Family & More . . .
I had planned to lift up the bed this morning and see if I can see an obvious oil leak high up on the side of the rig’s engine.
But we got a call to meet Chris, Linda, and Miss Piper for lunch up at the Cheddar’s in Webster. Chris and Linda are down from Kingsland this weekend for Landon’s Birthday, so it was good to get together.
Chris said they’re really enjoying the slower country life up in the Texas hill country, especially the lack of traffic. Miss Piper’s working at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center up in Houston, where Jan worked back in the late 70’s/early 80’s, so it was interesting to hear them compare parking lots, buildings, and jobs. Neat! And it was great to see everyone even though we’re all getting together again tomorrow at Brandi’s up in Katy.
Coming home we made a WalMart stop for a few things before we headed back down to Santa Fe and home.
Since that was about it for today, I thought I’d repost our June 2013 visit to Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone & Supermoon, Almost . . .
We left the rig at Yellowstone Valley Inn & RV Park about 9am, heading for the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone National Park, but this time I got to sightsee a little more since I wasn’t driving the rig this time.
And it was a lot of really spectacular views.
Our road paralleled the Shoshone River for a good while, with a lot of whitewater and kayakers enjoying the water.
And as we got closer to the park, we started our climb up the highest point on our trip, Sylvan Pass at 8530 feet.
We were surprised to see how much snow was still around up there.
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We knew we were getting close when we took the curve and looked out on Yellowstone Lake. When we left the rig it was bright and sunny, but as we got deeper into the park the overcast rolled in and stay with us most of the rest of the day.
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A few miles before the Fishing Bridge we had our first animal sighting, this female elk out in a field. There was a small herd of more off in the trees.
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Getting to the Old Faithful area about 11:30, we got parked and headed over to the Old Faithful Inn for lunch. I remember eating here with my family in 1964 when we did a two month trip out west.
We both had the lunch buffet with such items as Sautéed Trout, Wild Rice, Chipotle BBQ Chicken, and our favorite, the Bison Chili.
BTW When did buffalo become bison? We don’t sing “where the bison roam”. We don’t read about “Bison Bill Cody, and Nick Russell’s contribution, we don’t sing “Bison gals won’t you come out tonight”
So who decided we needed a new name for buffalo, and why wasn’t I consulted?
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Finishing up lunch, we walked over to the Old Faithful Geyser to wait for the next eruption.
Luckily for us we only had to wait about 20 minutes, since the sun had disappeared in the clouds and the wind had picked, making it pretty chilly.
After watching the Big Blow, we made the obligatory visits to a couple of gift shops before getting back on the road and heading north on the Grand Loop Road.
Passing Madison Junction, the west entrance to the park, we headed over to Norris, and then Canyon Junction. Along the way, we came across this gray wolf running across the field.
And this pair of swans.
Next was this group of adult buffalos and a couple of calves.
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And a little later, this big guy was just glaring at the traffic going by.
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Coming on around the Grand Loop we came back to our turn at the Fishing Bridge, and after making a pit stop at the General Store there, we headed home.
Just as we were leaving the Yellowstone Lake area, we once again came across this one-lane stoplight system.
It’s there because of this washed-out section of roadway. The only problem is that this same section was washed out two years ago, and protected by the same automated stoplight system.
So either this section of pavement washes out regularly, or they just haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet.
Personally I think it’s the second reason.
We finally got back to the rig about 5:45pm and settled in. Since we had a big lunch, I made coffee and then we popped some Orville Redenbacher’s Kettle Corn.
All in all, a very nice day.
I thought tomorrow night was supposed to be the SuperMoon, but this one will do in a pinch.
Thought for the Day:
“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” – Steve Jobs
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