Travels

First forest … first park … praise the Lord!
7/15/2007 9:09:30 AM by: Elsi

I drove into Yellowstone National Park from Cody, which took me through the Shoshone National Forestâ€”Americaâ€™s first national forest. Stopping for a snack at the Newton Springs Picnic Area, I was hit by the scent of â€¦ what? growth, freshness â€¦ life â€¦ it was wonderful! Yellowstone, just a bit down the road, was the first national park, signed into being by President Ulysses S Grant in 1872. Major road construction along the east entrance road, but eventually our pilot car let us go. We were packed in a line still, going perhaps 10-20 mph, windows open, having a great time â€¦ and brake lights ahead of me started flashing. Well! I know what that means at Yellowstone: ANIMALS! Sure enough, a buffalo was coming along the other lane, leading quite a line of cars, swishing his coat-tails and pretending we werenâ€™t all taking pictures. I saw buffalo snuggled in the warm dirt by Mud Volcano and Sulphur Cauldron â€¦ a pelican flying just above the surface of a lake â€¦ many geese â€¦ an elk with an enormous rack wading in a river â€¦ a pelican family â€¦ a group of cow elks â€¦ a buffalo family, complete with a young one, wandering across the road, expecting traffic to adjust to them (which we all did). Had lunch at Norris in a little picnic area, where Dolphin ferociously caught and ate a fly! North to Mammoth and out the north exit, stopping to grab a picture of the Welcome Arch. Immediately I was in the town of Gardiner, and just outside was the Yellowstone RV Park. I pulled into the lot, walked into the office, and was confronted by my sign and book display. Ah, the joys of being wanted! The manager, Bill Greiner, used to be at the Westminster Family Christian store. We planned the book signings, and he suggested I sign up for the "Yellowstone in a Day"bus tour Saturday. That would be, I decided, my vacationâ€”since the rest of the summer is marketing, you know? So off I went at 8 a.m., in a tour bus driven by Mike, who was married a month ago, has a degree in forestry, and has driven tour buses for 12 years. gorgeous (not that we stoppedâ€”in order to do Yellowstone in a day, you drive by a lot of stuff, but itâ€™s well worth it anyway). We saw many bisonâ€”the largest land animal, even bigger than a polar bear, to my surprise! Many impressive elk â€¦ lots of thermal features â€¦ waterfalls â€¦ so much of Godâ€™s glory! Lunch at the Old Faithful Inn, followed by watching Old Faithful erupt, from the upper deck. Shout to the Lord, all the earthâ€”let it sing Power and majesty, praise to the King! Mountains bow down, and the seas will roar At the sound of Your name! I sing for joy at the work of Your hands; Forever Iâ€™ll love You, forever Iâ€™ll stand! (copyright Darlene Zschech) Thatâ€™s what I was singing as I looked out over Yellowstone Lake, and again at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstoneâ€”what a glorious sight! What a fantastic Creator! In Amphitheater Valley I spotted what I thought was a horseâ€”but it couldnâ€™t possibly have been a horse, and it had too much nose to be an elk â€¦ so it must have been a cow moose! And, at Tower/Roosevelt, we saw two black bears on the hillside, quite close (relatively speaking, anyway). Two successful evenings of book signings, and a delightful time of worship at the Gardiner Community Church Sunday morning. And off I go, heading up the Bear Tooth Highway, which Charles Kurault claimed is the most beautiful highway in America!

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