8-2, Yellowstone- Day 1

The Yellowstone rendezvous taught us that 'whims' are pretty awesome.  We went to Yellowstone on a whim and it was such a rewarding experience for us.  (You know, work, laundry, cooking, cleaning, bills, homework, work, laundry, cooking, cleaning, bills, homework..... life needs to be shaken up sometimes!)  I had been to Yellowstone when I was younger, but it had been many, many years.  Sven had never been to Yellowstone and always wanted to.  The beauty and awe of this wondrous place amazed us.  The landscape, the wildlife, the natural elements-- all of it.  So beautiful.  It's no wonder that people come from all across the globe to see it.  (I have dubbed it a new name:  "The Beijing of the Rockies"..... It made me wonder if the feeling I had was the same feeling the Chinese people get when they see Americans flocking to the Great Wall:  "You came all this way to see THIS?!")   Yes, there were a LOT of people.  The roads were congested, the parking lots were full and the attractions loaded with visitors.  But you know what?  It's pretty darn cool that the masses still appreciate the beautiful and natural aspects of this world.  In an era so tech heavy and instantaneous, it's pretty rewarding to see people sitting for over an hour to watch a geyser shoot from the earth into the sky or to sit on the side of the road watching the buffalo roam.  It puts a little faith back in humanity-- maybe not everything has changed.  If people travel all this way to witness this natural wonder, maybe there is hope for the future generations.  Maybe we can still make impressions on our youth for the things that we hold dear.  Anyway, yes, it was a moving experience.  If you've always wanted to go see Yellowstone (or any other iconic place), just go do it!  Don't let the excuses stop you, after all, the reward is greater than the sacrifice.

Two Yellowstone newbies. 

Another Yellowstone newbie:  see the baby elk on the left?

Look at all the people waiting to see Old Faithful. 

An hour+ wait and she's getting started!

"oooohhh.....ahhhhh......." you've got to admit that's pretty cool-- and so predictable.  How?!

an attraction near Firehole Lake

look at the color of this steaming water!

a bubbling mud pit

Fountain Paint Pot?  I can't remember all the names....

Not too bad for only a few hours in the park, right? We traveled some serious miles to get TO Yellowstone, and we traveled even more to see as much as we could in the few days we had there.  Stay tuned for day 2!  

8-1, Gallatin River Camping

Somewhere along the way, we made a u-turn and completely changed our plans.  Or more appropriately, we scrapped our original plan and went with the plan of no plan.  Instead of heading further west into Montana where the forest fire smoke was thickening and the heat becoming more oppressive, we had an a-ha moment and went with it.  "Sven, you say you've always wanted to see Yellowstone?  Turn around..... let's go see Yellowstone!"  For years, we've always let our lack of planning ahead keep us from seeing this iconic place.  "There will be SOOO many people.  We don't have reservations.  We'll plan for it next year and do it then. (blah, blah, blah)"  We're pretty regimented people (and I say we come by that pretty fairly considering our backgrounds), so we don't detour from the POD (Plan Of the Day) too often.  I can't even tell you how good it felt to say 'heck with it-  we're going anyway, let it be what it will be!'  So around we turned at the Buffalo Jump and headed back the miles we had just driven toward Bozeman, then south towards Yellowstone.  If Nik was going to have his own Yellowstone adventure, then so would we!  As we drove along, the Montana I know and love (trees, trees, mountains, mountains) appeared before me.  The thought of the vast, barren, snake-ridden part of central Montana subsided and a little slice of heaven laid out before us.  We could breathe.  It felt so awesome to be there, on a whim, going to a place we'd been wanting to see for years along a path so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.  (No one could ever say that I don't love Montana!)  This is where we spent that first night of our new adventure.  I could have stayed right here for the next 3 days and been completely at peace.  It was perfect.  Just perfect.  

No, I don't know who this is, but it was such a "River Runs Through It" moment that I had to capture it. 

The doctor said in order to heal, I need to rest and relax.
"Am I doing it right?!"

8-1, Buffalo Jump

For years, we have been 'trying to find' the buffalo jump.  I'm proud to say after all this searching, we were successful in our endeavor.  We found it!  (And, I'm not quite sure why it was so difficult to find all those years....) The Madison Buffalo Jump State Park in Montana is located west of Bozeman down a long, dirt road.  The last time I visited this place was with my parents when I was little.  I remember it being a creepy place.  I had envisioned the Indians of long ago fooling the buffalo to run off a cliff, falling to their deaths.  (I loved animals-- how could you do that?!)  As an adult, while still somewhat haunting, I appreciate the ingenuity of the means to an end.  I still don't like the concept, and shudder at the idea of thousands of clueless buffalo still running even when the ground has dropped out beneath their feet.  History though, as we know, is not always pretty.  I'm sure this scene was not either.  But reading about it, it's impressive how well organized it was and how members of the tribe had different jobs to make this process efficient.  Anyway, enjoy this little tour of the buffalo jump.  There's not much to see, but there's plenty to imagine.  

Proof for my parents that we did indeed find it!

After these welcome signs on the road, it's amazing we even got out of the truck.  (Truth be told, Em and I really didn't want to get out of the truck realizing there were snakes lurking around.....)

Ugh?  What kind of snake was that?!?!

Are you serious?! A rattlesnake?!

An interesting read if you enlarge the picture (double click on it).

Can you envision it, too?  Yep, still a haunting place.