10 posts tagged “yellowstone”
We got in around 6:30ish tonight. Not too bad.
The bunnies were glad to see us. They haven't even snubbed us like they normally do after we've been away.
Um,... Nothing to report for this last day either really. Just driving. But, to sum up:
- We need a ranch in Wyoming. Seriously. Some cattle, llamas, a couple of horses and satellite internet. Until I can figure out how to swing that move to Slea Head, Ireland, we definitely need a ranch in Wyoming. I'm very serious.
- Illinois SUCKS! It's the only state I absolutely hate.
- I miss the open spaces. Even Delta is making me feel a little claustrophobic now.
Vacation is done. We're calling it a smashing success. ...Time to start planning the next one!
We spent the day driving across Nebraska. Anyone who's ever done the same would know we have nothing to report today. We had planned to stop at cheesy tourist traps, but they didn't even bother to advertise any along the highway. I mean, there was the Prairie Museum, ...but even we have some entertainment standards. So we just spent the day cutting across Nebraska as quickly as possible.
We're in Colfax, Iowa for the night now. If you ever come through here, you should stop at Georgio's Restaurant. They have the most wonderful garlic chicken pizza!
Since I'm lacking any even mildly interesting stories to tell today, I give you the belly-up bunny from the Badlands as content:
Clearly, he was not at all threatened by our presence. :)
This state is unbelievably gorgeous. I know I've used those words to describe a lot of things this trip, but I definitely mean it every time. The phrase, "America, the beautiful" isn't just patriotic puffery.
We left Yellowstone at a decent time this morning, had breakfast at Running Bear Pancake House again, and hit the road. We knew we were going to have a long day of driving, so we wanted an early start. What we didn't count on was buffalo traffic delaying us about an hour.
Yes, close to an hour of following buffalo as they meandered down the road. Once in a while a car got through, but for the most part, the buffalo were occupying both lanes. We got there close to the time the buffalo entered the road, so we could see what the hold-up was. The line of cars behind us went on for a loooong ways though. Eventually, everyone in front of me had made it around the buffalo, and I was stuck between the beasts and a long line of impatient people. That's a lot of pressure on me to find a way through, but really, what could I do? I followed slowly and closely. Some cowboy (or jerk, maybe) types got out and started chasing the buffalo. They'd break into a trot for about 30 seconds and then slow back down. Eventually a ranger got through and I let him in front of me. I figured he'd know a trick for herding them away, but no, he just followed closely and slowly, just like I had been doing. At least all the people behind me couldn't fault me for not being able to find a way through though at that point.
After we finally got around the herd, we still had a long drive out of the huge park.
...I'm very brief. I need to be tired now...
After Yellowstone, we drove around the Tetons. Fabulous mountains! They're so stunning just jutting out of ground. Real mountains don't need foothills! :)
After the Tetons, our goal was just Laramie, WY, our bed for the night. You might think the drive would get boring after Yellowstone and the Tetons, but not even close. Wyoming is stunning! Truly stunning. ...It's a good thing we loaded up on scenery today. We have Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana ahead of us in the next 48 hours. :p
Oh, and my dad is watching the bunnies for us. He tells me he's been playing the guitar for them. That makes me ridiculously happy. :)
G'night.
We slept well last night. The half bottle of Moët we brought to celebrate our anniversary probably helped with the whole sleep thing. :)
After four days of breaking fast with hotel-provided continental breakfasts of varying quality, the Szczublewski's needed some eggs, dammit! Craig asked at the front desk for a recommendation, and we were directed to Running Bear Pancake House. Doesn't that just *sound* like a great place to get breakfast? It totally was. I had a veggie omelet that was to die for! And I also had a fruit cup on the side that was fresh pineapple, melons and grapes with a heap of Montana boysenberries on top. Damn! That was a good way to start the day! We might go back there tomorrow morning.
Back into the park then, and the snow was running late, so were were able to drive up to Mammoth Springs. YAY! It was so gorgeous up there, and so alien.
