We were on the road this morning by 9:45 after getting the rig road ready and saying so long to Bob and Vickie, the couple we met on the first day of the Escapade.
As we reached Cody, a town we would love to come back to and spend some time, Don (the Peacock) and Billie from Quail Run called us to let us know that they were in Yellowstone with Steve and Carol, also from Quail Run. They were getting ready to board a boat for a tour of the Yellowstone Lake but we couldn't get there in time to join them. We'll see Don and Billie when we leave here as we're going to their house in Idaho. We also hope to catch up with Steve and Carol when we go to Salt Lake City.
We're on the road to Yellowstone! Of course along the way we had beautiful scenery to look at.
We passed this house in which people obviously have a thing for antlers and skulls.
The sights along the way were just breathtaking!
This rock formation caught my eye as we passed. I wonder how that rock in the center of the picture stays perched there. (click to enlarge)
We made it to Yellowstone!
There's still snow on the mountain tops.
....but it's melting because there are waterfalls like this all over the place.
It was long, hard pull so we had to pull over to let the engine cool down a bit.
There are more than enough curvy roads here.
We were surprised at how deep the snow is that is still on the ground.
Just across from where we are parked in the picture above we noticed this snow melt and that it just seems to stop as it makes its way down the hill. Since it was such a force of water we figure there had to be holes in the ground up there in which the water is falling into. You can see the water which seems to go nowhere in the lower right.
Did you know that Yellowstone is the world's first National Park? It is, established in 1872. Yellowstone is HUGE! It covers 2.2 million acres and its boundaries lie within three states, Wyoming at 96%, Montana at 3% and Idaho at 1%.
New Zealand and Iceland are known for geysers, but nowhere are there as many as in Yellowstone National Park.
Oh, we have a lot to learn here as I didn't know any of this when we drove through the gates. Free, of course, because we have our National Parks Pass. Another twenty five bucks saved!
It saddens me when we pass through areas that have been affected by fire. But then I see the little evergreen trees coming up from the ground and I realize that Mother Nature is hard at work here.
In other stretches of road one can't help but be taken with the riot of color. Wild flowers of all colors are in great abundance here in this park. Bright yellows, deep reds, blues in all different shades and purple and white abound.
We knew there were sources of water throughout the park in the form of lakes, streams, rivers and ponds but I have to be honest here, I was amazed at how big Yellowstone Lake is. It is 132 square miles in area and has 141 miles of shoreline.
When we got to the registration desk check-in went smoothly. I did have one point that I all but laughed out loud at the woman standing next to me. She asked, "Are there mosquitoes here at nighttime? WHAAAAT? Lady did you not see miles and miles of forest when you came in? Did you not see little pools of standing water here and there? The park personnel answered her that yes, there are mosquitoes and be aware that they are B-I-G mosquitoes. Boy, that lady wasn't kidding, they're enormous. After the mosquito lady walked away the woman behind the counter helping me just looked at me and shook her head. She went on to say that isn't the most bizarre question they've had. One day a lady came in and asked, "At what elevation do the deer turn into elk?" Some people should just stay in the city.
We got set up with no trouble, until that is we tried the television. Hmmm...no reception. Ah, no cell phone reception either, uh-oh, that means no Internet. Oh my, this is going to be a long week! Bob did get our dish out and even went as far as setting it up on the roof but to no avail. The trees are too tall here and we can't get a shot over them. This IS going to be a long week! Thank heavens for the DVD player, at least we'll have movies at night when the giant mosquitoes chase us indoors.
So, we're here, we have lots to see and do this week so maybe our lack of TV, cell phones and the Internet won't be so bad after all. Oh who am I kidding, I'm having Internet withdrawals already and have caught myself fondling my computer mouse twice so far.
Wildlife, I almost forgot. Since there is an abundance of wildlife I thought we would be seeing buffalo roaming the roads, deer walking through campsites and elk walking along the edges of the woods. Not the case! Today we saw a chipmunk, a ground squirrel and a robin. How's that for wildlife?
Stay tuned, lots more to come from Yellowstone.
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