Bison and Geysers and Campers, Oh My!

Yellowstone National Park is now in our rear-view mirror and in our memory as, for the most part, a very enjoyable interlude.  We especially liked being able to drive in and out of the park for FREE with our Lifetime Senior Pass.  It’s $25 a car for everyone else, so our $10 investment has certainly paid for itself.

The park itself was gorgeous, although quite different than either of us  remembered during previous visits as preteens (yeah, a long time ago!).  We saw quite a bit of wild life, including bison, elk, prong horn antelope, white tail deer, moose, bald eagles, swans, geese and chipmunks.  We did not see any bear although they were quite prevalent last time.  I’d like to think it is just the wrong time of year for them, but I fear their numbers are simply far less than they were in the 1950’s.  The geysers and steam pots (or “fumaroles” as they are called””) were very active and the cold temperatures (19-degrees overnight) made the steam visible for long distances.  We missed Old Faithful as the road was closed for repair to a bridge, but otherwise, I’m pretty sure we saw everything.  I was not aware of the many waterfalls in the park nor that they have their own “grand canyon”.  Both were magnificent! 

If you see photos of Yellowstone they usually include a two-lane road packed with cars on the shoulder, in both lanes and people with cameras running everywhere.  It seems that the wild life is held in such esteem that it makes it OK to stop your camper/RV in the middle of a two-lane road, leap out with your camera and stand in front of on-coming traffic to take a photo.  Whatever it is that you see, everyone else wants to see as well so they do the same thing.  Wildlife, cameras and huge traffic jams all seem to go together.  But I never heard a horn honked in anger – everyone just seemed to be enjoying the experience, as did Linda and I!   In the time we had  before departing we enjoyed a great meal at the Cowboy Café in Dubois.  It seems a terrible conundrum that the animals, so revered in the park, were prevalent on the menu.  Selections such as Bison burgers, elk steaks, and moose stew  were the favorites of the tourists.

Our last day in the park was long and we decided early that we would see as much as we could during the day, then make the trek  back to the RV after night had fallen.  Seemed like a good plan at the time, but we did not anticipated the flat tire on the truck at night half-way between Jackson and Dubois – yes, that’s the middle of nowhere..  Nor had I fully studied the new truck so I did not realize that the lug nuts were “splined” and I did not have the tool to remove them.  Neither did the young tow truck driver that Triple-A sent out.  But we got the truck towed back to the camp, another local garage put on the spare the next morning and, except for  buying a new tire, that issue is also in our rear-view mirror.