Into the Wild

Monday morning we were up again at the crack of dawn, inhaling breakfast to get out the door before the throngs of tourists hit Yellowstone park before we did.  Joni recommended we drive all the way to Old Faithful, without stopping, then stop on the way back to see what we wanted to see, in order to avoid the traffic jams that would otherwise await us.  She was so right.

We were able to go the speed limit and not hit any slow downs all the way to the Geyser.  We were an hour early for the next eruption so we all killed time at the lodge and in the gift store.  We saw the eruption then took the trail up and around the other boiling pots of water.  It was only a mile loop, but they were enjoying taking photos of everything so much it took nearly 90 minutes to make that loop.  We nearly missed the second eruption in the process, but I keep everyone on task and we saw that, then hit the parking lot before it was done, just to avoid the traffic jam that ensues after the eruptions.  I even heard one woman say she spent more time in the parking lot last time she visited the park, than actually seeing any of the geysers.

Everyone thought I was a bit brash in keeping us on schedule and doing silly things to avoid the crowds, but based on the number of things we saw, it worked out pretty well.  People could be in Yellowstone for a week and not see what we saw in one day.

Within just a few minutes of entering the park we saw a mountain goat, elk, a coyote, an eagle washing himself in the river, and two grizzly bears crossing the road right in front of us.  About 30 minutes later we saw a herd of bison that weren’t just standing there grazing, they were kicking up their heels and having a good ol’ time butting into each other, chasing each other around in circles, rolling in the field and acting about as crazy as I’ve ever seen any wild animals acts.  It was impressive.  And that was all before we made it to the geyser.

After we left Old Faithful we stopped at all the pullouts to see the incredible colors in the pools of water that make Yellowstone so famous.  I’m sure over a thousand pictures were taken today from just the four of us with cameras. 

We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shade, as it was another scorcher of a day, and continued to see animals along the way, a beaver, prairie dogs, white tailed deer, and another grizzly.  At one point, driving through a canyon with steep hills on one side and the river on the other, an entire herd of buffalo came sauntering down the road heading straight for us.  We only had about 10 cars in front of us, but behind that bunch of bison was at least a five-mile backup.  I felt terrible for those people who were trapped in the cars for I’m sure, hours on end today, wondering why they couldn’t get through the park. 

I was totally freaked out, as I was driving, that the bison would injury the Robert’s car, which they so graciously loaned to us.  They completely surrounded us and were just inches from the vehicle on all side.  There must have been a hundred of them.  It was freaky, but cool, all at the same time.   Now that can’t happen every day.

We had a game going as to who could spy the most animals first, and Kaleb got his nose out of joint when, after seven hours in the car, he was skunked.  He had a bit of an attitude problem with his last place position, but after a while he snapped out of it, thankfully.  So that was the only damper to an otherwise incredible day.

At one point, walking into a souvenir shop, Daniel looked down at his shoes and said, “I’ve been walking in these shoes all day.”  I told him I thought that’s what shoes were for.  He said, “Oh, I just needed to say something…” which I thought was pretty funny.  I told him he could say anything, but that was a pretty odd thing to say.  We had a good laugh over that one.

I told Joni I’d be back at the house by 6pm for dinner.  Jimmy told her we’d never make it down to Old Faithful and back in 11 hours, but she disagreed and said, “If Mickey said she’ll be here by six, she’ll be here by six.”  We walked in the door at 5:57 and sat down for dinner, just as I planned.  How about them apples.

We were all talking at the same time of all the incredible things we saw and how lucky and blessed we felt to have such an amazing day in the park.  They agreed that it was highly unusual to see all that we did in such a short time span.  Hallelujah for that.

After dinner, Are was too tired to go fishing, and too fried from the sun, so we all sat in the living room and just talked while the kids carried on around us. Everyone went to bed early for another early start on the next day – except me – I had photos to download, an article to write for the paper, and a blog to post.  Life’s too good not to share it.