Granny and Grandpa
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Sheila's road trip notes
2007 Road Trip Notes
Saturday, July 28th, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007 We got up at 7:00 and the kids at 7:30. We all got dressed and then Grandpa and Ron got the camper ready to move. We were going to the campground at the Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone today. We left at 8:39 and stopped at a grocery store for drinks and ice. Grandpa and Granny went on. We left the grocery store at 9:06. It was 67 degrees, sunny and clear. It was very nice weather. We entered the park at 9:13. We got to go through the employee lane. The other line was long and there was a park ranger standing outside. If you had a park or annual pass (and we do), you could drive around the line. Ron asked the kids if next year they wanted to take a vacation or just sit at home. They want to take a vacation. We entered Wyoming at 9:18. Goodbye Montana! We stopped at 9:23 at the Visitor Center at Mammoth Hot Springs for our 62 ½ BB. We left at 9:29. There were elk in Mammoth Hot Springs. At 9:58 we saw a big buffalo by the road. AT 10:16 Sarah saw a coyote at Canyon Village. We saw a small herd of elk. Saw a big buffalo next to road. Saw 2 deer beside road. Saw 2 buffalo next to the road. One was sitting by the “Caution Bison Are Wild and Dangerous – Do Not Approach” sign. We saw 2 more buffalo. We saw several buffalo scattered through the grasslands around Yellowstone River. There were several with calves. We got to the campground at 10:45. The people in the office were all super friendly. When we checked in they said we could park the Suburban at the Comfort Station (the bathrooms). That was good because when Ron made the reservations, he told them he had an extra vehicle, but was told they did not encourage bringing extra vehicles so there would be no where to park it without getting a ticket. We got to the campsite at 11:00. Check- out is at 10:00 am. There were people in a motor home still in the site. The guy said it would be about 5 more minutes, they were finishing up breakfast. I thought it was a motor home - eat on the road. We got the camper set up and left at 11:45. We were going to eat sandwiches in the campground, but there were no picnic tables at the campsites. We drove back toward Mud Volcano Area looking for a picnic area. We left the campground at 11:48. It was 68 degrees, sunny with white fluffy clouds. We left the windows down in the camper because the A/C was still not working. We found a picnic area at 11:57, but it was full of buffalo. We decided not to eat their. We left at 12:03, after taking pictures of the buffalo. We found another one at 12:04. We stopped and ate sandwiches and had our 63 ½ BB. We left at 12:38. There was a buffalo across from the picnic area. We stopped at the Mud Volcano Area at 12:42. It was smelly. Since Ron had been there in the early 70’s, there had been earthquakes so it was different than it was when he was there. When he was there, it was thick mud bubbling. Now it is just really dirty water bubbling. We left at 1:30 to go to the falls. The buffalo were still out in the grasslands. We slowed and watched them. One was walking down the middle of the road. Ron could have slapped him on the butt. We stopped at the Upper Falls parking area at 1:57. We walked down and looked at the falls. They are very pretty. We did not do Uncle Tom’s Trail (327 steps). We left at 2:08. We stopped at the Brink of the Falls at 2:13. We had our 64 ½ BB. It started sprinkling while in the restrooms. We decided to drive up to Canyon Lodge and drive on the one-way road and back down to the falls. We left at 2:22. We drove on the north rim road. We stopped at Inspiration Point at 2:35. It was very crowded. We parked and got out and looked in the canyon. At 2:40 it started raining. We sat in the Suburban and waited, but at 2:44 it was still raining. We decided to leave and go back to the camper and close the windows. At 2:48 it was 54 degrees. At 2:56 it was just sprinkling. The buffalo were still next to the road. Traffic was very slow. We reached the camper at 3:34. We closed the windows and there was no electricity. According to the information from the campground, due to something in the park, electricity was sometimes interrupted. We left at 3:44. We reached the Brink of the Fall at 4:22. We walked to the Brink of the Upper Falls. We left at 4:39. There were lots of people looking at the canyon. It is very pretty. We drove toward Canyon Village. We saw a black bear up the road just before we reached the 4-way stop at Canyon Village. At 4:50 we saw the “Approaching the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone” sign. We stopped at Inspiration Point again. It was not raining at 4:54. We left Inspiration Point at 5:02. We stopped at Grandview Point at 5:08. It was 65 degrees sunny with white clouds. We left at 5:17. There were still lots of people. We stopped at Lookout Point at 5:19. This was a view of the lower falls. We left at 5:32. We stopped at a pit toilet for our 65 ½ BB at 5:34. Sarah used the pit toilet first and while she was in there, Ron found some real toilets. We all used them and left at 5:43. We decided to go back to Canyon Village to eat supper. We arrived there at 5:49. We ate in the cafeteria. Ron, Grandpa and I had Bison Sausage, Granny had chicken cordon bleu, and the kids had fettuccini. We also had our 66 ½ BB there. We left there at 6:38. We stopped to get gas at a station close to the Canyon Village. (It was $3.01, but we did not care how much it cost.) The last time we left Yellowstone we needed some, but the price was too high in the town we went through. We decided to get some later, but we were getting really low when we finally found a gas station. We had been 370.3 miles since our last fill up. We have been a total 4413.8 miles. Ron only got 10.005 gallons. We left 6:45 We decided to drive toward where the buffalo and wolves are supposed to be, Lamar Valley. We turned around at 7:04 and drove back to the campground. We did not go all the way to Lamar Valley. We did not see any animals. We saw a herd of elk just past the 4-way stop at Canyon Village. We also saw a herd standing in the river and near the river. We saw a wolf across the river watching elk. We used the binoculars. We saw the buffalo again. They have been hanging out in the same place all day. There were lots of them. Remember it is rutting season. They do a lot of growling. We have also seen lots of big black ravens in the park. They are scary. We got back to the camper at 8:11. It was 61 degrees and sunny.