Day 12 - Our last day in West Yellowstone

We were pretty pooped from the driving yesterday so we took the opportunity to sleep in and take it easy this morning. After breakfast, we showered and went for a little pedal about town. We stopped in at Freeheel & Wheel as I had checked out their website and wanted to see their custom cycling jerseys, as my Sugoi XL is a wee bit tight yet... While we were there, Jo mentioned the awesome trail system they have here that is Cross Country Ski trails in the winter and Biking in the summer. Tim was all over that like a dirty shirt so we went back to our camp, loaded up our water bottles, I changed in to appropriate cycling gear (Tim was jealous that I thought ahead and brought my gloves and shorts, he doesn't know where his gloves are and didn't think to bring his shorts either... but no matter) and we were off!! We took the Rendezvous Trail easy level loop to Grizzly Trail and back, about 8.5 km round trip. Connor was having troubles with his gearing and I stayed with him because of bears, Tim blasted on ahead and waited for us. I walked a few hills with Connor and coached him a bit on pedalling when you are starting up the next hill, I'm a big chicken going down the hills and the offroad dirt track was something I wasn't overly comfortable with but it was pretty darned fun in hindsight. On the way home, Connor and I stopped in at Yellowstone Cycle to see about getting him a water bottle and cage, but he doesn't have mounting holes on the frame of his bike so that didn't work out. I did, however, get myself a shopping basket mounted on the front of my bike for little trips downtown or to the store. No need to take the car!! We also bought a wind toy for outside on our deck as a keepsake as well. Connor and I pedaled back to camp and we bbq'd burgers for lunch. Then Tim said I was free to go shopping so I mounted my trusty bicycle and pedaled on back to Freeheel & Wheel to let Jo know we did the recommended trail she had suggested but she wasn't there. I bought some kickin' cycling socks that say "Bike Yellowstone National Park" on the ankle and freeheelandwheel.com on the bottom, with a geyser in the background. I think they are super cool coolmax socks!! I also meandered downtown in all my cycling gear glory going in and out of shops, didn't find anything until I got to a Scrapbook Station in a jewelry store. There I found papers, stickers and other goodies for when I get around to documenting this on paper rather than my blog... LOL! I returned to camp at about 5 p.m. to my boys who had been playing frisbee and taking it easy. We then took a walk downtown for ice cream... they have this neat one where they have a vanilla or chocolate ice cream or frozen yogurt and they add the flavours with this masher thing then it comes out as flavoured soft serve in a home made waffle cone (my choice). It was fantastic. Glad I didn't discover it earlier or I would have had that every night! Better than Dairy Queen anyhow...

We walked back and on the way stopped in at Yellowstone Cycle again to get Tim his very own water bottle for when he goes to fly his airplanes. Then we came back to camp, put up our campfire in a can and have been chillaxin' and planning our attack on the tent trailer teardown tomorrow. Big day to go to Lethbridge with a food and shopping break in Helena. Hard to believe our vacation is almost over! Back to work for Tim and I on Monday, Connor back to school on Thursday.

Day 11 - Billings to Cody to West Yellowstone

 Waking up refreshed, I was surprised that I didn't have too bad of an allergic reaction to the feather bedding and pillows in the hotel room. We all showered and got dressed and went downstairs for the complimentary breakfast. It was fantastic! There were the make your own waffles, scrambled eggs, hash browns, back bacon, and oatmeal for hot items, a fantastic fruit salad, a choice of fruit and cereals, breads for toasting, many toppings, juice, coffee... almost too much to list really, it was way, WAY better than what we had at the Ho Jo's in Lethbridge. We filled our tanks, finished packing and checked out by 9:15 a.m. and were on our way to find a gas station to fill up then head to Cody.

This is where it got interesting. Tim and his iPhone directed us to the nearest Exxon fuel station (my Esso Fleet Card works there so we have been fuelling at them regularly). Try #1, nothing there, try #2, no pumps and shut down, finally, clear across Billings, try #3 we found a fully functioning Exxon. We gassed up and headed out to Cody, WY, whose founding father was none other than W.F. Cody, otherwise known as Buffalo Bill Cody.

There was lots of construction on the way to Cody, 3 different locations we had to stop and be piloted across the construction. It was interesting driving through though, not much but sage brush and the odd tuft of grass in the valleys.

We (I mean I) decided the best way to start would be to take the Cody Trolley Tour. They claim "if you give us 1 hour we'll give you 100 years!". That was certainly true!

between the tunnels, looking towards the dam. I think that is a natural rock arch.

The inside of the trolley and the back of Patty's head

You can't see them in this picture but this is where the rock climbers go to practice their skills.

