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Published: February 22nd 2010
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Wolf
At the Discovery Center We got to sleep in until 7:30! Apparantly our route today takes us on a one-way road that is only open to snowmobiles after noon, so we can get a little later start. After a good breakfast, we went to our rooms to put on our layers and our boots and our suits. We had only been there a few minutes when the fire alarm went off! Rich panicked because he didn't know how he could out of the hotel quickly, half-dressed and with his oxygen tank. I called the front desk and they said, "Oh, it's just a test." Nice of them to warn us! Parts of the hotel were being renovated. You know, everyone looked the same in their snowmobile suits and it was hard to tell who was male and who was female by the way they walked because we were all so clunky - except for Carol. She managed to walk like a lady anyway.
Our first stop was the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, a few blocks away. They had two wolf packs and two bears in habitats. For various reasons, the animals could not be released into the wild, so they were on display for
people to learn about them. We stayed at the wolf area for quite a while because they were "enriching" their habitat to try to make the wolves react to their environment in a more natural way. It was interesting and the wolves were beautiful!
As we got back on our "sleds", Carol talked to our guide and told him that it was scary when we drove so fast. Yesterday, on one particular bump, both Carol and I were catapulted about a foot off the seats. Luckily, we landed back on the seats. Jay said we could go a little slower today. Not knowing that Carol had spoken to him, Rich relayed the same message that slower would be nice and more photo ops would be nice, too. So, off we went into a glorious sunshiny day. The eagles in the nest were up on the rim so we got a better picture! We rode to Madison Junction, then turned toward Old Faithful. It was fun to ride by some of our favorite picnic spots and campgrounds in the park, but hardly be able to recognize them in the snow! Riding through the meadows and breathing in the cold,snowy air, reminded
us of snowmobiling when we lived in Alaska. Soon we came to the Firehole River Canyon, the one-way road. It was a lovely ride with waterfalls and cliffs that marked the edge of the caldera. I stopped our last three machines at a cave I wanted to take a picture of across the river. We had discovered it three years ago when we were here in the summer. I took my photos, and we took off. Jay had to come back to look for us because we weren't supposed to stop without him. He had told me earlier that he had never seen a cave over there. Anyway, when we rejoined the group, they laughed and thought we had had a mishap. Ever since Art's problem, I had been regularly checking the reflection in Rich's shiny helmet to make sure Carol and Art were behind us. As we approached the Old Faithful area, we had to cross more places where the pavement was melted and torn up.
At Old Faithful, there was a parking lot full of snowmobiles and odd-looking snow coaches where we all stopped for lunch at the Snow Lodge. The Old Faithful Inn was closed for the
winter. After we parked, we found out that Old Faithful had just gone off, so we had time for lunch before it was due to erupt again.
As we were eating, we looked out the window and saw a raven unzipping someone's luggage on the back of their snowmobile and eating something out of a plastic bag. The owner ran out there and chased off the bird! There were posters up at many stops warning of the craftiness of the ravens in the park.
After lunch, we made our way over to the geyser. We called our kids to tell them to watch the live webcam
while we were there. We had time to wave a few times and then Old Faithful erupted! There was sure a lot of steam!
Satisfied, we got back on our machines and started our last leg, back to the southern park entrance. The road took us high above Yellowstone Lake. It snowed on and off and we could see that it had snowed several inches over the past two days. Rich's oxygen regulator was acting up, so he wasn't getting enough oxygen. He toughed it out the rest of the way down the mountain.
Our last stop was at a waterfall that had a hot pool at the bottom. Then, we were back at the Flagg Ranch and the van. We gassed up the machines and parked them. Then we had Jay take a picture of our group with my little camera and another couple's camera. We loaded the bags into the van and drove back towards Jackson. We realized that we had never even opened the hand and foot warmers we had brought along! On the way, we stopped to admire a gorgeous sunset. I couldn't find my little camera in the pocket of my suit. We all discussed when we had last seen it. I remembered it last at the waterfall. When we got to the snowmobile place, we turned in our suits and boots and helmets and mittens. No camera showed up in my suit or in the van. Oh, no!
Well, we got our luggage from the Inn and loaded up the car and went to the Rustic Inn for the next two nights. It was a group of log cabins with fireplaces and western decor. Right in front of our cabin (we each had a room in the same
cabin) there was a little creek with ducks swimming around. We ordered a pizza, watched a little of the Olympics and discussed my camera. I called the tour office and asked if it had been turned in. The couple from England had gone back because they remembered that Jay had taken our picture with the camera and probably had set it down on a snowmobile while he was switching cameras. Eureka! That was right! Thank you , thank you, thank you! We talked to them and thanked them a bunch.The tour people said that they would have their guides look for the camera the next morning when they took the next group up there to the Flagg Ranch. We were sooooo happy about it! Carol and Art went next door to bed, and Rich talked me into driving out to the Flagg Ranch right away. I agreed, reluctantly because we were so tired. It took an hour to get there. I actually found the little camera, covered with frost, on the seat of the third machine I checked! Oh, hallelujah!!! On the way back, I warmed it up and then checked to see if was all right and it was!
Hoooweee! We got back about 11:00 and fell right into bed.
What a fabulous adventure! We were all exhilerated and exhausted!
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Barbra
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What an incredible adventure! You make me want to retire...oh, apparently I am : ) Travis says, but only temporarily!