Heather and Barry's Homepage

For the first time on the trip, Barry woke up in the morning mentioning that he was cold a lot last night, despite the fact that we were under the same number of blankets we had been all trip and that he was wearing long underwear. I had mentioned to him previously that we really wanted to get warmer blankets, because it’s only going to get colder, but Barry being a boy, or Barry being Barry, didn’t want to spent the extra money on the fleece sleeping bags I saw in an Evilmart (a.k.a. Wal-Mart) a few towns back. [Yes, I’m cheap. —Barry]

Outside the tent, the sun was warm and playful. The day promised to be beautiful and it was somewhat sad that we had a while that we were going to be in the car before we could enjoy the weather. So, me being me, I took as much time leaving the campground as I could without Barry getting impatient. We let the fly of the tent dry out some over a huge boulder that lived on the site while he cleaned up from breakfast and I went to take pictures of the creek. Before we left, we filled our Nalgene bottles with water from the very cool pump that was conveniently right next to our site. I took a bunch of pictures and made Barry pump a couple of Nalgenes more than he needed to so that I could get the image that I wanted, but payback is fair in turn. As soon as I said, “yes! Got it!” he took the camera and made me pump the water so that he could get some pictures, too.

When I was done playing with my SLR, we packed up everything else from the site and headed Yellowstoneward. The drive continued to be spectacular, but Barry and I agreed that the Gallatin River really didn’t look worth it to paddle at the moment. A few hours later, we entered the town of West Yellowstone, which is right outside the park. As gross as it is (to me), Barry needed an Arby’s fix, so we pulled into the drive-through and he got his roast beef sandwich and fries. A few of the fries walked their way into my mouth, but they were ultimately too salty, so I let Barry finish his lunch in peace. Another purchase Barry wanted to make while we were in town was a low-beam light for my car; he had noticed that it was out while we were driving last night or the night before and thought it a good idea to invest in a new one. I supported this venture and with a gut instinct also asked him to check on the windshield wipers. They too, were in need of repair, so Barry went in to purchase the items as I frantically tried to get caught up with the blog (to no avail - sigh). He fixed the bulb and the wipers and we were soon on our way to Yellowstone National Park.

When we arrived at the gate, we asked about camping. The woman pointed to a sign and said that “all of the campsites – no, wait - all of the campsites but Canyon have spaces available.” We thanked her, took our complimentary Yellowstone Map, Yellowstone newspaper, and a piece of paper that said to slow down - speeding kills wildlife with some statistics about how many animals are killed each year in the park due to people not paying attention to the speed limits (which, unless otherwise posted, are 45 miles per hour). We then pulled over to the side of the road, watched another female ranger change the camp sign for Canyon to “full”, and looked at the map to decide where we wanted to stay for the next night.

Given its location en route to Teton, we decided to stay at Madison Campground, which is the first campground that you come to when you enter from the West Entrance of the park. We arrived around 4ish, got a site in the D loop, and went to set up camp. The woman who checked us in gave us an FYI that afternoon storms were common in Yellowstone, and told us about the rules of the campground. Barry also noticed or overheard that we could pay for more nights than we wanted to stay to hold our site, and if we left early, we just needed to check in with them before check-out time and we’d get the cash (or the refund on the plastic) back for all nights we had reserved in the future. With the registration process out of the way, we set up camp as quickly as possible and then went to the local visitor’s center to ask about hikes that we’d want to do while we were in the park. We purchased the Day Sampler, a $0.50 list of all the recommended hikes in the area as well as a cute little yellow book that gave us more options about hikes that were more off the beaten path. We also donated $1 to the park to obtain the little trail map/handout/information brochures that they created for each main region in the park. After finding out when Old Faithful was going to blow (Barry had yet to ever see a geyser), we went back into West Yellowstone hoping to find some new blankets.

Given its location and its make-up, Barry and I were curious if the town was created as a tourist place outside of the park for those who needed something extra, or if it was there prior to the park’s existence. Assuming it’s the latter, we drove in and went to the shop that had signs all over it broadcasting it’s low prices and bargain deals for outdoor clothing and the like. Hoping we’d get lucky, we went in and looked around. No blankets of any description were to be found, however. We asked the people working there for suggestions of where to go and they pointed to the other side of town to a department-like store called Round-Up Trading Post. I asked where the blankets were, and she pointed to the back of the store. Barry and I spent some time thinking about the size of the blanket and the amount of money the blanket was. There were no perfect options, but we decided on this cute moose blanket that was acrylic for a mere $52 [It beat being cold at night]. I was looking at these fleece throw blankets when Barry called me over to the camping section of the store. Sitting on the shelf were fleece sleeping bags very similar to the ones I had seen in Wal-Mart. I asked him if this meant he didn’t want to get the Moosey blankie, and he said that I should do whatever I want, so I asked him if he wanted a red, a blue, or a green fleece, pulled two green fleeces off the shelf based on his answer, and walked to the front of the store with fleecey #1, fleecey #2, and Moosey in tow.

With warm blankets thrown in the back of the already messy car, we headed back toward Yellowstone and in the direction of Old Faithful. The park Rangers predicted that she would go off at 7:54 PM, plus or minus 10 minutes. When we arrived at the parking area, the temperature had cooled off significantly. Dark grey clouds could be seen overhead and we grabbed our umbrellas. With the foreboding rain, the seats that are usually packed with people with practically empty. Barry and I sat down around 7:35ish and got front row seats. At 7:40, the thunder pounded and the lightning lit the sky, followed quickly by a fast and furious rain. Our legs were cold as the wind blew past our umbrellas, and Barry kept asking if I wanted to leave. I kept telling him that I didn’t care, that the decision was up to him; I had seen Old Faithful before. We could leave and come back tomorrow or we could stay, it was his choice. This went on for about ten minutes, and at that point it was almost time to have the geyser explode, so we stayed. About six minutes later, thar she blew. It was an interesting experience. By the time the geyser erupted, the rain had turned to drizzle. None-the-less, it was hard to see the actual water of the geyser because of the fog from the rain and the huge amount of steam that surrounded the cone. At some point, the sun came out again, making the experience even more exotic. We waited until the water had mostly dispersed then took pictures of the each of us with the famous water volcano in the background.

As quickly as we could we made our way to the lodge to warm up and dry off a little before we went back to the car. We perused the gift shop, looking for nothing in particular, then raced to Gretta in hopes of keeping warm. On our way home, Barry asked me if he thought that the tarp we put up would still be standing. I told him, “of course”, and it was, but it was also logged down by a large puddle of water. Barry started dinner as I went to put the new blankies on the bed. We had pasta with creamed corn, and the warmth plus the carbs were helpful in making sure that we were going to be nice and cozy for the evening. When we crawled into bed after cleaning up, the new blankets made our room warm and snuggy. My thoughts before drifting off to sleep were, “you go, new blankies. You show Barry up!” :)