And back to work we go.......

July 31 -   Happy Birthday Shiloh!

6:45 comes too soon for me!  Time to get up and ready for a long day.  It was hot today, in the 80’s, hottest since we arrived in Idaho.  Nothing really exciting, Bill mopped the floors for me this morning in the laundry before heading out for his day of weeding and weed eating and pumping propane.  I took a container of the cupcakes in to share with whoever passed through our break room area.  Bill really likes them but I’m just not much on cooked banana.  By the end of the day there was one left for Wendell, the owner who was not back from Idaho Falls yet.

I was by myself pretty much as Gina went to Utah for an appointment and will be gone a few days, Becky took the day off to take her children to Jackson, WY and up through the Tetons into Yellowstone.  Elaine, the owner, was around and available when I had a question or needed help if the phones got out of hand.  As in any other situation, if you have a person standing before you, the phone rings. 

It was a busy day and I was beat by the end of it.  I’m not used to standing for long periods of time so my poor feet and lower back are done it after a 12 hour day.  Bill came at the end to sweep and help empty the trash cans.  I cleaned the washers and removed the lint from the dryers but I was too tired to clean the restrooms.  It took a bit to balance but I did, finally.  I used to count thousands of dollars daily and balance on the first try but for some reason, I have to recount and re-add everything.  Could it be an age thing?

We had our leftovers after I rested a bit with a glass of wine and called it a day!

Day of rest - much needed

July 30 – No rush to get up and around today.  We did the normal laundry and cleaning things up a bit.  Bill did go do a few things at the park.  After lunch we went to West Yellowstone for a few grocery items.

We finally took our photos at both the entering Yellowstone sign and the leaving Yellowstone sign.  Actually it’s one sign entering from one direction and leaving on the other side.

We also just did some driving around the town to go to the post office and Bill wanted to stop in at a mechanic shop to see if they can drill holes in our mud flap so he can move the connectors over and put it back on.  We found 2 more of the painted buffalo that we hadn’t seen before. 

Once we got home I made some banana cupcakes with buttercream frosting and later we grilled out and then rested up for our next 2 long days.

Super day in Yellowstone

Low clouds this morning

July 29 – BRRR it was cold again this morning but supposed to warm up a lot so we were up and out the door for Yellowstone at 8.  I dressed in capris but layered on my tops.  Bill overdressed for the ride and was hot long before I was.  Before we even got to West Yellowstone there were unusual low hanging clouds along the mountains.

Road work

The traffic getting into the park was not too bad and things went rather smoothly until we got to Norris.  We stopped at the Ranger Museum there to get my passport stamp that we didn’t know they had the last time we came.  Then we were on the road to Mammoth Hot Springs.  That’s when the going got slow.  There was a very long section of road work and we were switched from single lane to both then back again.  It was so nice once we got passed it.  They work 12 hours most days or they will never get it done before snow season.

Geyser at Upper Terraces

Our first real stop for the day was Mammoth Hot Springs – Upper Terraces area.  We decided to drive the one-way loop and at the first stop Bill dropped me off thinking he’d find a space and ended up having to drive the entire loop to get back to me.  I saw him head on around so took my photos of the formations at the first stop and was ready when he came back around.  I waited with the car in a no parking area for him to go see what I had seen.

Orange Spring Mound

The next stop was the Orange Spring Mound.  That was really interesting.  It looks like a huge mound of cake with icing dripping down.  On one side it has a lot of orange coloring and continual steam coming from it.  Most people just stopped in the road there and took photos from the window so we had to get out of the way several times.

Angel Terrace

Further around the loop was Angel Terrace.  It looked rather desolate, all white.  Maybe the Angel part was due to the white snowy look it had.

Once we came out of the loop and down the hill to the outside of the Upper Terrace, the wall of formations sort of runs down the hill forming the Lower

Lower Terraces

Terraces.  One section was quite orange and steamy.  We drove on passed into Mammoth Springs at an elevation of 6,239.  It’s open year around, but isn’t actually a town even though there is a post office there.

