From MI to WA Part 3: Yellowstone and Grand Tetons

 Do you remember that buffalo that we saw in South Dakota that we thought was so cool? Well, they aren't always cool. That's not entirely true- they are cool, they are just kind of a pain sometimes. But that is not the beginning of this story.

We left South Dakota behind and drove over the Rocky Mountains. They are high! Some of the time I was nervous to be driving so far up in the air... and without a net! But we made it over them without a heart attack or motion sickness. Our ears popped a lot, though.

This is what greeted us as we entered Yellowstone National Park. It actually wasn't that bad. We had plenty of time to look out the window at the fields... of buffalo. Some of them had magnificent coats and others were molting. We saw several calves, too. The most surprising thing was how large and powerful they are close up. We got a really good look at one very close up! If we had stupid enough to open the window we could have touched it! We also saw one chasing a man on a motorcycle! Truly amazing creatures.

 

My husband has a smile on his face, but he was rather nervous. I would not have subjected him to that nervousness if I had had a choice- although, I wouldn't have minded having him on my side! That probably would have made my poor husband even more nervous, so it was probably better this way. This guy was really beautiful and paid no mind to the cars, SUVs and RVs going by him. Apparently, he thought he could take them. He might not have been wrong!

We made really good time and got to the park earlier than we had anticipated, so we decided to drive around and see some hot springs before hitting old faithful and setting up camp. The springs are beautiful and mysterious. They mystify you and make you want to watch them for hours. Some of them are really pretty and others are just interesting. Here are a few pics.

The one to the left is the Mud volcano.

The one to the right is the Dragon's Mouth. It sounds like it is roaring as the water goes in and out and the steam rises! Pretty cool!

We saw lots of animals that weren't buffalo- mainly elk and deer. Being from Michigan, seeing deer is not a big deal. It's kind of like seeing a squirrel. But Elk are pretty cool. This picture was super zoomed because the Elk were a little less sure of themselves than the buffalo had been. Personally, I think they could have taken an RV no problem.

I just with I could have gotten a picture with his head up- my own fault for arriving at dinner time.

 Yes, my husband IS barefoot! He tends to take off his shoes whenever he can. I don't blame him. Most guys really can't pull off flip flops. It's kind of like tank tops (I usually call them "wife beaters" but that is pretty offensive). There are so few guys who look remotely good in them- but so many guys insist on wearing them. I am lucky and have a man who would rather look crazy than stupid. And it really isn't that crazy- it was July and we were on a clean path. He hikes barefoot, too. Now that is crazy! Maybe I have princess feet and can't handle the twigs. Plus, I like his feet.

Don't be alarmed! This was not a hot spring. It is the Fountain Paint Pot and is really cool looking. It changes colors and is shallow and cool. My husband is a scientist and is driven by curiosity. I love to watch his eyes light up when he discovers something or when he talks science. His family also has a habit of b-lining toward any sign that might be posted about what they are looking at. I look first, taking it all in. Then I read the sign and look again with fresh perspective. He likes to know and then look. It's kind of nice because I can just ask him to tell me about it; then my memories include his voice. Now I'm getting sappy. But really, who wouldn't get sappy about a man like this one?

 We drove a long loop around the center of the park but didn't stop at any of the geysers but one along the way because the sun was getting away from us and it was a long way to camp. We also had to pee.

We got to Old Faithful as the sun was setting, ran for the bathroom and then walked over to the viewing boardwalk. Two minutes later the show started- we had really good timing this entire trip! There were quite a few people watching the geyser- she is pretty popular. Everyone was dressed in jackets, which I found hilarious because it was July! An oddly cool July.

 I don't think we even used the AC in the car more than once the entire trip. It was wonderful! If you must move in July, I hope you get one as mild as this one! Here is some more beauty!

I got these waterfall shots not just because they are spectacularly beautiful, but because my sister really likes waterfalls. I thought of her when I shot them and hoped she would see them when I posted them on facebook. She did and was jealous- lot exactly the emotion I was going for- but who can blame her? This trip was amazing and I am so glad that we did it. When we knew that we were going to be moving across the country, I thought of all the people I would miss. I love adventure, don't get me wrong; but I love my family and friends more. This vision made the pain a little less intense.

 This picture is my favorite from our trip! It isn't the prettiest of the ones I took; it's a little out of focus and the lighting could have been better. Plus, I was driving and it was taken out the front windshield. I think Edward took it, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the thing that makes it amazing is that if you didn't see the car driving toward us, you would think this was unreal! Granted, with photo shop and the amazing stuff you can do with computers these days, it could still be unreal. I am not that tech savvy, though. As we were driving down this mountain, we just kept looking at the other world in the clouds. It was like what I envision the last chapter of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis to be like when the Pevensie children enter the stable and see the real England in the distance. It was awesome. My husband has a copy of this photo in his office.

The next part is probably the only downer from our trip. After all that beauty and all the good timing and all the wonderful things that had happened over the last few days, we ran into some bad timing. We arrived at our campsite after dark. This would not be a problem at most camp grounds. But this was Yellowstone- and it was DARK! There were no lights anywhere! We brought a flashlight with us for just such an event- a really good one that is super bright and compact.... We couldn't find it because it was too dark! We turned on the headlights of the car to set up the tent and used my cell phone to light out path to the bathrooms. We ate a little camp food and snapped at each other a couple times- then crawled into bed. It was late. We were tired. We were dirty and still a little hungry. And it was cold. 

It got colder. We were traveling in July- last end of July, at that. We didn't plan on having to winter camp. Granted, we had never camped in mountains before at any time of year. We did, however, bring several sleeping bags along. I needed princess padding to sleep on the ground! (Don't get the wrong idea here. I am not really fragile. But I do have a bad back and several days of hard, rocky earth is not great on anyone's bones! Plus, I'm getting up there.) Well, in the middle of the night my princess padding became out other blanket. I still woke up two or three more times because of the cold. I wished I had a wool hat and my parka. We gave up on sleeping in because the idea of the car heater was much more appealing. We woke at five and packed up.

I had specifically picked this campsite because it had showers. Granted, the last site was supposed to have them and didn't. We were a little luckier this time... just a little. The showers didn't open until seven! We decided it wasn't worth it to hang around. We wanted to get to Idaho Falls and a restaurant called The Snakebite, which was well reviewed. So we drove on and hit the Grand Teton National Park at sunrise. Such a good choice!

This is the shot of us heading toward the exit. On to Idaho, which we thought would be a drag after the amazing day we had in two of the best National parks. We were pleasantly surprised with parts of Idaho. The Snakebite was closed, unfortunately, because it was a Sunday. But we had a nice meal at Olive Garden and I had a coupon! We drove up through Idaho, cut off the corner of Montana (we would visit that magnificent state in the future) and back into Northern Idaho, which is one of the prettiest places on earth! Unfortunately, we got zero pictures, partly because we were so exhausted from our travels that we just wanted to get to the hotel in Coeur D'Alene and partly because we sat in traffic from construction for two hours. That was the worst- construction on the side of a mountain! But we made it to Coeur D'Alene, ate our leftovers, SHOWERED!!!!!!! and slept in beds. What a wonderful ending to a wonderful trip. Well, I guess it really ended the next day when we hit Washington- but, really, that is the beginning of another story.