Yellowstone...yow!

and as Ron Popeil used to say "But wait, there's more"

It has taken a good long while to finally come to updating this post. I should have listened to what Jeff and Kevin said about daily journals. The day at Yellowstone was incredible. Yes, against all sage advice I elected to spend only one day at the park. I'd arranged for a guide yesterday and at the time... a 6am wake up call was 'no problem'. But sadly, yesterday extended well into the night. Trouble it was I had leaving the Filler because it was just too much fun. Trouble it was I had waking up 4 hours later to meet Davina from Yellowstone Safaris in the suburban with a huge hole in the roof.

Well, the day went beyond my expectations (to include a wee nap at the end). We arrived early enough to catch coyote, pronghorn antelope, bald eagles, black bears, osprey, bison all in their element. Davina's term for some of them 'charismatic megafauna' ...nice. Later in the week I'd see 'charismatic mega-rocks'! Anyway, one comment she made was that she was glad to see the bears...being bears. Her description 'acclimated vs habituated' was meant to distinguish between the bears in the park of 50 years ago when people still fed them from the cars. During the bear sightings, there were certainly bear-jams and I was glad not to be on the bike. Besides the Uly with its fan would've received some hard stares at all the peaceful outlooks. To her credit I we did manage to avoid the throng of people (having been recently traumatized in Jasper). Without her expertise and sheer drive (we never passed on an opportunity todo some spotting) I wound up feeling like the Griswold ...kinda going...oh yeah bear, ok saw that. But enthusiasm can be infectious and despite my (self inflicted) sad shape I couldn't help but be excited. Geothermal features came next and we treated to all sorts of geysers, pools and femorales ? The waterfalls were beautiful as well but with all the people, I was happy to spend a whole minute, take one brain-jogger picture and trundle on. Davina, a biologist by training, had done her spint with the NPS, NFS and left for familiar reasons (Cheryl!) and now spends the summers as a guide and winters as a snowboard instructor. She reminded me a lot of Julie (of Matt and Julie). We swapped some war stories, it was easy to tell her passion (beyond the wildlife) was teaching. She managed to even include 'rayleigh scattering' in her banter. Lunch was in a nice secluded spot complete with tablecloth and all the trimmins'.

During our travels across the park (miles and miles), evidence of the wildfires from a decade ago were everywhere. The sheer scale of the fire is overwhelming. But even more impressive was all the natural re-seeding that had basically re-planted the entire area! That has easily been the most impressive demonstration by mother nature. Even in mid-July, they had just recently completed spring thaw (and the rivers were wild) and wildflowers were in full bloom. Just beautiful.
Despite best attempts at staying awake, I napped on our hour long commute back to Bozeman. She was kind enough

Sorry it has been a factual account but I should have captured my impressions sooner (it is now over a week later, I'm sitting at a Super 8 in Madison, Wi). The park condenses many sights and activities and is easily one worth visits over a lifetime. My guide, outstanding even if I felt a little self-conscious as we tooled about...ya know me and my private guide. But a few people tagged along and got to enjoy her wealth of knowledge as well! Yellowstone is no park to be Griswol'd and I'd certainly recommend a professional like guide so as not to miss what's before your very eyes!

Maybe there's hope for this technology geek after all.