Fort Yellowstone was built here and the army protected the

Albright Visitor Center

park from 1886 to 1916.  The fort’s building now house the Albright Visitor Center and private residences and the parks headquarters.  Three of the original buildings have been torn down but the rest are in use.  The enlisted men’s quarters now house summer staff for the park system.  There is only one hotel in the community, a medical center, a general store and a couple of small shops and restaurants.  There is also a large park services residential area just outside of the village.

View of Lower Terraces

After checking out everything we took out our picnic lunch and our tablecloth and spread it on the ground along side where we were parked.  I had packed some chicken salad, broccoli salad and potato salad.  We chased it with some crackers and brownies for dessert.  We saved our fruit for a snack later.

Bill at Roosevelt Arch

The road out of the back of the village goes to Gardiner, MT where the Roosevelt Arch is.  That is the official entrance to Yellowstone.  As luck would have it they were doing road work in the entire town but we could still walk to the arch for photos.  The first part of the town that you see looks like a typical western town with plank sidewalk and no pavement for road.  We found out that the pavement had gotten so cracked and buckled that they took it up and it is part of the work they are doing that will take 3 summers to complete. 

Main Street of Gardiner

We checked out the shops and split a cup of ice cream before heading back into the park.  Bill spotted what he thought was elk in the town’s green out front, so I circled back around and it was a male and female pronghorn antelope.  Nice!  First ones we’ve seen here.

Male pronghorn antelope

We didn’t get far before we spotted a female elk along the road and another mile was another one.  We had to drive back to Mammoth Hot Springs to take the road north east to Tower-Roosevelt.  This is when things really slowed

Wet moose

down.  First Bill spotted a single buffalo along the road and then cars were stopped all over and we finally found out they were watching a female moose taking a bath in a pond along the road.  We stopped for a few minutes to catch her and finally got back on our way.

Mom and her babies

As we were pulling into the Tower-Roosevelt Ranger Station for a passport stamp there was a deer and her 2 fawns right where we were turning.  They pretty much ignored us and the babies raced to get some lunch.  That stopped traffic for a bit also.  

Stagecoach passing through

Where we made our turn to go to the Yellowstone Association Institute at Lamar Buffalo Ranch there was a stagecoach trail ride coming through.  Then we were on our way through Lamar Valley and it seems at every turn there

were more herds of buffalo.  We saw cars in the pull out on the right and there was a small ridge just behind the pull out and we could see buffalo so I pulled in at the far end of the pull out and Bill got out to video.  

From August 3, 2015

Just as he was going up the ridge 2 buffalo came around it and I yelled for him and he turned and videoed them going in front of the car and across the road.  Traffic was

Here's the big guy!

stopped.  Then a single buffalo came in front of me and stopped and the edge of the road and looked left, then looked right and the walked to the center line and stopped.  Then he looked left again and right again and just stood there gazing at all the people with cameras and cars stopped.  He was there 5-7 minutes just standing and watching, then slowly he turned around and walked back to the ridge and went around it.  It was unbelievable.  Several watchers were crouched beside our car in case he decided to get aggressive.  There were others still over the ridge but he was maybe 10 feet from my car.  Bill was thrilled to be so close to this big guy!

As we proceeded down the road to the Lamar Buffalo Ranch where I could get another

Some of the herd in Larmar Valley

passport stamp, we passed field after field of buffalo herds.  The Lamar Valley is the largest accumulation of buffalo in the park.  The buffalo at their peak in the US was 60 million.  In the late 1800’s there were less than 300 left.  The Buffalo Ranch had 25 pure buffalo and the Ranch then protected and provided for those 25 and increased the herd back to what it is today.  There is an estimate of 250,000 currently owned privately and publicly in the US.  Each winter there are some that die from no food and some walk off the park boundaries and are then fair game for Native Americans to kill but you cannot get a buffalo permit.  

