You are currently browsing the daily archive for August 9th, 2008.
No, we haven’t driven off the face of the earth, we were just trapped in the center of it without cell coverage.
Apparently the National Parks Service doesn’t believe in blanketing the entire (however many hundred of thousands of acres) park with cell towers and internet service.
So please forgive us as we catch up. We’re backdating a few blogs that we didn’t get to upload so keep an eye out for posts you may have missed.
Thankfully as soon as we crossed over into Montana we gained our lifeline back. There was a large portion of Wyoming that I thought Adolfo was going to lose it. He was “completely disconnected from the world” with only a few hours break from service at a time. (I wonder how he would do in Alaska?)
The lodge at Old faithful looked like something right out of a movie. My grandparents used to run the ski lodge on Mt. Baker in the 1940’s, and I imagine a building just like this one. With huge log beams framing the ceilings and walls, and beautiful light fixtures adorned with bears and moose that give off the warmest glow.
Although the star attraction (Old Faithful) kept us waiting, the battery on the video camera held out just long enough for the big blast.
Sitting outside on a boardwalk facing the geyser, we got an interesting sample of tourists. Our favorite comment came from the White-American tourist who asked the Japanese-American tourists if they would take a picture of his family during the eruption. When he was asked if he wanted the flash on, and how he would like the shot set up, he said “Oh you would know better than I would.” This seemed totally inapropriate, until we looked over and saw that EVERY member of the family had their own $1,000 SLR camera.
We’ve camped so far in three different places. One night in the car at a rest stop in Wisconsin, one night in a tent at a camp ground just off the Hwy in S. Dakota, and last night in a tent at a campground in Yellowstone. Which by the way, apparently when camping at Yellowstone you should either make reservations, or plan to wait in line at 6 am at the office, because all the camping slots in the park fill up and are taken by noon for that night. Thats not really a good situation for a pair of last minute, fly by the seat of their pants travelers.
Needless to say we were VERY lucky to get our camping spot, and with our car getting unpacked and repacked every night, I have to say we’ve done an excelent job of staying tidy. Even with the hamper of “dirty” laundry, which I thought I had a whole extra two days to finish, in the back seat. (Adolfo decided to load the washer and dryer into the container a lot faster than I anticipated.) We’ve managed to have everything we need at our fingertips. Like the peanut butter and jelly, which has been in our plug in cooler for nearly 2,000 miles before I decided to make a sandwich.
