The drive from Cody through the Eastern entrance into Yellowstone is considered one of the most phenomenal drives in the US. It was the Sailor’s favorite. He is really enjoying driving and I have not had to drive yet. It is truly beautiful for 50 miles—remarkably, consistently, non-stopping beautiful for 50 miles.
So, I confess, up until recently, I have never been interested in going to Yellowstone. In my mind, it was a tourist trap, going to see a ridiculous geyser that puffs water into the air and it always made me think of Yogi Bear, which I never liked as a kid. I just didn’t get it. Well, now I do. It’s huge. I had no idea how big the park really was—canvassing three states—the area is bigger than some New England states. The mountains are majestic. They can rival any of the mountains in Europe that we have visited. There is SNOW in the hills and the temps are in the 40-50’s (although we’ve been told that there will be a cold snap tomorrow with potential snow showers—brrrrrrr).
After a lovely picnic by Yellowstone River, we visited Mud Volcano, Mud Canyon, Dragon’s Breath Spring and then the West Thumb Geyser hike. There are thermals EVERYWHERE. It is really neat to see the various different colors that the thermopiles create feeding off of the hydrogen sulfite and other minerals bursting from the spring.
Mr. Hawking had a MISERABLE meltdown going into the Thumb Geyser hike. The sort of fit where everyone in a radius of several miles looked with pity upon me and my violently screaming child. It all started when we tried to go on the Natural Bridge Hike. Mr. Hawking loves to hike. I stash “energy pills” (M&M’s and Skittles) in my pockets to keep them going when their energy flags. Unfortunately, we got to the trail head to find that it was closed for excessive bear sightings. The children were crushed. We then chose to try a short Geyser Hike at West Thumb. Well, the sight of boardwalks (they don’t want you walking on the unstable thermal grounds) instead of a trail just didn’t suit Mr. Hawking’s idea of a hike at all and things started to go downhill. Well, long story short, I carried Mr. Hawking out the park kicking and screaming because he wouldn’t make a choice to walk or go back to the car….he finally decided that he did want to go on the walk and I gave him the condition that there wasn’t to be a peep out of him that sounded like a whine…it was like night and day. He finally said that this was the best hike ever too because the geysers and streams and springs were so cool. I just cannot convince Mr. Hawking that mommy and daddy really do have fun things planned if he would only trust us to deliver. We very rarely do things that are not fun. It’s just not in our nature. He just wants to be in control.
I have also got a lot of pictures of poop. There are tons of animal droppings everywhere. It’s a veritable minefield wherever you go! We have bear sign right outside our cabin door!
Dinner was enjoyed at the Flag Ranch dining room and we shared a yummy rib eye with wonderful veggies and salad. You may wonder why I talk about food so much. Well, not only do I like food, but my mother-in-law is a foodie too and she likes a play by play of everything we eat!
There have been a number of forest fires throughout the areas we’ve visited in both SD and WY. It is a very shocking sight and while I realize that it is part of the natural clearing of the forest brush, it also looks like tree skeletons reaching out of the earth, burned, blackened and dead. There is something kind of sad about the remnants of a forest fire.
Arriving at Flagg Ranch was a shocking experience to find out that there is NO cellular connection and NO Wi-Fi. I am dying. We are truly out of touch. I had to make a pay phone call (it was a dollar for 4 minutes!!!!) to my boss to tell her that my connectivity was so scarce. When we get down to the lake region, I can get a signal and so I am doing a great deal of work en route from hike to hike. I feel like the biggest boob in the world working on my computer while driving through some of America’s greatest sites. Ah, the things I do for Health Promotion.
Today (9 June) we headed into the Teton Mountain Range for a boat trip across Jenny Lake and a hike up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. This was more in the line of a real hike to please Mr. Hawking, although we had a number of whining sessions about longer hikes. He’s got to be out of his mind if he thinks I am going to take him on a longer hike when we can barely make it 2 miles without a meltdown. They do a super job, but there is a pleasure to too much trouble ratio that constantly has to be monitored. He finally straightened himself out before I lost my mind and we enjoy a truly tremendous (and loud) waterfall, a great hike up 800 ft to 7200 ft above sea level for a fabulous view of Mt. Moran and Grand Teton. One gentleman commented that he imagined Mr. Hawking does not stop talking very often—I laughed, he talked the entire route nonstop. And not quietly either. I know it is the fault of my hearing impairment, but we do not have quiet kids. The mountains were clothed in wispy clouds and we had intermittent sunshine. A snack and rest on the top of Inspiration Point made both the Sailor and I wistful that we could not continue on to Cascade Canyon and I realized that there was only one other couple of the trail (out of many) who had kids our age. It really does change your capabilities, although we’ve decided we do a pretty good job of adventuring with our duo. I also told the Sailor that if our kids ask to adventure for a year after college that he reminds me that I wished I had done that too. We also saw a great group of retirees out adventuring, so we’re making plans to conscript dear friends into some trips back out to this area one day.
We are just loving all the Germans about, although one couple had us tickled since they were in their Sunday best and dress shoes trying to hike through the mud. I think they were more used to some of the groomed walking trails of Europe and the rough wilderness of the US was not something they were prepared for. She was trying to hike in heeled boots! NUTS!
Even on a bad weather day—it’s cloudy now and rainy, the Tetons are still amazing. I wish we could just sit and watch. They rise from level ground….the road to the mountains is completely flat and there is a plain valley that sits at the base, rather than a hilly area as we are used to from other mountains.
It took us 3 hours to do 2 miles and change. It was a moderately strenuous and we can both feel the altitude difference. It takes so much longer to do things with kids. We haven’t figured out dinner yet. I am still in search of Elk Medallions.
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