Bri's 2009 Yellowstone Travel Journal

(All times are in Mountain Time)

July 6, 9:43 p.m.

Ah... vacation at last! Hopefully, I have a good time, but hey, even if it isn't great, at least I get to be away from home for a few days, which is always great. Now driving over 400 miles in one day is not so great. We've got 361 to go until Billings. If we wouldn't have left almost a whole hour late, we'd be even closer. I wish there was some crazy teleportation system that could get you to your destination in a matter of seconds. Since that doesn't exist unfortunately, I am listening to the sweet Humble Tip album I bought with Coke Rewards points last week. One of the major Christian rap labels needs to sign him; he's great. But back on topic: we're now going through road construction. *sigh* As if I need a delay in the already way too long drive. Oh well. I've been writing for over ten minutes, so I'm going to end this and check in later—probably after lunch. Au revoir!

July 6, 11:06 a.m.

It's not lunch yet, but I figured I'd check in. I haven't done much since last update. I've been doing sudoku puzzles. I finished the Humble Tip album and put my iPod on shuffle. We just left Painted Canyon, which we stopped at for a stretch and bathroom break. Fun stuff. Now I'm really hungry and it'll be a while until we hit the first decent-sized Montana town. Until then I'm going to go back to my ridiculously hard sudoku puzzle, which I hope to solve without cheating.

July 6, 1:57 p.m.

We finally ate! I was starving already when we passed Glendive, but we waited until Miles City to eat. And to top it all off, Wendy's was super busy. I had two crispy chicken sandwiches and fries. They were good, but they were a little too filling. And now we have 134 miles to go. Hooray! Not. I am now going to do more puzzles. They are keeping me occupied, but they are a tad bit annoying. Oh well. Adios!

July 6, 8:35 p.m.

I haven't had a very great time since the last update. We arrived in Billings and checked into our hotel room. While hanging out in the room, the fire alarm went off. It turned off in a couple of minutes; someone just must've pulled the alarm. That is the second time that has happened to me at a hotel. A little bit after that episode, we went to Rimrock Mall. We didn't go into any stores; I'm so not your typical teenage girl. After that we went to Del Taco. While there, Eric decided to tell me that a store at the mall had tons of sock monkey stuff. Thanks for telling me, Eric, when we had already left the mall! I would have loved to check it out; I have a sock monkey obsession. But anyway, back to Del Taco. I ordered a Macho Combo Burrito. It was good, but it was way too big. I ended up throwing a lot away. After that we drove to Geyser Park, a mini golf place, but my three family members decided to go back to the hotel because there were storm clouds. Boo hoo. I wanted to wait fifteen or so minutes because it looked like it would clear up soon. They didn't trust my meteorological skills, though. Oh well. And thus we found ourselves back at the hotel, where I struggled to get the hotel's Internet to work for a long time. It is horribly slow, but it works now. I am watching the box score for the Texas Rangers game while writing this. My favorite baseball player—and possibly favorite athlete period—Josh Hamilton is making his return from surgery and a long trip on the DL. He is 2-2 so far with a single and a double. Go Josh! Well, I've written a lot and I'm sick of writing, so I'm going to end this. Sayonara!

July 7, 10:19 a.m.

We're on the way to Yellowstone! This morning was relatively uneventful. I woke up at seven, got ready, and went to breakfast. The hotel we stayed at has free hot breakfast. You get a choice of meat, a choice of bread, and two of the following: pancakes, waffles, eggs, and hash browns. I ordered bacon, wheat toast, two over-medium eggs, and hash browns. They messed up and gave me scrambled eggs instead, but everything was good. After breakfast we packed up and checked out. Now we're on Highway 212 on the way to the always lovely Beartooth Highway. I can't wait for my mom to freak out like she always does. And ouch, my foot is asleep! It feels like a hundred pins sticking my foot over and over. I better end this now because I have little else to say. Auf wiedersehen!

July 7, 3:43 p.m.

A lot has happened since last update. We drove through Beartooth Highway. Beartooth Highway es muy bonito. I almost want to move there. Sure, that would be lonely after a while, but it would be beautiful and adventurous. Speaking of adventure, I need to mention the loveliness that is Cooke City. My mom had to go to the bathroom, so we looked all over town for one. That was quite unsuccessful, as the town's public bathrooms were portables. Yuck! Finding lunch was another adventure. Cooke City has no fast food places. It only has cafés—and very few at that. I ended up buying some spicy chicken soup from some café to-go. It was decent. And now, we're finally in the national park. First stop I'm guessing is Tower Falls. I'll update later on that and any other things that happen. Arrivederci!

