Well, we did it again. We reached Yellowstone and found it just as glorious as last year. There is less snow on the mountians, but they are still spectactular!
Our trip west was fun again! We spent one night with friends Phyllis and Jerry in Aurora, IL, and a couple nights with friends Jack and Susan at their lake house in Wisconsin. We were talking and eating so much in IL that I never got the camera out, but I did document that we relaxed and had fun at the lake.
The only real excitement from the trip was running out of gas near the Wisconsin Dells, and getting stopped by a highway patrolman in Billings, MT for speeding. Fortunately AAA came through quickly with gas in Wisconsin. I have never run out of gas in my life, but I guess age finally catches up with you. We were just enjoying the trip too much. The patrolman in Billings just gave me a warning. He caught me 3/4 mile past the 65 mph sign I missed after travelling for a very long way with a 75 mph limit. [He pointed out that I was over that too!]
Near Billings we backtracked somewhat to spend some time at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the site of General Custer's last stand. It's on the Crow Indian reservation. It's a vast area, full of hills and dales (coulees) - a very peaceful, yet solomn place - where it's very easy to imagine the horrific battle when Sioux Indian Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse engaged the American Cavalry in 1876. Ironically, the Indians won the battle but lost the war as they were, soon afterwards, forced to a life on reservations.
We didn't really see any snowcapped mountains until we were fairly close to our destination. Between Billings and Livingston, MT, you see the Crazy mountains, which are absolutely beautiful - see the pictures. One is through the car windshield, and I had to stop to take another.
We arrived at Gardiner, MT, - just five miles down the mountain from our destination, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park - on last Wed. evening. We couldn't stand it, so we drove into the park to Mammoth that evening to see friends from last year. It felt like we had only left for a short trip! The Yellowstone National Park (YNP) personnel office is in Gardiner, so we spent Wednesday night there on the Yellowstone River under two of our favorite mountains: Sepulcher and Electric peaks. In the picture Sepulcher is on the left and Electric is on the right. Electric is much higher (10, 969 ft), but Sepulcher is much closer. This is the view out our motel room in Gardiner. In the morning it takes your breath away. The Yellowstone river is rushing about 50 feet just below me in the pictures. (We can also see Sepulcher from our dorm window.)
This year I'm a host in the Mammoth Dining Room, and Lorraine is back in the Mammoth Hotel Gift Shop. I started working the day after we arrived, but Lorraine (the lucky stiff) starts her summer job with a week's vacation. At least that has helped in getting the room livable and even somewhat decorated. I'll have a picture of it sometime this summer.Our first night here there was a herd of about 40 bison right in the middle of Mammoth. They still fascinate me because of their massive size and apparent disdane for the humans around them. Some people, who therefore assume that they are tame, end up badly injured. When you are gored by an animal that weighs up to 2000 pounds, it can ruin your day. The pictures show the herd, including new babies called "red dogs" enjoying themselves next to our dorm. I like the one of the red dog stopping to nurse in the middle of an intersection. You can also see some of the bulls sparring with heads low. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those horns.
And now, a few words from Lorraine.
It was so great to see so many of our friends again. Lots of them have returned already and there are more to come. There are always hugs, big smiles and lots of chatter every time you see another familiar face. We're in our same dorm room as last year. I feel as if, like the bears, I just fell asleep, hibernated through the winter and woke up in #523 Aspen dorm again. Last night we had a lot of fun celebrating my birthday with a big cake in the dorm lounge. We had to go all the way to Livingston, MT, 50 miles, to get a half sheet cake. Life is really different out here.
I'm not working yet but I have completed my training on the new touch screen computer cash registers. It's a real challenge teaching an old dog new tricks but I suppose it's another exercise in preventing mental decline. I'm really proud of our newly remodeled gift shop. It is very "green", the only one of its kind in all the national parks, with 60% of the products make in the USA and most everything from recycled or sustainable materials. The New York Times is here now photographing it for a feature article. I'll let you know when it appears.
And finally, there has been a bit of huffing and puffing the first few days as we acclimate again to living at 6300 feet. But it gets better fast and we're already losing weight with all this heavy breathing as we walk everywhere we go.
This is enough for now. We will both be off Tues. and Wednesday, so we may do some travelling. There are supposed to be a lot of bears and some wolves nearby. We hope to see them.
