Yellowstone

Sunset as we head towards Yellowstone

June 26-July 5th-We arrived very late about midnight at the Madison Campground in Yellowstone that we had booked in January.  One reason we arrived so late is that we stopped to see longtime friends Lynn and Keith Petersen in Helena, MT.  I had met Lynn on an airplane years ago when we were both commuting to our university music faculty positions in Minnesota.  We became fast friends.  Lynn now teaches at Carrol College and it was wonderful reconnecting after all these years. 

We awoke late on my birthday to great sun and a nice roomy campsite.  I practiced and then after lunch, I was to pack for a special surprise. I was taken to the Yellowstone Lake Lodge for an overnight and dinner.  Janae and Stefan were so cute.  They had coordinated that they all wore blue and Stefan was excited to wear his tie.  The room only had a double bed in it and Stefan and Janae made up beds on the floor while I was showering.  Stefan said, “Mom what side are you sleeping on, I want to sleep next to you.”

Our backyard vies

We didn’t end up spending the night because it wasn’t as comfortable as Miss Jim B and when Mark told me how much it was costing, I asked if we could use the money for a horseback ride or raft trip down the river.  They were nice enough to give us our money back and we went out for a lovely dinner at the lodge.  The lodge was very nice with great lake views and background piano music.  It even had peach walls.   I’ll always remember how fun it was to explore the lobby and artwork with Stefan holding my hand while he was sporting his cowboy boots and tie. 

Our dinner was delicious.  For starters they served crackers with a huckleberry cheese and my salad had huckleberry balsamic with roasted hazelnuts.  Awesome!  Mark and I split bison tenderloin and pasta with salmon.  What was special was that Janae, Stefan and Mark verbally shared loving thoughts about me.  Stefan said that I played with him, wasn’t too strict and that I was fun.  Janae said that I was kind, fun and that I wasn’t a perfect housekeeper and Mark thanked me for all the life, organization/planning and beauty that I brought to our home.  Janae and Stefan had their best manners on and I was serenaded by the waiters to the tune of “Oh Give Me A Home, Where the Buffalo Roam.”  Very appropriate we would see as the week would unfold.

We liked Yellowstone and we had awesome warm, sunny weather. However, I think we had all hit the wall by the time we got here.  Mark and Janae had colds and I had a hard time getting people up and going in the morning.  The kids were campaigning to return home. The park was so big and I wasn’t as efficient with organizing our days. It was nice though that I could get my practicing done first thing in the morning.  But we were all a little testy with each other and weren’t the best in the relational department.

What we liked most about Yellowstone was the wildlife and the thermal activity.  We learned a large part of the park is a giant caldera (formed from the top of an ancient volcano blowing a 30 by 40 mile valley).It was 10,000 times bigger than Mt. Saint Helens!  Since the magma is 3-4 miles underground, this creates a lot of thermal activity such as hot springs, geysers, fumarols and mud pots.  The prismatic hot springs and morning glory were the prettiest with all the different colors of bacteria living in them.  We learned that only 1% of the 10,000 microbes have been identified.  One of these identified microbes was used by a scientist in the 1960’s in discovering DNA testing.  We enjoyed seeing Old Faithful erupt twice and walking around the Upper Geyser area at sunset.  When we first saw them, Stefan said, “I think this is my favorite national park.”  Unfortunately, his enthusiasm waned after I tried to get us to see the Grand Geyser erupt and it became a timing and patience test.  We tried a few times to see it and we always just missed it.  I got upset because we didn’t have to just miss it.  At any rate, it was frustrating but we did eventually see the Giant geyser go off and almost saw the Lone Star.  The fumarols just let out steam and the mud pots were very entertaining with their blurps, squirts and splats. 

Castle geyser



                                      

                                                             

Prismatic Springs

One afternoon we went driving around looking for the best swimming hole and we stopped and enjoyed a spot along the road while Mark fished upstream.  It was fun being the mama express  carrying Janae and Stefan on my back upstream so we could ride the current down.  It turned out that the best place was our campground.  It was over the hill and we were there three days before we discovered this gem of a spot.  The Firehole and Gibbon rivers converge into the Madison and it was just a beautiful place and a great place for cooling off (though the water was really warm in spots).  Janae and Stefan began learning to fly fish here and this is the spot where the meeting took place to establish Yellowstone as the first national park.  Pretty amazing that 90 countries followed suit and there are now over 1200 national parks/reserves in the world.  It makes me proud of my American roots that barely a100 years old, our forefathers and leaders were thinking ahead this way for future generations.  What an incredible gift that we should always cherish.

Swimming hole along the road

                                                   

                                           Madison Campground Swimming Hole

                                                        

We drove a lot and encountered lots of buffalo along the way.  Several times they were right by the car and in the road.  The little calves were so cute.  One morning I went to practice and the whole valley around the campsite was covered with hundreds of buffalo.  One by one the mothers and their babies walked passed me as they migrated from the top of the hill to the valley  pasture.  The prettiest place I think in the park was around our campsite and the Lamar Valley.  We were there in the evening and it’s a magical place with beautiful lighting.  We didn’t see much wildlife beside the buffalo but this would be a place we would want to go again.  One day, we saw two bull elks fairly close to the road.  We got out of the car to take pictures and we’re amazed by the brashness or stupidity of tourists who got within 5 feet of these creatures.  They didn’t seem to be aggressive but it was frustrating to see people so insensitive to the animals and other people.  We would have loved to see a grizzly but never did.  We did see a black bear and her two cubs at dusk one night.

View from my practice room

Taking over the campground

                                             

                                            Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

The rocks had a yellowish tint, thus the name Yellowstone

                                                       

                                                      

Gorgeous Lamar Valley in the magical evening light

                                                          

We hiked one day to the top of Mt. Washburn.  It was a nice hike and enjoyed seeing the firehouse at the top.

On our way up Mt.Washburn

The wildflowers were beautiful at the beginning of the hike.

One day we spent the day in West Yellowstone grocery shopping and doing laundry.  We loved eating the best burritos in this restored school bus.  What a great idea!

Church at the Madison Campground amphitheatre. This is the spot where meeting took place to establish Yellowstone as the first national park.

The fourth of July we debated in leaving for the Tetons but were afraid we wouldn’t get a campsite so we stayed put.  Janae, Stefan and I enjoyed going in the hot spring pool over the hill.  It was so nice to be the only ones enjoying this beautiful spot.  We then had lunch and left to go see the Grand Geyser which was like a kind of a firework in it’s own right.  We took our bikes and rode the trail to the Lone Star geyser.  It was a beautiful trail along the river that went to this secluded spot where this geyser was.  Impatience and family tensions caused us to leave 10 minutes before this erupted.  We stopped home for a quick supper and then headed into West Yellowstone for fireworks.  On the way, Mark had scoped out a great place for fly fishing.  It was fun watching them all wading in the water fishing together.  Stefan was the only one who caught one.  The fireworks were very good and it was so nice how laid back and uncrowded the experience was.  Very enjoyable and relaxing.  On the way home, a full moon shone brightly against the black sky.

                                                            

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Next time we come to Yellowstone, I would like to make advance reservations for the chuck wagon dinner at the Roosevelt Ranch by Lamar Valley.  We heard it was really good food and entertainment but it was booked and I couldn’t get a guaranteed spot.  Also would like to spend more time in Lamar Valley watching longer.  We drove a lot and did a lot of back tracking.  Next time, would like to drive the entire figure 8.  We missed the upper portion between Mammath and Roosevelt and the West Thumb basin area.