August 14, 2013

• Our Mountain West Trip - Stage Two

  After spending two days in Colorado, we headed north to Wyoming.  The scenery changed rapidly as we traveled and we were struck by the beauty of each new view.  After settling into our motel, we headed out for supper and the Cody Rodeo.   

   

  We all enjoyed the excitement of the contests, but JJ was very sympathetic towards the calves being roped.  He didn't think it was very nice to rope and tie a calf and cheered whenever one got away.

  

  There were several near misses when a cowboy hit the dust, but the most excitement came during the bull riding when one of the bulls refused to be corralled after throwing his rider and jumped a couple of fences before being rounded up.

  

  The next morning we set out for the main objective of our trip:  Yellowstone National Park.  We drove for miles before we entered the park, but the miles were not wasted.  The canyon we drove through was full of wonderful sandstone formations, an inviting lake and groves of burnt trees.  Even though we snapped dozens of pictures, we mostly soaked in the majesty of creation.

  

  Once we were in the park, our focus turned towards the uniqueness of the park and its many hydro-thermal features.  We went from mud pots to hot springs to geysers and back to mud pots and hot springs.  We sat for an hour waiting for Old Faithful, but I found some of the other features just as compelling.  The smell of some of the mud pots was just about overwhelming and the Dragon's Breath Geyser sounded like an angry animal ready to jump out of his cave looking for dinner.  The boys were especially fascinated in one of the hot springs that was at the edge of Yellowstone Lake.  Supposedly you could catch a fish in the lake and cook it in the hot spring without taking the fish off the hook, but I don't think fishing was allowed in that spot.

   

  We kept our eyes open for wild animals and we weren't disappointed.  We saw a deer soon after entering the park, but it wasn't until late in the day that we began to see buffalo.  The boys began counting and counted more than 200 the first day and just about as many the second day.  Of course we weren't sure how many we saw twice, but it was still fun counting.  The one animal that we really wanted to see was a bear.  We prayed about several animals that we wanted to see and our prayers were graciously answered.  The second morning we came upon a large cluster of cars alongside the road and joined them.  Sure enough a bear was out in the meadow and heading our way.  As he headed towards the road quite a few people made mad dashes for their cars while other simply moved further away.  Shortly after he crossed the road another bear followed the first and a ranger showed up ordering everyone back into their vehicles.  On our way of the park the third morning, we saw an elk sunning himself in a quiet spot near the road.  

  

  We left Yellowstone by the south gate and drove right into the Grand Tetons.  The lake was beautiful and the boys were fascinated with the idea that they were seeing glaciers.  By the time we got to the end the park, we had just about given up on seeing the one large animal that we hadn't seen yet, but there near Jackson, we spotted a moose standing in a stream.

   

  As we were driving through southern Wyoming, we spotted a car coming towards us with flashing lights.  The driver stuck his head out the window to let us know that there was a roundup going on.  In pouring rain, a dozen cowboys were driving their cattle down the road.  Being a cowboy sounds glamorous, but it didn't look like as much fun when there was no way to get out of the rain.  Perhaps their hats were doing a good job of keeping them dry.

  As we left Wyoming behind, we were looking forward to the final leg of our trip.  One more main objective was in sight but we didn't stop with just one more thing, we continued to fill our days.

  • 8:53 am
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