Strange rock formation

We turned around at this point and headed back to

Tower Falls

Roosevelt Lodge where we took the road south to Tower Falls.  Along the way were some interesting rocks along the road and along the walls of the Yellowstone River.   They made a nice backdrop for the Tower Falls.  There’s a nice stop there with a shop and snacks and then a short walk to the falls.  We ended up not getting a snack since we had fruit in the car that we hadn’t eaten at lunch time.

It has been a long day and we were finally on the last loop around to heading home.  It was really a super day after seeing so many wild animals in their natural habitat.

Cold day at home!

New snow on our mountains

July 28 – It was COLD this morning!  Good thing we didn’t plan to go anywhere today.  I didn’t even go outside until after lunch and that was to take some photos of the mountains along our valley that still had snow from the freak storm yesterday.  Becky told us that last night it was half way down the mountains, but  when we got home last night we were more concerned with getting our stuff in the RV and getting the heat on.

I put chicken on this morning for chicken and dumplings for dinner and later made a pan of brownies.  I did one load of laundry, swept the floors and got 5 or more days of my blog caught up.

Bill ended up doing some work for the park for about and hour and was then ticked at the guy who works Monday and Tuesday who told him he didn’t have time to get it done but was sitting in the office while Bill did it.

More of our mountains

He also talked to a single lady in the park who is going to take the position at John Sack’s Cabin that we were supposed to have.  She said she met Susan and she said we backed out and Bill told her what transpired.  She said the spot was pretty bad and she asked Susan if she’d ever seen it, just like we did.  She said she could do it for 2 months and then she doesn’t have to pay rent.  She’s the second lady we’ve met here that travels alone.  The both pull trailers and one is from Texas.  Bill asked how they felt about being alone and they both said they try to stay in larger nicer parks and they’ve not had any trouble.  One leaves here for further north in Montana this week.

One of my hummers

It warmed up enough eventually to even open up the windows.  There is a possibility of freezing tonight so once we’ve both showered Bill is going to disconnect the water line and drain the hose.  We don’t have the stuff to wrap our water line.  Maybe we need to get that for just in case in the future.

Going in for lunch

The chicken and dumplings were delicious!  We had brownies for dessert!  I packed a picnic bag today to take tomorrow, eating out in Yellowstone is getting expensive.  I made chicken salad to take and we have potato salad and broccoli salad, so it’s a salad lunch tomorrow.

Time to read and relax so I can get a good night’s sleep.  We plan to leave at 8 tomorrow.

A day full of adventure

July 27 – The first thing I did when I got up this morning was to check on my newly hung bird feeders and there were two hummingbirds fighting over the feeder and there was a little bird on my seed feeder!  That’s better in one day than most of the summer at Greers Ferry Lake!

Mesa Scenic Byway

Although it was a bit chilly this morning the sun was out so we headed out for the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.  It starts about 20 miles south of us and goes southeast about 17 miles.  The report was for 100% chance of rain later today so we figured we could see the falls and go on further south to Rexburg and have lunch, a movie and get groceries even if it was raining.

Original Building/Visitor Center

The drive was nice, no traffic, and is part of Harriman State Park and partnered with the Forestry Service.  There were bikers and a few RV’s along the way.  The Upper Falls is first from our direction so we stopped at the Visitor Center and parked.  The building was built between 1912 and 1914 by the Mesa Power Company with plans to build a dam and power plant but it never came to fruition.  Instead the building became an Inn as a stage stop

One of the exhibits

and hotel for travelers going to Yellowstone National Park.  Later the Inn became a restaurant, dance hall and scout camp.  The park service and Forest Service began restoring it in 1977 and after 3 years it was opened as the Visitor Center.  We really enjoyed it as they have animal skulls of all of the local animals as well as pelts that you can touch and test your skills at identifying them.

