50 Day 8932 Mile Trip, Part 4

     Along the road I took several pictures at outhouses (dunny, privy, or rustic “restroom”) because I had to stop often for my husband. It gave me photo opportunities that other more "healthy-bladder" folks might miss! One photo was at the Grand Teton Park sign with a substantial snow pile in front of it.

     One of the first sights I wanted to show my husband in Yellowstone was Old Faithful. It was erupting as we approached but he said he could not see it. I got a good parking spot but he wasn’t well enough to go out to sit and wait for the next eruption. There were no rooms available at Old Faithful Lodge where I stayed in May 1976. I was staggered to learn the cost of a room there now is over $300 a night. The weather was spitting rain with a cold north wind, so I took us out to West Yellowstone and we stayed at a Super 8 there that had just opened for the season. No pool. But a very high room rate! It was a log building style motel, very fitting and clean and nice. The manager did give me some fresh baked cookies. He gave us a nearby room so I would not have to walk far. But the room rate left me gasping. That’s a tourist area for you! In the morning there was an extremely heavy fog. It had rained overnight. So a motel was warranted but I still smart from that expense. I compounded things by forgetting a full thermos cup of coffee on the car roof and driving off. It basically ruined our new “Dinosaur National Monument” cup before we ever got to use it. Ugh.

     Regardless, off we went to explore Yellowstone! Mud volcanos, Dragon’s Breath Spring, Emerald Spring, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake, big ol’ wild Bison, Trumpeter Swans, Norris Geyser Basin... all so amazing. Unfortunately not all the campgrounds in Yellowstone were open for the season yet. Winter had been harsh and not all the Park roads were open yet either. Even some restaurants and concessions stands remained closed. We waited in line at a busy lunch grill at the Canyon Junction Visiter Center. When an employee saw my husband with crutches he seated us before more able bodied tourists. It was so kind of him.

The Madison River, at an outhouse stop.

     Headed up to Gardiner, MT out the north entrance of the park to find a motel for the night. It was twice the price of Rock Springs, but the Gardiner Super 8 at least had a pool, and was not as eye-wateringly expensive as West Yellowstone. I swam in every motel we stayed at that had a pool. We had a great dinner at a restaurant overlooking the park and we watched elk with their young grazing out in the meadow. After dinner we went out to take closer pictures of the herd. One calf was only a couple hours old.

     We had been gone one week.

     On the morning of the May 18th we went back into Yellowstone Park to see the Mammoth Hot Springs which we had skipped the day before. The weather was iffy, and it spit rain, still - it surprised me that tourists were scarce. 

All alone at Orange Spring Mound. With a robin singing though. 

     Maybe the north side of the park is the least visited in the early season? Many times we found ourselves alone, looking at water boiling out of the ground at our feet. What an amazing place!