Yellowstone National Park....

Current mileage: 3678 miles

Current location:Campground in Glacier NP
Day # 15 of the no expectation vacation

On September 27 I woke up on my birthday in Cody, WY. I heard the GREAT news that the company that I work for will be getting bought by the airline Southwest. The ironic part about this was the night before I was sitting downstairs at the B&B having tea with the ladies. I was telling them that I worked for AirTran, but I would love to work for a company like SouthWest. They seem to treat their employees well, and I never hear them complaining. Well guess what, I woke up on my birthday to the news that SouthWest had bought AirTran. Man someone above sure was listening to me the night before! So not only did I get that wish, I also had a wonderful Birthday breakfast, and then I headed out of Cody to spend the day in Yellowstone. I was going to pass Yellowstone, but many people talked me into going. I can say that  Yellowstone had some really cool things, but I would NEVER EVER go during tourist season. I felt that it was crowded enough during "off-season".

I entered the park from the East entrance coming from Cody, WY. The park ranger looked at me crazy when I told her I was going to tour the park for only a day, she said it couldn't be done. But as you know I like the challenge. I will later have to admit that she was right. Anyways, when I entered this was some of the first scenery that I saw. I am assuming that it was from a Forest fire in the park. I did not do my research, so I wasn't real sure, but there were lots of acreage that had been burned and unfortunately it made for some really cool pictures.

 The next thing that I saw was a grizzly bear in the wild. There were tons of people stopped around this lake taking pictures so I decided to stop. Although the person taking the picture got my hand pointing towards the trees the grizzly was actually laying out by the lake on it's stomach with it's feet in the water. Apparently Grizzly bears can smell you from more than half a mile away so this distance still made me nervous. The crazy part about this is the fact that there were people from California and NY that were trying to get closer to take a picture even though there was a road stop sign that said do not go past this. Did they listen...NO!The ranger popped out of nowhere and had to explain to these "tourist" that these Grizzlies came from behind them, and there was a dead carcass they were eating, and for them to pass the sign would be a good way to get trapped by two grizzlies. I guess they thought they were in the San Diego zoo. I found that the most entertaining part of Yellowstone was to see which tourist was going to get charged by a WILD animal first, I was sure going to be there to get a picture of that! On numerous times I saw people in the woods trying to get a closer shot of a moose, or elk, or even the buffalo. I started to think that I might be able to capture the winning video to Americas Funniest Video (hoping none of these "tourist" would get hurt in the process!) I am not real sure if it is the fact that I grew up in West Virginia....but I was taught at a very young age to respect wildlife, especially if you are in their habitat! A little wilderness 101!



I shot a picture of this Buffalo from my car. He was apparently scratching his belly, and it was pretty neat to see. The crazy part once again was the fact that there were people out of their car trying to capture a better picture. No worries cause I had my camera ready to take a picture of them getting charged by a Buffalo!
There was some beautiful scenery in Yellowstone as the pictures below show.

By far the coolest thing in Yellowstone that I saw, and think everyone should see once in their life is "Old Faithful" this hole is in the middle of thermal activity and goes off around every 90 minutes. I just happened to get there right on time because it went off about 15 minutes after I arrived. I was not sure what to expect, because when I arrived I it looked like a hole that had steam coming from it. And I was thinking to myself "wow" but when it went off OMGoodness. It was crazy and last for about 3 minutes total and sprays steam and water about 100 feet in the air,.  The picture below shows it at full force! Kinda crazy to know what is going on underneath our feet!