Upper Falls

It’s a short walk down to the Upper Falls and you can’t tell someone just how beautiful they are.  They are in a deep canyon and the falls are 114 feet tall and 300 feet wide.  Its flow is created by the Snake River which is where the

My main man at the falls

watershed for Yellowstone and everything south flows to.  We went to all of the view points to experience the entire falls.  The last points, where it empties down into the canyon are spectacular.  The walls of the canyon are beautiful. 

Unusual beast walking to the falls

Along the walkways are wild berries, huckleberries and raspberries but nothing was really ripe.

It’s only 2 miles further down the byway to the Lower Falls.  I thought it was a longer walk to it and didn’t wear

Lower Falls

appropriate shoes but it was less a walk than the Upper Falls.  It was nice but not nearly as impressive at the Upper.  Maybe it’s because we were not as close to it.  The valley itself is what is so impressive.  The difference in the elevation of the falls is quite drastic.

Now it was starting to cool off faster which was the warning that the rain was on its way so our timing was pretty good.  We headed on south and took the road over to Ashton and then south to Rexburg.  It’s not a very large city at all, actually more of a big town.  There’s a branch of Brigham Young University there so it’s a college town.  We went to Wendy’s for lunch and that was a challenge.  The driveway on the right is always the entrance so you can curve around the building to the drive-thru, well, not here it isn’t.  Bill realized before he pulled in and went to the next one, but then you have to go around the back and awkwardly try to get in the drive-thru or cut through the long line to get to a parking space.  The place was packed outside and in but luckily for us it was almost right in front of the movie theatre so we didn’t have to worry about finding it or driving far.  I normally get a chicken salad but since I was chilled I decided on a baked potato and a small chili to pour over it.  I asked the clerk if they had a bowl I could do that in and he asked if I wanted a chili cheese potato.  It wasn’t listed on the menu and I used to get it all the time years ago so I was excited that I could get it.  It was in the “pre-salad” years of fast food.  It was heavenly!  I so enjoyed my potato!

We had worse trouble getting out of the parking lot than getting it.  A truck and a car were both vying for a spot in the drive-thru line but the truck held back and let us cut across and we went around the dumpsters and out.  What a cluster!

The FatCat5 is a movie theatre, bowling alley, game room place so it was full of kids due to the nasty day it was.  We went to the 3D showing of Pixels with Adam Sandler.  The main reason we went was our favorite sports guy is Dan Patrick and he is friends with Adam Sandler and gets a small part in all of his movies.  This one he also let Dan’s broadcast crew, The Dannettes, in the movie.  It was funny and we did enjoy it.  It’s basically themed around video games from the 80’s like Pac Man and Donkey Kong.  So we got to see Dan and 3 of the 4 Dannettes.

We looked for a jeweler who sells and repairs watchbands but had no luck.  Bill’s band got all stretched out and he wanted it replaced but ended up dropping me off at Albertsons while he bought a cheap watch at Wal-Mart.  We didn’t buy much except for lunchmeat and produce.  Two of the things on my list they didn’t have so will carry them over to next time.

The road and some slush on the
windshield

It was clear when we left the movie but starting to get ugly when we left the grocery and on the ride home it got rainy again.  The further we went we started seeing lightning strike after strike in what looked like the same place over and over.  Then the rain got worse and we were pelted with hail/slush balls about 1 inch wide.  Then the roads looked icy as they were all white and we slowed way down.  The temp on the radio console registered 38.  It was really kinda scary since we don’t get much of this in Florida.  We just plugged along for 5-6 miles and it started letting up and turned back into just rain.

We stopped at the Trouthunter for dinner.  It’s on the south end of the 30 mile road of Island

Ice still on the car after dinner

Park and had excellent reviews.  When we got out the car was fine but ice had caked up around the lights on the bumper.

