Friday, July 24

Up even earlier today for an even earlier departure. Today we check out of the Rushmore Hotel and leave Rapid City, heading for Billings, and we have a lot of driving to do. But although we covered a lot of ground we still had some stops. The first, in Wyoming, was Devil’s Tower. This is where millions of years ago magma welled up to the surface, and then just stopped there. Many more years passed, and the ground around it eroded away, leaving just the Basalt in a formation of columns that reminded us of Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. It is quite a spectacular bit of geology to witness. 

We passed by Heart Mountain which was the site of an internment camp for Japanese Americans during WWII, and Cheryl T.D., who was married to a Japanese American, played a film about that experience. Then she played a film about Buffalo Bill since we were in that part of the country. I think the purpose was both educational and to break the monotony from a long drive.

Then we stopped for a box lunch provided by Caravan. This is the only lunch we got provided, and there will be a final dinner provided at the end. But all of our breakfasts are provided by our hotels.

Our last stop was the Little Bighorn Battlefield, where Custer met his deserved fate. We prepared with yet another film (I think that all 3 of them were from PBS American Experience) about Custer and this battle. The battlefield itself was very plain, no trees or vegetation other than grass, so the men fighting on both sides had no cover. Wherever a man fell there was marker, white for the white men and red for the Native Americans. Initially each man was buried where he fell, but later the white soldiers were all dug up and placed in a mass grave with a white monument on top. It was by now upwards of 100 degrees, so we did not spend a lot of time outside the air-conditioned bus.

From here we went to our hotel in Billings, Montana, and got in around 4:30 pm. And even by 5pm it was still 101 degrees according to the weather app. We checked a bunch of restaurant listings and finally settled on a place that turned out just right, a soup-and-salad bar called Soup and Such, and took an Uber. After that it was back to the hotel and to bed. Over dinner I was telling Cheryl that I found this trip to be more tiring than I expected, though I am very much enjoying it. Maybe it is age catching up with me, but I find I am ready for bed earlier in the evening, though getting up at 5am is part of it too.

Saturday, July 25

Up again at 5am so I can shower, pack, and have breakfast before our 7:30 boarding call. We each put our main suitcase out in the hall by 6:30 where it is picked up and put on the bus. The rest of our “carry-ons” are our responsibility. We had a very nice breakfast, then boarded the bus at 7:30. We drove southwest to reach the North entrance to Yellowstone, but on the way we stopped at a supermarket to pick up our lunch. And Cheryl T.D. played a National Geographic special about Lewis and Clark since we were in the area they traveled.Our first stop was at Mammoth Hot Springs, where water comes out of the ground bearing calcium carbonate which is in turn deposited making cliffs of travertine. While there we had our lunch.

Then we went to Artist’s Point, where we could view the lower falls of the Yellowstone River. This river flows north out of the park and then joins the Missouri River, and from there eventually reaches the Atlantic Ocean, putting us on the eastern side of the Continental Divide. But we are right on the divide and crossed it several times. The falls here led into a canyon that they call the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Leaving Artist’s Point we got caught in a “bison jam”. About 6 or 7 bison very sensibly took our road in preference to the steep uphill on our right, or the steep downhill on our left. And you don’t mess with them. After all, it is their home and we are just visitors. But we spent about 15-20 minutes waiting for them to get where they were going. But then we went to the Mud Volcano. Hot water and steam come out of the ground here and make bubbly mud pots. From here we started heading to our hotel in West Yellowstone. We spotted some elk along the way, and more bison. And the trees were mostly Lodgepole Pine, which grow very straight trunks useful for making structures like teepees. They drop their lower limbs to help protect them from fire, because as long as the crown survives the tree will still live. But the pine cones they produce place  the seeds in a resin that only releases when the pine cone burns, and then they pop out to start the cycle all over.

We got to our hotel, and then went for Chinese food in West Yellowstone, before finally going to bed.

Sunday,July 26

Today we hit the major thermal sites. We started with the Grand Prismatic Spring because that would quickly get crowded and we wanted to beat the worst of the crowds. It was not quite as spectacular as in the pro-shot photographs because they can use polarized filters and such, but it was still pretty cool. And there were other springs and geysers here which we enjoyed. Yellowstone is really a volcanic caldera with a magma chamber close to the surface that heats water and turns it into steam and super-heated water. So there  are both springs and geysers in profusion in multiple spots.

Then we went to Fountain Paint Pots, which featured bubbling mud holes and springs and geysers. After that we went to the big one, Old Faithful. It is not actually the biggest geyser in the park, let alone the world, but it is the most famous geyser by far. It erupts on average once every 90 minutes or so now. It used to erupt every hour, but an earthquake altered the plumbing underneath and changed it. A ranger is assigned to collect data on each eruption, particularly how long it lasts, and they plug it into a spreadsheet model and issue a prediction for when the next eruption will happen. We were told it would happen at 11:02 am, and I think it actually happened at 11:04, so not bad. We then walked around the area looking  at other geysers and springs, then grabbed some lunch.

Our next stop was Yellowstone Lake, formed after the last volcanic eruption had created a depression which filled with water. And the lake even has hot springs and geysers inside it. And with that we left Yellowstone and headed south.

14 miles south of Yellowstone is the Grand Teton National Park, our next stop. We stopped a couple of times for photos of these mountains, and Cheryl T.D. explained that the weather around the was very changeable so we wanted to take pictures while it was good. And at our first stop it was indeed bright and sunny, but 15 minutes later at our second stop a storm was moving in. We went to the Jackson Lake Lodge where we will stay for 2 nights, and while we were unpacking the rain poured down. But 20 minutes later it had stopped. We went from our cabin to the main lodge building and had dinner at the Pioneer Grill, and it was very good. We’ll probably go there in the morning for our breakfast. The Grill has countertops and stools like an old-fashioned soda shop or diner, but good food. After dinner we went out back to the terrace for a few more photos, then back to the cabin and to bed.

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