Yellowstone
Over the holiday weekend I rode along with Steph to Yellowstone. Trip highlights include:
* a temperature drop over 2 1/2 hours from 90 degrees near Meteetsee to 38 degrees when we drove into Cooke City, Montana.
* my first bear sighting since I can remember. My sister and I went to Yellowstone with my grandparents a couple of times when we were little, but I don't think we ever got to see a bear. The other wildlife sightings on this trip were alright, too:
* road food. Road trips are a free pass for me to eat whatever I want Cheetohs, donut holes, beef jerky, beers, ice cream in Rawlins, giant bbq burger at the Lander Bar: I'm not sure I ate a single piece of healthy food during the entire trip. Unless banana pancakes at Teton Lake count as healthy...
* the scenery. Of course. It is better in Wyoming, after all. Despite snow on both Saturday and Sunday morning, the scenery was spectacular. Yellowstone Lake, still iced over. Lamar Valley, full of bison (and a lone coyote trotting across the valley floor among the bison). The Grand Teton, across Teton Lake, as seen from the Leeks Marina pizzeria, where the manage only knew one person from Laramie and of course it was my former neighbor. The Clarks Fork bridge heading into Cooke City, a surprisingly dizzying bridge across a short span of deep canyon. To give some sense of scale, check out Steph's car at the picnic area on one side of the bridge:
* being off the grid. Even though reception was spotty throughout the park, it was nice to just turn off the phone and not worry about the rest of the world for a few days. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the world continued to revolve, and the pile of bills and work was still there for me when I got back. It was nice to forget about it for a day or two, though.
* a temperature drop over 2 1/2 hours from 90 degrees near Meteetsee to 38 degrees when we drove into Cooke City, Montana.
* my first bear sighting since I can remember. My sister and I went to Yellowstone with my grandparents a couple of times when we were little, but I don't think we ever got to see a bear. The other wildlife sightings on this trip were alright, too:
* road food. Road trips are a free pass for me to eat whatever I want Cheetohs, donut holes, beef jerky, beers, ice cream in Rawlins, giant bbq burger at the Lander Bar: I'm not sure I ate a single piece of healthy food during the entire trip. Unless banana pancakes at Teton Lake count as healthy...
* karaoke at the bar in Cooke City. We didn't sing, but we did get to hear the drunkest, whitest, awesomest version of "Gangsta's Paradise" ev-ver. Proof that Cooke City is a bit of a redneck town:
* the scenery. Of course. It is better in Wyoming, after all. Despite snow on both Saturday and Sunday morning, the scenery was spectacular. Yellowstone Lake, still iced over. Lamar Valley, full of bison (and a lone coyote trotting across the valley floor among the bison). The Grand Teton, across Teton Lake, as seen from the Leeks Marina pizzeria, where the manage only knew one person from Laramie and of course it was my former neighbor. The Clarks Fork bridge heading into Cooke City, a surprisingly dizzying bridge across a short span of deep canyon. To give some sense of scale, check out Steph's car at the picnic area on one side of the bridge:
* being off the grid. Even though reception was spotty throughout the park, it was nice to just turn off the phone and not worry about the rest of the world for a few days. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the world continued to revolve, and the pile of bills and work was still there for me when I got back. It was nice to forget about it for a day or two, though.
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