Yellowstone 2007

7/7/07 Day 12 summer trip. Had a light breakfast, packed up, and drove north about 65 miles into Yellow Stone NP - Fishing Bridge RV Park. The site was small, but satellite TV worked just barely through the trees, the hookups all worked including 30amp service to run the AC, HW heater, and Microwave all at the same time. We spent the whole day in camp. Linda cleaned the 5th wheel and did our laundry. It was Saturday so I watched PGA golf and later watched a Padre game that happen to be on an Atlanta Network channel.

7/8/07Day 13 summer trip. We had another very late breakfast and took off for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone at about 12:00 p.m. local time. The two water falls on the Yellowstone River were awesome and the view at Artist Point was breath taking and hopefully my photos will be as good a Moran’s painting. Walked down Uncle Tom’s Trail toward the river, which is a killer 327 step drop in elevation. I was quite tired after perhaps 5 miles of walking with lots of up and down. Linda made a salad and spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner.

7/9/07Day 14 summer trip. I made sourdough pancakes this morning which turned out very light and tasty. I decided that I needed a break from Matt & Linda today. After they left for sight seeing, I drove out the East Entrance road about 27 miles over Sylvan Pass to the exit of the park. This put me in Shoshone NF and along the Shoshone River. I did a short 2 mile hike along the river with Meghan. I was a bit apprehensive as there were signs on the road warning of Grizzly bears in the area. I returned back into Yellowstone over the summit and through the 7 mile long road construction zone. I stopped on the way back on an overlook which afforded a total view of the Yellowstone Lake and a huge snow capped mountain in the background. I snapped a few photos to stitch together for this panoramic view. Linda & Matt returned from Mammoth about 6:00 p.m. We had carnitas for dinner.

7/10/07Day 15 summer trip. This morning, I made my best sourdough pancakes yet for the trip. We all left for the Old Faithful area about 11:30 a.m. We first toured the geysers and pools on the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake for a half hour. The weather was perfect and I got several good photos of the geyser pools. We stopped at Cascade Water Falls next. Matt did some video of the falls and river. Next we drove to Old Faithful which was very busy. It was hot now, in the low 80’s. We walked about a mile around the geysers and pools. We return to Old Faithful for its eruption at 1:47 p.m. local time. This draws huge crowds and is the main event in Yellowstone. We had a chocolate sundae, toured one more geyser area to the north, and returned the 60 miles back to our camp ground in Fishing Village. We ate leftover’s while watching the MLB all star game. Then more CSI and WITHOUT A TRACE on satellite TV until 11:00 p.m.

7/11/07Day 16 summer trip. Got up really late again at 9:30 a.m. local time. I made cheese omelets; Matt cooked Costco bacon, along with English muffins, & cherry preserves a really nice light breakfast Ha Ha. After socializing and Linda doing the dishes it was already 11:40 a.m. local time. These time schedules are all 3-4 hours OFF for me as I like to be on the trail hiking by 8:00 a.m. local time. Matt needs to sleep late and have a full breakfast every morning, approved of by Linda. I just have to grin and bear like a good husband. Matt and Linda are leaving about noon for Mystic Falls Trail, about one hour drive from here. My MS symptoms get worse with heat, as the day goes on, I refused to hike this late, so am staying in camp catching up on my rest and doing computer/astronomy photos processing. I barbecued some more nice Costco fillet steaks for dinner.

7/12/07Day 17 summer trip. This is Matt’s last day of touring at Yellowstone. I encouraged Linda to do all the planning on this part of the trip as Matt had never been to Yellowstone before and he is the reason we are here. We again drove north to Canyon and then west towards Norris. We toured porcelain geyser basin on foot via a 1 mile loop trail. Next the Virginal Cascade Fall on the Gibbon River. We then did the Artist Paint Pot area, a 2 mile loop trail into the forest. The longer the loops the less people we saw. Next we headed south on the Fire Hole River parkway road. Matt was impressed with this fast moving river with occasional geysers in it. He was really impressed when we reached the falls. We stopped so that Matt could video a ¼ mile portion of the multiple falls. We continued south but ran into a traffic jam and returned the way we had come. We stopped at the Canyon Village Ice Cream & Espresso shop for more chocolate malts. This makes 3 malts for lunch in 4 days. This will not work for my diet!! Matt is a bad influence on my diet. We got home about 4:00 p.m. after 90 miles of driving. Yellowstone is a huge park and it takes a good week to see it even in some detail.

7/13/07Day 18 summer trip. I made my best sourdough pancakes yet and Matt cooked the bacon for his departing breakfast. He got on the road about 10:30 a.m. for his Idaho Falls destination today. We starting packing up for our departure tomorrow and Linda did a total clean of hard and soft floors in the 5th wheel, and then the laundry.

7/14/07Day 19 summer trip. It rained hard last night and then got so windy that I had to get out of bed at 5:00 a.m. and put the 5th wheel awning up in the rain and wind. Went back to bed until 6:30 a.m. and then got up to eat, dump, and pack up. We were on the road by 7:45 a.m. heading north out of the park through Mammoth and Gardiner. Saw lots of wild animals and finally a moose on the beautiful drive out. Getting into the park before noon really helps for wild life viewing. After driving 340 miles through beautiful Montana, we arrived at our destination in Missoula, MT. We stopped first at Bretz RV to get some of their cheap propane at $ .99 per gallon. We then checked into Jellystone RV Park our favorite in Missoula because of its excellent facilities and open country to run the dog. We discovered that our satellite TV receiver no longer had distant networks, so I called All American the provider. I found out that my original sign up of 6 months had expired and I owed them another $64 for the next 6 months which I immediately paid via MC. We got reconnected immediately to Linda’s glee. We decided to eat out at Famous Dave’s Barbecue. We had the Feast for two a sampler of almost everything they serve and it was excellent, especially their award winning blue ribbon St. Louis ribs. It was a bargain at $31 and we took home enough for at least one more big meal. I crashed early about 8:00 p.m. as I was really tired from the long drive, dinner, and the 100 F. + heat in Missoula.