July 7, 7:22 p.m.

I was wrong. The first stop was some overlook of the Yellowstone River and then was Tower Falls. My dad and Eric (my mom stayed behind) walked the trail as far down as it went and then walked down to the shore of the river. We stayed down there for a while and got chewed out by Mom for being inconsiderate for being down there so long. I'm hoping that won't be a regular occurrence. I should mention that walking back to the parking lot was not fun. I had to take a short break because I was breathing so hard, When back at the parking lot area, we went into the store and got stuff to eat. I had Moose Tracks ice cream, which was good. After that we left, and now we are on the way to Norris Junction. Ciao!

July 7, 8:55 p.m.

I'm bored and annoyed. We've been stopped 25 minutes for road work, and the man who stopped us said it would take about 20 minutes. Other than that, I don't have too much to say. We stopped at Virginia Cascades, but we stayed for a very short time because there was a ridiculous amount of mosquitoes. We also went to Artists' Paintpots but didn't walk most of the trail for the same reason. And yes! We're moving again! I don't think I have anything else to say. I'm expecting to write one more entry tonight about supper, and that should be it. Kwaheri!

July 8, 10:46 a.m.

I was too tired and lazy last night after supper to write. Supper wasn't very exciting. My dad and Eric went walking to find a place to eat because we didn't want to lose our parking place at the hotel. Apparently they found a Subway and tried to call me, but get thus, my dad forgot my cell phone number, so they just guessed what I wanted. They guessed decently, but they didn't order three things I wanted: black olives, banana peppers, and spicy mustard. Oh well. Now on to today. I just had an interesting experience. We were stuck in very slow-moving traffic for something like 30 to 45 minutes. A couple minutes ago, we were stopped by a nest with a bald eagle. I figured I could get out, take a photo, and catch up to the van fairly easily. Turns out I was wrong. I got out, and as I was walking closer to the nest, the traffic started moving at a normal speed again, and I had to rush back into the van without getting a photo. So I'm wondering if it was one bald eagle that delayed us for so long. If so, that is pathetic. Now we're on our way to Firehole Canyon Drive and various geyser basins before making our way to Old Faithful. Adeus!

July 8, 7:41 p.m.

I can tell that this entry will take a while. First I have a lot to write about. Second my hands are frozen, so it is difficult to write. Nevertheless here we go. We went to Firehole Canyon Drive, Fountain Flat Drive, Fountain Paint Pot, Firehole Lake Drive, and Midway Geyser Badin before deciding to go on to Old Faithful and temporarily skip two geyser basins because Eric had to go to the bathroom. When we got there, we checked when Old Faithful would erupt, and it was going to be a while, so we had a very late lunch. I, though over 17 and a half years old, had a kiddie meal consisting of a cheeseburger, fries, and a drink. After lunch we waited for Old Faithful to erupt. Meanwhile storm clouds had moved in, so after Old Faithful erupted, we decided to go inside Old Faithful Inn. After checking it out for a while, we went back outside, and since it looked like it could possibly rain, we decided to go back to the van and check out the two geyser basins that we skipped since their paths were shorter. Mom stayed in the van since she isn't feeling well, and my dad, Eric, and I checked the two Basins—Biscuit and Black Sand—out. After that we had a big decision to make—go back to the hotel early, eat, and swim or go back to Old Faithful and hope we don't get rained on, or worse, get caught in a thunderstorm. We sat for a few minutes in the van doing nothing and then finally decided to return to Old Faithful, Mom stayed in the van again. Eric, my dad, and I walked the geyser loop and then watched Old Faithful again. I didn't get to do two things I wanted to do unfortunately—walk up to Observation Point at the top of the hill overlooking Old Faithful and watch Castle Geyser since it was predicted to go off within a half hour. Oh well. I've just got to learn how to handle not getting my way because it happens all of the time. Now we're heading back to the hotel to eat and possibly swim. I'm not going to promise like last night, but I might write once more tonight. If not, I will tomorrow on the way to our first destination. Hasta luego!

July 9, 9:51 a.m.

It's a good thing that I didn't promise to write last night. I just didn't feel like writing. For supper last night I had chicken strips, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and a biscuit from KFC. KFC in West Yellowstone is stupid; it doesn't have snackers, and that is what we all wanted. Now on to today. The bald eagle just held us up for several minutes again. Now we're finally back to normal speed. Today we're going to one cascade (Kepler), two waterfalls (Lewis and Moose), one geyser basin (West Thumb), and Grand Teton National Park. We're still over 20 miles away from our first stop. Until then!

July 9, 3:07 p.m.

