

 Prawn kebab....hubby's meal.  He said it was yummy

 Seafood kebab, our friend Jane's meal; who also said it was yummy

Park Medallions, my meal....and you guessed it..........it was yummy for my tummy.

I'll tell you about these meals and others at this restaurant in Marbella Beach Spain in May when I blogged alphabetically about the trip.  The first two pictures are meals I prepared at  home; but could and have easily prepared when traveling when we stay in a time share with a full kitchen.

Other Y locations are Yogoslavia, Yemen, and The Yukon; but I can't blog about those as I've not been there.

**After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide.  My focus for the month of May will be Spain.  I've been planning and almost have every letter thought out.  If others are interested in continuing to blog daily using our A-B-C's, please let me know.  We could start a linky and continue what we've begun during April.  I don't imagine it will be anywhere near the scope of the annual April Challenge.  But, if you're interested, please let me know in your comment.  And even if you're not up for another blog challenge, do stop back in, I have much to share from recent travels to Spain.**

If you're a new follower, please let me know so I can reciprocate.

Yellowstone National Park

(Y post)
You could probably post daily for a year about something regarding Yellowstone National Park, so I won't pretend to do it justice in one post here.

• The part was established in 1872.  Can you imagine the foresight to establish a park just 7 years after The Civil War?
• It's the very first National Park
• There are parts of Yellowstone in 3 different states: Wyoming, Montana and even Idaho.  The largest area is in Wyoming
• There are 5 entrances: East, North, NorthEast, South, and West.  It's important to know where you want to go in the park to select the correct entrance.  Not all gates are open all year long, and traffic can be so heavy through the park that getting from the wrong entrance to where you want to go difficult and time consuming.
•  The park has 1,000 miles of trails, and 2.2 million acres of land
• Has the worlds, not just the country's but the worlds largest collection of geysers
• It's nearly an intact natural ecosystem
• There's hiking and biking trails, camping, ranger programs, historic buildings
• It has 12 camping grounds and over 2,000 camping sites; not including the back country.  Seven of the 12 areas are managed by a private company, Xantera where reservations can be made, the 5 smaller areas are controlled by the park on a first come basis. 
• Camp sites typical fill as early as 11 am, often requiring you get in que by 7 am for a specific spot.  The key is to be flexible, and plan ahead and always have a plan B.
• Wolves were re-introduced to the park in 1995 and 96, after finding none in 1994.  Currently there are 300 and their descendants.  Without the wolves the balance of predators and the food change were disturbed. 
• In a typical year more people are injured by Bison in the Park, then Bears.  Stay the appropriate distance from ALL wild animals, don't put yourself and your family in danger for the sake of a stupid picture.  When you do something stupid, typically the animal has to be put down.  You're instructed to stay at least 100 yards from bears, 25 from Bison.
• Camping in the back country is free but requires a permit that can be obtained 48 hours ahead in person, there's a fee to reserve ahead of time on line or through the mail.
• The park is larger then the 2 states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

It was quite an experience camping and hiking in Yellowstone.  Old Faithful was disappointing as, it didn't do much when we were there, the thermal areas have a nasty smell like rotten eggs.  In general, though we enjoyed our time there we thought The Tetons were prettier and enjoyed our time there more. (Pictures from a free on line site, not mine.  Old Faithful didn't do anything even close to this when we were there.  You sit around the circle, waiting for it and we saw just a small trickle.  Others in our group said they'd been here several time and never saw it erupt like this.  We understand from the Rangers, they had to clean it  because people used to throw things in it...which is why you now have to sit back from it.

Pop in Often, remember Menu Mondays for dining tips, Traveling Tips on Thursday, and any day for vacation destinations.
(6)