Dinner was excellent!  Bill had a filet with a huckleberry and red wine reduction with carrot mashed potatoes and veggies and I had brown butter and sage sautéed quail over rice chutney with veggies.  We didn’t leave a crumb!  The salad was excellent also with citrus vinaigrette.  She tried to get us to have some bread pudding but we had to pass. 

It was still drizzly out but by the time we got home it was just about stopped.  We had left windows open in the RV and found out later our neighbor closed them from the outside as well as he could.  He got them closed to the vent which then keeps the water from coming in.  However, it was COLD inside!  We both put on our flannels pj’s and turned on the heat!

Harriman State Park and the Railroad Ranch

July 26 – Bill didn’t sleep well last night and was up and 5 for a while.  I heard him turn the TV on then drifted back off.  At some point he came back to bed and I let him sleep until 9:30 when I had breakfast ready.

He cleaned up last night and this morning’s dishes and showered while I did my mound of ironing.  I couldn’t pile it any higher on the dresser!  Then I showered and we had a small lunch and headed out.  Make note that this is the first day since we arrived here that it was warm enough for ME to wear shorts.

Henry's Ford on the Railroad Ranch

We visited Harriman State Park where they were having their Pioneer Days.  The state park was actually known as the Railroad Ranch in 1902 and in 1977, Edward Henry Harriman’s three children donated it to the state of Idaho to be a state park with strict restrictions that it remain a nature preserve with no fishing and hunting allowed on the

Harriman House

property.  The family was instrumental in re-establishing elk in the Island Park area with the herd they raised of 125 elk.  Trumpet swans were thought to be nearly extinct in the US at that time and some were found on the property. They were protected and provided for there and thrived and are no longer an endangered species. 

Grizzly on display

Today there were numerous demonstrations and child participation booths set up as well as craft booths and homemade ice cream.  Most of the buildings of the original ranch were open with rangers

The Harrimans' bedroom

providing information about the ranch and the inhabitants.  The coolest part of the donation was they left everything as it was when they left it, the dishes, linens, clothing, shoes, rugs, it’s really like someone walked off into the woods and never came back.  The furnishings are pretty much from the 1940’s into the 50’s.  The views from the houses are all beautiful.  They have complete walls of glass looking out over the fields and Henry’s Fork where the swans and geese come and go.

One side of Harriman living room

On the way out we got our homemade ice cream and thoroughly enjoyed it and our visit there.  I stopped at the visitor center for a brochure and a couple of post cards and then on the way back home we made some side stops.  One was to see what the sites we were offered by the forestry office looked like after mowing.  I will say it was an improvement but no one moved the broken blocks or cleared the weeds back very far.  The utilities looked like they were ready to fall over.

We took the circle drive to see the little library and where the EMS was and it’s pretty close to us in case we need them.  We stopped for gas and then took a side road to see one of the resorts that also has a campground and checked out the sites there just for the heck of it.  It was nice to just see some of our “neighborhood”.

When we got back we stopped at the gas station/store to see what produce they had and Gina and Becky were at work pricing various items.  We visited a while and left with 3 nice tomatoes.  Once we got my shepherd hooks down I put out my bird seed and my hummingbird feeder and then made us each an iced coffee.  I read for a while and then put on a potato to bake for Bill and got out carrots to sauté and the George to grill some Italian turkey sausage and Hot Links for dinner.  We had wanted to grill out but it was pretty windy and we don’t have one of those metal shields to put around the grill and the fire goes out.  We need to look for one when we’re in a decent size town.

Oh and when I opened the compartment to get my feeders out the lock snapped shut on the door open and I couldn’t get it to unlock to shut it so Bill used duct tape for the night.  It’s always something with an RV. 

After dinner I caught up on 3 days of journal but the internet was not co-operating so will have to try and post tomorrow!

Better day but still a long one!

July 25 – When I got up and dressed the morning my poor feet were crying “please don’t put me back in those shoes”!  Unfortunately I had to.  Before we headed in I put the crock of stew into the cooker and set it and was happy to know that dinner would really be ready tonight when we got home.