I'm pretty damn proud of myself for all the hiking we've done the past few days. For an over-weight, out of shape asthmatic climbing hills at an elevation of 8000+ft, I did pretty damn well. I had to stop and catch my breath a lot, but I never once needed my inhaler. :D
After Mammoth Springs, we checked out Yellowstone Canyon. By then the snow was coming down heavy again, so visibility was kind of low. It was still gorgeous though, especially watching the snow fall into the canyon from up on the rim. We stopped at just about every walking path as we drove through the park. I really feel like we saw just about all of the main attractions, excepting the back-country stuff.
Long day of hiking and driving and getting soaked and drying out. Lots of geysers and hot springs and fumaroles and other geological features. We came back to West Yellowstone and downed a couple of buffalo burgers and a couple of pints of Trout Slayer Pale Ale, and now it's nighty-night time. Damn, vacation is hard work. :)
I woke up in the middle of the night and was sure I was sick and dying. Granted, I was half asleep, but I was physically exhausted, a little sun-burnt, very sleep-deprived, and I felt like total crap. I had the chills and it felt like I was radiating a lot of heat. I was sure I was dying. And then I came to my senses and went back to bed. We slept in today and I felt fine when i woke up.
It snowed *ALL* day today. The forecast called for rain, but it was snow right from the get-go, and pretty much stayed snow, even in the lower areas of the park. We aren't sun-lovers though, so not having sunny skies for our vacation is not a big deal at all, and is even often preferable. We'd packed for cold and wet, but my raincoat wasn't sufficient for really heavy wet snow. The run-off from my too short and snug raincoat soaked the front of my pants as I walked. Fortunately, I was wearing light-weight hiking pants and they dried off in record time when we came in from the weather. ...We also stopped at the store and bought a better raincoat, and some baseball caps to help keep the pelting ice and snow off our faces. After that, we were fine. And we had the park pretty much to ourselves because the weather was so "bad". HA!
On our way into the park, we passed a herd of buffalo traveling the other way on the road. The were on the correct side of the road at least. :)
We wanted to see Mammoth Springs today, but half way up the mountain the roads were starting to get slick and snow-covered, and looking at the drive-back side of the road and the tiny shoulder before a long drop, we decided to play lower in the park for the day.
Yesterday we were still walking up to Old Faithful as it erupted. I had felt a bit like I missed it, so today we went back ... and stood in the biting wind and snow ... waiting. And of course, this would be the day Old Faithful is running late. We were standing next to a ranger who was out there to record the eruption, and even she admitted it was late. heh. People kept walking up and asking, "Has it erupted yet?" At one point the whole soaking wet, freezing crowd answered that stupid question with a shouted, "NO!" That was funny. Like, if it had erupted we'd still all be standing there staring at a hole in the ground and freezing our butts off.
While we were waiting, the guy next to us got a cell phone call. Normally I think using a cell phone in a park should be punishable by firing squad, but hearing his "Ring of Fire" ring-tone while we were standing in the caldera of a super volcano waiting to observe thermal activity was pretty damn funny. He seemed politely apologetic, and really shocked that he had service.
We saw Old Faithful finally go off, and we spent the rest of the day driving from location to location, taking short hikes around thermal features in the often very heavy and wet snow, with very few people to contend with - just us crazies out today. We discovered just how nice it can be to stand in the warm steam coming off of hot springs. Mmmm, warm. We saw wolves (one of which ran right out in front of our car) and strangely enough, emus. Yes, emus, We're puzzled by that too, but that's definitely what they were.
The forecast calls for 4-10 inches of snow in the park by tomorrow afternoon. So long as they don't close the roads, we'll be exploring the canyon area, staying low in the park.
I got about 3-4 hours of sleep last night, then spent the day playing in the park today. I'm so damn tired. I can't even ... oof. I'm going to just have to keep this super brief today.
