Yellowstone (Or: What America Might Look Like Had We Lost World War 2)

I had an amazingly relaxing time in Yellowstone National Park. I arrived very late on Wednesday night, but was able to set up my tent and get a good night sleep.

The morning cold (and I mean COLD) woke me up the next morning, but not before I could a solid night's sleep after 2 and a half LONG days of driving. After eating a bit of breakfast from my supplies, I decided to head for an early morning drive to Old Faithful.

Old Faithful was cool, but kind of underwhelming and anticlimactic. It is certainly neat in its own way, and the surrounding geo-thermal area is very interesting, but the whole thing lasts maybe 15 minutes on the hour and a half, and is really just hot water shooting in the air. Nothing that can't be accomplished with a garden hose and a thumb. I'm not saying that it was disappointing, it was still pretty cool to see, but a trip to Yellowstone really shouldn't be built around seeing Old Faithful. It doesn't take that long to see and isn't interesting enough to hold you for more than 2 hours at the most.

After that, I drove around the park to try and catch a view of some wildlife. And there is plenty of it! Bison roam freely throughout most of the park, and deer and moose are constantly crossing the roads. People constantly pull over and stop to see the animals, so careful driving is a must.

After that, I went back to my campsite, made some lunch, and lounged around while listening to the afternoon's baseball games from my XM Radio.

After a nap, I built a campfire, sat with a beer, and listened to Vin Scully call the Dodger game. Life just doesn't get too much better than that.

One thing I noticed about Yellowstone was the amount of German and Japanese tourists. Not a whole lot of Americans, as I assume most have gone back to work and school at this time of the year. Still, it was kind of a weird feeling to be in an American national park and not hear too much English. And after seeing Inglourious Basterds last week, hearing all that German kind of gave me the urge to do some scalpin'.


Yellowstone is a place that was kind of an obligatory stop for me at first. I felt like I couldn't drive through that part of the country and not see it. I'm really glad that I did, though. It is a beautiful, beautiful place that seems a bit under-appreciated by Americans. Everyone that I have talked to about this trip has said they have always wanted to go but for one reason or another haven't. I definitely recommend a trip. Take a few days and drive up to experience one of the most beautiful natural areas that this country has to offer, it will not be regretted.