"18/#18 A Finish To The Last Blog

OK, where was I on the last blog. Oh yeah, we had left Fishing Bridge and went over to the West Thumb Geyser field and Lake Yellowstone. It had been a long day so far. Remember we started out at 5am and it was now close to 2 pm. We were tired and hungry and in need of a pit stop ( wink,wink).

Our next destination is the one thing that visitors to Yellowstone look forward to seeing more than anything else. You guessed it, Old Faithful. The most famous geyser in the world. It may not be the largest geyser in the world but it is the most regular. No it does not erupt every hour on the hour like some myths would have you believe, but the rangers can predict the eruptions for the next 24 hours to plus or minus 15 minutes. We arrived at the Old Faithful Visitors Center and realized the next eruption was only 20 minutes away. We went out to the truck, made ourselves some sandwiches and headed back to the viewing area for a picnic lunch.

True to form Old Faithful started to erupt 2 minutes earlier then predicted and finished 4 minutes later. Not perfect but there are some airlines that could take lessons from Mother Nature as far as on time performance. We walked down to the gift shop near Old Faithful Inn and treated each other to an ice cream cone before heading back to West Yellowstone.

It had been a long but wonderful day and we were tired so we headed back to our home in West Yellowstone Montana because...

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary

'18/#17 An Early Start To A Day In The Park

The weather forecast for our days off this week was ideal for tourism. Even though we work here, on our days off we consider ourselves tourists. Mary has decided that we should get up before dawn and get into the park to see the sunrise over the falls. Sunrise is at 5:30am, we need to get up and get dressed, and the ride to the falls is at least 30 minutes so the alarm was set for 4:30 am. A snooze or two and we were on the road by 5:20. Oh well, like I say our plans are written in jello.

After a couple of wrong turns we made it to Artist Point for the best views of the lower falls in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Dozens of pictures later we wandered over to the upper falls that feed the lower falls. Between the snow melt from a very snowy winter and the heavy rains of the past weeks the water flow was at a 14 year high. The water was, as Mary put it, very angry. It may have been angry looking but it was also very impressive and awesome.

We continued our tour of the park by heading down to

Fishing Bridge. While crossing the bridge we spotted three male elk swimming across the river. Pretty cool sight. Next stop the gift shop and while waiting for it to open I met the cutest park ranger ever.

A trinket or two latter we headed over to West Thumb Geyser Field to see some of the hot springs and look out over Lake Yellowstone. It is always an awe inspiring sight.

I am at work right now so I have to cut this short. I will continue this later from our home here in West Yellowstone because......

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary

'18/#16 Just Hangin' And Thinkin'

Here we are in West Yellowstone, our home for the summer. This past two weeks the weather has been... let's say less than optimal. We have had rain, sleet, wind, and snow. Except for getting out to do some errands we haven't done much sightseeing lately. We did get a lot done as far as servicing the truck and getting some shopping done.

Work is getting easier as we become more proficient. The buses with all the Asian tourists still keep us hopping and the campground is becoming more routine. Being routine allows us to take more breaks and not be tethered to the office so much.

One thing we have learned in the campground is that many people are narcissistic and/ or clueless. Here we are in the middle of tourist season and approaching the 4th of July holiday and people can't understand why we don't have vacancies for them. Have they never heard of making reservations in advance? Some of them get indignant or belligerent when we tell them that our sites are all full because other people made their reservations four, five , and 6 months in advance. I just don't get it.

It looks like the weather is going to be getting better next week just in time for our days off. Right now I am sitting in the office minding the phone while Mary is taking a break back in our trailer. I'm sure she will put some dinner together and we will eat here in the office.

The phone is ringing again so I will sign off now at work near our home in West Yellowstone Montana because...

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary

'18/#15 Another Day Exploring

The whole reason we live this life is to see this amazing country so on our days off we head out to explore all that the area has to offer. This week we took a drive through Teton National Park. The local recommendations all said to go south through Idaho and come in from Jackson Hole. An easy ride down the main highway and then across the scenic byway into Jackson Wyoming. Driving through Teton Pass was an adventure with winding roads, blind curves, and steep grades I was glad not to be towing the trailer. At the top of the pass we were welcomed to an awesome view of Jackson Hole which is just that, a giant hole in the middle of the mountains.

At the bottom of the pass we entered the city of Jackson and all the traffic associated with a tourist town. After jockeying our way through town we entered Teton Park. That is where the mountains and jaw dropping views begin. Hundreds of pictures that will be shared on line do it no justice. Everywhere we turned it was like

looking at a post card. In fact we couldn't stop saying how none of it looked real.
                      

Exiting the north end of the park it was just a short drive to the south entrance to Yellowstone Park. This is a part of the park we have never seen before. We just drove through to get back to West Yellowstone. We will come back to explore that part of the park at a later date. It had been a long day and we were hungry and tired. After a nice dinner in town we headed home and called it a night in our home in Montana because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary