This trip has been amazing so far.
The things we have seen and done in the last 14 days have been so memorable.
Today was a little of a bummer though. The Kerr’s had to pack up and leave
Yellowstone this morning to continue their explorations of the West. They are
going to do the big loop that includes many of the national parks of the West.
Happy and safe travels you guys; we will miss you L
We planned to start the day a
little later today because we were going to stay out exploring the park late
tonight in the hopes of seeing some of the wildlife we haven’t seen yet (Read:
wolves & bears). In the parent meeting it was decided that today was less
sight about seeing and more about relaxing and water play. So, we took off for
the river area in section called Fountain Flats. It’s on the West side of the
park just North of Old Faithful. The original plan was to picnic at Firehole
Canyon. But, best laid plans can be thwarted by raging water through the canyon
rocks. We were kind of hoping for a swimming hole as well as a picnic area, but
the signs were clear and we weren’t about to break the rules. Off we went in
search of another suitable swimming/picnicking location. And that’s how we
ended up at Fountain Flats. The name even sounds safe.
It is not a very large picnicking
area and therefore parking can be at a premium, but we were able to find spots
for all 5 cars. We unloaded all the food (remember each family is responsible
for their own lunches) and commandeered 3 picnic tables. The kids jumped
immediately into the river which was only knee deep. Today the river was a bit
colder than yesterday, but it didn’t slow down the kids. It’s just amazing how
powerful a draw water has for kids. Meanwhile, the parents started putting
together the lunches. The kids came out of the water just long enough to scarf
down their lunches and then off they went to play. As we were cleaning up, I
looked up and saw an enormous Bison about 100 yards up river on the other side
looking at us. We felt a certain sense of security being across the river from
the great beast, but we were still very aware. The kids were called out of the
water and positioned at a very safe distance from the big boy. Stewart, Jim and
I decided to try to get a little closer and capture a candid shot of him eating
and drinking along the river bank. It’s so neat being this close to the animals
in this great park. Anyway, we decided that cleaning up lunch in case we needed
to make a fast get away was the prudent thing to do at this point. Eventually,
Mr. Bison decided to head in the opposite direction from us and he terrorized
the tourists on the same side of the river as him. He galloped up into the
parking lot sending people scrambling into and behind the cars. He made his way
past them into the meadows on the other side of the road. I think he finds
humor in making tourists run. I’m sure there’s a good Far Side comic for this
event.
While the kids played, Suzy took
Ben up stream to do some fly fishing and Shannon, Jim, Alexia and I headed back
to Old Faithful to get the cars gassed up. While there the three of us girls decided
to take advantage of the limited amount of connectivity available. We all
checked emails and I was able to post yesterday’s blog. I tried to pay bills,
but that just wasn’t in the cards today. If I can’t get enough of a connection
here I’ll just wait for the first night after camping. I think we’ll be finding
a hotel in Moab. Evidently it gets a tad bit warm there!
After we finished our business at
O.F. we went back to the Bison watering hole, I mean the river to pick up the
families. When we arrived we found out that Stewart was almost arrested!
Apparently while he and the kids were playing in the river he decided to
rearrange some rocks that were previously arranged to make a damn. The idea
behind this was to have a water shoot for the kids to slide through. Well,
evidently this is not acceptable behavior in Yellowstone Park. The Rangers were
called in and they arrived on the scene with flashing lights and guns drawn.
OK, maybe not the guns drawn, but the ticket pad & pan were at the ready.
The ranger tersely explained why this was unacceptable and Stewart had all the
kids throw the rocks back into the water in random fashion. That was
acceptable. It was a close call for Stewart, but fortunately he is still
allowed to stay in the park. When Alexia, Shannon and I returned the kids were
done playing in the water and it the day was moving on towards 5pm so we packed
up and took off for the picnic site which we had previously decided would be
good for dinner. It was a little North of where we were and wasn’t going to
take more than 15-20 minutes to get there. Once again, all good plans are meant
to be altered.
