We are definitely more laid back than other trips - I am feeling great again after a grotty few days. One of us always get some or other bug and now we are done with that too. Last night - Monday night, we spent in the little town of ............ uuum, well, it was east of Cody, the Rodeo capital of the world and Emblem, which is just a little blip on the map and has the grand population total of 10! It also had 2 post offices..... We were driving down the road, looked at the time and saw a campground in the tiny town of Ten Sleep - what a name :). A quick right turn got us a good level site, power and even internet. We were both very tired so called it an early night and today started really well with beautiful sunny skies and slow traffic too. I wish I could remember all the amazing sounding names of the places we drive through, and when I think to write them down, I cant read the flippin map - nothing wrong with my eyes - they just make the writing way too small - and the Large Print maps leave half of the stuff out - not that I would know that, right? Anyway - we were still on the I-90 from Mt Rushmore, through Gillette,WY, Buffalo and then off the interstate to Worland. We drive through the most amazing countryside - always changing literally by the curve in the road. One minute we are driving through National Grasslands, then into the Bighorn National Forest and then again without warning we are in an area that is rugged rocky cliffs and steep hills. Absolutely wonderful.
When in a car, 60 - 65 miles per hour is just not that fast at all. Try doing this speed down the mountains around here in the motorhome! The rv rattles and bangs, shudders and shakes and the air screams through any and all little crevices it can find, making incredible singing sounds. We could not even hear the radio at times..... yes, it decided to live for a while again today. But we had the windows open and hair fluttering around and such a wonderful free feeling that it was absolutely wonderful. I know that the doglets did not have the same appreciation for life right then, but hey :)
We heard this morning that a big fire right near Yellowstone was started when a motor home caught alight - oh my heart bled for those people! Anyway, we wondered if this would close this road or one of the others. Right when we were about to hear the details on the news, all power and internet went off, a clear signal that we should pack up and head out. Just a little way down the road, we saw that a car had hit a pole and taken it all down.... We figured that someone would give fair warning if the road were closed because of the fire, so on we tootled over the Bighorn Mountains towards the Absaroka Mountain Range, past Wapiti, through the Shashone National Forest and Pahaska too (so? I borrowed Frank's glasses and frowned deeper to find these names ) ........... lovely names for lovely places.... We also drove through the Buffalo Bill State Park which looked much like Custer State Park in South Dakota with its gentle hills of gently blowing grasses. I could almost picture this 200 years ago........
Then it got very, very windy. I was a bit nervous of going up into the mountains with the wind like this and fires and smoke all over the place, but there were still no warnings or road closures. We took the doglets out for a brief walk and they hated it - I think the wind sandblasted them as they both tucked their tails in tightly and absolutely refused to do what we had brought them out to do.. ah well. With the blowing wind came a gazillion bugs that splatted themselves inelegantly on the windshield..........one even had multicolored innerds! I promise..........yes, I took a pic and will put that up too. It was as if a kid had fed it glitter right before it parked itself in our faces.... So now I had to try to take photos around glass reflections, sparkly bug guts and telephone lines - it got interesting :)
The skies filled in with thick clouds, heavy smoke and the wind kept blowing. Sophie kept eating and Allie - well, she keeps herself tucked away in her 'safe house'. She is free to walk around too, but prefers it in there and Sophie spends plenty time lying nose to nose with her, half in and half out of that bag. I often wonder at the communications going on between them, but so far Allie still won't come out, no matter what toy Sophie offers her.
With the roads still open and the firefighting crews all over the place, helicopters flying their tanks of water above us, we headed up the mountain. It was lovely, even with the smoky haze all around and before too long, the clouds blew away (thank you, wind!) and the smoke was left behind us.....the sky opened up and the sun shone on the most beautiful countryside. We came into Yellowstone through the East Entrance which took us past Yellowstone Lake. Oh my, this is one totally awesome lake. It looks like an ocean, its so big, the water is a stunning blue and the wind whipped up really good sized waves which crashed endlessly along the shoreline that is littered with huge dead trees. My camera jumped up and shuddered in readiness and excitement and happily went to work.
We quickly found the only campground with electricity - it's going to be below freezing tonight, set up the motor home, walked the doglets who now wear tiny little harnesses instead of just a collar, for extra safety and then headed out in the bakkie (truck) to see what we could see. Sophie promptly curled herself up behind the seats and went to sleep. Allie sat in her bag between Frank and I and nodded off, not wanting to admit that she was totally exhausted and insisting on sitting bolt upright at all times.
I don't quite know how to describe the second half of the day, so let me start at the end of it. We got back and I loaded the photos onto the laptop and my eyes literally teared up at the incredible things I saw for the second time today. This place is absolutely, absolutely stunning! It has an eerie, ethereal, unreal, fairytale quality to it which just goes on and on. I managed to take a mere 677 photos this afternoon. There are bubbling holes all over, some have even come through the road, the steam spurts from these places for as far as you can see, creating the 'neverland effect'. When the wind blows it spreads the sulphur stinking steam out, now making huge dripping blankets, draped across the sky. We stopped at some holes in the ground and you can see the water boiling like no pot has ever boiled on my stove! In some of the clear holes there are bones lying way down inside - the water is crystal clear with a beautiful blue tinge - quite spellbinding.
Then we stopped at Old Faithful. It was cold and the doglets started shivering so Frank took them back to the truck. I walked along the pathway that surrounds Old Faithful to where I knew my favorite little blue hole was..... Little Blue Star.... She was still there and still as beautiful as she was in 2003 when we came here last. Only this time I have a better camera and now I really can take her home with me :) Then I walked a little further and watched two other holes bubbling away merrily as if this is quite normal. One of the geysers blew unexpectedly - Bee Hive Geyser. Apparently it does not do this often and it really was a treat, spewing itself at least 200 foot into the air. Old Faithful did its thing, but I have to admit the Bee Hive was more impressive this time. It was still good to sit there and watch the incredible forces of nature at work. And I started thinking......... Here we are, us humans, we try to do the right things for ourselves in order to stay safe and well. (well mostly), we eat right, stay away from too much of the stuff that is obviously bad for us, try to get fit (ha!) and all that stuff. You know, looking before we cross the road etc..........and then where do we go on vacation? In the middle of a living volcano!! Yup - this is where we are. Actually sleeping and driving and staying in the caldera of a volcano that IS going to blow again one day. Insane? Yup - and totally, mind-blowingly beautiful!
We saw multiple waterfalls, meandering creeks, rapids, huge open fields with bison and deer, awesome mountains and gorgeous flowers and wetlands. We drove through forests with incredibly tall trees, through places where is just rock on one side and a deep drop-off to a river waaaaay below on the other side. In places a bison or three determinedly walked in the center of the road, effectively blocking traffic both ways with a silent power no one dared challenge. The colors around the boiling, sulphur stinking spewing holes are amazing too - rust, red, green, orange and yellow. So much water comes out from the earth at times that this creates gushing streams of boiling water that rush down to meet the Yellowstone or other river and head somewhere else. To think about how unstable this area is, would not be good for sleep, so I am just going to think about the majestic beauty all around us.... especially when the motor home moves when Frank gets up in the middle of the night!
This was a truly awesome day with no real way to describe it at all. I am going to try to put as many photos up as possible. Photos really don't do this place justice at all....but I sure did have fun trying. And am going to try tomorrow again - we are headed out on the northern loop of Yellowstone and then on Thursday, we will go and visit the Grand Teton National Park. We are in the area and it would be such a pity to miss going there again.
What an amazing place this is..........
love and light
Annie
Thursday, September 4, 2008
d - Into Yellowstone NP
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment