Travel blog

Dateline July 4, 2013, Yellowstone National Park

Out of Cody on the morning of the 4th, the short drive west into Yellowstone. Through Shoshone National Forest, in past Yellowstone Lake with its hot pools steaming along the shore, an elk in the trees. Two days of southern loop and northern loop with everything Yellowstone is famous for: Old Faithful erupting (Artemisia Geyser around the corner, easily as beautiful), a grizzly on the road, a 5:00 AM Janice drive up to Hayden Valley with John still asleep in the back, a bison herd that brought their late-season babies right past the rig within touching distance, Tower Falls, a pair of black bears crossing the road, and a Saturday morning so quiet that you could see a female elk just grazing alongside the lake. Then south to the Tetons.