The day started off much better as the key opened both doors with no problems and Bill did the mopping while I opened the register and started on the late arrivals last night that I needed to check on.  Bill also goes out and checks off if those due to leave have done so or not so I know if the spot is ready for the check-ins.

Overall the Laundromat was much slower than last Saturday.  I kept up all most all day on the washers until mid-afternoon when Gina and I got on a cleaning kick.  She cleaned and organized the glass counters and storage where we work from and I did the tables and displays in the laundry.  I pitched a stack of old magazines and reorganized the tourist brochures.  They were scattered all over the place, so at least for now every thing is now organized and clean.

Gina stayed with me during the rough part of the day when we had a flurry of check-ins and Becky was there also as we had 3 RV’s dry camping out front for a night waiting for their space to open up the next day.  We have been totally full for several nights with only a couple of tent sites left.

Once they left Bill helped me with my cleaning duties and I had a last minute camper who didn’t have enough cash to pay for his site and shower key deposit for the night of $20.80 so I waited for them to drive 15 miles to the bank ATM.  I told Bill to go on home and once I got them taken care of I had to balance.  I ended up doing so, but for the life of me I could not get my dimes counted correctly.  I guess I was pretty tired.

The smell of the stew when I walked into the RV was so good!  All I had to do was thicken it a bit and we were ready to eat.  My small crockpot makes enough for 2 meals if I fill it to the top and I did.  Now one night when we’re gone to Yellowstone all day I’ll have something ready to warm up for dinner.  It was delicious and hit the spot!

Bill and I didn’t even turn on the TV, just sat with our books and read and I knew I was getting behind in my journal and blog, but just didn’t have the energy to do it.

Back to Work - what a long day!

July 24 -  Our first day to open the Laundromat and RV Office!  Well, the key would not open the front door but Gina was already inside and then her key would not work and even got stuck in the lock.  Bill tried the side door with our key and it worked.  Bill used some WD-40 on the lock from both sides and got it opened and the key out!  Great way to start the day!

Gina was with me on and off most of the day as she was helping elsewhere and then went with Becky to Idaho Falls for supplies for the RV park.  It was steady most of the day but the laundry wasn’t too busy at all.  I was on my feet most of the day though.

Bill mopped the floors this morning before heading off to weed eat and clean the bathhouse.  He did some parking of RV’s but mostly works independently on whatever he sees needs done outside.

Bill was to bring my lunch over and he made us most of our lunch but then he went to the food wagon next door at the gas station and got himself a cheese quesadilla and got us each an Indian Fry bread, his with honey and mine with cinnamon sugar.  What a nice treat!

At the end of the day Bill came in and helped Gina and Becky with the sweeping, trash emptying, lint removal from the dryers and wiping down all the washers while I did the end of day balancing and prep for tomorrow.  I was quite bummed that I was out of balance $1.00.  They didn’t have an issue with it but I don’t like to not balance!  By the time I got home it was after 8 and my feet were screaming! 

We had leftover rotisserie chicken, some steamed broccoli and Bill had fresh veggies while I had some quinoa salad.  I didn’t even warm up the chicken, I was so tired and my feet hurt so bad!  I just wanted to sit on the sofa and read and relax after I put together a beef stew in the crockpot to cook tomorrow.

A day in the RV

July 23 – What a yucky day!  It rained most of the day on and off and never made it to 70.  Bill tried to wash the car and work on the mud flap but then it’d rain again.   I found places for all of the stuff we bought yesterday so we could walk around again and bagged up things we’re taking out of the RV when we get home. 

I eventually caught up on my journal and did some stuff for work.  I baked gluten free oatmeal butterscotch chip cookies and put some in the freezer for later and cleaned my stove really good. 

