Yellowstone!

I have never been to Yellowstone before. How could I have gone 54 years without seeing this treasure? This stunning piece of beauty and eerie piece of moonscape ; the first national park in the world -- established in 1872?  Jan keeps reminding me that he went to Yellowstone on his first honeymoon. So he knew what I was missing. Hmmph.


We looked at the weather at dinner the night before we headed to Yellowstone and burst out laughing. "Winter Storm Warning: 12 to 24 inches of snow predicted at elevations above 7,000 feet." Good thing West Yellowstone (where we are staying) is only at 6,700 feet. Whew! Ducked that one.

We entered the park yesterday, and were told by the ranger to do as much as we could before the storm hit. So we got busy! Yesterday we went to Mammoth Hot Springs (herd of elk lounging in the town square, buffalo in the parking lot) ; Norris Geyser Basin; the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (tested our lungs by climbing down to and then back up from the brink of the lower falls; and tested my fear of heights while standing on the brink); Old Faithful (30 minutes standing in the rain to make sure we saw it blow) and many quick stops so Jan could photograph every animal and every beautiful scene along the Grand Loop.

Today we did a long walk at Old Faithful (and saw the eruption from out on the trail); walked a bunch of other trails; saw a bunch of animals; froze our wet tails off and took more pictures. Jan's camera ran out of batteries, so the last leg of our trip went more quickly. :-)

We saw lots of people fly fishing in rivers along the park. It turns out there is an international fly fishing convention here this week. (That explains why it was so hard to find a room. And also why we saw a group of people practicing casting technique in a city park.) My favorite moment was when, on one of the many times that Jan got out of the car to take a picture, I started a conversation with a guy getting into waders. I asked him if the waders kept him warm. (Did I mention how cold it was?) He said, with a very cute accent, "No. They just kind of partially keep me dry." Further conversation told that he is here with two other Swedes, fly fishing all over the Rockies. And was not even here for the convention.

After a nice soak in the hot tub here at the Kelly Inn, we met up with my cousin Curt Loeffler and his wife Cheryl. So fun to catch up!

Note: The shrimp tacos at the Buffalo Bar are excellent. The cinnamon rolls (particularly the orange frosted ones) at the Woodside Bakery are pretty darn good too.

Note 2: Must either hike more or find fewer foods delicious over the next few weeks!



Fun term we learned today (actually learned it at the National Bison Range, but it came back today): Sequester. As in, "that bulk elk is sequestering his cows in the valley." Brings a whole new meaning to all the talk we've heard lately about sequestration.