Yellowstone in One Day-Not Recommended for the Slow Natured at Heart

How lucky can we humans be in this day and age to have the ability to visit acres and acres of gorgeous scenery in one day! Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating it, as I would have liked to stay for days in order to fully learn and appreciate the environment. But with our cars and high speed cameras, we are able to sight see a lot in the span of twelve hours! 

At a fork in the visitor central trail system, there is a path through nearby woodlands that leads to a high viewpoint overlooking Old Faithful. This is Geyser Hill where we caught the one more eruption of Old Faithful from a high vantage point.  The new Old Faithful Visitor Center is directly behind the geyser, the lodge is to the right. 

Our visit was timed just about right considering we only had this day. There was a little snow storm coming and as such the Park Service had made the announcement that all roads would be closed as of November 8. This morning had started out stunningly blue, as the day wore on, the clouds closed in and by night fall we knew we had to get out of the park and find a place to hunker down. 

Our drive out the west entrance was just as exciting at the ride in from the east. More mountains, buffalo, and elk, and sumptuous creek beds all made for a nice exit. 

Sadly, we did not go to Mammoth on this trip. Just leaves a reason to stop in again on our way back to Kansas to retrieve more of our belongings. 

With the closing of the park to automobiles, the east and west entrances were ghost towns at this time of year. Amazingly, the entrances are not flanked by huge cities. They are very small communities keeping the park low key. As I mentioned before, some of my relatives spent a lot of time growing up in the western states. They were there from the 1800's through the 1960's. The picture below reminds me of looking at my grandfather's photo albums. His mother had a Kodak Brownie and that got him hooked on photography (and his work at Eastman) and he got me hooked. Grandpa narrated his photo albums to me whenever he had a chance. The photos were aged just so and full of history. When I view my photo in this style, I can imagine Yellowstone the way he would have seen it when he and his mother photographed and painted the west. (only after taking the photo, grandpa would have taken the elk for dinner! A necessity in the early part of the 20th century.)

The relatively low lack of development is a nice observation for an eco-conscience person, however, for a person looking for a place to sleep, its a challenge. Like with eastern Wyoming, even the RV parks are closing up for winter. As such, we kept driving to Idaho Falls. Another family memory is Uncle Andy saying he would have been traveling this area on foot with a bed roll on his back. Then he'd just plop down anywhere he wanted to rest!  We're such poofs!

Cody to Yellowstone in a Hurry–Before they Close!

We woke before sunrise in order to make our one day super trip through Yellowstone. Before we left Texas, we were warned that the roads would close for the winter. There was not a set time, it was usually weather based. It was evident that the north road would close first being the highest elevation entryway. Our friend Christine and her boyfriend go to Yellowstone at least once a year to photograph, relax, and look for wolves. She maintains a great website on the natural wonders of Yellowstone, excellent writing and photos http://www.ylwstone.com/ . Christine had given us lots of tips on places to go and where and when. She also went to the park for a second time this year in October and we had hoped to meet her there. However, our timing did not work out that way.

By time we left Denver, we found out by observing the Yellowstone website that the paved roads would close on November 8. Here we are again, just making a destination in the nick-of-time! Ken and I were determined to make it to the park as neither of us had been there and dag-nabit, it was on the way to Alaska! I had been all around the park on various other trips, and Ken had been to Jackson Hole. The entire region up in the Wyoming, Montana, Idaho border area is full of a good many destinations. 

As expected, our ‘campsite’ host was open and we could go in and freshen up before we left. We were in too much of a hurry to get anything to eat, we just wanted to get on the road. And yet again, not utilizing our new camp stove or coffee pot. Yellowstone is close, but we had many a rubbernecking stops planned in the park. The sunrise was gorgeous when we left, much like the pink and blue we saw entering Denver.

Not only was the sunrise lovely, but the entire drive west into Yellowstone was as well to us flat landers. We still had not been on any tough mountain drives–not that we needed any more reason to go slow with our heavy load. The road west out of Cody follows the Shoshone River and it forms a little canyon leading to the Buffalo Bill Reservoir (top photo below). The morning sun on the hills and mountains was very painterly! 

Town of Thermopolis and Coffee Dissertation

Any move, road trip, or adventurous drive to Alaska must include coffee–lots of it. Ken and I are both coffee drinkers and medium-high connoisseurs. By that I mean, Ken has lived in Hawaii and knows the luxury of Kona. The medium-high term means we are not always able to afford such taste. I learned how make espresso properly by working in a cafe my first trip to Alaska. As such, I have no taste for standard drip coffee anymore. (Before that experience, I hardly drank coffee at all!) Our preferred method of coffee making at home is by french press. We would buy beans and grind to our liking. 

My goal in bean purchases for many years has been to buy shade grown, organic, or fair trade. This was learned from my education at The American Botanical Council (ABC) while working as Art Director for HerbalGram Magazine http://abc.herbalgram.org/   ABC is a non-profit education and research organization producing information on the use of herbs as medicines. Coffee, chocolate, and tea were subjects covered in depth which included the importance of sustainable growth and harvest. For instance, coffee is naturally found growing under the protection of taller trees, hence the term ‘shade grown’–also not a monoculture. I will leave it there and let ABC or the web or your local Co-op help you with any other questions you may have. 

Back to our current issue, drinking and driving, coffee mind you. One of my fun activities to do while on road trips has been to find the local coffee stop, no matter what size of town or city. That could be a whole blog unto its own, I am sure someone else is working on. So I will concentrate on our trip at hand. When we were in Wichita, Ken and I enjoyed a great little shop near the downtown farmer’s market, Mead’s Corner http://www.meadscorner.com/meads/ . My sister enjoys Riverside Perk, I did not make it there but am sure it was good. We did not do the best we could in Denver due to so many outfitting commitments. Therefore we went to the chain that shall not be named because they already have enough business. 

Today, we have come upon The Crow Bar in the town of Thermopolis. It is located inside Nature’s Corner at 530 Broadway (sorry, they do not have their own website). Nature’s Corner is a wonderful health food store with a full line of products, even a little bit of produce, and “hippie gifts” like incense, wind chimes, candles, locally made art and the like. I was so impressed that this small town had such a nice selection of healthful foods, and it just makes sense since it is located near a huge healing mineral spring. 

The Crow Bar offered fair trade coffee selections as well as fresh made smoothies and juices. Ken and I ordered a coffee as it was time for our afternoon break. We also purchased some Dr. Bronner’s soap for all purpose washing while camping, and some snacks. Not only was the food selection fantastic, but the design and decor of the shop really well executed and artful. The owner’s had restored a corner shop in this town probably built in the late 1800‘s to early 1900‘s and left its integrity intact. High ceiling with pressed tin. Full front windows, wood floor, ceiling fans, and new refrigerators. The Crow Bar was located in the back of the store and displayed a beautiful stylized tree on the back wall, my photo above. The owner said she gave the gentleman license to do what he wanted when building out the cafe area. I think its gorgeous and the name is quite clever. 

As nice a find as it was, we had to be moving on in order to enjoy the hot springs before they closed. With out tummies warm, we headed around the bend to the state park.