Yellowstone Park WY - July 5th

In a word "Stunning".
The drive from Sheridan towards Yellowstone finds you winding your way higher into the mountains of the Bighorn National forest, steadily climbing higher the views are amazing. The river cuts its way through the rocks leaving a twisting trail and sharp drops, forests give way to red rock and scrub brush and you come into a valley that takes you across the top corner of Wyoming till you start to climb again. Along hwy 14 I found myself driving 3 sleeping beauties across the plains, singing broadway tunes to myself, and enjoying the view. Driving along I kept thinking "This is such a great sight. The pictures in the camera just don't do justice to what we are seeing." But it was definitely small town farm country, we actually passed through a town with a population of 10 people. Getting close to Yellowstone the traffic definitely started to build up, not entirely unexpected as it was still technically a holiday. When we finally got to the gate we found out that there had also been an accident a bit into the park, the guard was actually pretty deadpan about it, said that motorcycle accidents were more common than you would think. The ambulance passed us on the way in and later on farther into the park. I don't think that anyone was too badly hurt, and nothing really looked crumpled. Driving through the park was gorgeous but also sad. They are really having a problem with pine beetles in the national forests, what should be filled with evergreen colours is actually a greyish brown. Mt. Rushmore has also been hit by these beetles and was part of the reason that they decided to not have fireworks over the monument this year, the forest was too dead and dry. As you come up on Yellowstone lake in the middle of the park there is a definite hint of sulphur in the air and the lake is a clear dark bluish/green colour with snow capped mountains in the background.

We finally made it around to the famous "Old Faithful" geyser, where every tourist seems to make their way eventually. They have the time for the geyser down to within 10 minutes. We got there about 230 and the next eruption was due about 3pm. It was kind of funny to look around at all the tourists surrounding and staring a steaming hole in the ground. As soon as the geyser starts to bubble the cameras go up, oops false alarm. Maybe the geyser has stage fright today as it bubbled and subsided about 3 times before it finally erupted. It really does shoot high into the air when it finally erupts, like a water fountain that a kid has jammed the button on. There are several roads that wind around the park that take you past different geyser fields. The last one we stopped at had two beautiful pools that had been a part of an eruption about 30 years ago and has now settled into turquoise pools surrounded by orange and red. Gorgeous!

Just as we were leaving the park we passed over a bridge that had a ton of cars parked on it with a crowd of people taking pictures of something in the woods. As we passed over we could finally see what all the fuss was about, there was a moose just into the bush. Our reaction was "Oh a moose." and we kept driving. You know you are from northern ontario when... I did brake for deer a little while later, but then they were actually crossing the road. I brake for deer or other animals when they are actually in the road, but not necessarily when they are beside it.

Crossing into Idaho we discovered a couple of things: drivers in Idaho, particularly the pickup drivers, like to go fast, very fast. Make sure you ask at least two people for directions as they are not always clear. Trying asian themed dishes in a small town is not always a good thing.

Quotes: "Maybe it ran out of batteries" - a little girls waiting for Old Faithful to erupt
"All I saw was a bunch of steam" - man near the geyser field