I have a lot to write about. On the way to West Thumb Geyser Basin, we stopped at Kepler Cascades and a spot that crosses the Continental Divide and also has numerous lily pads. Next was West Thumb, which is a sweet geyser basin adjacent to Yellowstone Lake. I was really hungry by the time we finished there, so we stopped at nearby Grant Village to eat lunch. It was a little pricey there, so I had the cheapest meal, which was a quarter-pound hot dog with fires. It was good, but a little bit too much to eat. The next stop was Lewis Falls, which was quite an adventure. After taking some photos of the falls, I told my mom that I was going to catch up to Eric on a trail. While on that trail, Eric and I found a way to get really close to the bottom of the waterfall. We took some photos, tried unsuccessfully to self-timer a photo of us in front of the waterfall, and went back to where our mom was. Turns out we were gone so long that our dad had gone to look for us, which in turn made us have to look for him. It was Sylvan Lake all over again (referring to a similar episode at Sylvan Lake in the Black Hills of South Dakota). The episode made our mom really crabby, so we decided to be especially nice, which we should be anyway. Next we stopped at Moose Falls, which none of us recall seeing in our previous Yellowstone trips. It was really neat. I was able to go right up to both the top and bottom of the waterfall. Now we're on our way to the Grand Tetons, and we're encountering delays and construction yet again. Later!

July 9, 7:19 p.m.

Time to write about the Grand Tetons. First stop was Colter Bay where we picked up some park information and went down to the bay. As always, I had to step into the water, and as always, it was really cold. Then on the way to Jenny Lake, we stopped at various overlooks of the Teton Range. The scenery out there is incredible. We stopped at another overlook called Jenny Lake Overlook where I once again went in the water. The view was marvelous again. We made a quick stop at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center and another overlook, and now we're on our way back to the hotel. We had to stop again for construction a moment ago, but we got lucky and only had to wait two minutes. That's great because we're trying to get back to West Yellowstone by 10 p.m because most—if not all—of the restaurants close by then. It's going to be quite a close call. And now, I'm done writing for the night; I'll update on supper tomorrow morning. Hasta mañana!

July 10, 9:58 a.m.

Well, we made it back in time last night. Turns out McDonald's is open until midnight, so we could have made it back later. I had a double cheeseburger and fries for supper. Now we're on our way to Canyon Village, stopping at some other places—Gibbon Falls, Monument Geyser Basin, and Artists' Paintpots—on the way. Soon we're going to hit some of the always lovely (not) construction. Adios!

July 10, 7:38 p.m.

It's been almost ten hours since I last wrote, so this should be quite long. We started by going to the two places we skipped the second day because of mosquitoes—Monument Geyser Basin and Artists' Paintpots. Next we went over to Canyon and drove North Rim Drive, stopping at all the trails and viewpoints. The first two—Brink of Lower Falls Trail and Red Rock Point—were very difficult. The former drops 600 feet in 3/8 of a mile, while the latter drops 500 feet in the same distance. The way down was easy, but the way back up made me pant for breath. After those two difficult trails, it was nice that the other trails were very short and easy. When we finished driving North Rim Drive, we went to Canyon Village to eat at the cafeteria. My meal of an egg roll, fried rice, carrot cake, and chocolate milk was delicious—especially the cake—but expensive ($8.90). Worse, the rest of my family was way cheaper, which made me look selfish and expensive. After lunch we walked the short Brink of the Upper Falls trail and then drove the South Rim Drive, stopping at all the trails and viewpoints. My dad, Eric, and I were looking forward to Uncle Tom's Trail because it consists of more than 300 steps and gives a spectacular view of Lower Falls. Unfortunately it was closed due to falling rocks that had compromised the integrity of the stairs. We still got to see both waterfalls—Upper and Lower—and the canyon from several angles. The whole canyon area is beautiful. After finishing South Rim Drive, we decided to go south to see Sulphur Caldron, Mud Volcano, and Fishing Bridge. Mud Volcano was especially interesting; on the half-mile loop we got within a few feet of a buffalo. It was scary, but cool at the same time. After checking out Fishing Bridge, we decided to take the long way back to West Yellowstone that goes by Yellowstone Lake in order to avoid the construction between Madison and Norris. We're still approximately 54 minutes from our hotel. Eric wants to swim, but unless we'd skip supper—which I refuse to do—we won't be able to. It's so nice to be basically done for the day. My legs hurt from so much walking, and I am very badly sun-burnt. My forehead hurts from sunburn, and I look like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Great stuff—especially since I have senior photos very soon. Hopefully I don't get much more burnt tomorrow on our last full day in Yellowstone. This is long enough, so I'm done writing for the night. Buenas noches!

