We pulled into Cody and we were staying at the Holiday Inn right in 'downtown' Cody. Starting in Custer - the atmosphere has been 'flavored' by the high number of bikers heading to Sturgis SD for the Sturgis Bike Rally that draws 800K people to the area. Cody was no exception with a high volume of bikers. My original plan was to take the plan to the Cody rodeo but I sensed my troops were getting a bit weary of my fill every minute agenda. This ability to feel the breaking point coming on is why they call me the Road Trip Whisperer. So we spent a lazy evening walking around Cody.
It is a pretty quick and easy from Cody to the East entrance of Yellowstone. That is, for people who are interested in quick and easy. Everybody knows the shortest distance between two points is through Montana.
Luckily the rest of the family did not realize that that we were taking the 'scenic route' until it was too late. I do highly recommend taking the Beartooth Highway if you are anywhere near this area of the country. My good buddy Charles Kuralt called it "the most beautiful drive in America". It is only open in the Summer due to the high snowfall that makes it impassable. It allowed for some spectacular views and allowed us to have a rare snowball fight in August.
After the drive we came to Cooke City in Montana and had lunch at the Prospector. Cooke City is the gateway to the Northeast entrance to Yellowstone. I thought it had a nice Western outpost feel to the town.
The Northeast entrance to the park takes you through the Lamar Valley - an area known for good animal sightings. Not soon after entering the park - we saw a group of cars clustered by the side of the road. We joined the throng and strained to determine what everybody was looking at across the valley. We quickly learned two things: 1. People were looking at a Grizzly snacking on a Buffalo carcass and 2. We needed much stronger binoculars. I am not sure where we acquired the binoculars but based upon their effectiveness it was likely in a box of Captain Crunch. Both Kelsey and Jake were offered views through higher powered scopes but Karen and I were reduced to squinting at a dark shape on the horizon.
In contrast to our far encounter of a Grizzly - we got many close encounters with Buffalo. Any disappointment of not getting close to Buffalo in Custer was quickly erased by multiple encounters during our stay in Yellowstone (the picture below is out our back window). Outside of the many bison- we saw quite a few deer and a Moose. However a closer bear encounter eluded us our stay in Yellowstone.
We spent two nights in a Western Cabin in the Canyon area of the park. The accommodations exceeded our expectations and was very clean an comfortable. It had an added benefit of now TV and no Wifi. We could walk up to the Canyon village that had a restaurant, cafeteria and deli. The best part was the location - just steps away from a path to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I got up my first morning and walked to this area and was the only soul at the vista points. As you can see from the pictures - it has fantastic views.
After dragging the family along to see the various vista points along the canyon - we headed down to Yellowstone Lake to check out that area. It was a gorgeous lake and a bit weird to see such a big lake with no boat traffic or development around the lake. The lake is so cold year round - you don't see anybody swimming. We had dinner at a place with nice views of the lake (this picture does not do it justice).
We also went to see many of the thermal features of the park. The kids were not very excited about many of these due to the sulfur that is being spewed into the air.
Our final stop before we exited Yellowstone for Jackson WY - was Old Faithful. Of course we pulled in right after it had gone off - so we had to wait about 90 minutes for the next eruption. In addition to Old Faithful - we also got to see another geyser erupt during our stay in the area.
Overall we had a great Yellowstone experience. Although I had read about it - I was surprised at the beauty of the Grand Canyon area. I also worried about the summer crowds - as we were visiting during the peak time. We had zero problems with crowds or traffic. The only traffic issues occurred when there were bison in the road and that was enjoyable. The only thing that would have made it a perfect 10 would have been a closer encounter with a bear.
Next stop Jackson WY - a relatively short trip due South of Yellowstone.
1 comment:
Great story about Yellowstone.....sounds like fun. Not doing the rodeo gives us a chance to take the kids to the Mobridge SD rodeo some 4th of July.
love and blessings,
papaolen o nancy
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