Day 2 Sunday

Morning started at about 8am with a good workout. I’ve gotta keep moving if I’m going to ever drop some pounds but more importantly, my legs were itching to get some movement.

After a shower, getting the boy out of bed (and asking if he slept well, and we both agreed no…the hotel thought that putting “tempurpedic beds in would attract people. We couldn’t figure out how to roll over. It just sucks you in), breakfast and packing up the car we were off once again. A few minutes later then anticipated but none the less, still on the road.

Once we hit the highway panic set in. I started looking at the directions I forgot that they put me into the middle of Yellowstone. I started pulling out ever map that I could to determine a route based upon my visual and the panic started to set in even further b/c the critical point that I needed to know was cut off and on an Idaho map…..one of the maps that I didn’t have. So I put my faith into my gut instinct and ran with it. I told Sean to just follow the signs for west Yellowstone. A few short hours later….we arrived. Ok 5 hours later.

About 1 hour before the park entrance we started climbing into mountain territory. In the distance we saw a mountain range just COVERED with blankets of snow. I told Sean to hold on it might be a few rough days with the cold. He said he was ready.

As we were getting deeper into the mountains it started getting AMAZING. Bright blue skies, dense forests of green pine trees, ground covered with snow, and glass looking lakes. It couldn’t be any more beautiful.

About 45 minutes into pleeeeeeeease pull over…I want to take a picture and Sean saying, you’re going to have 3 days of this, just hold your horses, we arrive at Yellowstone west. YAY, we made it.

I had informed Sean to see if we could get a second park map when we paid our dues (one for the scrap book), the park ranger informed us that he could not give out a second due to tight funds and not enough to go around. Everyone is feeling it. So sad.

The next part of our journey is the part in which we say “Yellowstone, has surpassed anything we had ever expected.” Not even 10 minutes into the park we are quickly haulted by traffic…I was told by a family member “to make sure and stop at those traffic stops as it usually indicates an animal of some sort.” Much to our surprise, it sure did! Bison oh my! Two crossing the street and holding up traffic passing Seans door and me screaming “BISON!” led to the beginning of much to come. Just about 2 seconds later we land upon an open field and about 20 bison with 10 deer. Just spectacular.

Oh and by the way, the weather, yeah snow is on the ground but nothing more than a sweatshirt and a Kleenex to keep your nose from running will keep you from hiking and seeing everything that it has to offer. We have lucked out big time. Thunder storms were predicted for tonight but nothing so far but Tuesday is saying snow/rain…we’ll see.

So we continue on. Just shortly after leaving the field of animals we are greated by yet another bison just chill’n on the open road going for a stroll in the opposite direction. By now we’re thinking this is a VERY usual occurrence.

22 miles into the park Sean quickly pulls over for our first hot spring. Talk about colors. We were expecting smell, but this one didn’t smell at all. It defiantly was bubbling and steaming though.

After about 45 more minutes on the road (PS – nice roads…not like mountains, these are flat and straight. Nice for the lady with a race car husband) I’m being told to look over a cliff. I immediatly tell him I don’t know what he’s talking about and what all these people are looking at. So I get out of the car and look over. I’m glad I got out of the car b/c this was a priority list of things to see….A GIANT WATERFALL! I love these. And with all the snow melting it was just pouring buckets of water.

Ok, skipping to our hotel. We arrive at our hotel/cabin about 5:30PM. We check in and the lady that was helping us was very nice. So I was curious about how employment worked in this giant park. So I questioned her do you guys drive in every day…She responded that they live inside Yellowstone in dorms and that pretty much everyone in the park that works also lives in the park. I thought that was very interesting given her age (40’s and all the others working with her). Sean and I afterwards kinda went, uh well what do they do in the off season. (Side note, everyone was wearing a name badge that also listed where they were from and it ranged from all over the US). We couldn’t understand how they did it. We’re going to continue to question a few people here during our stay. We’ll report back on that one.

So hotel, I thought that we were going to be inside the main building. No I guess we get an individual bungalow cabin. We pull around back and check it out. Yup, it’s our own cabin. Separated from the main building but with all the things I knew it was going to be lacking. TV, Internet, Phone…I knew it was not going to be in the room but then reality set in. Hmm….what are we going to do with our time?

By this time, the crankies and the grumps have arrived…hunger, exhaustion and all the emotions that go with a road trip. So we quickly decide to check out the 1 and only dinner facility on our side of the park. The only other place is about 100 miles away. We take a look at the menu and most of it is pretty obscure including a lot of bison. Sean and I didn’t seem in the mood to try anything funky at a very expensive price tag so we stuck to something simple and enjoyed.

After dinner, we knew that we had passed a huge set of hot springs just up the road a few yards. So we grabbed the car and drove up. Altitude + 100 stairs = NO O2!! I can say that I’ve been working out again, but my lungs were not anticipating this kind of pain.

It was almost like a cemetery for some of the hot springs. Some really cool ones that took over an entire hillside with a staircase effect were no longer “springing” but rather all dried up. After some searching we found some spectacular replacements. Full orange hill sides with pools and pools of water.

After our adventure we headed to the gift shop. I wanted to check out the “purchasing selection.” Upon checkout and Sean asking out cashier what he thought was cool he informed us that right at that very moment 7:30pm was the perfect opportunity to find wolfs and bears. I guess they like to come out right before night fall and just before sunrise. We jumped at that opportunity and drove down the road about 30 miles. After much searching, we were not as lucky and were not able to find any bears or wolfs but did find out that it stays light out until about 9pm. Something we both didn’t anticipate.

Now in our “cabin” we find ourselves listening to the drone of a refrigerator cooler, and any little noise that we might make. I have to admit, the cabins is VERY clean and very newely renovated, but as Sean and I walked back from dinner and reminisce and try and put a finger on just what we’re feeling, we finally nailed it. It feels like 6^th grade camp.

More adventures to come tomorrow