Day 1: Goodbye Science Station, hello open road
After waking up early we head over to the kitchen for our final meal at the science station and to do the finishing touches on closing down the kitchen. All in all, by the time our packing and cleaning was done it was nearly 1pm....so we quick made ourselves a sandwich before heading out onto the road. Our first stop - Custer State Park. I have to highly recommend this park. Absolutely beautiful, and for a mere $5 per person you could spend at least 1 full day exploring and driving around.
Some of our highlights were driving through a herd of buffalo and seeing the beautiful Needles (weathered granite).
That night we camped outside of Devil's Tower. This was a blast as it was our first time actually camping together....and our first time on the trip to eat a buffalo burger. (although we weren't sure if it was actually buffalo meat or if it was just called that because the patty was the shape of a buffalo...I kid you not)
Day 2: Devil's Tower and head toward Yellowstone
We spent the morning hiking around (I use the term hiking very loosely here) Devil's tower and dreaming of climbing...it's true I was not involved in the dreaming as I have no desire AT ALL, but the mountain is yours Neile and you can conquer it to your hearts content!
After exploring most of what the Tower had to offer we headed west once again. Our goal - get close to Yellowstone so that the following day we could get in early.
That night we ended up getting a hotel in Bozeman, MT. I think that was my first time there and man we were really in the mountains at that point. Cute town though. Oddly enough, this was the only bad weather night of our trip and thankfully we didn't have to camp out in it. Oh but that didn't stop us from driving to a local park and cooking our first "camp" dinner.
Day 3: Yellowstone and "What's that smell"
After enjoying our evening in the hotel...and television for the first time all summer...we headed for Yellowstone. Neile's first time ever! We didn't end up getting to the entrance until about 11, but you could tell the excitement was building.
Here's where I offer some advice for all you travelers out there. Don't drive through the park passing up 1, 2, and even 3 open campsites before deciding to find one for yourself. They will not be open later on and you will then proceed to spend the next 3 hours driving around looking for another open camp site. Plus, who needs the "where am I going to sleep" stress on their vacation. So yeah, don't do that.
We did eventually find a spot that was beautiful and the last remaining site in all of Yellowstone (okay that may be an exaggeration, but at that point it is what it felt like). The only problem with the site (and probably why it was still open) was that it was a handicap site. BUT we read the fine print and it said we could stay there if it was the last one open...I swear. It also said we had to share if someone that was handicap happened to need a spot, but at that point we would have shared with just about anyone - we just didn't care so long as we had a place to sleep.
Now as we were driving and frantically looking for camping sites we did get to see more buffalo, some coyote, and a grizzly and her baby cub. That was pretty awesome I have to say. We also got to drive up and down some steep hills for long periods of time. This is where the "what is that smell" comes into play.
We began to smell something pretty stinky coming from the car. Initially we thought it was the breaks, but then we heard a faint bubbling sound. After further investigation we discovered that our coolant was boiling and man did it stink. This is where we decided to drive outside of the park and into a small town in hopes of finding a service station of some kind. Alas, there was no help to be found. So we drove back to our campsite and decided to try and enjoy the rest of our trip - praying that the car would not break down.
That night we camped outside of Devil's Tower. This was a blast as it was our first time actually camping together....and our first time on the trip to eat a buffalo burger. (although we weren't sure if it was actually buffalo meat or if it was just called that because the patty was the shape of a buffalo...I kid you not)
Day 2: Devil's Tower and head toward Yellowstone
We spent the morning hiking around (I use the term hiking very loosely here) Devil's tower and dreaming of climbing...it's true I was not involved in the dreaming as I have no desire AT ALL, but the mountain is yours Neile and you can conquer it to your hearts content!
After exploring most of what the Tower had to offer we headed west once again. Our goal - get close to Yellowstone so that the following day we could get in early.
That night we ended up getting a hotel in Bozeman, MT. I think that was my first time there and man we were really in the mountains at that point. Cute town though. Oddly enough, this was the only bad weather night of our trip and thankfully we didn't have to camp out in it. Oh but that didn't stop us from driving to a local park and cooking our first "camp" dinner.
Day 3: Yellowstone and "What's that smell"
After enjoying our evening in the hotel...and television for the first time all summer...we headed for Yellowstone. Neile's first time ever! We didn't end up getting to the entrance until about 11, but you could tell the excitement was building.
Here's where I offer some advice for all you travelers out there. Don't drive through the park passing up 1, 2, and even 3 open campsites before deciding to find one for yourself. They will not be open later on and you will then proceed to spend the next 3 hours driving around looking for another open camp site. Plus, who needs the "where am I going to sleep" stress on their vacation. So yeah, don't do that.
We did eventually find a spot that was beautiful and the last remaining site in all of Yellowstone (okay that may be an exaggeration, but at that point it is what it felt like). The only problem with the site (and probably why it was still open) was that it was a handicap site. BUT we read the fine print and it said we could stay there if it was the last one open...I swear. It also said we had to share if someone that was handicap happened to need a spot, but at that point we would have shared with just about anyone - we just didn't care so long as we had a place to sleep.
Now as we were driving and frantically looking for camping sites we did get to see more buffalo, some coyote, and a grizzly and her baby cub. That was pretty awesome I have to say. We also got to drive up and down some steep hills for long periods of time. This is where the "what is that smell" comes into play.
We began to smell something pretty stinky coming from the car. Initially we thought it was the breaks, but then we heard a faint bubbling sound. After further investigation we discovered that our coolant was boiling and man did it stink. This is where we decided to drive outside of the park and into a small town in hopes of finding a service station of some kind. Alas, there was no help to be found. So we drove back to our campsite and decided to try and enjoy the rest of our trip - praying that the car would not break down.
1 comment:
Your fan base demands part II. :)
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