We stopped to see the waterfall at
Firehole Canyon which was spectacular in it’s own way and while we were there 2
ambulances and 3 police cars went screaming by the parking lot. Uh oh,
something bad happened. We were just deciding what to do when a person told us
that there was a head on collision just up ahead and the road was being shut
down. It was a bad one because as we were driving in the opposite direction a
fire truck and rescue vehicle were also heading to the scene. It’s not hard to
imagine how the accident occurred. People are driving and looking around either
at the scenery of for wildlife. It doesn’t help that they are trying to take
pictures while driving. I’ve been fortunate to share the driving with Sharon
and Mark throughout the trip. This way I spend some time looking and other
times driving.
So, dinner was at a nice little
picnic area just off the main road. The best part is that it actually has flush
toilets and hot water! Have I mentioned that most of the bathrooms in the park
are pit toilets with either purel or just freezing cold water to wash up with
after?!?! For those who don’t know what a pit toilet is, just imagine a
port-a-potty that goes down into the earth rather than into a big blue box. It
is much deeper (so there’s no splash), but just as smelly. Anyway, tonight was
Jim (aka Flapjack) & Terri’s (aka baconater) night to cook and they were
making breakfast for dinner! We had blueberry pancakes, bacon, sausage and eggs
and you couldn’t have had a group of happier people. The kids had space to
start up a small soccer game while the parents prepared for dinner, beverages
included. Tonight’s selection of beverages had a little bit of the local theme
sprinkled in with the old reliable Budweiser. We added Flat Tire (amber ale)
and Moose Drool (Brown Ale) to the selection. You know me, always happy to
support the local guy! I have to say, anyone who thinks beer doesn’t go well
with breakfast has not tried it!!!!
While we were cleaning up from
dinner Mark, Jim & Stewart decided to take advantage of the hot water
situation and headed over to the bathrooms for a quick shave. They took a few
of the little guys with them for potty time. The rest of the kids were sitting
at a picnic table between the bathrooms and the cook area and the rest of the
adults were milling around the cook area doing various tasks related to the
clean up. Suddenly, Shannon yells “look, Bison” and there in the parking lot
was a gigantic Bison heading our way. So, it was a mad scramble to get the kids
at the picnic table up the hill and to the cars safely. Then we realized Cole was
standing outside the bathroom pointing at the Bison. Suzi made a quick dash
over to Cole to make sure he was a safe distance from the creature. Meanwhile,
Mark, Jim & Stewart were so busy shaving they had no idea all this was
going on in the site. Thankfully, the Bison started moving towards the picnic
area and away from the bathrooms. He didn’t seem to mind the commotion. He just
went on grazing, but his grazing took him right through the area where we just
had dinner. There is no better way to get people moving than add an 800+ pound
Bison to your picnic. So far, we have had wildlife attend 3 of our meals. At
least it’s not the bears. Mark’s summary of the dinner, “It was a close shave
with the Bison!”
After dinner, we decided to take a
long, scenic route back to the campsite in hopes to see some of these evasive
critters. It will be a bit disappointing if we don’t get to see any bears in
the wild. So far, not luck though. We stopped a number of times where groups of
people were collected. There were bear sightings by the people who arrived
before us, but it was too far in the distance for us to actually get a
legitimate view. Unlike us, these people on the hills are very prepared with
their high powered binoculars and cameras. Our equipment just doesn’t cover the
distance required. I don’t think we can afford equipment like that. The kids
managed to entertain themselves while the adults looked for bear. They
organized a rousting game of red rover at the top of a hill. As you can
imagine, it wasn’t very quiet and the group of bear viewers near us moved
farther away from our viewing spot. I think people have been thinking that this
big group is a commune of some sort. Now
it’s really dark and bear sightings will be minimal. Oh well, guess we wait and
try again tomorrow. We did, however, see a coyote along the side of the road on
the way back doing his business. We couldn’t stop to take a picture because
there wasn’t a safe place to pull off the road.
Back at camp now. It’s 10pm and
time for bed. Big hike tomorrow.
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