July 11, 9:49 a.m.

Bald eagle time! How exciting! Before I get to writing about today's destinations, I'll write about last night. Though I was ridiculously sore and tired, Eric talked me into going swimming with him. Meanwhile my dad walked to Subway to get some subs. Mom and I shared a ham foot-long. Soon after we went to bed, and luckily I fell asleep before my dad started snoring. Now we're on the way to Norris and stopped at the stupid—I mean beautiful—bald eagle place. After we get through this, we'll have construction delays between Madison and Norris. Today we're going to Norris Geyser Basin, Roaring Mountain, Sheepeater Cliff, and Mammoth Hot Springs. We're hoping to finish earlier today, so we can walk around West Yellowstone. Au revoir!

July 11, 7:08 p.m.

It's been almost ten hours again since I last wrote, and I only have approximately 20 minutes to write. Our first stop was Norris Geyser Basin. Mom only walked a little way, but Eric, our dad, and I walked a total of almost two miles. My legs were sore from yesterday, and it was really hot out, so it was a little difficult at times. The next stop was Roaring Mountain. The mountain wasn't steaming much, but there was a buffalo on the other side of the road, which was cool but freaky as well. Next was Sheepeater Cliff, which was really cool. It is a cliff of a bunch of fallen rocks and rocks that are still in their original formation that people can climb to the top of. I made it to the top fairly easily. One part was difficult in that I had to put my knee up on a rock, lift my other foot up, and support myself with not-so-good grips on both hands. It's kind of scary climbing up because some of the rocks could be loose, and they could fall when you're on them. On the way to Mammoth Hot Springs, we also stopped at a waterfall and a sweet bridge. When we got to Mammoth, we ate lunch. I had the same as I did at Old Faithful—a cheeseburger, fries, and a drink. After lunch we walked the Lower Terraces, Only a couple of the terraces were active, but those that were active were beautiful. After walking the paths, we crossed the street to look at Opal Terrace. A few elk were there and my family and some strangers were taking photos when a park ranger drove by in her red car and yelled at us, saying that they were dangerous. Sorry, but I felt more unsafe by the bison at Mud Volcano. Whatever. After that we drove Upper Terrace Drive where there were more terraces and springs to walk to and see. The Canary Spring area was especially beautiful. After that drive, we went east a few miles to see Undine Falls and then headed back for West Yellowstone. We got lucky with the road construction again (I forgot to mention that we got lucky this morning also). So much for the Madison-Norris construction being so horrible! We just arrived in West Yellowstone. I'm assuming our plans tonight are to walk the town, eat, and swim. Ciao!

July 12, 11:50 a.m.

I've put this entry off long enough, and I need to do something or I'll fall asleep. Last night the boys went swimming while my mom and I went shopping in West Yellowstone. In the first store we entered, I found some necklaces with sweet pendants on them that would be great for hemp jewelry. I decided to keep shopping and come back if I hadn't bought much else. We entered a few more stores, all the while searching for a store that we liked last time we were in Yellowstone. We eventually found it. Mom bought huckleberry jam, and I bought a grab bag. The grab bag wasn't the greatest (it was better last time), but it was only four dollars so oh well. Next we went to the drink and snack stand I've been wanting to buy an Italian cream soda from all week. I had a huckleberry one, and it was really good. I love Italian sodas; I want one now. Anyways, after that I went into the first store to buy one of the necklaces while my mom stayed outside holding my cream soda. I chose a pendant that has something that looks like a purple flower inside. I plan on taking the pendant off and making a hemp necklace with it. When I went to pay, I took out six dollars, gave it to the man at the cash register, and said something like “Here's the six dollars. I'll get the change out.” He told me to forget about the change. Granted the change was only 17 cents, but that was still really nice. We went back to the hotel then, and I drank my Italian soda and used the laptop while my dad went to get pizza. He brought back a Canadian bacon pizza from Pete's Rocky Mountain Pizza Co., which was delicious. That's about all that happened last night. This morning we checked out of the hotel and drove over to the Yellowstone National Park sign to get photos in front of it. Then we drove over to an Old West photo place that we went to last time we were in Yellowstone. Mom and I dressed up as saloon girls, and the boys dressed up as outlaws. Dad held a rifle, Eric held two pistols, Mom held nothing, and I held a whiskey bottle. I know; that sounds just like me, After that we took off for Billings by the way of US-181. We're going to stop in Bozeman to go to Macy's and to eat too I think, Until then!

July 12, 3:08 p.m.

