Where Are We Sleeping Tonight: Yellowstone KOA, West Yellowstone, Montana Venturing into the town of Sheridan during the day reveals so much more than what we saw last night. The town feels smaller some how... We did however see a sign for Bank of the West that coincidentally has very similar colours to Bankwest. Continuing on our way, we drove through the town of Dayton where we saw the Crazy Woman Saloon. I don't know if I would want to eat there or not...
Continuing on, we drove through the Bighorn National Forest where we stopped for the cliche photo at the main sign (thanks to the American family who were happy to take our photo after we took theirs). Driving through the forest was nice and relaxing - the landscape is very picturesque. Everything is so green despite it being the middle of summer. At one point we had to slow down as there was a family of deer recreating the Beatles' Abby Road cover.
Slightly further on, we started entering rocky terrain. Funny that, considering we were driving into the Rocky Mountains. It was amazing to see how suddenly the geography changed from lush prairies to rocky cliffs.
Just beyond the town of Cody, we came across Buffalo Bill Dam where we had a break from driving. It was an incredible sight to see such an epic dam - it really is an engineering marvel. I really wish we hadn't skipped Hoover Dam now.
Driving on to our main destination, we drove through some wonderful countryside. Everything is so lush and picturesque - and not a single corn field in sight! I think if I had lots of money, this is where I would want to live.
After a long day of driving, we finally arrived at Yellowstone National Park. I think the thing that really got me was that we saw snow on the mountains - I thought this was supposed to be summer?! Driving through the snow was such a surreal experience, not just because it was summer, but because it was a slightly grey colour... In the heart if the park was a huge lake. Sure, not quite a great lake, but it still stretched to the horizon. We stopped at a rest area that had a path through some trees to a ranging river. Unfortunately this is the wrong time of year but this is the place to get photos of bears standing in the river with their mouths open, waiting for spawning fish to jump in.
Of course the thing that Yellowstone is probably best known for is its geysers of which their are over 500! Driving around the park, you see the everywhere. Stopping to see (and smell) a few of them was an unique experience. I was surprised at just how different they all are, and how you can have a sulphur smelling bubbling pit of mud amidst such beautiful countryside.
Driving through the park, we felt as if we were the only ones there - we must be finally too far from Sturgis for any of the motorbikes to venture here. As we rounded a bend however, we saw a traffic jam ahead. Getting on the end of the queue of cars, we sat stationary for a bit, enjoying the view of the family of buffalo (aka tatonka). As we finally started inching forward, we were thought maybe a car had run off the road. As we got further around the bend we discovered that this section of road is where the buffalo cross. We had to stop for the big hairy beasts and one very large buffalo even started walking towards us trying to decide if we were a threat or not. Maybe we shouldn't be in a red car - do buffalo charge like bulls??
After staring down a buffalo the size of our car, we continued driving through the huge expanse that is Yellowstone. We wanted to see Old Faithful, the most popular geyser but we simply didn't have the time. With the sun starting to set, we decided to come back again tomorrow and explore the park further. The park obviously realises how big it is as our entry ticket is valid for a week - clever thinking there. We saw a few more geysers along the road side before we finally saw a bear in the wild!
We had originally planned on camping in the park but after finding out just how common it is for bears to break into cars looking for food, we decided it was best not to risk it. We drove out the far side of Yellowstone into the town of West Yellowstone where we rented a cabin at the local KOA - they have been a godsend on this trip. After a quick stop at the KOA general store, we had a barbecue and curled up in bed as the temperature dropped - no wonder they have snow here!
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