Dobbs Family Blog: Fireworks, Bears, and Geysers in the Old West

Pics may be a little random since we are borrowing internet and I am trying to hurry. This was some of the scenic "scenery" from Cheyenne to Cody.

I am going to try writing this post in Word and cutting and pasting it when we find reliable wifi to “borrow”. At the moment I am sitting in Wapiti Valley, which is between Cody, Wyoming and Yellowstone. We spent the 4th in Cheyenne just messing around. We went to the mall, the Depot Museum, and just killed time. A big cloud came in about 6 pm, but it slid around Cheyenne, and we went and saw the fireworks at Frontier Park that night. It was a wonderful show. We were in the parking lot and could hear the patriotic music that they were playing inside the arena. It was tough getting out of there, and we all got to bed pretty late.
We woke up early on Thursday morning so we could be at Fat Boys Tire by 7:30 to get our new trailer tires (just a minor purchase-not!). Dennis does a lot of business there and had recommended them. They got started on us before 7:30, and we were finished and out of there in about an hour. It was a long drive through country that was very different. One minute it would be green and pretty, the next it was absolutely desolate. We took a side trip to Guerney where you can still see the wagon tracks in the prairie from the Oregon Trail. That was really neat- we are such nerds. After a stop at the Cody Walmart for supplies, we made it to the campground about 7:30. We are in a nice spot at the back so we are not crammed in. It is ok. The wifi obviously is not working. I could go sit at the office, but they have not been the friendliest. We have been able to piggyback on someone’s Lynxys, but it cuts on and off.
Yesterday we spent the entire day at Yellowstone. We left about 8:30 and got back about 9:15. We went in the East Gate, and they are doing a bit of road construction. My first thoughts were that this does not look like what I expected. Many of the trees along the lower loop have either been killed or burned. We drove past vast sections of forest that have been burned. The regrowth is in various stages. Lake Yellowstone is beautiful. I had no idea it was so large. Keegan was asking when we were going to see some animals because all he saw was trees and grass, trees and grass. Soon afterwards we saw our first of many bison (or buffalo-we are not sure if there is a difference), and we saw a Grizzly Bear. It is easy to spot the wildlife-you only have to look for the mass of tourists stopped on the road acting silly-running towards the animals, running out in front of cars, etc… We did see lots of buffalo, a deer of some sort, lots of different birds, and the one bear. The Geothermal features were really cool. Serena just said wow a lot, but Keeg took it all in. He kept asking when we were getting to “Faithful”. We saw Old Faithful erupt, then took the Geyser “nature trail”. We all got sunburned on that one. It was hot! We were also lucky enough to see the Beehive Geyser erupt. After that we had to find the car. There were people everywhere, but it was not unbearable. We did lots of walking and saw lots of nature. The kids both took naps in the car. Keegan walked everywhere we did, and he was worn out. Serena did the stroller thing a lot. We did put her on the “leash” the one time she walked. We could just see her jumping into a boiling hot pool of water. We came out on the side of the Yellowstone River Valley, and that was more what I had expected Yellowstone to look like. That is where you saw herds of bison, and people sitting at the meadows waiting to see wildlife. It was later in the evening when we came through there. It was pretty country. It was sort of wild thinking about how we were actually in a caldera. The you would read the signs about how every once in awhile a geyser that had not had any activity in years would just erupt. You just had to hope it would not do it while you were standing there staring down into it.
Today we are taking a break. We slept a little later and are taking our time getting up and going. We are going to go into Cody to the Buffalo Bill Western Center and Walmart( of course it is nicer than ours). Tomorrow we will hit the other loop at Yellowstone. We are going to try to get up and out of here early to catch the wildlife in the morning. The kids were so good yesterday. Keegan loved it, and Serena was a trooper. I will have fun trying to get the black dirt out of their socks!
Monday morning we will head out towards South Dakota by way of Devil’s Tower. I will try to post pics either here on from Cody today.
Stay tuned for pics from Cody-it did not work from here.