I'm getting lazy with journaling. We've been out of Bozeman for a long time, but I didn't feel like writing. Like I wrote earlier, we went to Macy's. Mom tried to find me a dress for senior pictures, but she couldn't find anything. I did buy three shirts (as if I actually needed more clothes). Meanwhile a storm moved in, so we decided to hurry out of town as fast as possible, which meant that I had to find somewhere to eat quickly. The first place I saw (other than Taco Bell, which I did not want) was Burger King, so we went there. I had a Whopper Jr. and fries. Now we're about a half hour away from Billings (according to Myrtle, our GPS), and I'm planning on listening to my iPod and staring out the window as long as I'm actually able to stay awake. Arrivederci!

July 13, 11:22 a.m.

I'm finally making another update. Last evening was interesting to say the least. I thought we were going to go to ZooMontana in the morning, but we went yesterday, so we could get home earlier. It was miserable at the zoo; the temperature was almost 100 degrees. The zoo itself was just all right. There were peacocks all over the place (some mating), which was cool. After the zoo, we went to Best Buy because Eric wanted to finally be modern in his music listening and buy a 32 GB iPod Touch. They were sold out, but we spotted a Walmart nearby to check at. Before going there, we went to the mall to check out the store with sock monkey stuff. Unfortunately everything was way too expensive, so I didn't buy anything. Then we drove over to Walmart where Eric bought his iPod and a case. I looked at the case and told Eric that he probably wanted a different one with a belt clip on it. Thus we went back to Best Buy where he found one. Next we checked in at the hotel, checked the radar, and decided to go mini-golfing. Remember how mini golf didn't happen the first night? Well, it didn't happen again. The place closes really early on Sundays. We couldn't go today either because it didn't open up until 1 p.m. I just realized that I forgot to mention that between the zoo and Best Buy, I started to feel sick, which is important in the rest of the night's events. So with a stomachache, I had to order from Del Taco for supper. I ordered a chicken soft taco and a churro. The taco was smaller than I expected, and I was starting to feel better while I was eating, so I was still really hungry afterward. Then I went swimming with Eric. Well, it was more like standing in the water because I wasn't feeling well again. I didn't stay very long. At 9 p.m., we went to Raid the Refrigerator (something the hotel holds every night), and I had two cookies. That's about it for last night. This morning I had the same thing as last time for breakfast at the hotel. We checked out and headed for Pompey's Pillar where William Clark carved his name in rock. We didn't stay long because all of us want to get home quickly—my parents because of bad weather, Eric because of his iPod, and me because of the Home Run Derby. Go Albert Pujols! Right now Myrtle says that we are four hours and 37 minutes from home. With no stops and adding an hour because of a time zone change, we'd get home around 5:30 p.m. There will be some stops for food, gas, and the bathroom, though. As long as we are home by seven (when the Home Run Derby starts), I'm fine. Adios!

July 13, 2:13 p.m.

All that has really happened since last entry is eating and driving, In Miles City, the boys got a pepperoni pizza from Little Caesar's, and I had two pieces of it. I also had a crispy taco and some of my mom's nachos from Taco John's. That's about all there is to write. I've just been listening to my iPod and staring out the window. Shalom!

July 13, 4:18 p.m.

This entry will be primarily focused on closing comments. First I'll mention that on the way home, I got an ice cream cone from McDonald's. Second we're now less than an hour away from home. Now on to my closing comments. Overall I had a really good time on this vacation. I don't really want to go home; I'd love to stay in the mountains and forests. I'm not a huge fan of North Dakota scenery except for the very west. Yellowstone scenery reigns far supreme over everything in North Dakota. It is beautiful and fascinating, as evident by my several hundred photos. There were two thoughts that constantly entered my mind when looking at the scenery—whether it be geysers, waterfalls, canyons, mountains, forests, or so on. First I felt horribly small. In an urban area, it's not a common feeling, but out in nature, it's a different story. I'm so small in comparison with Yellowstone (and far more, the universe), but God loves and cares for me nonetheless. That brings me to the second feeling. I wondered how people who believe in evolution and the Big Bang and not God could possibly think that all of Yellowstone (and the whole universe for that matter) could possibly have come about by a series of random accidents. As one who believes in God as the Creator and Sustainer of everything, the grandeur of Yellowstone speaks clearly to me about God's majesty and glory. I don't want to leave such a place. I hope to return soon, but with me going off to college in a little over a year, I don't know how feasible that is. Well, that's about all I've got to say. I'll write one final entry the second we get home. Hasta pronto!

July 13, 5:21 p.m.

We're home!