Just amazing, that’s definitely what today was. Bev and I had another fantastic day on the Bow Tie Road Trip. We knew we had a lot of driving so we got an “early” start. Well, early for us anyhow. After filling up with gas we hit the road bound for Yellowstone on its first day it opened after the pandemic. We didn’t know what sort of crowd to expect, but we wanted to be part of it.
I haven’t been to Yellowstone since the early 1980’s. My excitement level was ramping up all morning. Then I got an added adrenaline boost free of charge from my dashboard information center. That fancy amber light, you know, the one shaped like an engine? Yeah, that one. It came on as we left Casper for the wilderness and my heart sank.
Thanks to my partner Bev, we were able to quickly find an AutoZone and run the code checker on it. Turned out to be much ado about nothing, so after a brief (60 minute) delay we were once again, back on the road. Just amazing!
As we drove down the road we saw a ton of beautiful things. There were vast fields of purple flowers, antelope, snow, the world just kept giving us treasures. The colors of the rocks began to change from a dull yellow to a rainbow of red, orange, tan, brown, and even purple. Just amazing!
Eventually we found our way into the mountains. After spending two months in the relatively flat land of Tennessee it was great to see real mountains once again. We crossed the Continental Divide and played in snow at the same time. Just amazing!
Soon enough we got to our real destination: Yellowstone. We had hoped to get the treasured “Old Timer’s” pass that gets you into all of the National Parks for life. Unfortunately they didn’t have any at the ranger station. Fortunately, the park was free today! Just amazing!
When we got to Old Faithful we discovered that she had just erupted, so we had about an hour to kill. We spent our time walking around and looking at the various hot spots. Gurgling water and rank sulfur abounded. Bev and I decided that it would fun to film a series of Daily Steps with Paul and Bev around the geyser. We kept trying to add the word Yellowstone into our closing banter, but being the Californians that we are, we both kept saying Yosemite instead. Eventually we found ourselves over at the observation area. On the way we meet Bob the Bison. Just amazing!
I must confess that I didn’t actually ask the bison for his name, but the lure of alliteration is too much for me to resist. I knew that we might see some, and I knew they would be big, but until it happens, you just don’t really get it. This guy was massive. And as thrilled as I was, I don’t think he could have cared less. He just kept grazing. Just amazing!
Of course there was the geyser. I had seen it before, but really couldn’t remember much of the detail. It kept giving little burps, and each time everyone grabbed for their cameras and started taking photos and video. After several false starts, the true eruption arrived. It was…well…just amazing!
Now we’ve had a great dinner at the Big Hole BBQ. It was truly fantastic…err, just amazing! So too is our hotel. One of the blessings of COVID has been getting great hotel rooms on the cheap. Anyhow, I just wanted everyone to know that you don’t really need to look hard to find things that are just amazing. Keep on keeping on. Tomorrow we get to see more family and whole knows what else. I guess you’ll just need to check back tomorrow. The easiest way to do that is to scroll down to the bottom of the page and subscribe to the blog! Just Amazing!!!