Bye, Bye, Yellowstone!

Day 34 - June 8th

Today we were leaving the cabin and moving on. The first order of business was to do the puzzle packing trick of the van.  

Richard took pictures of the outside of the cabin before we left. It was very rustic, but had lots of amenities.

We drove into West Yellowstone and stopped at Ernie's Bakery. This time, we ordered a sit down breakfast and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. We got gas before heading into Yellowstone National Park. 

We had decided to drive back through the park instead of going around the top of it to hit interstate. This time, we had a really, really long wait to get through the West Entrance Ranger Station. After we finally made it in, we hadn't gone too far and traffic was really backed up again. This time, we came to a complete stop. Traffic  began to move on the other side of the road, but not on our side. Sharon was trying to get someone to tell us what the hold up was by leaning out of the car. She had no luck. Then people started getting out of there cars and walking to see what they could find out. Nothing! Meanwhile, our side would creep, but only inches at a time. Finally, we started to move. When we reached the point where the Park Rangers were, there was a small herd of bison, grazing along side of the road. We waited for 1 hour for boring bison! Of course, we did snap a picture or two!

We continued on towards Madison. This 14 mile stretch of road took us 1.5 hours. Ugh! We went from Madison to Norris. We saw 2 small herds of bison in this area.

We continued from Norris to Canyon Village and then to Fishing Bridge Visitor Center. Again, several small herds of bison were grazing along the roadside. We thought there was a post office at this Visitor Center, but they didn't. So we checked out the exhibits, used the restrooms, and took a few pictures. Richard explored the outside and found a beach area to Yellowstone Lake behind the Visitor Center.  We didn't get pictures there, but did see the beach areas as we drove on. Robin found a squirrel who picked up something to eat, climbed a tree, and posed for her to take a picture. Dean really didn't feel good so he stayed in the car for most of the stop.

We got back into the car and headed to Lake Village where there was a post office. However, we got there at lunchtime and it was closed. The attendant told us she had 8 minutes before she would unlock the door. So we stood inside and waited. We needed stamps and also wanted to mail a few postcards so they would get the Yellowstone postmark.

We headed back to Fishing Bridge and saw cars pulled over so we stopped. There were 2 female elk grazing along the roadside. We took pictures and enjoyed their beauty before we moved on. 

We drove on the road from Fishing Bridge to the East Entrance Ranger Station. This was a beautiful drive. To the South was Yellowstone Lake with mountains in the distance. The water glistened in the sunlight. The waves rolled into the small beach area which surrounded the edge of the lake. We saw a geyser on the roadside.

However, if you looked to the North, you mostly saw destruction. Trees were down everywhere. We don't know what happened, but the Yellowstone Lake view was so much more inviting.

We stopped at the East Entrance Ranger Station to take pictures. While in Yellowstone, Robin had purchased a new friend, T. R. Bear, now known as "Roosevelt." We took his picture at the Yellowstone National Park sign. In addition, we went on the other side of the sign and took a picture of Roosevelt with the Leaving Yellowstone National Park sign. Roosevelt didn't know if he was coming or going. He was ready to start his new adventure exploring parks outside of Yellowstone.

We left Yellowstone and headed towards Cody, WY.  Roosevelt enjoyed seeing the river next to us as we drove. 

We stopped at Pahaska Tepee and walked inside Buffalo Bill's Original Hunting Lodge. It is now set up as a museum with many of the original furnishings still in place. Roosevelt and Teddy got their pictures taken as they explored with us. As we finished, we went inside the little store and looked around. They had some unique handmade furniture outside. Robin saw a Robin Red-breast on the ground. Roosevelt and Teddy wanted to ride the bear statue on the way back to the car.

With everyone content, we traveled on. As we drove, we saw mountains that were dark brown in color. These might have been the chocolate mountains we were in pursuit of the day before. They were magnificent! They had lots of hoodoos and unique shapes. 

We saw some beautiful landscapes after the chocolate mountains, even driving through a tunnel.

Once we passed Buffalo Bill State Park, we arrived at Cody, WY. As we traveled in Cody, we saw the famous Irma Hotel. Buffalo Bill built this hotel in 1902, and named it for his daughter, Irma. It is still a functioning hotel, with historic and non-historic rooms available. Some of the famous people who have stayed there include Calamity Jane, Annie Oakley, and Frederic Remington. Buffalo Bill's suite is also one of the historic rooms. We didn't stop, but thought it would have been interesting to do.

We were hungry, but there was nothing really around that interested anyone. We just kept driving. When we arrived in Worley, WY, we settled for a Pizza Hut for dinner. Robin and Richard shared a pasta meal and Dean and Sharon shared a pizza. 

We drove through some more beautiful landscapes from the Big Horn Mountains and onto Buffalo, WY. We saw lots of cattle and deer on this stretch. 

However, there was a huge herd of sheep in a fenced area of a farm. It was unbelievable the number of sheep in one pen. There wasn't much room to run. All of the sheep had red and blue markings on their back. Hopefully, they were just gathering for feeding time. They were making so much noise. Dean started "baahing" with them, which added to the noise.

We finally got to Buffalo, WY, which was our stop for the night. We got settled into our hotel and turned in for the night. Richard had driven all day to give Dean a break. Now, it was time for all of us to get some rest and be ready for another long day of driving tomorrow.

Wrapping up the day, the sun did not set until 9:27 pm. The highest temperature for the day was 91 degrees. The lowest was 54 degrees.