Back in touch from Cody, Wyoming
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2007
1
10
14
Trip End
Jul 29, 2007
Cody,
Wyoming,
United States
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The last time I "talked" to you we were about to enter Yellowstone Park. That was several days ago and a lot has happened, but the park has no internet access so I've been unable to post here.
We saw Old Faithful and several other geysers. We saw bear, elk, bison, ground squirrels(which they call 'Whistle Pigs'), we saw Ospreys, Golden Eagles, coyotes, chipmunks and assorted other animals. That's the short of it.
The last post I made here, I believe, was on Friday night, but being after midnight it went out as 7/21. On Saturday morning, 7/21, waking up in Jackson, Wy., I got up and left the hotel early to go and get gas because as far as I knew, mine was the only one of the three that needed it and I didn't want to hold up the caravan
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. After I did that, though, I went on downtown to take some pictures that I hadn't had the opportunity to take. There again, not to hold up the progress of the group.I found a great little 'farmer's market' was set up on the town square. I bought some Ranier Cherries, some fresh raspberries, and some Bison Bratwursts. There were also cheeses and jams and jellies and other food products and fresh fruits and veggies. As I headed back to the hotel, I also ran across a crafts fair that had apparently been going since the day before, but wasn't scheduled to open 'till 10am.
Back to the hotel, breakfast, then the trip to Yellowstone. Lots of beautiful scenery and photo ops. After getting there in the late afternoon, we went to see Old Faithful (it's a law) and just missed it. It had just gone off and there were people streaming out of the area and the next 'blow' would be in about an hour and a half. We saw some other geysers and occupied ourselves till the next viewing of Old Faithful. The kids loved it.
Since we were nowhere near the hotel which we had booked for the next two nights, which was Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge, we decided to eat at a restaurant on the park premesis
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. It was during this dinner that we began to realize just how hot it was in the restaurant, and I'm looking around and there were some tiny vent windows open at the top of the room, but no fans, and apparently no air conditioning. This building, we found out, was built in 1998. Hamburgers were $14. We then went on to the hotel and didn't arrive there untill about 10pm. and settled in quickly. More detail about the hotel to come. The next morning we were wakened by the sound through the open window of bleating elk! I got up and looked out the window and there were about 20-25 elk on the lawn of the hotel. Cows and calves, mostly. Some of the calves were cavorting, rearing, playing around, and the sounds we had heard were the sounds of a mother scolding her children. There were several people out taking photos, and several cars stopping on their way leaving the hotel for the day. It seemed, by the behaviour of the elk, that this was not the first visit, maybe even a daily occurance. I took some poor photos through the screen, then ended up outside for some better shots.
On this morning we aimed to be at another "Ranger Talk", partly so that the boys could get their Junior Ranger credentials from this park. His talk was about the bears in the park and their conservation, re-population, and what to do if you encounter a bear in the wild
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. All very interesting. Then we went into the building and watched a movie about the history of the park.I was able to find out that Yellowstone is and was the very first National Park. After the area was explored, by a person whose name I can't recall right now, his reports of the geysers and some other 'unbelievable' features resulted in his observations not being taken seriously! Several others then reported similarly and finally the area was given the attention it deserved. Then there was a period of time when lots of men invaded the area just to exploit the animal and mineral resources. So eventually, the army moved in to establish order and Fort Yellowstone was created. One of these buildings on the fort became the hotel we stayed in. Also, the Army Corps of Engineers built the fort, a hydro-electric plant, and 400 miles of roads. This road system was the first in the country to be built as a unit, all to the same standards, and was regarded as a major accomplishment in the country at that time.
Yellowstone Park itself is in a caldera. This area used to be a mountain, which became a volcano, which blew, which collapsed into itself and created a caldera, which is the park. So, millions of visitors per year, whether they know it or not, are in a volcano
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. Too cool! There also is a crater within a crater, which is Yellowstone Lake.The hotel, as I've said, was on the campus of "Fort Yellowstone" and apparently they are VERY interested in preservation, to the extent that there is no cell phone service in the whole park area, no internet access, no TV, no shower in our room, and no air conditioning. Even outside of our hotel, there was only one building we visited that had any air conditioning at all and it was inefficient.
As a tourist, we can expect to encounter different circumstances than we are used to when we travel. We did, however, express to several of the clerks and employees we encountered our concern about the lack of air conditioning anywhere in the park, and one person told 'us' that due to "Historical Preservation" regulations, they were not allowed to modify the buildings to allow for the installation of such systems. Yet, the building I refferred to earlier, which was built in 1998 was also not built with air conditioning. ?????? The park employs hundreds of people, all of whom must work in these conditions day in and day out. I feel bad for them. It's kind of ironic to tour the geysers and the wilderness areas, go into a gift shop or a restaurant, sit down to enjoy a meal and get hit with a wall of heat which is worse than that outside
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!OK, so for the continuity of the time-line, Sunday and Monday were spent in Yellowstone and Monday afternoon we moved on to Cody, Wyoming, where we arrived late afternoon yesterday. Checked into our hotel, went swimming in a very unusual pool/hot tub that were both lined with stainless steel! Maybe I just don't get around enough, but I've never seen this before. Unusual but very cool. Then we went to Cody Night Rodeo. That was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time. Set against the mountains in an outdoor arena, it runs nightly during the summer. The last event was the bull-riding, and the kids all were looking forward to that. I wish I could have seen an 'instant-replay' of some of those rides. No stretchers were involved, but you could tell there were some deffinite injuries.
It was too late last night to even think of posting here, so given that John and his children had to be at the airport this morning to fly home to New Jersey, we have some lag time this morning and I got started early on this. I will now go into the photo posting process and hope that I don't hold up the plans of the group here. Today we plan to go down the road and vist the "Buffalo Bill Cody" museum, then on to Sheridan, Wy. where we will stay tonight.
Stay tuned,
Quinn
Comments
WOW!
That was very cool. I try to imagine myself taking almost a month to visit our country and I think I would absolutely LOVE IT!! I was trying to find that ski jump online to see more pictures. I couldn't find it. What was the name of the ski jump where the people were landing inthe water. I thought was just the neatest AND TO LOOK IN THE BACKGROUND AND SEE NOTHIHG BUT ROCKS...YOU WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!! Anyways, looking forward to the next entry! Love to all! Tab