Yellowstone Unleashed.
by Liv | Published on January 8th, 2007, 12:52 pm | Travel
Where are we going today Liv? Well today we're going to spice things up and go to Yellowstone.
Yellowstone, Liv? You mean with the big bear named Yogi, the park ranger, and a picnic basket?
No, that's Jellystone.
Oh.
I think of all the places in the US, Yellowstone has always held a special place in my mind and heart. It's one of the few places left in America that is as close to untouched as your going to get. It's an alien landscape with volcanic activity, moving earth, & wild animals. It's truly breathtaking, humbling, and overwhelming, and it's factually amazing that it exists within our suburban American borders.
Our trip to Yellowstone a few years back involved driving a Dodge Daytona up to Wyoming over 2 1/2 days. We'd camp out along the way in some of the most rural yet interesting places. At one point we ended up on a back road with which ended up like some Duke of Hazard road construction. Do to the unfortunate circumstances of the road ending in a ramp with about a 4 foot gap in the pavement, and me not realizing this till it was too late to slow down.... ...So like Bo and Luke duke, we're doing the General Lee jump over some construction workers. They all look up in fear, and I'm at this point in the brace for impact position, squinting my eyes, hoping to god I don't die. Now if you've never done a Duke's style car jump, then there is no way I can explain to you what goes through your head as the wheels leave the ground, and there's this surreal silence of road noise, with the engine free-revving.
Needless to say the car landed, and the front end got pushed up enough to knock the pop-up headlights out of place. We pulled over, made sure all 4 wheels where still attached, and kept driving.
We got to West Yellowstone a few hours later. West Yellowstone would be nothing but a bunch of trees if it wasn't for the tourists and it being the gateway to Yellowstone National Park. There, Hotels, and fast-food restaurants are the last symbolism of civilization before entering the park.
I don't think we were expecting too much as we drove the first few miles into the park. After all a lot of times you go to places expecting to see stuff, and find the hype is greater than the experience. But our faces lit up as we saw Bison, and Buffalo the size of the car in packs of hundreds grazing on the road. The shock and awe of humongous waterfalls, and frozen lakes below jagged mountains is something you could only imagine in fairy tails.
Yellowstone is huge, and can take hours just to make it to the center of the park. Various geysers, hot-springs, and natural volcanic events involve parking and walking, often with temperature differences of 30 degrees or less to more than 80. Make your way to the other side of the park, and you'll find rustic diners capable of feeding your park going hunger.
About 3 days into our adventure at Yellowstone, we came out from a fancy restaurant in West Yellowstone to find the car wouldn't start. The temperature had dropped into the teens, and the engine locked up. We ended up walking back to the hotel, to try and figure out what to do. The next day we ended up renting a car and driving down to Jackson Hole. We wanted to drive up to Glacier national park, but money was drawing short, and time was of the essence. After all, back at the hotel sat our Daytona, which would lead to a day of pulling the oil-pan, replacing an oil pump, and calling AAA to jump-start the car, all in the parking lot of the hotel.
When we left Yellowstone, it was with a trail of smoke, covered in oil, and our last few dollars buying a bucket of KFC. We were a solid 16 hours away from the coast of California, tired and beaten, our trip cut short by the most of unfortunate events, but do you know what vacation sticks out in our minds the most out of all the places we've been? That's right Yellowstone.
We woke up each morning and ate at the 3 Bears restaurant, explored Old Faithful, Mineral Springs, and the wondrous beauty of Yellowstone. By nightfall we were back in our Jacuzzi in our room watching a movie and ordering pizza. Other then our slight mishap this was exactly what vacation was supposed to be: exciting, life changing, and filled with memories to remember for years to come. That's Yellowstone.
