Emily and I woke up in our windowless, "traditional" hotel room at Buffalo Bill's Wild Cabin or something or other in Cody, Wyoming. We went to breakfast where Emily reviewed the photos she had taken. After twenty minutes, there wasn't a waiter/waitress to be seen, so we left and told the host that we weren't hungry. We didn't leave without getting a few authentic Wyoming postcards.
Because points of interest are so frequent while driving, Emily and I have established intuitive synonyms for certain things so that we can draw each others' attention as quickly as possible:
No mammals have been injured on this trip, however, there's a hearty gallon of insect entrails on our windshield and front bumper. Seriously -- constructing an animal with a poor traffic negotiation skills and a body like a chocolate-covered cherry is grounds for firing.
Yellowstone is amazing, and we've spent a good seven or eight hours there, including last night. Like Big Horn, I lack the verbal prowess to actually describe these amazing landscapes. We saw lots of buffalo and their smaller, more-frisky offspring. A few red eagles and deer and such were also present. The lake at 7,700 feet is tremendous -- deep blue with the Rockies in the background.
The volcanic activity in Yellowstone is pretty neat, too. There are some brilliantly-colored pools of water or acid or something which both look pretty and smell like ass. The "thin crust" areas contain lots of hot, clay-ish bubbling pools. If you walk off the official path, signage warns that you'll probably put your foot into soft part of earth and, to your dissatisfaction, a well of acid will eat off your leg right in front of you. Also, no visit to the park would be complete without seeing Old Faithful, so we caught that, too.
What's most prevalent is the damage from the fire -- late 80's or early 90's, was it? A lot of the burnt forest has grown back grass or small saplings, but I suspect that the damaged parts won't be as lush or green as it once was for another twenty years.
The "check engine" light in the Corolla is still on. As we expected, the vehicle has not yet burst into flames, jerked us around suddenly or even caused a ripple in space and time. So far, so good.
When I visited Yellowstone, the tour guide said that the beasts one sees are called "Bisons" (or more accurately the American Bison), and "Buffaloes" is the wrong name for them. Buffaloes are a pair of two different genus altogether, common in Asia and Africa.
In Hebrew, one calls Bisons "bizonim", but people also sometimes refer to them as "Buffaloes", albeit it is common knowledge that they shouldn't be called that way.
Re:Bisons - not Buffaloes
statico on 2006-05-27T13:49:35
Good to know. I'll go inform the American mid-west:-)
Re:Bisons - not Buffaloes
runrig on 2006-05-27T16:14:54
Yes, but "Bison Bill" just doesn't have the same pizazz that "Buffalo Bill" does (and let's not even speak of "American Bison Bill"):-)
Re:Do they still let people near that lake?
statico on 2006-05-27T13:51:30
You can touch the lake from one of the small beaches along the south-east road. They even allow boats and there's an active marina. You can't, however, get near the lake in the areas around the volcanic pools.
