My Turn -Last Day in Yellowstone.....

Our last full day to view Yellowstone. We were doing the upper loop today. There were signs that remind us that an area of the road will be closed after 10pm for construction. But in the daytime it's open and a one lane road. They are rebuilding a bridge. It will look awesome when it's complete.

We drove past this area to Norris Geyser Basin area. I figured what the "Basin" means in the titles. It's an area that has lots and lots of active stuff happening and it's all in one area, no matter how big the area is. In this area there is Porcelain Basin and Back Basin. We walked on a tiny pebbled walkway to the information area. There are a few steps in either direction, both basins, but most is with boardwalks. Before you head to either of the basins we could look down at the whole area of the Porcelain Basin. So beautiful. We decided to start with this one. Of course the clouds were over head but the dark ones were in the distance. We were fortunate not to have any sprinkling on this trail as it would be a long distance to return. There were many different small geysers and springs here. You can read facts about them at the nps.gov website. All I can say is it is all fascinating to see. Such a wonder and a curiosity as well. God allowed these things to occur only here, in this area of the world. And we get to see enjoy His beauty as long as we take care of it!

By time we got back to the top again we decided not to do the Back Basin. We were hungry for lunch. So back to the cars for cold cut sandwiches and chocolate animal crackers. It started to sprinkle just a little but not enough to stop us from eating. Just as we finished, the dots got a little bigger. As we started to drive we realize these dots were small dots of ice. It was hailing, or is it sleet. I don't know the difference but I know when water turns to ice. It didn't stay long and back on the road we went.

When you come out of the Norris Geyser Basin we could turn left to go north first or straight ahead to the Canyon village area. If you look at a map you will see that the roads are in a loop, both the north area and the south area. Going toward Old Faithful was the south. Today was the north loop.

We chose to go left. We knew there would be construction but again, we were not on a timeline and figured "we'd be bahk"! There is so much to see there is no way anyone can get the full impact of this splendid area in just 3 days. The maps and other blogs don't give this place enough emphasis on how you really need to take your time. Each place is not the destination. The driving is the journey and the areas to stop at is the cherry on top, for a lack of better words. As we drove we saw a different view of things. In this area it reminded us of forests. The roads were windier and more up and down. Not only were their more trees around us but large boulders as well. Around one bend Salome looked back and saw a hugh waterfall we didn't expect to see. I don't remember reading about it. Just before we got back in the car the rains and the wind came. As we drove we finally got to a flatter area. Pow, right in front of us were mountains with dark clouds and white lightening. What a sight. We had gone from sunny to cloudy, to some sun, to sprinkles, to hail/sleet, to cloudy, and now cloudy with lightening. Okay, so I'm easy to be entertained. But it's God's beauty I am awed with.

We stayed the course and got near Mammoth Hot Springs. We turned left on a one way road. It's kind of funny to see all the cars driving like we were amusement park cars, all lined up an moving at the same pace. I can just imagine in 200 or so years from now, in the middle of the road will be a metal gripping chain like at a car wash. You pull into the area and your car hooks up to it and then drags all the cars around each loop instead of driving. Well, that's what it feels like but every now and then a car pulls over to view something that draw their attention. We pulled over allot to let others zoom by. Still can't figure why they would be here when they are driving so fast.

In this area there were many different rock formations with spouting or seeping water. My favorite was the Orange Mound. The water slowly boils up at this little opening and the water just flows down the side. It has done this for so long that it has made a round mound that is about 15-20 feet high and round. The sediment causes the orange look. After this loop we got back on the main road toward the Yellowstone Fort. This is the area the army lived in to protect the park before it became a national park. All the old buildings are here with lots of memories. The Albright Visitor center is here. To get to the actual North entrance we had to drive 5 more miles, which we did.

Even before the PBS National Parks 6-part series I was always in awe about the archway that welcomes you into the park. It is a one lane'r. I had to get out and touch, read, and soak it in. I was really here! Roosevelt said, "The Yellowstone Park is something absolutely unique in the world...This Park was created and is now administered for the benefit and enjoyment of the people...it is the property of Uncle Sam and therefore of us all." when he dedicated it in 1903. On the top of the arch are the words: for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. And we did and had more to enjoy before leaving.

After we drove through, there is a town called Gardiner. It started to sprinkle but that didn't deter us from stopping at a local shop to enjoy ice cream. About 5 minutes after we parked and were in the store, it poured down! Then like a faucet turning off, it stopped. It was wet but we walked around just a little to another shop. We got back in our cars and off again through the arch, through the North gate, and back to the Albright center in Fort Yellowstone. On the way to and from the North gate and Fort Yellow stone is a marker for the 45th Parallel. It is the latitude between the Equator and the North Pole. Let me know if this is correct.

After our potty stop at the center we made a left and back onto the loop toward the east we went. Again, this area didn't have as many springs or geysers but it was majestic. Trees, rocks, and waterfalls was the theme of this area. We drove on toward the Tower Falls but it took us a little longer than expected. You need to be prepared to stop for the Bison when ever they feel like crossing the road. We didn't mind at all. We also stopped to view a fox just 1 foot to the right of us sitting with his/her back to us watching something in the grass. It seemed to not care we were there observing! As we started to slowly drive forward, it walked parallel with us for about 10-12 feet. Hope Lizz posts a picture of that. Off again at 35 mph because it's easy to stop for viewing, and we were on our way to the Tower Falls, or so we thought.

Another thing that has always intrigued me is petrified trees. So we pulled onto a road with the sign, Petrified Tree. It was referring to only 1 but I wanted to see it. Before we got there we saw a bunch of cars pulled over so we parked too. Ya just never know what's there but if there are cars stopped you know something is up. What a treat. There were 2 bears! One was a cinnamon brown bear the other was a black. We stayed to watch for awhile. I didn't know the different bears would "wrestle" with each other. Wouldn't that mix their breed? If you haven't figured it out, since Destiny is only 4, we called it "wrestling"! The adults who were viewing had a real good laugh as they heard us telling her. And with Steve's sense of humor there was more verbal entertaining words on the subject. Nothing vulgar but saying what everyone was thinking. We eventually drove the rest of the quarter mile to the petrified tree. It's surrounded by metal bars to protect it and all the pieces that fall from it's sides.

We continued our drive through this area as it got a little darker and colder. The landscape went to looking like the hills near Santa Maria, CA then while gaining altitude, to the trees of mountain areas. We saw more bison and an interesting looking bird, who also was just off the road sitting and not bothered by the onlookers. As we drove up and up and up we realized it was getting colder, darker, and there was snow on the side of the road. We managed to be at Dunraven Pass, 8,859 feet up. We stopped at one of the rest areas and played in the bank of stow. Lizz made a small snowman while others were throwing snow balls. Can you imagine going from sun, to sprinkles, to hail, then thunder & lightening, clouds but no rain, and now darkness setting in and snow on the ground. Fortunately it wasn't snowing. After we got back on the main road we started downhill drive. We came to the stop sign where we could chose to go to the Canyon Village or make a right back to Norris and then the road out of the park. Of course we chose the road to the right! It was too dark to drive the canyon rim and not light enough from the cloudy sky to see like we did at Old Faithful.

We got back to the Norris junction with minutes to spare. As we made the left turn there was the truck and gent putting up the "road closed" sign. I looked down at my car clock to see it was 9:52! They let our 2 vehicles through. We didn't realize until we got to the other side, the 3rd vehicle was one of the government vans. It was interesting to drive through the construction site while they were preparing to construct. This was the dirt road before and after the new bridge. We got to the other side where there were barriers up to prevent cars from going to where we just came from. We made our right at Madison junction and drove without any stops through the west gate into West Yellowstone.

It was now 11:15. Would anything be open? Well, yes and no. We went into one restaurant that had a big OPEN sign. But when the waitress saw our huge group at this late hour she said they were closed. There was one pizza place open until midnight where we had plain cheese pizza and a specialty, shredded pork with onions and bbq sauce. Kind of like Mo's BBQ meets Italian Pizza. It was goood (the way Andy Griffith would say in the Ritz crackers commercial) Back to our room with full bellies but no swimming tonight.

I got up and blogged. It takes me awhile to write because I have to think as well as type on Lizz' Mac laptop. Not as easy as having a keyboard only. Well, I got carried away with time. See, I got up early enough to organize my things, get dressed, and blog. The time got away and before I knew it, Steve was knocking on the door. It was 9:30 am, breakfast was over, and it was snowing! For fear we'd be stuck there we packed, checked out, and got McDonald's by drive thru. The gal was very helpful to keep our cost down, but it is still a resort town and the dollar menu is more than $1. Our chance to have a free breakfast was gone and so was $40!

It was now Thursday, June 17th. We were finished at Yellowstone and some of us were sad to leave, even though it was snowing. By time we got down the road it had stopped. But so did we at construction in the road. I'll save the rest for the next blog.
C