Erin = black font
Greg = blue font
We began the day by leaving our wonderful little log cabin to explore Yellowstone National Park. We went ahead and did the Grand Loop through the park. We headed to Mammoth Hot Springs at the top of the loop, and we saw a few bison in the distance on our way. We took a hasty walk around the hot springs to see the views while not leaving the pets in the car for too long.
After viewing the white stone, we left and got back on the loop. Before long, we came across a crowd of people, and as we looked out the window, a little black bear was rummaging through the bushes on the side of the road. I was super excited!
Crowds of people were always the best way to spot animals. They might cause some traffic, but you know there’s something good to see. There was a bigger crowd later on the loop that had
spotted a big brown bear with some cubs, but they were so far away and laying in some grass that they were hard to see. Also, Lily was trying to climb out the window after we had left the car, so we made it a fast stop. Erin was always trying to get me to pull over because there was a bison or elk in the far distance, but I kept telling her we’d see better ones.
Just when she was about to give up hope, we drove past a couple bison hanging out by the road, one laying down just ten feet from the road, and one even crossing.
We were stoked. Later on, we pulled over to find two huge male elk just a little off the road. We went pretty close to take some pictures, but when one of them looked straight at the crowds, I made Greg go with me back to the car. They tell you to stay a good distance from the animals for a reason. Besides the animals, we saw mud volcanoes and of course, Old Faithful, which erupted about fifteen minutes after we arrived.
It was sooo crowded there and very hot. We had to take all three animals with us to the geyser so they wouldn’t melt in the car. It was a lot of work and a little embarrassing carrying a chinchilla and a fish around, but it was worth it to see the geyser.
When we left Old Faithful, we got stuck in a line of traffic that delayed us about 45 minutes. Worst case scenarios were running through my head. We had been warned upon entering the park that buffalo gore visitors who get too close, and I was thinking maybe an accident had occurred. By the time we reached the cause of the traffic, we discovered it was yet another elk hanging out by the road.
By the time we got out of the park, it was about two pm, and we still had a nine hour drive ahead of us. We were a little disappointed that we didn’t see any moose, but overall, we were satisfied with the trip. We had a long, boring drive through Wyoming for a while. Then, we got to some exciting parts with winding roads and plenty of animals.
We had to cross a mountain range, and the Honda had to accelerate and brake around tight hairpin turns. We had to stop for cows and deer crossing the road. There were “Open Range” signs alerting us that the road was just part of the sheep and cows’ domain. Little towns we crossed through had small populations, one reaching only ten. Later on in the day, we saw loads of deer on both sides of the highway, and as the sun started setting, we came across an SUV from Texas parked on the roadside. When we looked to the right, we saw what we had been waiting for: a male and female moose!
So that part of the drive was pretty exciting. Later on, it was late and dark and we still had a long way to drive. I had been driving for a while and let Erin sleep. I was starting to get sleepy too, even with a Monster energy drink (those have been coming in handy). So there I was, driving along and minding my own business. The lights on the little Honda are not as bright as I’d like, and the windshield was covered in splattered bugs, making it very hard to see. Suddenly, a dead deer appeared in the middle of my lane and I had a half second to decide what to do. Fortunately, that’s not enough time to process it and I just ran over it with no harm done except scaring Erin so much that she thought we were dying. It certainly woke us up and kept our hearts beating fast for the next ten minutes.
It scared me so much that I have been incredibly paranoid of deer leaping into the streets ever since. The constant deer crossing signs do not help my paranoia. When we arrived in Rapid City, which has a population around 59,000, I felt like I was in a huge city. That’s the effect driving in the wilderness for hours has on a traveler! When we pulled in to our hotel at 2 AM, we were looking so forward to sleeping, though we only got about four hours. I’m glad we did the Wyoming wilderness drive, but I can’t say I want to do it again anytime soon…or maybe ever.
Agreed.
P.S. We don't have the adapter for our camera, so when we get to Syracuse, we'll put a bunch of pictures in one album, so enjoy these few phone pictures for now.
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