Road Trip remembered: Day 6

Day 6

First, a correction from an earlier update. Not all vehicles are towing something. Many have things tied to their roofs (bikes, canoes, suitcases, chairs). We have neither something to tow or something to attach to our roof. I feel very unprepared.

There are also a lot of RVs and buses made to be RVs. One such vehicle I saw today actually had a chandelier hanging inside. If I ever own a vehicle with it's own chandelier, please slap me.

I especially love the RVs that have bikes strapped to the front bumper. It's like a threat: hey, don't mess with me! I'll run you right down like I did this bicyclist! I almost expect to see a chalk outline across the windshield.

Last night we ended up skipping the rodeo, opting to sleep instead. Hopefully we'll find time to go before we steam out of town, but given the distances between things, we might just have to forgo it.

Cynthia woke up with a bit of a cold, which we think it probably partly due to elevation sickness. We're sitting at about 7,000 feet above sea level, which means a walk up a little hill gets me breathing hard. It's a little aggravating, and even worse when some schmoe jogs past me. I feel like shouting, "hey, I'm not really that out of shape," but I don't have enough air to say anything. Argh...

The wind has been mighty stiff the past couple of days. Driving into Cody it was all I could do to keep the car from being blown off the road. Today is much the same, although a bit calmer. The problem is, the view on the drive from Cody to Yellowstone is so spectacular with white-water rapids coursing through high canyon walls, it's hard to stay focused on driving, and that's even worse with the wind. Plus, I can't help myself but to scan the landscape for bear, deer, elk, moose, etc. It's a recipe for driving into a canyon wall while shouting, "hey look at the moo..."

Before reaching Yellowstone is another national forest where Bear Alert stations offer tips on how to avoid a bear attack, and what to do in the event you meet a bear without the proper introductions. The pamphlets offers such sage advise as "bear's don't like to be surprised." The funny thing about this is that this piece of wisdom is part of the pamphlet for hunters. Now, I'm no bear, but wouldn't getting shot count as just the kind of surprise bear's don't like?

We finally make it into the park and began another series of "look at that!" exclamations as we rounded the many mountainous curves, each giving us another spectacular view. Because the roads are so curvy and there is so much to see, it takes forever to get from place to place within Yellowstone. While we crossed the entire state of Wyoming in just a few hours, it can take that long to get from one part of Yellowstone to another, and as big as this park is, it's not as big as all of Wyoming.

After an hour or two, we reached our small cabin on Lake Yellowstone, a massive fresh water lake 7,000 feet high in the mountains. Immediately, we set off exploring. One of our first stops was series of thermal pools. Since we're sitting on what is still considered a thermally active volcano, magma just a couple miles beneath our feet boils water, which percolates to the surface. Brightly colored hot-water-loving bacteria lives in these pools and geysers, creating beautiful, although incredibly sulfurous, tourist attractions. Cynthia calls them stinkpots.

One of these pools actually sits in Yellowstone lake. Apparently fisherman of old used to catch fish near the pool, and then swing their rods around and dip the fish in the boiling water, cooking it on the line.

After that, we checked out a beautiful canyon and waterfall, requiring a short hike that felt like a long hike, thanks to the paltry amount of oxygen in the air. Then it was dinner back at a lodge (where you can order such appetizing beers as "Moose Drool") and a little drive around the park too seek out bear. None could be found.