This morning we said a reluctant good-bye to our hosts at K Bar Z and headed west toward Yellowstone. The three night break from cross country driving did us good and the friendliness and comfortable feel of the ranch made us both reluctant to leave but energized for the next leg of the trip.
This little creek (maybe Crandall Creek) is one of Gloria's favorite views on Chief Joseph Highway on the way to Yellowstone. We followed Wyoming 212 which briefly rises into Montana before dropping back into Wyoming and the Northeast Entrance to the park. For those readers unfamiliar with Yellowstone, the roads are organized into a rough figure eight. We entered from the top right (Northeast) dropped down to the middle of the figure eight and ended up in the opposite (Southwest) corner which is home to the Geysers including old faithful.
Some of the roads to Yellowstone were closed as late as three days ago when we arrived in Wyoming. Today all roads are open, but snow lies heavily on the higher elevations. In the photo the snow banks are over eight feet tall, but in other areas we saw snowbanks as high as 20 feet. The good news is that all the roads were dry and clear, and the lower elevations were free of snow.
We saw lots of these guys in the park - dozens of herds and individuals. Several stopped traffic and strolled by the car. Their sharp horns and grim expressions made me hope that word of my enjoyment of a Buffalo burger in Wall, Montana hadn't preceded me. A few elk came in view, including one very young calf that did a belly flop on the highway in front of our (moving) car. Gloria did a fine job of avoiding Bambi who scurried across the road. We hope that he is reunited with his mother before one of the three thousand wolves our government caused to be located in the park decides to make him a snack. Bears were elusive, Gloria was relieved.
We arrived at the Old Faithful Geyser in time to see it erupt behind the visitor's center. This attraction was highly organized, commercialized, and overrated so we didn't hang around for the encore. However the road to this region contains a half dozen or so walkways through less notorious geysers and these were amazing in their variability. Some seeped, others bubbled mud, still others sent steam shooting into the sky. There were white ones, blue ones, and yellow ones- they were quite a show.
The drive to Idaho Falls was uneventful except for the GPS running out of inspiration a few blocks before the hotel. Our westward progress was not great but all the extra miles we drove around the park plus the trip in Idaho really wore us out. We were surprised at how exhausted we were. We usually spend an hour in the gym as soon as we arrive at our hotel. Today we opted for a light supper and turning in early. TV is as bad here as it is at home, so we read from some novels we brought along.
Until tomorrow, Zzz
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