Left Bozeman this morning after Vanessa showed me her latest job site, a pretty hip dentist office downtown. Quick drive to Livingston, refueled. (got gas and tea. Tea blend name, by the way: “Evenings in Missoula”. It was good, but I can’t figure out what was in it.)
Pretty drive through Paradise Valley and into Yellowstone! Got really excited at the Roosevelt Gate. Began talking to myself like Yogi the bear (hey hey Tin-ah, whaddaya think about a pic-i-nic in Jell-y-stone to-day?) Pretty addictive to talk like that, glad no one else was there to hear me. I had been told there were 7 ft. snowbanks on the ground, and had been gearing up to dish out a lot of green for a motel room, but when I pulled through the Mammoth campsites, it was a warm 50 degrees with no snow in sight! I reserved campsite #3 right away ($14, close to the ranger station and bathrooms. key). Then I continued on my merry way and checked out the Visitor’s center. Decided to bust down to Old Faithful today and back. Before I took off, I dutifully had a small pic-i-nic on the benches consisting of a pb and banana sandwich. Thought of Yogi, again.
Yellowstone is BREATHTAKINGLY GORGEOUS. It blew me away. I think I drove the entire hour and a half with my jaw open. It was all I could do to remember to keep my foot on the pedal and steer. And the hotsprings and venting sites, what a trip. Steam rises out of the land in the spookiest way here. Old Faithful was pretty snowy. Somehow, someway, without ANY planning, I had absolutely perfect timing. I arrived to find the benches pretty packed, but nothing was really happening. About six minutes later, it errupted and it was spectacular! I wanted to clap or something, but everyone was pretty quiet. I guess that’s not cool around here. Later, I found out it only goes off every 90 minutes. Damn, I’m good. Would have been bummed to wait and hour and a half in the snow. I watched the movie in the visitor’s center afterward and learned that 2/3 of the world’s geysers are here. My favorite moment of the movie: At one point, the narrator says “64,000 years ago, the landscape here looked dramatically different” and a little white-haired lady sitting in front of me stage-whispered “I did, too!”. I laughed out loud.
The drive back was equally as spectacular, and beyond, as I rounded a corner and found the normally empty highway a makeshift parking lot. People had just stopped their cars in the middle of the road and were all staring intently at something on the side of the road. Emily and Mark gave me a tip when you see people pulling over, pull over too, because most likely it’s something really cool. An
d it was!!!On the shore of a little lake by the side of the road ambled a young GRIZZLY BEAR!!! It was SO amazing. Not a little guy, but not too big either. It was pretty funny, every time he moved his head this rush of little clicks would go off, from everyone’s cameras. I probably took 50 pictures, 49 of which are probably pretty bad. I’ll have to do some major editing later.I watched for almost 10 minutes, then got on my way when the little guy wandered off.
Other wildlife seen today: Tons and tons of elk, bison, and a jackrabbit. The bison are so huge!! It’s like if you covered the matrix with curly fur and added horns.
Back at the campsite, I rearranged the car for my little sleeping berth and made myself a pretty sorry dinner. Tuna straight from the can onto two slices of bread. Egh. I ate it just so I wouldn’t be hungry later, but I’m going to have to be a bit more creative next time. Went for a little walkabout the campsite loop before I went to bed to stretch my legs; I really regret not bringing my camping stove or even anything to start a fire with. If I stay here tomorrow, I’m going to make friends with somebody who has a fire. (see my camp set up, below) Also, the bathrooms are very clean and very warm. On my last stop before bed, I have to admit I lingered a bit in the warmness and did a bunch of stretching. So lucky nobody came in to see the weirdo stretching by the sink.
Used up the last bit of remaining daylight to practice ukulele. I really hope nobody could hear me.
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