Yellowstone, here we come!

Sorry, we were without internet access for the past 2 days.

Day 6- we head out of Cody for Yellowstone. It’s a relatively short, very scenic ride.We stop at the Buffalo Bill Dam, the Grand-daddy of the Hoover Dam, Interesting and breathtaking stop. We also learn something very important, the road we need to take through East Yellowstone to our hotel in West Yellowstone was closed on 8/17, not reopening until summer 2011. For those of you who might not be familiar with Yellowstone, it is very, very large, and traversed by a loop of roads going across, up to the north and down to the south. Since the across road was closed, we would have to take the southern route across to our hotel, which would take us right by Old Faithful and the geyser basin, not to mention other spectacular sights.

20 minutes after entering the park, our wildest dreams of Yellowstone are fulfilled. We find ourselves in the middle of a herd of buffalo that has wandered onto the road. Traffic has come to a halt as the huge beasts wander down the road. At one point they surround our car on all sides. Some are close to the size of our car (not kidding). If they would have chosen to charge it, I think Bobby the car would have come out on the short end of that encounter. There were adults and calves. They were 2 inches from our windows. It was breath-taking.

Next we stop at Old Faithful, which erupts every 90 minutes, more or less. Not having the schedule, we figured we’d just stop when we got there and wait. Fate was with us, and within 10 seconds of us sitting down at the edge of the crowded viewing area, thar she blows! We were both slightly underwhelmed with the display, but much more impressed with the other geysers we saw in the basin when we got back in the car and drove on a bit further.

After reaching our hotel just outside the West entrance to the park, when planning what to see the next day, it was clear that the detours required by the road closure were going to have major effects on our being able to get to see the canyon and falls in the northern part of the park. OM, reverting to her type-A self, growls “this is going to ruin our entire stay here!” “What are you talking about,” replies YD. “The detour that we have to take because of the road closure will add 3 hrs, 1.5 hrs in each direction, to our excursion to the park tomorrow!” OM grouses in despair. “So what?” Replies YD, extra time in a gorgeous setting, who cares?” And in an instant OM realizes the wisdom of YD. Again, it’s not only the destination, but the journey that’s important. On today’s journey through the park we saw multitudes of bison, and a mule deer. Who knows what we might encounter tomorrow? Lesson well learned. Thanks, YD, can’t wait until tomorrow!