Friday, July 16, 2010

Day 28 – Deer Park Campground to Grant Campground, Yellowstone National Park








6:59AM July 16, 2010

We have been on the road for exactly 4 weeks!! Like our camp host told us, it is COLD this morning!!! We slept in the back of the truck for the first time on our trip and, surprisingly, really enjoyed it and slept well. We were warm and cozy and will certainly sleep in the truck again if Yellowstone is too cold to sleep in the tent. I don’t think it will be, though. Dylan and I talked last night and reminisced about the last 4 weeks of our lives. The 105 degree temperature of Lake Havasu on our first night seems like a lifetime ago. We mentally went through each and every place we’ve stayed. We’ve gone from the desert of Lake Havasu to the mesas of Arizona and Colorado to the plains of Kansas where we experienced fireflies for the very first time. We’ve worked our way through the Ozarks all the way down to the swampy lakes of Mississippi. We’ve (I’ve) drank beer on Bourbon St., eaten Beignets at Café Du Monde, twisted tail and sucked the heads of crawfish in New Orleans. We’ve played in the powdered sugar sand of Panama Beach then danced in the warm rain. We’ve eaten pizza and drank beers in Motel 6s. We’ve stood at the southernmost point in the US. We’ve enjoyed 4th of July fireworks in Savannah, which still ranks as one of my favorite places. We’ve shown our respects to Confederate war heroes. We’ve driven across more bridges than we could count. We’ve marveled at the history of the US in DC and mourned the ridiculous loss of lives memorialized by the Vietnam Wall. We’ve raced our bikes from Battery Park to Central Park to Times Square and back to Battery Park in NY. We’ve enjoyed the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, the company of old friends in Ohio, the mashed potatoes and sausage gravy at Grandma Max’s All-you-can-eat buffet at the truck stop in Altoona Iowa. We’ve chased the setting sun into the Black Hills of South Dakota and posed with presidents. And then, we were lured by the call of the West. The snow-capped mountains of Northern Wyoming and this campground where I’m freezing my ass off, drinking coffee, swatting skeeters, listening to the birds and watching the chipmunks as I write this.

Today will be Yellowstone. I’ve always wanted to visit Yellowstone so, today, I will get my wish. We have 3 days in Yellowstone which will be the longest stay in one spot yet. I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully, they’ll have 3G so that I can update this blog and share some pictures.

....and we arrived at Yellowstone along with every other member of the human race!! Nah, it's not really that bad but there are a lot of people. We checked in, setup camp, cooked a couple hamburgers and set off to have a shower. Everything is really clean and nice, though expensive. Showers were $2 for 6 min. of hot water. Dylan didn't make it - I did with time to spare! Hehehehe... So, because this is bear country, you have to pack up absolutely everything that could possibly have a food odor to it, including drinking water for some reason. We have a collapsible 5 gallon water container that we use for rinsing hands and such....well, we put that in the back of the truck and when we stopped at the visitor center, we noticed that the back of the truck was dripping. Oh no. Yes, it had leaked everywhere. We unloaded the entire truck in the parking lot and dried everything out. Not a good start to our time in Yellowstone.

We decided to go visit the West Thumb Geyser Pools. I'm thinking to myself, "whatever, a bunch of hot water" It was actually very, very cool....ummm....hot. Some of the pools were this glowing dark blue where you could see tens of feet down....all the while the steam was pouring over you. Much better than I though it would be. There were signs everywhere about keeping your distance with the wild animals. Yeah, right, like we would actually get to see one. WE DID!!! There was a huge bull elk grazing about 20 feet from the walkway...just minding his own business while everyone took pics. In addition, I forgot to mention that, on the way into the park, we finally saw a bison. Dylan was so bummed that we didn't see any buffalo at Custer St. Pk. so this was really nice. There were 2 big guys just grazing alongside the road. Of course, everyone had to stop their cars to get out and take pics. Big freaking animals these elk and bison are!!!!

Got back to the site, made some dinner, got rained on a bit, listened to the thunder, sat by the fire, drank a few beers...all good!!! I miss home and my beautiful wife, though.

4 comments:

  1. This latest post....brings tears to my eyes. You are so fortunate to have experienced this together. I love you guys and I am really looking forward to having you home soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have to agree with Momma.... except I don't get you guys home soon :'(

    ReplyDelete