Yellowstone Park is gorgeous, of course, and massive. And very crowded. Cooper and I were in the park by 8:30 this morning and spent about six hours driving various roads, taking photos, taking little walks, and we still could have spent more time. It's confining with the dog because you cannot take dogs on any trails and they must be either in the car or less than 100 feet from the road at all times. Obviously I didn't get to take too many hikes but I did leave him alone a couple of times to see some vista views. Huge scenery, huge mountains and rivers, boulders, everything a national park really needs. In some ways it is not as dramatic as Yosemite but it still has jaw-dropping views. If Yosemite was the size of a tea cup, Yellowstone is the size of a salad plate. It is almost twice the square miles of Yosemite.
I expected crowds and for the first couple of hours the traffic through the park was light. By 11:30 it had increased dramatically, to the extent that most of the parking lots that overlooked some grand waterfall or view were packed. I didn't even bother getting in the car queue for the Old Faithful Geyser, you can see it probably better on youtube. But even with the cars (and can we talk about those humongous things that are larger than SUV's, they are about 30-40 feet long and they never pull over and they can't turn and they are all driven by old, retired people who are afraid) the day was great. I didn't see as much wildlife as I wanted but I did see buffalo, deer, some dead jackrabbits, hawks and some creature that must have been from Kansas, with sandals and high white socks and two fanny packs that were sagging with god knows what and a checked shirt that almost, but not quite, covered his extended belly. A checkered-belly fanny-packer, that must be what it was called.
There were still some residual wildflowers (they bloom very late in high altitudes), blues and pinks and yellows and there were fields of gold with blue streams running through them that made you think of heaven. A lot of people were fishing, mostly fly-casting and that was nice to see, a national park with people doing more than double parking to snap a shot of a buffalo. There are geysers all over the place and thermals that give off steam all the time. It reminded me of the trip Tom and I took to Portugal and we were on one of the Azores Islands, Sao Miguel I think, and everywhere you walked in town there was water boiling up out of the ground. I was also reminded of the islands off Sicily, especially Volcano, when we hiked to the top of the sleeping volcano and steam was blowing out of holes in the ground, smelling of sulphur. Since Yellowstone has a huge volcanic history, it's no wonder it also has a caldera that is still active.
Ah, to be on the road. I know I have said this before but I am always in awe of the glorious beauty and variety of our country. It's that way in any country, of course, and I have had the great fortune to see it, as mentioned above. But I don't think enough of us take the time to just explore the USA. You all know I am not one for touting the virtues of this country but it is so diverse geologically and topographically and culturally that I think everyone should take a long road trip at least once in their lives and see some of it. I stopped in Laramie, WY because my camera had a bizarre error message on it. At the gas station where I filled up I asked if there was a Best Buy or a similar place. The woman looked at me with a small sense of pride and said "No, we have small stores here." She directed me to a Radio Shack a couple of blocks down and the young guy who was running that shop was great. It was nice to know that there is a medium sized city without a Best Buy or a Walmart or Target.
It's also why I like to find small motels if I can, or small coffee places that are owned by a person, not a corporation. (Although I must admit, Starbucks has saved my sorry ass many times.) Same with food. I don't eat much at chain restaurants for the simple reason that I like to know a person is cooking my food, not a corporate clone.
OK, that's all for my preaching. I am going to post this blog and try and get some photos and post them later this evening. Thanks for reading, the three people who I know do faithfully. And those of you who do sporadically as well.
Here are two stock photos for now.
Two things to say:
ReplyDelete1) Yellowstone - definitely try to find some time in early spring and go camping if you can. I went when I lived in SLC and it was awesome. We saw buffalo in the middle of the road, bears near our campsite, fly fishing, a bear in the water eating fish early in the morning. Truly magnificent. Reminded me of A River Runs Through It.
2) Love the small business approach. 2 friends of mine actually made a New Years resolution to only buy from non-chain stores one full year. They said it was hard and had to concede to a few things (like gasoline) but all in all loved it. While it would be financially ridiculous for me to do it right now in TX, I do try as often as possible to buy local. :)