Apple Pie and Yellowstone Park

Ed was expecting that Old Faithful and these various places would be primitive, out of the way places -- NOT SO! Parking lots were full and there were people every place we went.

Saturday was our second day tour. The whole thing reminded me somewhat of driving on Skyline Drive in Virginia. There are VERY few roads, especially considering the Yellowstone National Park is over 2,000,000 acres.

We stopped at the Continental Divide near the small Lake Isa. I had forgotten that the Continental Divide is like the top of a roof. Usually the water on the West would go West and that on the East would go East. In this case, the water on the West ended up in the Atlantic Ocean and the water on the East ended up in the Gulf of Mexico.

I thought these water lilies were unusual.

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I now have a general concept of what Yellowstone is about and am going to explain it in simplistic terms. Envision baking an apple pie and you forget to cut slits in the top crust. What happens? After a while the steam can build up and the pie might explode all over your oven.

Think of the 2.2 million acres of this National Park as a giant pie. Over 5 billion years ago, instead of exploding, this huge area imploded. Today, that steam is still underground and the area is referred to as a caldera (caldron/big cooking pot). There is not another place on earth like this one.

This steam under the park manifests itself in 4 different types of thermal events: steam only, mud pots, hot springs and geyers.

The steam pots were seen fairly often and you could be sure by the sulfer (rotten egg) smell.
The mud pots were holes of simmering mud.

The hot springs are like pools of clear boiling water. The water that drains off sustains bacteria. At the highest temperature, are the yellows, in the cooler areas are the oranges, and the coolest areas yield browns.

The most dramatic thermal event type is the geyser. Old Faithful became famous because it faithfully erupted every hour. Now, it blows about every 90 minutes.

The water and steam seemed to reach right up to the clouds, although it was only about 200 feet.

It was incredible how many people were there! There were curving benches around the area, filled with people. When the geyser erupted, I was struck by the silence of the crowd and how quiet the water was. Another gal in our group noticed the same thing.

These people were to my left while watching Old Faithful.

These folks were to my right -- there were a LOT of them.

In Yellowstone National Park, there are no cell phone signals nor is there internet service. After being without a cell phone and internet service for 3 days, Mary finally blew her gasket!

Splendiferous Scenery In Yellowstone

You might want to click on some of these photos for a larger version.

The snow is called "Indian Snow" -- Apache here and Apache there...

So long, Yellowstone!

Paparazzi in the Park (Yellowstone)

Getting up and ready for an 8:15 a.m. tour on Friday morning proved to be a challenge as our bodies are used to sleeping until we wake up. It was down to the 40's so we started out with jackets and were glad we wore layers, as the park ranger suggested because the day warmed up to the 80's later on.

We are amazed at how much we learned by taking two full-day tours of Yellowstone. Both guides were young men who absolutely love the park and they live there. They do all sorts of things like these tours, fly fishing tours (Ed was astounded to read that a fly fishing trip costs $400 per person for one day!), horseback riding, and more.

Both days we were in a 1937 White touring bus. They were bought in the year 2000 and it took seven years to refurbish, them (There are some new parts in them, such as motors.) They spent about $280,000 each to get them on the road.
It felt like we were on a safari with the top open but it wasn't long before the sun and wind got to us, so they closed the cover. It felt like the paparazzi were after us as people took pictures of us -- well, really they took pictures of the touring car -- all over the park.

We stopped in Hayden Valley and other places along the way. The history of the explorers who came through the park is fascinating, as were, not to mention the animals we saw.

We had lunch at Mammoth Hot Springs in the Northern part of the park. I was expecting a springs that you could soak in but this was quite different

There are various springs that flow out over the rocks and there are ledges formed from silt in the water.This makes the mountain look white. This white stone is called Travertine and it is very popular (and expensive) for kitchen counters and is harder than marble.

Bye, bye, paparazzi!

Waterfalls and Buffalo in Yellowstone

Ed was dreading the trip from Cody to Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone National Park because of our last mountain drive from Rapid City to Cody. He was told there was no construction, which proved to be accurate. We both kept thinking the twisting, curving, scary roads would be showing up any time. Much to our surprise, the drive wasn't that bad after all.

Pull-through RV sites have become common in campgrounds so our back-in site was a bit of a challenge but we got set up quickly. The forest ranger who runs the tour desk was out to lunch so we went back to the office after 2:00 to talk to her. We're set up for all-day tours tomorrow and Saturday. These tours aren't cheap but it's the only way Ed gets to see. The ranger pointed out that if you just drive around on your own, you don't know what you're seeing. I've been on some trips in past years where I decided I couldn't afford a side-tour and have regretted it ever since.

After careful directions from the ranger, we set out on Thursday afternoon to see the upper and lower waterfalls. We especially wanted to see the lower falls on our own. These are the ones depicted in Thomas Moran's painting that we saw in Cody on Wednesday.
If you want to see animals, you'll know where they are by the traffic jams. Our first spotting was a couple of herds of buffalo but they were way far away in a grassy area. The people with LONG lens and tripods might have gotten something but most people will go home with a picture of grass and a few dark spots.

Animal watching got better. There was one buffalo laying right by the road on a bank. Ed stopped to let me out and when I got there, the buffalo laid on his side with his 4 legs stuck out straight and wallowed.At our next turn was my best surprise of the day and for whatever reason, every time I saw this, it made me laugh......right there in the middle of the road was a big old buffalo just meandering along, oblivious to all! Do you know what the mama buffalo said to her boy as he was leaving for his first day of school?..............Bi - son!

(By the way, buffalo and bison are the same animal.)


Let the chips fall where they.....

Firearm Museum Blew Ed Away

William Frederick Cody (1846 – 1917) was an American soldier, skilled Indian scout, trapper, buffalo hunter and showman. A writer who met him in 1869 wrote Western stories that helped create "Buffalo Bill" and made him the hero in several of his novels.

We visited the Buffalo Bill Historical Center here in Cody. We knew the tickets were good for two days but I couldn't imagine not covering the place in one day.

The museum is actually five museums in one: Buffalo Bill, the Plains Indians, Natural History, Western art, and Firearms. Everything in there is first class and state of the art. It appears that no expense has been spared.

In the Western Art Gallery we listened to a talk about Thomas Moran and his paintings of Yellowstone. This painting is on loan from the Smithsonian in D.C.

In Ed's words, "The Cody Firearms Museum is mind-boggling in that every firearm ever manufactured by any company in the world is represented." It is is the largest collection of American firearms in the world.

Ed spent time in the firearms section both days and still didn't see it all!

The Winchester Collection, the heart of this museum, was transported from New Haven, Connecticut to Cody in 1976.

He couldn't get over the size of the Remington Gun Company that was in New Haven, Connecticut in the earl 1930's.

Mary did her best to grin and bear it.

Rodeo in Cody, Wyoming

Monday was a low-key day for us. Ed wouldn't admit he was tired from the harrowing drive from Sheridan to Cody, but he slept late, took both a morning nap and an afternoon nap, then went to bed as soon as we got home from the rodeo. He's not looking forward to the even steeper climbs on our way into Yellowstone on Thursday, but the report is that there's no construction along our route.

Ed didn't care about going to the rodeo because he'd already been to one. Several friends mentioned Cody's rodeo, so I wasn't about to miss it. I appreciate Ed's indulging me. We sat in the part of the grandstand where we could see the contestants getting ready in the chutes.

When the master of ceremonies asked us to rise, I thought we were going to hear the national anthem. Instead, there was a prayer asking God to bless the the riders and livestock and to be with those who serve in the military and their families. Then several very young girls rode around the arena with American flags while a patriotic song was played.

Each rodeo contestant pays an entry fee and our tickets were $18 each. Entry fees and ticket sales must generate enough funds to pay for the prizes and to keep the rodeo going. It runs every night in June, July, and August.

Behind the scenes.

I'm sure the RVs are handy, though it might be a bit smelly.

I always thought that the broncos bucked because they were wild. I soon figured out that a strap is secured around the animal's body right behind the rider. At the very last minute, that strap is pulled tight -- which causes a lot of pressure and pain in a very sensitive area on the bronco. No wonder they buck!

Those cowboys really take a beating -- they're going to feel it in their bones when they get old! Each contestant is rated on how long he stays on and he gets more points if the animal's bucking is very dramatic. Getting the cowboy off the bronco isn't easy. One of the riders in the arena goes beside the cowboy and somehow pulls him off onto the back of his (the rider's) horse. I took lots of pictures of all the different events (riding the horses and longhorns, lassoing calves, riding for speed, and more). There were also some events with women and other events with children. It all happened so fast that the pictures just didn't capture it at all, not to mention the fact that they were blurry. In the photo above the poor rider is on the right. Notice all the Stetson hats on the guys helping at the chutes.Getting ready to rock and roll! Pull that Stetson down tight because those babies cost a pretty penny!

Using the Map

Hopefully this will help you to use the Google map. This is my first attempt at making a trip map, so please excuse my bloopers.

Rocky Mountain "Hi" = A Harrowing Highway

We are sooooo glad we stopped in Sheridan, WY last evening. The 148 mile ride today coming to Cody, WY was a hair-raising, horrific, harrowing trip. Our first climb up a Rocky Mountain was quite an introduction to what lies ahead. The road was only a 2 lane highway and there was no room to spare.

I was on the outer lane most of the way up and there was no guard rail........Mona May, you told me to buy C-bands for motion sickness -- I want to know if they make anti-fear-bands for situations like this. I don't have pictures of that because I was too busy leaning inward to help us keep from going over the side.

I was sort of calming down when we came upon a sign that said, "Pavement ends here" and it DID! That's what the
highway department must have done to make sure I was harrowed as much as possible. At the highest area the elevation was 8,300 feet above sea level. (Our home in Virginia is 1,150 feet.)

We stopped at a small Visitors' Center where we started to descend. There was a small, yet raging waterfall. We both got a bit winded coming back up the steps from the trail. Even the elevation of 6,000 feet was enough to affect our breathing (or maybe that's an excuse for being out of shape).


Pepper watched the scenery for a while from her bed on the dash.




Then she decided, "Ho, Hum, that's enough of that. It's naptime."


We're now all set in Absaroka Bay RV Park for four nights. That gives us time to explore this area, chill out some, and proceed to our reserved site in Fishing Bridge RV Park on August 20th.