Had an early breakfast and then set out for the Yellowstone Falls National Park. For some reason I have always wanted to see the park and we had a couple of hours drive to get there.
Surprisingly for a Saturday morning there was little traffic as we headed north, passing through numerous towns, including Rigby, where apparently TV was invented!
Initially we saw mostly farm land - more potatoes etc. - and then it was into forest country with the road gradually rising into the mountains. The traffic thickened and there were many RV's heading for the park, making progress much slower than we anticipated so that it was around 11.30am before we reached Yellowstone Village where we had a coffee.
We joined the 4 lanes of vehicles queuing to pay the $25 vehicle entry fee and then it was another 40 kilometres until we reached the park proper, and within a short distance of cruising one of the amazing roads we saw a bison bull grazing not far off the road. Within minutes there were dozens of people snapping off photos and getting way too close to the animal!
After a couple of snaps we kept on, stopping to look at the great thermal areas and some beautiful scenery along the numerous rivers and creeks.The park is absolutely huge (approx 3,500 square miles) and has numerous sealed roads to cater for the millions of visitors that frequent the park each year.
After travelling about a third of the major loop road we stopped at the Old Faithful Geyser and joined a ridiculous number of vehicles in the car park and wandered over to find out when the geyser was expected to erupt! It turned out we only had to wait about 40 minutes and so we found a seat on the long semi-circle of viewing area and waited along with a crowd that grew to several thousand as the erupting time drew closer!
Right on time a huge fountain of boiling water and steam shot about 20 metres into the air, much to the excitement of the crowd - it was quite a show!
Following that we drove for an hour or so stopping at many viewing points for scenery or thermals and finished up at Lake Yellowstone which is one of the highest lakes in the Rockies.
By about 3.30pm we had seen enough and headed out the East entrance which again was some 40 kilometres of steep winding road away. Once exiting the park the road was jammed with traffic and we followed heaps of large RV's, making about 60kph at best! Some of the 5th wheeler type outfits had another trailer hitched as well, carrying gear, boats or ATV's! No rules about towing here!!!
It was quite late when we finally reached our night stop at Cody - home of William Cody, or Buffalo Bill - and found our motel. We drove back into town to find some dinner and were confronted with the biggest population of cowboys and cowgirls I have ever seen!!! Cody has rodeos every night at this time of year and because it was Saturday I think every hick from a hundred miles away had come to town!
We went into a big hotel in the main street and the place was packed with odd bods! Luckily for us after half an hour they all headed off and the place calmed down enough for us to have a meal. It was hillbilly central and we wandered the street for a while, checking out the daggy shops and the cowboy gear.
So that was our visit to Yellowstone Park! It was a great experience and we saw bison, deer and many other animals and birds but no Bears!!! The park certainly is an icon of the USA and to see it on a lovely clear day made it all more enjoyable.