We shopped for some seasonally(?) appropriate clothes, visited the Wild Sheep Museum, stopped by Buffalo Bill Dam, arrived at Yellowstone, hiked around many hot springs and geysers, saw much wildlife, checked into our hotel and ordered a pizza.
There was a lot of laughs and snow and lots and lots of walking in there, but ... have I mentioned how tired I am?
We saw big horn sheep, a coyote, buffalo and elk. Didn't see any bear, but did see *lots* of bear tracks. ...and poop. Bears apparently do poop in the woods and the national parks, in hot springs, on boardwalks, ..., wherever they want really. Buffalo also poop a lot and everywhere. Eh, it's their park. heh.
So tired.
Here. Just have some pictures. Note that the coyote and buffalo pics were taken from the safety of our vehicle. Animals tend to linger by the road a lot in Yellowstone.
I forgot to journal a few things I wanted to remember about yesterday. Here's the short version:
- The "check engine" light came on in the mountains. We pulled over and did. We also lobbed a few snowballs at each other. ...As for the idiot light, all we could figure was a faulty sensor, and it did go out once we were back at a reasonable elevation and topped off the tank.
- I lost my reading glasses somewhere so we found a drug store and I bought another pair. As I was stepping back into the car, Craig spotted my reading glasses by my foot almost under the seat. heh.
- Craig lost his favorite pen he turned. That turned up later too.
- We figure the check engine light and the misplaced objects were a result of us confusing the hell out of Martha Jones, our smart and sassy British navigator. Every time we'd take a scenic route, she'd go through a litany of "recalculating" and start telling us to turn where there were no roads, I swear you could almost hear her sighing. We figure she was a might bit frustrated by our wandering.
- We drove through Emblem, WY, population *10*. The speed limit never dropped from 65, and we saw none of those ten people out and about. They had a post office though.
- We drove by a few scary churches and scary houses, ...very horror-moviesque. *shudders*
- Devil's Tower had an area called "Prairie Dog Town", and the prairie was alive with movement and squeaking.
And just so this isn't a text-only post:
I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. In fact, the problem was probably that I woke up often all through the night. I was uber-cranky.
We had planned to start the day by driving back just a bit to Custer State Park and walking the trail around Sylvan Lake, but we decided to just press on towards today's destination instead. It was just as well, since getting back on the road and putting miles behind us really helped me get over myself, and because we had many miles to go. It wasn't long before I was just happy to be on vacation again though .
We tried to stop at Jewel Cave National Park, but we were two hours too early for a tour, so we just checked out the displays in the visitor's center. They had a cement block on display with a hole through it, approximately one foot by two feet. It was the spelunking tour test. If you could crawl through the block, you qualified for the 3-4 hour spelunking tour of the cave. heh. I don't know if I'd have the cajones for that tour even if I could crawl through the block.
We met a nice woman there who asked us if we had visited Rushmore yesterday. I guess Craig looks just like her "no-good" grandson. heh. I got the good twin. :)
We drove and drove and drove some more again today, mostly deserted two-lane state routes. It was unbelievable how far we traveled and how few other people/cars we saw. The terrain was unbelievable though!
Our only planned stop for the day was Devil's Tower. It was simply stunning. We walked the 1.3 mile loop trail around the tower, and the views were... wow! On our left Devil's Tower loomed with it's strange, streaky geometrical rock formations dotted with ambitious rock climbers (wow! wouldn't that be a rush!!!), and on our right side were the prairies of Wyoming ...waaaaaaaay below us. The hike probably took us three times as long as it should've because we kept stopping to stare up and then down.
We had hit up the visitor center when we first got to Devil's Tower, but I had a very strong and strange episode of vertigo in there and had to bolt for fresh air. The dizziness went away while we walked, but came right back as we approached the visitor center again after our hike. It was the weirdest thing. It felt like one of those silly "Mystery Hill" type attractions to me. The further away from the visitor center I was, the better I felt. Very weird.