The dam holds back 12 miles of water!

looking back towards the dam. It was an engineering marvel when it was completed, the tallest arch dam ever. Hoover Dam is based on it's design.

The mountain that Buffalo Bill wanted to be buried on.

We also got to see a large portion of town via the trolley and get the basic lay of the land so to speak. Our next stop was for lunch, we popped in to a little Italian place called Adriano's: Home of the Spaghetti Western. I don't know about that but the sandwiches Tim and I had were delicious and Connor could not finish his cheese pizza. We had to sample the Cannoli, still not like at home from the Italian Centre Shop but still good.

Next was the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. It not only featured Buffalo Bill, but Annie Oakley and many of his famous friends. It also had a Natural Museum of Yellowstone, an Art Museum and a Gun Section. It was amazing. If you are ever in the area, seriously give yourself 2 days. We got kicked out and we only saw half!!

Photos compliments of Tim with my camera whose batteries died!!

We had to hit the road anyhow so we fuelled up again (not that we had to but you have to take the less expensive gas when it crosses your path) and headed to East Yellowstone Entrance with the plan to eat at Fishing Bridge again. What an extraordinarily breathtakingly beautiful drive that was.

It was all so amazing. Of course our trip would not be complete without our buddy, Buffalo Bob making a cameo appearance roadside!

Bob, are you stalking us??

There were also some astonishing views of Yellowstone Lake coming in from the East side.

We made it to Fishing Bridge by 8 p.m., they closed at 8:30 so we had to eat quick and leave. It was dark out by the time we left and we still had to get across the park to West Yellowstone. This took us another 2 hours!! People can sometimes try ones patience I tell you!! We finally got back to our trailer, quietly unloaded and tucked ourselves in. A long but enjoyable day.

Day 10 - West Yellowstone to Little Big Horn to Billings

Today was the day Tim has been looking forward to all holiday. It was a cool morning when we packed our suitcases and other necessary items into our truck for our overnight trip. We stopped in Billings at Sonic for lunch (they have gourmet hot dogs that were, meh, the onion rings Tim had were meh, but Connor LOVED it!) then pressed on to Little Big Horn, the site of Custer's Last Stand.

When we got out of the truck, it was apparent that it was very, very hot out so I put on my hiking fanny pack with the two water bottle holders and prepared for the heat. We all put on our hats and sunscreen too. We walked up to the Visitor Center and there was an outdoor area where a ranger was talking about what happened at Little Big Horn. He was a fantastic speaker and it was very interesting. Tim spoke to him for a bit with questions about how far away things were and whatnot then we proceeded inside to the air conditioned Visitor Center. We viewed the displays of uniforms, firearms and such and then watched another video about what had happened that June 25 so long ago. We also visited the gift shop where Tim bought a DVD to watch about it as well.

For those of you who know me, I do not care much for history, I like looking ahead so this was not my idea of a good time. But I think I was a good sport about it. In the hot weather, with a hot wind, I hiked to the top of Last Stand Hill to view the memorial where they buried all the bodies in a mass grave.

the smaller white stones are where the army men fell on the day. Some just say "7th Calvary fell here"; many were not identified. There were also red granite stones for where the Native American's fell, they were few where the army were many.

There is also a beautiful circular monument with a wrought iron sculpture of Native Americans on horseback with names of all those who were warriors in the battle of Little Big Horn. It was their victory that brought about their eventual defeat in the Indian Wars.

As I stated previously, not my thing so I did not take many pictures, from the comfort of the air conditioned truck I took pictures of the military cemetary that is also on site. Servicemen from all branches and their families can be buried at Little Big Horn.

We then took the 5 mile drive along the road of where the battle started, how they think the troops moved and retreated and whatnot. Tim had to stop at every location and read every bit of information to soak it all in to gain understanding of what happened there so long ago. All because white men wanted to renege on their Reservation Treaty and take the Black Hills of Dakota for their own. Plain old greed, pure and simple... driven by politics into a war neither side really understood. Very sad really, what people do to each other.

Finally it was almost closing time by the time we left Little Big Horn, so we wheeled back to Billings, checked into our hotel and went shopping at Target!! Yay shopping!!! I bought Connor 1 pair of jeans and 2 pairs of shorts, Connor bought himself an Action Replay and Tim bought a 3D enhancement device for his iPhone (don't ask!). Then it was time for supper. We finally decided on Fuddruckers for the worlds best burgers. They tasted fantastic and glass upon glass of lemonade was consumed trying to rehydrate from the day. We then returned to the hotel, Connor went for a swim and when we returned, Tim had checked the weather and Little Big Horn had been 101 degrees F. For my fellow Canadians, that is 40 C. No wonder we were half baked!! Our hotel, Country Inns and Suites, is really great, the mattress feels good and we are looking forward to a good night's sleep.

