Eggs, anyone?

July 5

We awoke well rested from our second night in real beds. We had to get an early start to make it to Yellowstone National Park in time to get a campsite so we packed up our stuff and went down for a pancake and sausage breakfast that was waiting. We were all excited for Yellowstone but saddened by the fact that we had to leave all the Owens behind. They had been such great hosts and we had had so much fun together. But we said our goodbyes and piled into Heidi to set off over the pass. (Resuming the Yellow car game in the process.)

Driving over the pass to Yellowstone was everything people said it would be. As we climbed higher and higher more and more snow surrounded us. (Yes, snow in July!) The road signs varied from the general “S” to a right angle to what looked like a complete “U”-turn.

We drove through Yellowstone with our minds set on finding a campsite for the night – something people had told us would be difficult in peak season. We were so worried we wouldn’t find one that we bypassed all the cars stopped along the road that were looking out for animals – it took a lot of B’s inner strength not to stop. Finally we found a spot in Norris Campgrounds, a little grove of trees that divided our site into a sleeping spot, eating spot, a living room, and a “foyer” (according to B).

After pitching our tent we decided to head out for a little hike to the nearby geysers. It was cool and rainy so we broke out the rain gear to keep us all dry. Poor B had forgotten hers so C offered her the poncho C’s dad had sent her with (having a rain jacket of her own). The poncho was a bright blue and yellow and gigantic. K said B looked like a mama bluebird and that K was a baby bluebird (since her rain jacket was a bright blue as well). Lucky for B it wasn’t too rainy so she was only subjected to the blue monster for a few minutes.

Seeing the geysers was incredible. As we emerged from the pine trees that surrounded our hiking trail we could see steam rising up in the distance. We were met with the sight of what appeared to be a barren wasteland that smelled strongly of sulfur – so pungent that we coined the term “Earth farts”. There were dozens of holes in the ground that gurgled and spewed water and steam. The water that collected near the vents was an impossible blue-turquoise. The ranger said this was because water absorbs all the colors of light except blue. Each geyser was named something that related to a unique characteristic of the geyser: there was “Pork Chop” Geyser – shaped like a pork chop, “Pearl” Geyser – which had a milky sheen to its surface, and “Minute” Geyser – which used to erupt every 60 seconds. “Used to” is the sad part of our observations here at Yellowstone so far. The behavior of our fellow visitors (past ones included) was something that really frustrated us. In Minute Geyser’s case, visitors who threw rocks and debris into its spout caused irreversible damage that now prevents the geyser from erupting at all. We couldn’t believe that people could be so thoughtless towards such delicate natural wonders.

As we hiked back out of the Geyser Basin we collected “walking-sticks” which we were going to use as firewood. B looked like Gandalf the Bright Blue as she had the giant poncho hanging from her backpack.

It was a very cold night so our resident pyro B built up a nice fire and we decided to roast S’mores after dinner. This proved a bit of a hassle at first due to a lack of quality S’more sticks. B even went so far as to offer a rusty wire she had found. K & C rejected it on sight. We discovered the secret to the perfect S’more: melt the chocolate on a graham cracker before adding a melted marshmallow. Soooo good. We decided it was too cold to be outside so we retreated to our tent to work on crosswords and blogs. To our surprise and amusement (and later annoyance) our neighbor was already fast asleep (at 9pm) and using the little known bear scaring technique of snoring incredibly loud. As we drifted off to sleep the rain started pouring down and all we could think about was the warm beds we had left behind in Red Lodge (and the wonderful people!). It was going to be a long night.

Mileage to date:

States visited: Montana, Wyoming

Yellow car count:

C – 73

B – 75

K – 69

Highs and Lows:

Group High – Geysers!

Group Low – Leaving behind Red Lodge’s warm beds.

C High – Super warm sleeping bag that works in -20.

C Low – Saying goodbye to the Owens.

B High – “Stealing” firewood.

B Low – Poncho

K High – Poncho & Geysers.

K Low – Cold & Mr. Snores-a-lot.