After a quiet morning in the trailer, and a shower, I went to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Not quite as crowded as Old Faithful yesterday, but finding a parking space or an unoccupied toilet both presented similar challenges. I did a fair bit of walking though not as much as yesterday. My legs were tired and sore this morning.
I have seen a good assortment of wildlife while here, bison, elk, an Osprey, a Blue Heron, Pelicans, and Wyoming’s state bird, the mosquito. Huge bugs with a body about 3/8” in length, and swarms of them. Fortunately they take a few seconds to bite after they land, so there’s a chance to swat them before they bite, instead of after. Fortunately they don’t like the Off! insect repellent I use so I have gotten only one bite.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is quite spectacular, and very popular.
Yellowstone Falls
Today’s tourists were even stupider than yesterday’s. Every time there was a bison near the road, all traffic had to come to a crawl, even if there was an adjoining parking lot. A Grizzly Bear crossing a meadow attracted a couple of hundred cars, including a Ranger and an Ambulance!
Along the way, I stopped to photograph an interesting meander formed by a creek flowing through a meadow.
Meandering River
I was considering leaving by the south exit through the Tetons and staying a night at Jackson, but I think I’ll go out the west exit and drop down through Idaho Falls on my way to Salt Lake City and I-80 and the road home. I still might be a day late getting home. From here to Ogden UT in one day is not very doable in my book.
I’ll ingest the images from today and see what I got, some keepers I hope, then I’ll go back to the Lake Village Lodge cafeteria for dinner. It was good and reasonably priced the first time I ate there, I’ll try it again. And I’m tired of cooking in the trailer.
A weird occurrence at the Lake Lodge cafeteria. I ordered the small portion of Prime Rib. I watched her cut it and trim it to weight. When the manager asked me what gravy, he seemed surprised that I wanted Au Jus. When I got my tray to my table and uncovered the plate, it was the large portion of Turkey breast! It was nicely done and very tender and moist, but it wasn’t prime rib. Oh well, if I had paid more attention, I would have noticed the switch. I imagine the guy in front of me was surprised by his prime rib instead of turkey ;-)
As I was leaving for the Lake Lodge, I saw a vintage bread loaf trailer going the other way. I haven’t seen a hand full on this entire trip. On the return from dinner, there was a crowd alongside the road. I saw a grizzly bear moving off up the meadow. So I got my bear, as far away as was. So today, I saw grizzly bear, bison, elk, Canada Geese, White Pelicans, and stupid tourists by the score.
Well, this certainly has been the trip of a lifetime. And I plan to go on others, all things permitting. Based on the kind of weather I’ve experienced this year, I’m certainly not likely to go back to the teardrop for long trips. If I keep the teardrop, I might use it for 3-day mid-week trips to places like Napa Bothe and Lopez Lake, just for the attention it attracts. But the Lo-Liner is much more comfortable, with a warm dry place to retreat to when the weather turns bad. Like at Waterton Lakes. I can’t imagine having to live outdoors in 39ºF weather.
Yellowstone is the final “destination” on the trip, everything after I pull out of here tomorrow is just getting home, and that will be a series of one-nighters that come up as I get tired of driving. I hope I can find someplace with reliable wireless so I can catch up on email.