I Did Not Get Eaten by a Bear: Day Two

Ten hours. I spent ten hours in Yellowstone today. And I saw a lot. A lot. I also decided that RVs are stupid and no one should drive them. 

Other musings during my day include:

1. How you can tell northern tourists from southern tourists: the number of layers they are wearing. Should I be wearing a coat and mittens? Probably. Am I? Nope.

2. I think I saw the butt of an elk.

3. Kid wearing a school sweatshirt: the Buffalo Bison. Way to really think outside of the box, school founding fathers. Nevada should change it's mascot to the Nevada Nevadians.

4. The guy working in the Old Faithful gift shop hates his job.

5. Cyclones find Cyclones. Also they were from Nevada and are aunt and uncle to a kid I graduated with. All roads lead back to Nevada.

Day Four: Geyser fatigue, I lost 5 pounds, Sorry you're melting but there is snow here, hot springs, mountains, RV drivers, buffalo, Grand Canyon hiking is hard, Chinese food.

IDAHO

1. My cabin is wowsers amazing

This place is beautiful. I couldn't see a whole lot when I arrived last night because it was pouring. And it was still raining this morning, but I could actually see the lake. And the mountains. Did I mention I'm in the Idaho Rockies?

YELLOWSTONE

1. Gibbon Falls

Today was definitely a 'if I see something cool, I stop' day. I had one thing that I absolutely wanted to do (see below) but other than that-I was being spontaneous! Yes, I planned to be spontaneous, but I was really good at it.

Gibbon Falls are beautiful, and I was there first thing this morning.

2. Artist's Paintpots

Ok, I think I have geyser fatigue. Are you allowed to have that at Yellowstone? Lots of stair climbing and actual trail climbing here, and one of the geysers looks like it belongs in a science fiction movie. Maybe this is where Jabba the Hut is born? Ooh...there's always room for a Star Wars reference.

View from the top

Actual birthplace of Jabba the Hut? It bubbled. And smelled. So yes.

3. Public Bathrooms

So I'm not one for the outdoor bathroom situations. Which is why camping is probably never going to be an option for me. But I used this! It's much nicer than the terrible port-a potties during tailgate season. ISU-think about investing in some. Much nicer.

4. The Gallatin Range

All I can say is: very beautiful.

5. Mammoth Hot Springs

I  lost at least two pounds here. You climb stairs until you reach about five feet south of heaven, and the views are spectacular. It was also extremely windy up there.

If you look to the very top, that's the overlook

6. Somewhere northeast of Mammoth

I didn't pull over at every scenery change, but this was so beautiful I had to stop. There are so many terrains here and all of them are more beautiful than the next.

7. Mt. Washburn Area

Sorry you're melting in Iowa but there is some major snow here still. This wasn't quite at Mt. Washburn, you have to hike to get to the top, but this is one of the overlook areas where I stopped. It reminded me a lot of the northern portions of Glacier. And reminded me not at all of Iowa.

8. Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

This was the one place I wanted to make sure I visited today and it did not disappoint. I have never been to the Grand Canyon (although now I think I might want to go next year), but this was spectacular. The views! The water. The hiking. Sweet Jesus, the hiking. You start at the top of the canyon, and if you choose (and you're crazy), you can hike down to Uncle Tom's Trail and then go down the trail to the South Rim of the waterfall. You hike really far down. And it's steep. And then you realize...oh shit. I'm hiking down and it's steep, so coming back up is going to be a bitch. And I'm not going to lie to you. It was. A bitch. But it was worth it. And I probably lost five pounds. You start at Artist's Point, in which you play cat and mouse with everyone else until you get a parking spot.

I'm smiling because I'm still on the way down the canyon :)

9. Uncle Tom's Trail

I found out about this in one of my million Pinterest pins while researching my trip. It's 328 steps down. Straight down. And they're narrow steps. And my hip and knee were not happy with me. And you hold on to the rail for dear life going down because you're clumsy and you WILL be the one to trip over your feet, somersault down, fall over the railing into the canyon, and end up on the news. That's not the way to go. I made it all the way down and the view was amazing. And then I started climbing back up. And I'm going to say a very bad word now, so underage children and Mom, shield your eyes. It. Fucking. Sucked. I'm in shape. I work out daily (I'm Sexy And I Know It song is now playing in my head). I was panting so hard. And I had to rest several times. And a guy behind me was stopped too and I said. 'This is crazy, I'm in shape!' and he goes, 'imagine how I feel-I'm not!' :) We made it. And then we got to hike back up to the parking lot. You know what a huge sense of accomplishment feels like? That. Nice work, Kim Hanna.

Nailed it.

These are the stairs. This is looking straight down.

10. More Buffalo!

I saw buffalo yesterday and today and didn't pull over, but there was one super close to the road just chillaxing and there was room to pull over so I did. These bad boys are HUGE. And you'll be driving along and just go...woah, there's a buffalo right there. And if you're a jerk, you stop your car, cause a traffic jam and piss Kim Hanna off. And if you're not, you wait until you find a good spot to pull over, because you know there will be more.

He's a lot closer than he looks

11. Yellowstone Lake

I was pretty tired by this point in the day, but I like lakes, so I stopped a couple of times to look.

12. Old Faithful, Part One

I plan to actually stick around, hike and see the old girl blow tomorrow morning, but I stopped to see if I could get a couple magnets at the gift shop, and I ran into some ISU folks from Nevada (of course they were), and a very unhappy employee who clearly does not like his job or tourists. Wrong career, man...wrong career.

MONTANA

1. Chinese Food for All

I have been eating breakfast and lunch out of my cooler and only purchasing one meal a day at a restaurant to avoid sickness potential and money depletion, and when I got back into West Yellowstone, I was hitting it at 6pm on a Saturday night. So...I went to a Chinese restaurant that had spaces in their parking lot and walked in. It was only Asian customers (which means the food is going to be good!). It's clearly where the Asian tour buses stop to eat, because three came in while I was there. I don't even care if what I ordered ends up making me sick, because it was a fun experience.

IDAHO

1. Are you kidding me with this?

My Airbnb experience has been awesome. The place is gorgeous, the views are amazing, and I have been able to come and go very easily. It's only about 20 minutes from West Yellowstone, and it's in the Idaho Rockies. No complaints here!

The view :)

2. Bonfire

Bruce and Annette, the owners of the cabin, contacted me yesterday to let me know that they would be stopping by with some college students after working at their ranch today for a bonfire, hot dogs, and s'mores if I wanted to join in. I did and it was awesome. The students go to BYU-Idaho Falls and one of the girls even did her mission in Des Moines, so was excited to talk Iowa with me :) Awesome ending to a wonderful two nights in Idaho.

In case you've never seen a bonfire