Good Morning U S and A!


Advertisement
Published: May 28th 2011
Edit Blog Post

It's been a few days now since last updating our status on the road here so we'll give you a quick insight into our last 96 hours.
Yellowstone was a blast, albeit with massive cold nights which saw us totally unprepared for the weather in Dora. Driving into Yellowstone the first day the heavens opened up to us and presented us with blue sky- A relief considering the weather forecast of rain all week, luckily we decided to keep going as we were about to opt for a different route.
The park didn't appear to our idea of what it would be like at first, but further driving saw an array of wildlife everywhere. There were baby Bears, Elk, and Bison all coming out from hibernating from winter and we were kind of glad we came at the time of year we did.
The Geysers were scattered throughout the entire park and you really have to be careful not to wander off the track as there is a chance that the Earth's crust is brittle and thin right where a Geyser or hot spring is. The Steam and H2S put off by the openings in the Earth is one thing you have to see before you make your happy exit off this planet. Really cool.
Oh yeah....we got overpriced Bear spray FINALLY at the information center...should be a bit more effective than just the bear bells, so we went walkabout on some beaten trails to get a better looks of the major Geyser sections and mountainous regions. It was a bit of a hike up the mountain, no match for Bryce who of course flew up it, and once at the top we could see the entire park, as well as a migrating group of Elk and Caribou wandering together through the park, totally unaware of us. That's the best part of seeing wildlife in their natural habitat, is when they don't know of human presence.
We have taken a tonne of pictures already by the way, we are both as bad as each other- but you know what they say, have to take a million for that one million dollar picture.
After the hike we went further up to ''Old Faithful' The most famous Geyser in the park. This of course is not the most interesting one, however it is faithful in the fact that every 30 minutes or so it erupts a mass of water from the Earth. It is very touristy there, as we imagined it would be, but a pretty cool sight to see as well, and a must if you are in Yellowstone. We read at another Geyser site (They are all well signed and provide you with details and information about certain sites) that at any time, tectonic plates and minor earthquakes can make Old Faithful and other regular Geysers fail to keep regular patterns...it'd be funny if it happened at Old Faithful after the millions they have spent with their tourist shops and classy seating around that particular Geyser. It's also funny to watch ignorant and non-English speaking tourists look at the boiling water running across the ground with signs saying dangerous may scald you in 10 languages and continue to put their fingers into the water. There is always one.
Our campsite was pure gold with the welcoming committee of a lady and man who had a southern twang and terrible dress sense (We are talking rainbow belts here) but were friendly as anything- just don't even think about not stopping at their stop sign on their one way road *Cough* bryce *cough*
The last night there was bone chilling, not even the army issue sleeping bag we picked up for $8.50 could save us. Not even a decent hours sleep. Oh and it snowed...a lot.
In the morning packing up, water was frozen and so were we. My feet were so cold I thought they weren't even there, and driving through the mountain we began to realize why- a full dumping of snow which would've amounted to a foot or so of the white stuff. A little piece of Canada on our new winter tires (Lucky when we got the car they were already on there).
We also had to wait half an hour just for them to clear a snow block which was just wonderful, at first we thought it was just some Bison or Bear on the road- tourists go crazy for this and can hold up traffic for 40 minutes or more, as we had experienced previously in Yellowstone.
Once out of the park we hit prairie land for a while, and there is a tonne of it in both Montana and Wyoming.
After hours of driving and small town after small town, we stopped in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
It's definitely not a one horse town like some previous towns, which is good thanks to the 24 hour Walmart we found. So happy to see that sign and the parking lots filled with RV's. Home for a night.
We went in and got some groceries and experienced our first night at a Walmart parking lot.
Oh and we got gas too....oh my god! I have NEVER and i mean never seen so many obese before. This one woman proceeded to fill her 2Lt pop cup...I was in a trance watching her fill up, Bryce had to tug me away and tell me to stop looking. But it was a train wreck. We both watched from the aisle adjacent.
As we pay at the counter for Bryce's coffee, there is a man buying a full sack of fried chicken, and a huge tattooed man asking about purchasing a family sized pizza, well this man belongs to the 2Lt pop women just a few meters away. Happy couple...happy diabetes day. Welcome to America, where common sense flies out the window and smaller portions will burn a hole in your pocket while super sizing will save you plenty.
Well we are off to Arches National park today, approximately 5 hours and 400km away, with our newly purchased mountain bikes strapped to the back of Dora for biking adventures through the Moab Desert.
Time for some Great big sea and piping tunes to get us there in style.
Till next time,
All our love-
Bryce and Tarryn. xo




Additional photos below
Photos: 88, Displayed: 26


Advertisement



Tot: 0.071s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0436s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb