Day 9 July 14/14 Yellowstone Park, Wyoming (and West Yellowstone, Montana) 2,630 kms

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Hey BooBoo how about we get us a pic-a-nic basket.

So it was up at the crack of dawn, 6 a.m. out the door for a quick run. Breakfast of huge pancakes (that's why I run). Off we go to Yellowstone Park, or as Yogi would say, "Jellystone Park"

It was a long day. We entered the park at 9 am and 11 hours later we are back at the hotel. Helli took at least 300 pictures and I took another 50 or so plus 30 to 40 minutes of video. It really is an amazing place. We hope the pictures will replace the thousands of words it would take to describe it.

We expected the park to be busy and we were right. Long lines of cars at every pullout, and parking was at a premium. As we slowly wound our way through the congested roads and parking areas, it sort of reminded me of looking at Christmas lights. Each viewpoint was like an exciting display of lights that everyone wants to see. The problem is when you get there there is no place to park or get out to get a better view. After a while you're not sure you want to look at any more lights. As it gets busier, it now feels like you have pulled into the mall parking lot at Christmas. There are no parking spots and you can't even get out of the parkade because of gridlock and you wonder if this is really worth it. It was. After a couple of hours, the flow of traffic seemed to even itself out and things moved along. We even came across more wildlife than expected including a couple of huge elks, brown bears, a howling wolf pack and many bison or buffalo. Helli and I stopped by the side of a creek to get a couple of pictures of a buffalo lying in the shade. As we got close, it stood up and stared straight at us and started snorting away. It was obviously a little agitated at us and we made a hasty getaway, laughing at ourselves as we ran. You had to be there.

Riding bikes today was a big advantage. We could see both sides of the road, could see over barriers, we could look straight up to see the tops of waterfalls and we could find small parking spaces. Still after 11 hours we did not see everything. So tomorrow morning it's back to the park for a couple of hours before making our way further south. We still aren't sure where, there are just too many choices.

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Comments

[Carol]

Les's bucket list
Hi guys. Have been following but we got company so have been busy. Im back. We haven't talked to anyone that has gone to Yellowstone so glad to hear its nice. Pictures are amazing. Sounds like the weather is co-operating this time. Ride safe and Ian quit pissing off the animals. Love yea. Xo