Wyoming, Yellowstone, Montana

So we left the Black Hills of South Dakota and we headed straight for Yellowstone National Park. What we didn't know was that every place within the park is booked out for over a year. We drove and we drove. We both really enjoyed the scenic route. South Dakota is an amazing state. We even stopped off at a helicopter tour company that ended up offering Alan a job! After about 9 hours we decided to stop for fuel at a little town right outside Yellowstone's east entrance. We ended up over paying for a hotel but everything worked out for the best. After we got checked in we walked a couple of blocks down the street to the Cody Nite Rodeo! We made it there just in time for the National Anthem. We drank beer and cheered for the bull riders. Alan said he felt like a real American with his cowboy hat and his beer; I was so proud.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and walked across the street to a little western diner that advertised their $.25 coffee. The place was packed and we ended up getting seated with two people that we didn't know. Luckily none of us are shy and soon the morning conversation got really good. As we ate our eggs one of the boys asked, “do you think life is given or taken”. I was blown away by the fact that such an abstract question such as that came out of the stoner kids mouth. I smiled and contemplated the question for a while. Needless to say the morning was quite interesting.

We left directly from breakfast to hop on a bus for our white water rafting tour. We took a 12 mile river rafting tour down the Wyoming River. A big storm was rolling in overhead which blocked the sun. We were sitting in the very front of the raft so as we cascaded over the rapids we were getting soaked. When the breeze blew down the canon we soon became chilled to the bone. The views from the canon were amazing. To my surprise Wyoming had more of a red rusty desert appearance rather than a huge green mountainy feel. We watched several families of deer grazing as we floated by. We watched the little bird families that had made their homes out of mud flutter by. White water rafting was such a great way to spend the afternoon.

The best part of the entire day was meeting the mother and son that sat next to us on the raft. They were so generous and kind. We were planning on leaving after the trip to drive into Yellowstone. With the storm rolling in and the sun setting we figured that we wouldn't get to see too much of the park. Lisa and Justin were staying in Cody for a summer vacation and they invited us back to their place for the night. Now this was an offer that we couldn't refuse. Although staying an extra night in Cody put us a little behind schedule it was the best plan. We were able to make some new friends and we had a great evening relaxing and eating a nice home cooked meal. We couldn't be more grateful for their hospitality. I never expected to meet such wonderful people on the road.

We had a great night's sleep and we awoke refreshed and ready for Yellowstone. 8/7 The drive into Yellowstone National Park is amazing. As we climbed into the park huge dark clouds covered our car and we were intensely pounded with gumball sized hail for about 10 minutes. Someone turned off the light switch and the clouds disappeared. We watched Old Faithful do her thing. We admired the continental divide and we got and education on geysers, paint pots, and calderas. On our way out of the park we were stopped by a baby grizzly bear and a herd of elk but other than that the sightings of the wild animals was sparse. I was expecting herds of buffalo and bear everywhere. What I didn't realize is that Yellowstone is a HUGE park which is over 3,400 square miles of wilderness and over 1300 miles of trails. If you really want to experience the park and all it has to offer you need to spend time off the roads. Camping in Yellowstone would be a great family vacation. Staying in one of the overpriced lodges or inns would be a HUGE waste of money.

Once we got tired of looking at steam coming out of the ground we started driving for Missoula, Montana. The boys we had met at breakfast in Cody were telling us how cool the town was. We arrived in the early evening, checked in and walked downtown for a beer. Missoula is a quaint little college town that seems like it would be a lot of fun when school is in. Things were kind of quiet for a Sat. night but we enjoyed each others company, good nachos and good locally brewed beer. We had planned on touring a couple of the micro-breweries in town but we forgot that the next day was Sunday. Once we returned to our hostel we met our roommates for the night. Jason had been traveling all day from Portland on his motorcycle to staff a camp there in Missoula and our new German friend (I don’t know his name) who is traveling across the country looking for a job as a biologist. These guys had great energy, we had great conversation and I left the boys to chat while I headed off to bed.

This morning we departed Missoula with our new German friend. As it turns out he was planning on taking a bus to Seattle. We figured that we had plenty of room in the car so we invited him to ride with us. I've taken the bus long distances before and I wouldn't wish that hell upon anyone so I felt obligated to invite our new friend to join us on our journey. Today was a great day of traveling. Alan had a new buddy to chat to while I dozed in and out of sleep. We arrived in Seattle early this afternoon and Alan and I walked down to watch the ships sail out of the sound. Our hostel is amazing and tomorrow we plan on exploring this beautiful sea side city!