Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Day Eight - YellowStone and Cody

Tuesday, June 26th – We decided in the morning as we were driving away from our Dust Bowl of a campsite that a) we were glad that we would not be camping again on our trip, b) we were disappointed in Yellowstone, and c) that the morning after camping you wake up tired, cranky, and dirty. While conversely when you stay at a hotel you wake up refreshed, clean, and rarin to go. The bottom line – camping with young kids in a dusty site like the one we had was very difficult. We were up early and it was COLD. We had used all of our wood the night before and we also had a very cranky Lucas baby. He would not stop crying until we changed his pants (duh). Then packing the car was again stressful and we were finally on the road again by 10. Lucas was instantly asleep in the car and we headed north to see the Tower Falls. When we got there – mob scene. People everywhere. We hiked down saw the falls (moderately pretty) and bought some souvies and took off. On the way we passed Bear country – we didn’t see any Bears but there were hundreds of people stopped with binoculars salivating at the chance to see one. An interesting site. Then we began our trip out of the park. It was about 12pm and it took us (really) 4 hours to reach the East entrance of the park. Not all of it was bad and actually if you have to go to Yellowstone definitely do the final few things we did. See the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It was incredible. We stopped at various view points and took shots of the upper and lower falls. At this point both kids were done and just sat in the car as Laura and I took turns running to the viewpoints – leaving the car running so Sammie wouldn’t have to pick up the “complicated” story line that runs through Barbie’s Princess and the Pauper (sarcasm here in case you didn’t hear it in my voice). These views were the highlights of the trip to Yellowstone. Then while on the road to our picnic spot we ran into a herd of Buffalo crossing the road. This created a monstrous traffic jam – but we did get some cool pictures without getting out of the car. It also gave me the cold sweats as it reminded me of sitting in traffic waiting to get through the Caldecott tunnel. We finally got on the exit road and started to skirt the Yellowstone Lake – an immense and beautiful lake. Very scenic – which prompted a very prominent water engineer I know to say – “This is the most beautiful lake I have ever seen.” We ate lunch next to it and got on the road to get out of the park. Then we hit the road construction. We sat in a line of cars for about 30-40 minutes waiting to go through and then we had to follow a pace car for the nearly 15 mile length (!!) of the construction. Just painful and by the time we left the park we sadly decided that we most likely would not go there again. The next 60 miles went by quickly and we got to our hotel in Cody. I don’t know how we did it – but this hotel had it all. Parking near the room, first floor, laundry (yes we did six loads), pool (indoor!), dvd player, fridge. Again the pool was much needed and we all cleaned ourselves up and went out to dinner. Laura and I commemorated Buffalo Bill by have a burger from his namesake. Quite tasty. A long day and more than anything we learned that we are no longer roughin it campers. We like our Starbucks and cushy beds (even more so the kids like their pools which make it easier on us). We now are heading east and expect to roll the Pathfinder over 100,000 miles in South Dakota – our next stop.

Our advice: Don’t go to Yellowstone and if you must – camp or stay in either the Tetons park or Jackson and drive in for a day. It is just a mob scene there and the Tetons are MUCH less crowded and more enjoyable. If you do go WHATEVER you do DO NOT GO IN OR OUT OF THE EAST ENTRANCE. It was painful.

What we learned today – Cody is strange. Sadly we most likely won’t be going back to Yellowstone. Yellowstone Lake is the largest natural mountain lake in the country. Sunflower seeds cause canker sores. I converted Laura into a “seeder.”

Best unintentional comedy moment of the day – Lucas in the back seat while waiting to get through the Yellowstone roadblock sneezes. He has a graham cracker in his hand and has been eating it. With the sneeze a nice solid booger lands on his lip. Laura and I turn in horror and react as we always do – diving for the Kleenex box – “No Lucas…” Then we watched in horror as he kept chewing his cracker and then licked his lips adding the snot to his meal. The look on his face was not much different from Karl Spaeckler’s face when he ate the Baby Ruth in CaddyShack. No big deal. Very funny.

1 comment:

Mary Ann Melton said...

If you go to Yellowstone before or after the "season" you have a totally different experience. Even a week makes a difference in the number of people in the park.

Yellowstone National Park is one of my favorite places. I love all of the animals I get to see each time. The end of May and early June provides opportunities to see so many wild animal babies. It was beginning to get crowded when we left. September brings the wonders of the elk rut. The trumpet call of a bull elk is a beautiful sound.

Pebble Creek Campground at the Northeast Corner of the park is beautiful and the campground hosts are great folks. We also like Fishing Bridge RV Park - not because it is beautiful, but because we travel in an RV and like having electricity. But it is also centrally located - easy to get to Hayden Valley which is one of my favorite areas.

And next year, there won't be road construction on the road to the east entrance.

I hope one day you'll go back and spend more time in Yellowstone. It may not be as "scenic" as the Grand Tetons. But it is truly a unique place on earth.