Gateway to Heaven on Earth

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Geo: 45.0319, -110.705

Weather: High 80s and blue skies. Perfect weather from sunrise to sunset. 
 Location: Gardiner, MT/ Yellowstone
 Highlights: Yellowstone and all its glory
 Lowlights: Not seeing a moose or bear
 #of Swearwords: Many under breath out of fear of death
 People we met: No one
 Activities: 10 hours in Yellowstone
 Hotel: Cowboy Cabins (awesome!)
 Helpful hint: Start out early because it is a good hour and a half with no stops or delays to Old Faithful. Plan to stay in Old Faithful for an hour in case you miss the blow (its 90-120 minutes between blows). if you are afraid of heights and sailing off a cliff, beware of the east upper loop. 
 Restaurants: 

We woke up to a gorgeous Montana morning. Had our breakfast and began our Yellowstone journey. Our plan was to drive down to Old Faithful at the bottom of the lower loop, about an hour and a half without stops or traffic jams. We made many stops along the way. You can't help it. This is the most beautiful and diverse place we've ever been. Every turn is different.  Every geological landscape and habitat you can imagine. Rolling hills, mountains, flatland, exploded rock lining the sides of the road, fields littered with rock left by glaciers and so much more. There are boiling rivers. There are pools of water with colors so vivid that are being created by the bacteria living in it, each in its own temperature layer. Your brain can't comprehend this place's majesty and mystery. And the fact that we are willing to spend a week on an active super volcano that is bubbling and brewing and melting roads (literally) as we speak. Craaaazzzy. 

One of the stops was ???. Imagine a nuclear bomb decimating everything leaving boiling pots of steaming water that are the most beautiful things you've ever seen. It was truly like walking through the remains of the end of civilization. We walked along boardwalks trying to wrap our brains around why we think it is so beautiful when its really so catastrophic. The kids were in awe as well but with a different understanding and knowledge base. They loved giggling at the smell of boiled eggs and the belching and spewing pools. We all shook our heads at the tourists who choose to not only walk on an active volcano but also disobey signs and climb off of the walkways or touch the boiling waters. People have died doing these things.

We jumped out multiple times to take pictures, go potty or see a site. We stopped at another spot called Artist Pots. We walked a long way through pine trees (felt like we were Christmas tree hunting) to another hot springs spot. Didn't look any more thrilling than the last 3 we saw. There were stairs meandering up the mountainside to give you a better look. We apprehensively headed up hoping it wasn't a wasted trip. Two young men were heading down so I asked them if it was worth it. We got a unanimous "NO". They gave us an Old Faithful time update. With a tiring 8 year old in tow, we turned on our heels and headed back out. On to Old Faithful.

We had a steady drive until we got to a construction area. We were stopped for 15 minutes which wasn't that bad. It gave us a chance to scan the landscape for animals. It felt like the scene in Jurassic Park where the cars stopped and they were looking for dinosaurs. We didn't see dinosaurs or animals. On we went arriving at Old Faithful one hour before the next blow. We planned it so we had our picnic lunch there while we waited. It took us 5 1/2 hours to get there. Cool thing to see. Lots of people. Nothing terribly exciting but you have to see it. 

Let's do a time check. It took us 5 1/2 hours to drive there. Guess how long it takes to get back. The drive back the East side of the lower and upper loop is, well, terrifying. You are cliff driving at least 2/3 of the way. It was amazingly beautiful and unbelievably scary.You are on the precipice of the world. If you lose your breaks, you are done for. We hadn't seen any significant animals at this point but there alone in a field near the road was a lone buffalo. We stopped snapped some pictures and moseyed on to find a huge traffic jam because there was 41 buffalo in a field near the road grazing and wallowing in the mud and river. So cool. Everyone was out of their cars. Including the stupids who want a picture up close with the buffalo. A guide told us they've had people try to put their children on the buffalo. What?! Though, a couple of days into the trip, I might have made that look like a fun thing to do. 

By the way, the kids have made a turn around since the melt down. They have been great. There are brief moments which are expected. 

Our visit to Yellowstone took us 10 hours. It was a nice 10 hours other than the hairy cliff drive (or the wine drive). I have no idea how the trucks and motorcycles do it. We had a great day. We came home and had a chicken dinner (everyone is so relieved to not eat out). We sat out on the porch watching the sun go down. 

 The mountains we face fade into black as the sky turns pink then white as it contrasts with the dark mountains. It almost looks like the sky is torn paper. Like someone tore the sky in a jagged line revealing a black abyss below. Then the contrast disappears into total blackness with stars popping up like some took a needle and poked holes in the heavens. 

We also have our morning and evening guests which have become fairly mundane now. A family of elk wander through our property and down into other properties every day. One layed down next to our cabin while we were all on the porch. Pretty neat. 

I will post a picture of our view from the porch. I am scrambling to catch up as we are leaving Gardiner today but I am two days behind. I will probably post day 2 in Yellowstone today as well. Hope you are enjoying if anyone is reading. I have to write these anyway as a memory for the family as it will be turned into a book when we are done. 

Happy trails.

 

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Comments

[Kara]

I love it!