Day 9 - Yellowstone Upper Loop

This was a cute little vent past Norris Basin, it was too busy in the morning, we will hit it later!

Another roadside vent as we zoomed by

Buffalo Bob, going the other direction ... guess he couldn't find the girls he was looking for. Poor old fella, holding up traffic FOREVER!!!

Scarp from a rock slide.

While wallking along the boardwalk of the Upper Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs, I thought the trees there were really cool. Some kind of Juniper would be my guess... they just look freakin' cool!

Alive or dead, these trees rock!

Without further ado, Mammoth Hot Springs...

The Travertine Terraces are very cool!

This is a plant that I thought was very interesting... the purple and how fuzzy it is.

A view across the terrace...

and another angle...

and another...

I think I covered all the angles!

I  love how the water drips over the entire edge, thus the terracing... very cool.

This gives an idea of how high it is.

You can see the little village down below.

A wee little geyser cone... so little!!

A bigger spring cone, bigger than a car!

Mammoth Terraces from the road

A lone dormant geyser cone.

A last look at Mammoth.

We stopped at Lava Creek for lunch, this was our picnic site

right near Lava Creek!

 Once we were fed and watered, we piled back in the truck and I saw a sign for Blacktail Plateau. Tim drove right past it and I was like, "that might have been something" so he turned around and we headed down a single lane dirt track. After a mile or so, we came upon a small cluster of vehicles stopped on the road. "Whatcha looking at?" Connor asked.

"We just saw a black bear up there but we lost him... " was the reply.

We drove on and around the next bend, I spotted ...

 Tim captured some awesome video of the bear and we were able to observe him for quite a bit. It pays to take these little side trips. It was a six mile jaunt over hill and dale, some narrow bits through the trees and some sharp drops over the edge but we made it in one piece, elated with being able to see a black bear. Connor was thrilled to bits! Right next to where we got back to pavement was the entrance to go and check out the Petrified Tree!!

They had to fence it because they already lost one of the trees to people taking bits and pieces as souvenirs.

The Petrified Tree is next to a live tree. They figure it was a redwood  originally and volcanic ash turned it to stone.

Funny that it is out here all by itself.

 Finally we made it all around the loop, the pass is very twisty to get around to Canyon. Surprisingly, Buffalo Bob did not make an appearance later in the day as we had thought he would. Luckily, Norris Basin was less busy than it was in the morning so we decided to do the shorter loop as it appeared that weather was blowing in...

This is Steamboat Geyser. It is very intermittent 4 - 40 years it will  discharge a 300 ft plume of water. Today was not one of those days. It just burbled.

Can you spot the hottie?? LOL!

Green Dragon Cave... Connor thought it was cool.

Blue Mud Steam Vent, aptly named.

Um, where are we and shouldn't we hurry, it looks like it could storm soon...

I thought these two pools looked like Harry Potter's glasses.

Connor  sustained an injury... a wee little sliver from the hand railing. DRAMA!!

I like the way the mineral deposits look like stones around a firepit on this geyser.

Uh oh, let's get out of here!!

So we high stepped it out of there, excellent cardio on varied terrain. I just didn't want to get caught in a deluge and we weren't overly confident we were close to the parking lot so we were going at a good clip. Back at the truck, we just pulled out of the parking lot when the rain hit and did it rain. From a slight shower to a downright deluge. We saw it all coming back to West Yellowstone. We had planned to BBQ some burgers but it was still raining when we returned so I made the executive decision (I do that alot) that we would go and try the "Authentic Mexican Restaurant" next to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Centre. We were pleasantly surprised. I had Carne Asade Tacos (steak, onion and peppers), Tim had the Mucho Grande Burrito... it was enormous and stuffed with shredded chicken and steak and filled a platter. Connor got adventurous and had a Buffallo Bacon Chesseburger. Since we didn't see Buffalo Bob on the way back, we imagined it was him that Connor was eating. We shared a Deep Fried Ice Cream (Connor's first) and by the time we were done supper, the rain had all but stopped.

Back to the trailer we went and we've been doing our own thing since. Me blogging and facebooking, Connor YouTubing and Tim playing with his video footage. Tomorrow we are off to Little Big Horn in Montana to Custer's Last Stand and a hotel stay in Billings. I am hoping we will be in town in time for me to go get a pedicure maybe. My back is now peeling from my burn and itchy so I am hoping the worst of it will be over by tomorrow. Scrub it off in the hotel tub (ewwwww!!). In the words of Porky Pig, "be de be de be de, that's all folks!"