Yellowstone

Wednesday, May 12, 2010, Jackson Wy

Yesterday we got up late… it was almost 7:00 before the girls joined me in the lobby for breakfast…

We started our day in Cody Wy. … We went for coffee at Rawhide coffee on main street… then into the hills towards Yellowstone. We were nervous... would the pass be open… would we need chains… We didn’t, but the we saw snow, and the pass was full of drifting snow. We saw our first Bison on the assent…

Down to the lake, which was frozen… Kelly tried throwing rocks, but the ice was thick… too thick to shatter under her assault.

We turned north at Fishing Bridge… though the Haden Valley… normally it would be teaming with animals… mostly herds of bison… but this time the valley was covered with a deep snow pack, still a couple of feet in Mid May… At Canyon we viewed the falls… then visited the visitor center, now 2 years old… We had chili at the store’s café, the only concessionaire open.

On to Norris where we headed north to Mammoth Springs… for a chance to view the terraces… then back south to Norris geyser basin…

From there it was further south, along the Gibbon River, to Madison where it joins the Fire hole River, from there to Old Faithful where we planned to spend the night… We were staying at the Snow Lodge… set back from the action, but more modern than the others… It was a great choice, a great hotel…

On the way we encountered a herd of bison along the Fire Hole River… they were on the road. It was a herd of maybe 40 animals including 3 “red dogs” very young babies. The herd was blocking the road… we stopped… the oncoming traffic stopped, a National Parks maintenance truck didn’t, they plowed through the herd panicking and scattering them. We took photos… The animals all survived… more later.

We checked in, then went in search of geysers… Old Faithful was scheduled to go as we arrived… we waited, it erupted… We explored more, we had the basin to ourselves… We saw grand geyser, we saw Castle geyser… we saw a large canine… maybe a coyote, maybe a wolf, we took photos…

Cold, we returned to a wonderful dinner… all of us had the 4 oz buffalo tenderloin… all rare… it was great.. The waiter was great… they gave us a survey… it was a perfect 5….

Off to bed, to collapse until tomorrow…

Randy