WEEK 20 -YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - saturday 4 and sunday 5 september 2010

today we awoke to a lovely fresh morning at a rest stop somewhere on the I90, and headed out across Wyoming to Yellowstone National Park. It is a gorgeous scenic drive, so here are some of the views we enjoyed along the way....

we arrived in a little place called Cody, about 70km away from Yellowstone, and we drove to a beach and hung out and stretched our legs after the long drive.

we tried to find a rest stop to sleep at, but they all cost $6 and only have long drops with no running water, so scratch that! the other rest stop run by the national park was full, so we headed back in to Cody and found a neat camp/RV park that was only $24, and included a powered car park site, showers and toilets, and we got to park right next to the toilets [hooray for me!]. we then enjoyed lovely hot showers and settled in to go to bed after enjoying fresh corn on the cob and delicious fresh peaches that the lady at the camp site gave us for free [hooray for being a kiwi! this accent goes a long way!]

oh, and all the americans we meet are asking if all our friends and family are ok after the earthquake, since, of course, nz is the size of texas, i think that they think the whole country was affected! im just amazed little old nz made the american news. they are all amazed that no one died from the quake [apparently?] and are very happy that everyone is safe. [except for that puppy that had part of its nose cut off!]

on sunday morning we awoke to a sunny yet storm cloudy day, so we are hoping the weather holds until we get through the park. we stopped at subway to grab breakfast, and a sandwich to take into yellowstone for lunch, as i cant imagine what the pricing will be like inside for food! we also filled up the car with petrol, so we dont get stung with high petrol prices inside yellowstone too.

then we headed off to yellowstone national park, exciting!

we bought a season pass at the east entrance gate to the national parks for $80, which should save us money, since we are visiting at least four of them. [its $25 to get into yellowstone]

we then headed in! [its about 10am] exciting. 

the initial views as you drive in are breath taking and only make you more excited to wonder what else is in store for you, considering the size of this place is about the same size as auckland i think!

these are mountains as you first go in, i think this is cody peak, with a view to top notch peak and grizzly peak [someone correct me!]

sylvan lake

random burnt trees and flowers

scenic view of lake yellowstone

more views

an even higher scenic viewpoint, where we met some cool guys who go on annual road bike trips around america for the last 25 years!

lake butte

boris the bison, plodding along his walking track

indian pond

views of yellowstone lake from bridge bay 

then we checked out the west thumb geyser basin, absolutely gorgeous! check out the amazing colours!

we continued north west, and stopped to see Old Faithful the geyser, but it was going to be 45mins before it blew up again, and we are running out of time [its 4pm already!]

next stop is the Great Fountain Geyser

then off to the Fountain Paint Pots, which were a slight let down, but the geyser blowing up behind it was even better!

we saw a dingo/fox! yay! yes, you are watching him take a dump! hahahaha!

we continued north, up to Mammoth Hot Springswe had the the intention of photographing the things we drove past on our way back out, but when we reached Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces, would you believe it, it started snowing! SNOWING! we started the day at about 25 degrees, and now its dropped to 3 degrees! of course, i have never actually seen it snow, so i was SOOOOOO excited! lucky joseph was driving, i wouldve crashed due to being too distracted by the fluffy snow flakes!

BUT STILL, i braved the freezing wind, in just my jeans, tshirt and a hoodie, in 3 degrees, with the cute fluffy snow flakes falling on my head, to bring you all these amazing exciting pictures, that are reasonably ok, considering how cold i was, and ill prepared for the snow!

enjoy!

i have video too, so if any of you want to see it, let me know :)

we decided it was time to go home, its 7pm and the light is dropping so fast, and visibility is poor. so we headed toward the west exit, and suddenly there is this traffic jam. 5 minutes later, we discover its Boris! again! hes still plodding along, holding up all the traffic behind him! id stupidly put my camera away, so i only got this photo, but just imagine a bison plodding down the road at 2km an hour, with a line of traffic politely crawling along behind him. now thats power! :)

as we neared the exit, we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset through the trees, and misty clouds on the mountains and steamy river

all in all it was the most AMAZING day of the WHOLE trip. if i could only have one day over again, it would be today. i now wish we cold stay here longer, but we have to keep going, so anyone who wants to come back and do a month of national park visits in a few years, let me know! [just gotta save some more pennies now!]