For dinner we had gluten free spaghetti, Bill’s had meatballs and mine had chicken.  That emptied 2 containers out of the fridge.  I made a meatloaf to freeze for later in the week and burgers to freeze.  I also made 2 batches of hummingbird feed but with the on and off again rain we didn’t get the hooks off the back of the RV to hang my feeders from.

Becky came by and asked if we were OK to open everything tomorrow and pretty much run the show.  The only glitch is Bill hasn’t completed his propane training.  We told her we are fine with everything and she said the park is full through Sunday so that’s good.

Time now for my shower as tomorrow is an early work day and maybe tonight I will post a few days.

Day long trip to Bozeman

July 22 – I decided that this would be the day to go to Bozeman, MT to load up on groceries and staples since it’s a 2 hour drive.  We left at 9:30 since we were both beat from yesterday.

Drive into Bozeman

We drove the Galletin Mountain Range in a beautiful valley along the Galletin River.  There were tons of fishermen in and along the river and lots of water rafting companies with groups on the river.  The homes along the way are mostly log homes, fitting the scene perfectly.  There were dude ranches and trail riders in the distances when we hit open flatlands.  It was really a beautiful drive both ways.

On the way there was a utility crew working and we got to see them use a helicopter to lower a crewman back down. 

Once we got to Bozeman, we drove through town to check out where places were that I wanted to stop at.  Then we backtracked as the entry side was really where all of the shopping was and the movie theatre.  I checked Yelp for a good place for lunch and we ate at The Roost.  The owners are from Alabama and proud of it!  He had a sign posted to the effect that he’s a southerner and misses Alabama but loves fishing in Montana!  The food was country cooking through and though and the place was packed.

Bill wanted to go to a movie and I knew we’d never get done and home at a reasonable time if we both went to the movie and I wasn’t too interested in seeing “Ant-man”, so I dropped him off and went on my way.  I stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Staples, Pet Smart, Target,  Michaels, World Market and Wal-mart in 2 ½ hours.  Then it was time to pick Bill up so he went with me to Albertson’s and a local grocery, Rosauers.  That stop was mainly to get something they didn’t have at World Market and I was told to try there.  Luckily they did.  That was an awesome grocery store.  They had a huge section of organic and gluten free foods and bulk foods.  We ended up getting a rotisserie chicken as it was going to be 7 by the time we got home.

The drive home was less traffic than on the way to Bozeman and I got a different

Road to Bozeman

perspective as the driver so Bill manned the camera on the way back.  We stopped in West Yellowstone to take a photo of the white buffalo in front of The White Buffalo Hotel and then we zipped home to a dinner of rotisserie chicken and raw veggies.

Then I got to watch my TV show before Bill tuned in to “Sharknado 3”, what a dumb show and so hokey!

Day 2 in Yellowstone

July 21 -  We headed out for Yellowstone at 8.  We wanted to beat the rush at the gate.  We took a new route today.  We still had to go the same way for the first 14 miles into the park, then we turned and headed north.  There’s a lot less traffic in that direction than heading to Old Faithful. 

Norris Geyser Basin

Gibbon Falls

The first stop was Gibbon Falls on the Gibbon River.  It was a beautiful waterfall in a colorful rocky valley.    A little further up the road we stopped at the Norris Geyser Basin where there is a small museum and information station manned by a ranger.  There’s a big walkway you can go all around the basin.  The one right in front of the building was really spewing some steam and lots of smaller ones up close.  Bill walked part of the way down.

A couple of miles up the road is the Museum of the National Park Ranger.  It’s manned by a former ranger who works there each summer.  The building was built as a barracks for when the Army was patrolling the park.  It has a beautiful huge fireplace and a small kitchen and the rest are barracks rooms.  They have a couple of good movies showing on the history of the national parks.

Virginia Cascade

From there we proceeded to the Virginia Cascade.  It is further north on the Gibbon River where the water flows over a flat expanse of rock rather than a sharp drop as in a waterfall.  From the distance it’s difficult to see that it is all rock all of the way down.

The traffic on this route has been wonderful in comparison to what it was on our last visit.  We were told that attendance for Yellowstone is up 17% over last year for July.

At Canyon Village we went to the Visitor Education Center and checked out some of the gift shops.  We found the pricing better here than at Old Faithful for the same items. 

From Canyon Village we were headed to the North Rim Drive to see the Lower Falls of

Traffic stopper!

the

Lower Falls

Yellowstone River when I saw a lady along a pull out and then I saw a buffalo on the ridge to our right.  I told Bill to pull over, pull over and he thought something was wrong until I pointed to the buffalo.  We got out to video and take photos and Bill thanked the lady for stopping to see the buffalo and she looked and said she hadn’t even noticed it.  Then she got out her camera and then all the traffic started jamming up along the road, all thanks to me and my keen spotting!

Frontal view of Lower
Falls

We proceeded to the turnoff for the North Rim Drive and it was a one way road with very

What a crack!

little parking at the 2 viewing points.  The falls were beautiful and the valley below spectacular.  If you were energetic enough you could walk down a mile of trail for a really close up view but we passed on that.  Instead I decided to get a different photo of a crack!  Bill could not believe I did it, and I swear it was the first time but I had that little devil on my shoulder telling me to do it, so I did!

The loop took us back to Canyon Village and we were due for lunch before the crowds got any worse.  The cafeteria was not as large as Old Faithful but the food was very good.  I had another Noodle bowl with lime cilantro and Bill had a Bison sloppy Joe. 

Upper FAlls

Time to head out for the South Rim Drive to see the Upper Falls!

Valley wall

  Now those were even better and we had heard they were.  We were a good distance away but the falls were so majestic and we could see them spill right in to the river and its flow through the valley.  The rock color here is where the name “Yellowstone” came from.  The Native Americans used the name long before it was a park.  The walls of the canyon above the river are mostly yellow but some are more oranges and rusts from iron oxide.  There were some spoiled chipmunks running around looking for dropped bits of people food.  I think they would make great pets.

Some of the herd

As we drove through Hayden Valley we were able to see

The loner!

herds of buffalo on both sides of the road.  At first they were pretty far off, but as we got further into the valley some were much closer to the road.  Bill never got out of the car but I did.  I was careful not to go more than 6-8 feet from the car even though they weren’t right by the road.  I have been told repeatedly what a buffalo can do to a person and I didn’t want to have that experience.  I’m a risk taker, but I’m not stupid!

Once passed the buffalo we stopped at Sulfur Caldron, which was OK but nothing really spectacular.  A bit further down was Mud Volcano which bubbled some and had a lot of steam.

Osprey nest up close

Our next stop in Yellowstone was the worst as far as traffic. 

Yellowstone Lake

There was road work being done on the entrance to Fishing Bridge where they have another museum.  We didn’t stay long as the museum was mostly exhibits of the various small wildlife in the park.  It sat on the bank of Yellowstone Lake which is huge.  When we left there and headed south back around Old Faithful and to our starting point we could see the lake for miles and miles around.  We did see some elk in a meadow right beside the road but there was no pull off and it was in the construction area so no elk photos today.

So blue

On the way south was West Thumb, home of the West Thumb Geyser Basin.  There was a platform walkway around the various springs.  At first we didn’t see anything that great but then we saw some with beautiful colored pools of water due to the different minerals deep in the openings.  Some had small amounts of steam rising and some just looked like they had given out. 

OK, now we were getting tired.  We had expected to be

Painted baby

home around 4-5 but that was not going to happen.  The traffic wasn’t bad until we made the western loop back to Madison Junction where we go left to West Yellowstone.  There was either wildlife on the roadsides or something but it was slow.  We did stop in front of the Holiday Inn for a photo of one of the painted buffalo calves and then at the entering Idaho sign, one point of the Continental Divide.  Then it was home!  It was a great day and we got to see more than we expected when we left.