August 13
We took a boat cruise this morning on the yellowstone lake. It's the second highest lake in the world, and it has more thermal features than all but one lake in the world. We saw another bald eagle today, but that was the extent of our wildlife sightings. They tell a neat story about one of the islands in the middle of the lake. One summer they had two bison on the island in the middle of the lake. They got there during the winter by travelling on the ice and they didn't make it back before the ice breakup in May. Would have been strange to see two bison on a small island in the middle of the lake. After the boat cruise we went to an area of the park where there are 50 or so bubbling springs and mud holes. Some of them have bright orange and yellow parts. The temperature of the springs range from 100 - 200 degrees.
Levi, Seth, and Sheri took a ranger hike that was supposed to cover a mile, but it was much shorter than that. I knew Brandon couldn't do the mile so I stayed back in the RV with he and Bailey. The hike explored identification of wildlife using paw prints and scat (that is scientific for animal dung). After dinner we sat through a National Park Ranger talk about the early explorers between 1800-1810. He demonstrated a flint striking rifle and he demonstrated how to make a fire with flint and steel. The ranger talks are excellent. They have ranger led hikes, evening talks, talks at the geological features, and they manage to keep the boys attention which is always good.
Levi, Seth, and Sheri took a ranger hike that was supposed to cover a mile, but it was much shorter than that. I knew Brandon couldn't do the mile so I stayed back in the RV with he and Bailey. The hike explored identification of wildlife using paw prints and scat (that is scientific for animal dung). After dinner we sat through a National Park Ranger talk about the early explorers between 1800-1810. He demonstrated a flint striking rifle and he demonstrated how to make a fire with flint and steel. The ranger talks are excellent. They have ranger led hikes, evening talks, talks at the geological features, and they manage to keep the boys attention which is always good.
August 12, 2007
Today was a great day. We saw: an Osprey, a Bald Eagle, a thousand or so Bison, elk, deer, and a black bear with two baby cubs. The wildlife here is everything people talk about. One major blessing of the day is in regards to the fire I talked about. The fire has now spread to an area which has caused road closure of the east gate. If we would have tried to enter the park today instead of yesterday, we would have had to take a major 5 hour detour. Once again, another blessing from above. We took a stagecoach ride, which was a short 1 mile jaunt in a stagecoach. Just like in the 1880s and 1890s when they first started using stagecoaches for tourism. We actually saw a large hawk while on that ride. All in all Yellowstone is great. Someone reported a bear eating a bison visible from the road, but we weren't able to drive to that location in time. We did see a bison walking down the road exactly as a car would travel. It was in the other direction and holding up about 30 cars. I don't know how long he walked until he decided to stop following the road. The kids got quite a kick out of the bison walking in the middle of the road. Even Bailey said her high was seeing the silly buffalo in the middle of the road.
Today was a great day. We saw: an Osprey, a Bald Eagle, a thousand or so Bison, elk, deer, and a black bear with two baby cubs. The wildlife here is everything people talk about. One major blessing of the day is in regards to the fire I talked about. The fire has now spread to an area which has caused road closure of the east gate. If we would have tried to enter the park today instead of yesterday, we would have had to take a major 5 hour detour. Once again, another blessing from above. We took a stagecoach ride, which was a short 1 mile jaunt in a stagecoach. Just like in the 1880s and 1890s when they first started using stagecoaches for tourism. We actually saw a large hawk while on that ride. All in all Yellowstone is great. Someone reported a bear eating a bison visible from the road, but we weren't able to drive to that location in time. We did see a bison walking down the road exactly as a car would travel. It was in the other direction and holding up about 30 cars. I don't know how long he walked until he decided to stop following the road. The kids got quite a kick out of the bison walking in the middle of the road. Even Bailey said her high was seeing the silly buffalo in the middle of the road.
August 11, 2007-Cody to Yellowstone.
The drive to Yellowstone was only an hour and a half so we decided to see something in Cody. We picked the Old Trail Town museum, which is supposed to replicate an old western town. Inside each building were artifacts and displays. It was pretty neat, but once again, Bailey and Brandon just aren't into that stuff. After a quick Wal-Mart trip to restock, we went to the Buffalo Bill Dam, which was built from 1905 to 1910. At the time it was built it was the world's largest dam. They created it for irrigation but added power generation about 20 years later. God really blessed us at the dam. On the walk back to the RV, Brandon thought he lost his knife. So Sheri went back to the visitor center and asked around. The folks at the visitor center said, we haven't found your knife, but we have your credit card (we had made a purchase at the gift shop). As soon as Sheri returned to the RV, we found Brandon's knife in the RV. If Sheri wouldn't have walked back to the visitor center, we would have left the credit card. We felt truly blessed by God's hand at work. As we approached Yellowstone we were overwhelmed by a burning smell. It just so happened that there was a fire right near the east entrance. The Ranger said that they have about 200 fires each year in Yellowstone. Most of them started by the 10,000+ lightning strikes they get. Another cool thing: the ranger at the entrance gate grew up about 2 miles from where I grew up. It was neat to bump into someone in Wyoming that knew all about West Springfield, Va. Yellowstone is a really cool place. Just in the time we have been here (one afternoon), we have seen a herd of Bison about 10 yards from the road (including two baby Bison), a coyote running through the parking lot, and we didn't see a bear, but they told us to get all the kids in our RVs this evening because a bear had been spotted about 100 yards from our section of the RV park. Don't worry grandparents, we haven't let Bailey walk outside alone since that incident.