The rest of the day was just driving through prairies and mountains, some of the most beautiful terrain I've ever seen, and also often the most empty land I've ever seen. We drove on red roads, over snow-capped mountains, through a breath-taking canyon and through flat, empty lands colored only by patchy sage brush (for miles and miles and miles to the point that it was almost scary).
We're in Cody (WY) for the night now. We had dinner at Irma's, a hotel built by Buffalo Bill in 1902, a hotel he called, "just the swellest hotel that ever was." :) We ate thick and tender slabs of blood-red meat...*drool*, 'cause that's what you do out west. heh. We used our in-room coffee maker to make some hot cocoa, and now we're just winding down for the day. Unfortunately, our net connection is being difficult. I might have to post this entry later.
Tomorrow: YELLOWSTONE!
What a looooong day. It seems like we were at the Corn Palace last week, but it was only this morning. Oh yes. We stopped at the Corn Palace!
We left Jackson, MN this morning and drove and drove and drove. A whole lot of nothing but flat land and sky (well, MN had a ton of wind turbines, which made this hippie very happy). Craig says he now understands the expression "big sky country". I love that kind of terrain. When there's that much open, unoccupied space around me, it feels like my spirit expands. I felt like I was flying, driving those lonely highways. The weather was beautiful, everything was perfect.
Our first stop was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. South Dakota has nothing but cows and tourist attractions, but they mean business with their touristy stuff. The Corn Palace was a silly place, but it was nice to stretch our legs and look at a building covered in corn. It was funny walking through the parking lot, people grinning sheepishly and avoiding direct eye contact, everyone obviously feeling silly for being at such a silly place. *L* We had a blast!
We headed out to the Badlands next and killed a lot of time there. The landscape was just breath-taking, and again, we had such a beautiful day for enjoying scenery. If we had a little more time, and if there weren't so many rattlesnakes, it would've been fun to hike some of The Badlands. We walked around a brief bit, and stopped at just about ever scenic lookout point to snap dozens of pictures. We saw some wild rabbits who were so not bothered by humans that they flopped down on their sides to rest in the cool dirt right at out feet. :) We saw dozens and dozens of prairie dogs and a few prong horn deer too.
Our next stop was Wall Drug. Eh. It was like a redneck mall in a phony tourist town. We breezed through just to say we'd been there and to get our photos on the jackalope and to buy cowboy hats 'cause that's what you do at a redneck mall. I'd wanted a hat for myself and figured Wall Drug was as good of a place as any to pick one up, but then when I saw Craig try one on, I insisted on buying one for him too. *bites knuckle* Yeah, I have a bit of a thing for cowboys. :)
We hit the road again and drove to Mount Rushmore. The deer in that area are crazy, and there's a ton of them, all just mingling beside the road in this tacky, overdone, touristy area. It was a great time to see Mount Rushmore, early evening and pre-tourist season. We sat a relaxing while in the cooler high elevation air just looking at the monument. There were a few other people there, but not enough to make you even notice anyone else really. We stopped in the gift shop before leaving, and I got Mount Rushmore and Badlands reels for my ViewMaster! *squee!* ...I wish I'd brought it with me! :)
We did try to sneak in a peek at Crazy Horse too, but they were just closing up as we pulled in. It's not far from our hotel, but it's also $25 per car admission, so we'll probably skip it tomorrow. $25 and it's not even done yet! That *is* crazy.
We're in Custer for the night now. It's hard to believe we've only been gone a couple of days. It feels like a week, at least. We're having *SUCH* a great time!
Long day on the road today. It wasn't painful though: sharing it with m best friend, taking turns driving, cracking jokes, listening to good tunes. Nothing much to report other than Chicago sucks; there's nothing in Jackson, MN but a mostly empty hotel, a few really nice people and some gigantic llamas; and purple means Wednesday.
Today was just driving. The sight-seeing starts tomorrow. This is all I have to share today:
