Buffalo, Bears, Hail Oh My

Thursday morning we headed out to drive around the lower loop of Yellowstone. By this time the 70 degree day that had T-bone so giddy was long gone. I think the high that day was somewhere in the lower 40’s. Driving into the park with snow covering the ground and falling from the sky made me wonder how I only heard “days in the 60’s” from Mark before packing. After jumping out of the RV for a few choice pictures we decided at Old Faithful we’d buy some Yellowstone winter wear to make the day more enjoyable. And it was. We saw Old Faithful go off. Posed for the internet camera in front of Old Faithful so that Ben could show his friend back home what we looked like in from of a geyser.

We walked around a lot of bubbling (and stinky) geysers. (Again I got to experience the mother’s fear that one of her young children would fall into these acid filled pits and be consumed. There sure were enough warnings posted everywhere to feed my worrying.) We saw lots and lots of buffalo and Elizabeth was just as excited to see her 100th as she was her 1st. We saw elk and mule deer too.

Our second day in Yellowstone we drove the Upper loop. We saw more buffalo. We pulled up to one along side the road and opened the windows in the RV to get some good up close pictures. I didn’t know that buffalo growled until then. Not to worry though, Elizabeth growled right back. My mother’s fear did not kick in here as I knew we were lots safer in the RV than the idiots that were standing outside their cars with only a flimsy car door in between them and the huge growling buffalo.

The highlight of this day for me was seeing not one bear but three! Mark and I spotted the first one as it was going from the road to some woods along side the road. It was just a glimpse but it was exciting. A little later as we were driving down the road we noticed a line of stopped cars and a park ranger’s car. (When traveling through Yellowstone you know this mean really good animal.) As we pulled up beside the cars and the ranger (so good to be 2 floors up from the cars) we saw a mother bear and her baby cub. Again we watched from the safety of the RV while some more idiots were venturing out of their cars. (I’m no wildlife expert but I do know you don’t ever want to be near a mother bear when she has a cub with her.) I was just hoping that if the park ranger had to break up a bear attack she’d aim for the idiot!

Later that day we stopped in at Fishing Bridge Visitor Center where Mark Baker, Ben’s AP English III teacher, works as a park ranger during the summer months. We spent a good while visiting with Mr. Baker and learning more about the park and the animals. He told us the prime spots to go animal watching. He also explained to us the difference between a park “visitor” and a “tourist.” Let’s just say the tourist is the “idiot” that I discussed earlier. I would go on to use the visitor/tourist definitions later on our drive through the Park when I saw someone was venturing too close to a wild animal. I think I might carry this home with me as I’d rather have Anna and Elizabeth repeat “tourist” rather than “idiot” when I happen to slip up (yes, we have some “tourist” around our parts.)

After dinner and more wild game at the Lake Hotel (built in 1891) we headed out to the lookout spot that Mr. Baker told us about. It must be a well-known spot because it was quite crowded. Mark did manage to get the RV into a spot and we unloaded folding chairs, binoculars, cameras, and kids and set up our “watch.” It wasn’t long before we spotted two wolves in the distance (with the help of our binoculars and a park ranger nearby). After a little while everyone but Mary Grace and I were back in the RV getting out of the cold. Shortly after that I hear a lady say there is a buffalo coming our way. Mary Grace and I look up to see a buffalo approaching us from behind! I’m telling Mary Grace to run to the RV and get Dad while I’m trying to grab as many chairs as I can. (Why I just didn’t leave the old, broken soccer field chairs for the buffalo to enjoy I’ll never understand.) We did get out of the buffalo’s way just in the nick of time as he strolled right over the path where we had been set up. About this time I’m wondering where Matthew is and I see him outside getting pictures of the buffalo waaaaaay to close. I’m yelling out the door Mr. Baker’s definition of the visitor vs. the tourist (but I think I slipped up and used the idiot word.) After a few hysterical mom moments I manage to get Mark to manage to get Matthew away from the buffalo. I will add though he was in the company of other idiot tourist too.

After the buffalo passed on by we watched for the wolves some more and then headed back to Fishing Bridge to hear a presentation on the history of Yellowstone by Mr. Baker. We were able to visit with Mrs. Baker also and listen to the presentation around a campfire. Really cool experience. Makes me want to take Mr. Baker’s AP English III just for the fun of it (no, not really. Too many essays)

By the time we got to the Fishing Bridge RV campground it was well after 10pm. Just a little Yellowstone camping trivia for you….Between the hours of 8pm and 8am you cannot have your generator on to help preserve the natural feel, I guess, of the park. That wouldn’t have been much of a problem had we thought about the 2 blow up air mattresses that needed to be filled before 3 people went to sleep that night! Mark, the renegade, had all of us get the blowers attached and ready and on the count of 3 he turned on the generator and within probably 2 minutes we had 2 air mattresses blown up, the generator back off and no citation from the park ranger! I didn’t realize how loud the generators sound until the next morning when everyone else cranked theirs up at 8am!

We left Fishing Bridge that morning and headed out to see more sites recommended by Mr. Baker. Mark was determined to do a little hiking based on Mr. Baker’s comment that only 1% of all park visitors ever leave the main roads. Our destination – Hellroaring – a place where 2 rivers meet and make a heck of a notice coming down the mountains. Let’s just say that with the steepness of the mountains you had to climb down and back up, the endurance of a 3 and 4 year old, and my fear of wild animals, I didn’t make it all the way to Hellroaring but I did make it back. We did make it to a suspension bridge that provided some beautiful sights.

After our experience in Hellroaring, we loaded up the RV and headed out to Cody, Wyoming – Home of the Cody Nite Rodeo. The Cody KOA Kampground was the nicest one we’d been to so far on the trip but we didn’t get to experience much of it as we headed out to the rodeo shortly after dinner. The rodeo was fun and Elizabeth is still talking about the big while bull.

Sunday we slept in til 9am (Elizabeth’s Father’s Day gift to Mark). Getting a late start meant rushing to get to Mount Rushmore in time for the lighting of the monument. At one point in our drive I decided to venture back to the bathroom hoping not to get knocked silly or thrown from the toilet. I noticed while in the bathroom the rain on the skylight/vent sounded unusually loud. After coming out of the bathroom I quickly saw the extremely large hail crashing down on the RV. It’s hard to describe the sound of golf ball size hail hitting a mainly fiberglass/plasic/glass vehicle. Mark describes it as being inside a metal drum being peppered by hammers. I’ll just say I no longer have to imagine what 2 rivers converging in the mountains sound like. This was my Hellroaring experience!

We did make it safely to the campground with no broken windshield; however upon later inspection there are a few holes up top on the RV. The day only got crazier as we thought we were staying at a KOA just minutes away from Mount Rushmore (with jumping pillows, water mushroom, fishing pond, and lots of other kid friendly amenities), we actually were booked at the Custer, SD KOA about 35 minutes away (with a overcrowded jumping pillow and pull through gravel lot). It all worked out fine, as we were able to eat at the Visitor’s Center, tour the museum and watch the presentation and lighting of the monument. This too was pretty cool to learn the history behind the monument.

And this brings me to today. One of our longest travel days yet - Custer, SD to just outside Chicago 908.8 miles. Our female TomTom tells us it’s going to be a 15-hour drive. Our Bing map says only a 13-hour drive. Wouldn’t be such a big deal except that after starting out I was reading the KOA Northwest Chicago late arrival policy. The KOA we’re heading to is a “gated” campground – literally. We called and the last possible late check in is at 9:30pm. There’s no way to get in the gated kampground after 9:30 unless you have a key (which kind of bothers me since I’m wondering if we do get in can we get out?!) Female TomTom puts us there at 11:15pm. Bing puts us there at 9:15. We’re pulling for Bing or otherwise we may be camped out in a Wal-Mart parking lot tonight. So far Mark has stopped once for gas and we’ve all stood and fixed our lunch while traveling 70mph down a very bumpy South Dakota interstate. With a big tank on both the RV and Mark we are hoping to make it without anymore stops. Will update as we get closer!

Update: We made it to the Northwest Chicago KOA right at 10pm. (Bing and the female TomTom split the difference making it a 14 hour adventure.) Mark called the nice lady at the front check-in counter probably about every 30 minutes during the last 2 hours of the drive and used his Southern charm (I know he’s a Yankee but after 22 years in the South I think it qualifies as Southern charm.) During this last 2 hours we were also driving through another terrible storm with high winds and lots of lightening. I fixed a dinner of pork barbeque, salad and green beans all while Mark’s barreling down I90 trying to meet the 9:30 cut-off (Kathy, the nice KOA lady didn’t tell us she’d stay open for us until we called back at 9:30 to tell her we weren’t going to make it in time!) I’m glad we made it and again it all worked out just fine. I am only slightly disappointed that I still can say I’ve never camped in a Wal-mart parking lot.

We’re heading out in the morning for our last day of vacation at the Great Adventure Six Flag Amusement Park. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us there! Just hoping for no thunderstorms and hail!