WANDERING WITH THE WRIGHTS

September 21, 2021

We arrived at West Yellowstone, MT on the 12th - it has been an adventure to say the least.  This is what is called the shoulder season here at Yellowstone.  Fortunately for us not as busy as the summer months but still many visitors here(can't imagine what summer must be like-in August they had almost one million visitors - a new record).  We hadn't made reservations and knew that finding a place to camp would be a challenge - and we were right!  We actually had no trouble finding a place to park but the road in and out of the park, even in the Jeep, was a tough ride.  Not knowing it was so rough we went in with the motorhome.  At one point we considered turning around and not going to the campground but there was no where to turnaround so in we went.  It was actually a beautiful location in a national park - but that road!!  So having spoken to others and gotten some advice on another option we were up and out the door the next morning at 8:00 and traveled a short distance in the Jeep to another national park location that is a first come first serve campground.  It took 3 hours of driving around, waiting for people to leave, but we finally snagged a site and it had electric hook-up so we were thrilled.  Went back, got the coach, tackled the awful road again and made it to our new location and have been here for over a week.  It is not only beautiful in here but huge sites with many trees so hardly ever see anyone else.  It is only a few miles to the west entrance to Yellowstone and we spent 4 wonderful days in the park - weather, although a little windy the last day was perfect.

Here we are tucked into our site

The Jeep was filthy after going on the washed out road

She quickly got a bath

Next morning we were anxious to get into the park and once we got downtown this is what we saw 

Every road from the city of West Yellowstone was packed with cars trying to get into line to enter the park!!  Still don't know why it was so bad that morning as after that we just drove in every morning.  We didn't want to sit and wait so turned around and drove to a former earthquake site we had heard about.  The visitor center was closed for the season but everything was well marked and it was easy to see where the earthquake had happened.

Huge boulders were sitting in carious locations

This is a side of a mountain that came crashing down.  The 1959 earthquake actually caused Hebgen Lake to tilt.  

The next morning we once again headed to Yellowstone and the next four days in the park did not disappoint

In less than a half an hour we saw the following

From then on it was almost sensory overload: the sights, sounds, smells were amazing and around every corner was something new and different.

Silex Spring - which had steam rising from it

In this, Fountain Paint Pots, the mud was boiling and bubbling

Signs like this warning people to be careful and stay on the boardwalks

We had front row seats to see Old Faithful

We visited the  Old Faithful Inn built in 1904.  It was built with local materials.  The pine was cut just a mile from the Inn and the 500 tons of rock for the fireplace was quarried just 5 miles away.  All of that and the first 140 rooms were built in just 13 months.  It is really a beautiful building.

Just an assortment of photos

Travertine 

Everyone needs to find a little shade once in awhile

The colors were amazing

Teddy wanted to get out and play

Beginning to see signs of fall

Lots of fly fishermen

This was a real treat to see - Great Fountain Geyser - it only goes off twice a day and is not near as predictable as Old Faithful.  

When we arrived at 1:30 the sign said it would erupt between 12:30 to 4:30.  We only had to wait about an hour.  You will notice that as the pictures progress you can see more and more boiling along the outsides of the geyser until she finally erupts.  It would boil, then calm down, then boil, then come down - lots of anticipation - it was fun

No boiling around the sides

Boiling starting

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Which came first the rock or the tree?

When you don't want to leave your pet parrot at home alone you just bring him along

Yellowstone Inn

The Grand Cannon of Yellowstone

I know the pictures seem random and things aren't together but that is how the park is - 

new things around every corner.

So after 4 wonderful days at Yellowstone the plan was to leave last Saturday morning for the Grand Tetons.  We heard that questionable weather was moving in over the weekend so we just decided to stay put and let the storm pass.  Saturday morning we unexpectedly got the opportunity to go to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival and crew for one of the pilots later this month!  We jumped at it as we had registered for it 3 years ago but had to cancel due to a death in the family.  We still had time to do the Tetons before heading out so all was going according to plan - LOL - you know how that works out!

So long story short the campground we were staying in at the Tetons, in a National Forest, was closed due to the tragic death of someone.  We were having trouble finding another campground and on Sunday when we had to make a final decision the road was closed, because of snow, that we were to take to the Tetons - so we decided God wasn't in favor of our plan so we skipped the Tetons and are now in Salt Lake City before heading to Albuquerque.  

There really was snow

These were the snow capped mountains we saw as we drove out of Yellowstone.

Can't believe how much we have been blessed to do and see since we left Illinois mid-August.