Today’s journey – Yellowstone!

 We are getting more efficient at packing camp and this morning went pretty smoothly.   I think we got out of camp by 9:30 and started down the mountain.  Parker was shocked because he hasn’t been out of the hammock before that time until now.  We were anticipating the down the mountain drive we had been warned about by our camp host.  He said to keep the car in low gear and go about 25mph; the grades are between at 8 and 17 degrees which is pretty steep when you start down.  The views are breathtaking! 

  

When we got down the mountain, John’s phone began to blow up with txt from family.  We had a chance to talk to Rich in the hospital and Laura at home – hating this COVID time when people are not able to be together in the hospital!   We had a fantastic lunch at The Trailhead in Cody, WY.   While John went to get supplies and gas, we sat outside to order food and talk to Aunt Laura.  John had a little scare and misplaced the crank for the trailer while he was getting supplies in and lost the bucket ‘seat cover’ somewhere in the middle of town.  After filling our bellies, we were able to talk to Uncle Rich who is bored in the hospital.  (Update later - what I'm not sure we were told at this point was that Rich was told he did not have the rare pancreatic cancer that was treatable.  I remember being at this gorge when we felt the weight of his being sick.)

Outside Cody to the west is the most beautiful lake filled valley and then the Shoshone River.   For future trips, we are interested in the Buffalo Bill Park area North Shore camp ground.  Along the river, Big Game, Wapiti and Elk Fork camp grounds look amazing!  (We sent this photo to Rich.)

               

We made it into Yellowstone and the scenery once again changes to much more green with dense pine.   It’s so peaceful driving along the river.   Just when we neared our campsite area, a buffalo decided to cross the bridge we need to pass over.  Not a care in the world, just meandering across.   He was enormous!  

 Just across from our campground several elk were just relaxing in the dense trees.  We checked into the campground, set up the camper and we drove over to the marina store to have ice cream.  No one was really hungry for dinner so we decide on a short hike behind the marina to a natural bridge.  We got about a half mile in when it began to rain.  Since it was incredibly windy and cold, we were all in layers but some of us in the layers that have been keeping us warm at night so we began to run back to the car.  The higher elevation/less oxygen had us stopping to breath.  Back in the tent, we played Uno and ate sandwiches until the rain stopped.  By then, we were all ready to turn in.  Because we are in bear country and they made us so nervous about it, the kids slept in the floor of the GO and Parker slept in the car only because he was tired of his hammock.   It was quite a noisy night in the campground of 400 sites.  We were missing the quiet spaces we previously camped!