The drive to Yellowstone was only an hour and a half so we decided to see something in Cody. We picked the Old Trail Town museum, which is supposed to replicate an old western town. Inside each building were artifacts and displays. It was pretty neat, but once again, Bailey and Brandon just aren't into that stuff. After a quick Wal-Mart trip to restock, we went to the Buffalo Bill Dam, which was built from 1905 to 1910. At the time it was built it was the world's largest dam. They created it for irrigation but added power generation about 20 years later. God really blessed us at the dam. On the walk back to the RV, Brandon thought he lost his knife. So Sheri went back to the visitor center and asked around. The folks at the visitor center said, we haven't found your knife, but we have your credit card (we had made a purchase at the gift shop). As soon as Sheri returned to the RV, we found Brandon's knife in the RV. If Sheri wouldn't have walked back to the visitor center, we would have left the credit card. We felt truly blessed by God's hand at work. As we approached Yellowstone we were overwhelmed by a burning smell. It just so happened that there was a fire right near the east entrance. The Ranger said that they have about 200 fires each year in Yellowstone. Most of them started by the 10,000+ lightning strikes they get. Another cool thing: the ranger at the entrance gate grew up about 2 miles from where I grew up. It was neat to bump into someone in Wyoming that knew all about West Springfield, Va. Yellowstone is a really cool place. Just in the time we have been here (one afternoon), we have seen a herd of Bison about 10 yards from the road (including two baby Bison), a coyote running through the parking lot, and we didn't see a bear, but they told us to get all the kids in our RVs this evening because a bear had been spotted about 100 yards from our section of the RV park. Don't worry grandparents, we haven't let Bailey walk outside alone since that incident.
August 10, 2007 - Buffalo to Cody
Today we drove from Buffalo to Cody. The trip was only supposed to take 3 hours. However, the route went from 3000 feet to 8000 feet and back to 3000 feet. Sometimes, the RV will only go about 25 mph with the pedal to the floor up those mountains so our trip stretched out about an hour or so. I was concerned the RV would overheat, but all was well. The only problem I had was two pieces of weather stripping that came off as a result of the heavy crosswinds, an easy fix. We took a stretch break about halfway in Big Horn National Forest. We viewed a nice waterfall there and the kids were excited because the ranger gave them some Smokey the Bear water bottles. We arrived at our campground just in time for the kids to join in the craft time they had at the KOA campground. After dinner we went to the world famous Cody Rodeo, which is held each night throughout the summer. I think they had just about every Rodeo event. Seth entered the calf scramble along with 100 other kids. The goal was to pull the red ribbon off of a calf's tail. Unfortunately, the other kids beat him to it. In Wyoming, the kids don't play soccer. They ride bulls. We saw an 11 year old boy being bucked by a small bull and a 5 year old girl barrel racing. You just don't see that back in Virginia.
Today we drove from Buffalo to Cody. The trip was only supposed to take 3 hours. However, the route went from 3000 feet to 8000 feet and back to 3000 feet. Sometimes, the RV will only go about 25 mph with the pedal to the floor up those mountains so our trip stretched out about an hour or so. I was concerned the RV would overheat, but all was well. The only problem I had was two pieces of weather stripping that came off as a result of the heavy crosswinds, an easy fix. We took a stretch break about halfway in Big Horn National Forest. We viewed a nice waterfall there and the kids were excited because the ranger gave them some Smokey the Bear water bottles. We arrived at our campground just in time for the kids to join in the craft time they had at the KOA campground. After dinner we went to the world famous Cody Rodeo, which is held each night throughout the summer. I think they had just about every Rodeo event. Seth entered the calf scramble along with 100 other kids. The goal was to pull the red ribbon off of a calf's tail. Unfortunately, the other kids beat him to it. In Wyoming, the kids don't play soccer. They ride bulls. We saw an 11 year old boy being bucked by a small bull and a 5 year old girl barrel racing. You just don't see that back in Virginia.
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