Would I recommend Yellowstone?? Well definitely not during the summer months unless you want to be surrounded by people. There are great things to see in the park, but it was just to touristy for me. I am glad I went, but not to sure if I will be returning anytime soon. This is just my personal opinion and I am sure there are many people that would disagree with me.  You will have to make your own trip and find out for yourself! I left Yellowstone, Glacier bound! Til next time Peace and Love ~KT~

A whole blog dedicated to Cody, WY

Current mileage: 3200 miles

Current location: At a Denny's in Great Falls, Montana
Day # 13 of the no expectation vacation

I decided a whole blog had to be dedicated to the City and most importantly the people of Cody, WY. If you read my last blog you will know that on Saturday night I slept in a rest area in Grey Bull, WY. I had decided before I left Atlanta, GA  that I would like to try and attend church in whatever city I may be in on Sundays. Didn't matter what kind of church or denomination, I just wanted to attend. When I woke up on Sunday morning I went into the building that Wyoming called a "rest area" to freshen up. There was no electricity to freshen up, or to boil my hot water to make breakfast, so I decided to just get in the jeep and get to the next big town that would end up being Cody, Wyoming.  When I arrived in Cody, I was on the lookout for anything that looked like a church. I had planned on finding a church, and then finding a place to freshen up, and then go back to church. Well I should know by this point, nothing goes as planned. It was a little harder to find a church than expected. But I did see a couple walking with what looked like a bible. I did a U-turn caught up to them (which later they told me, they thought I was trying to run them over) rolled down my window and asked them if they knew of a church in the area. To my surprise they were headed to church, matter of fact it started in 5 minutes, and they invited me to attend with them. Great I was thinking, I still needed to freshen up! I had not even brushed my teeth, but then decided God didn't care what I looked like, or for that matter he didn't even care if I had stinky breath. So I decided to put a piece of extra gum in my mouth, grabbed my bible and went in with Jim and Mary. The church ended up being a satellite church that was broadcasting from Billings, MT named Harvest church, and was very similar to the church I just started attending in Atlanta, so I felt very comfortable there. Jim and Mary had taken my under there wing and were so kind to me. I had told them of my travels, and they told me about themselves. They owned a Bed and Breakfast in town, and offered for me to stay or at least shower there if I like. I couldn't resist the opportunity to get to know these wonderful people and explore a town that otherwise I would have just driven thru. After we left church they showed me to their bed and breakfast and told me they had a function to attend and they would love for me to attend as well. I was just going along with the flow and they told me that we were going to a thank you brunch at a multi-million dollar ranch. WHAT??? I haven't even showered, brushed my teeth or anything, talk about trying to be comfortable with yourself... Ends up that Mary is on a committee that helps the local Museum (which is an awesome place in CODY) and one of the biggest contributors was having a thank you brunch. So, Jim, Mary, Wendy (Mary and Jim's daughter in-law) and Wendy's mother (whom was visiting from Dallas, TX) and myself are headed to this ranch for brunch..Oh my goodness I needed to pinch myself!



A view from the table at "brunch"

Come to find out I am having brunch with some of the most wealthy people in Wyoming. Their eldest and most beloved senator was there. The Governor was there. The best part was when we walked in we had our choice of a mimosa of bloody mary. I immediately went for the bloodymary to forget that I was #1 under dressed (matter of fact in the same outfit I was in the day before) #2 that I had not showered, #3 I just like bloody marys, especially ones that are handed to me as soon as I walk into a place. We sat down and ate a wonderful brunch, as I imagined life as a ranchette (not even sure if that is a word) Seems to me that there sure is a lot of money in ranching from my first experience. Although Jim and Mary informed me that this is not normal!




Jim, Mary, Wendy, and (Wendy's mother from Dallas) at brunch



I later find out that Wendy has just moved to Cody from Florida, Brett (Mary's son) was born and raised here and Cody is actually the place that they met. Twenty years ago Wendy came to Cody and was a nanny for a wealthy family, and this is where she and Brett met. Pretty cool story to me! So this was Wendy's first month back in Cody. All of the people are very proud of their museum, for great reason! Cody has a lot of history pertaining to the Wild Wild West. See Cody is named after Buffalo Bill. He named the city after himself, and as Wendy says "he was a pretty cocky guy!" Wendy volunteered to take me to the museum for a couple of hours, and it was great!! They have five parts: Nature (stuffed animals and such) Indian (a tribute to the Indians, and their artifacts) Buffalo Bill ( alot of his outfits and memorabilia) Firearm, and also an art exhibit. I will have to agree with Wendy, in saying it is very well put together and can compete with museums around the country. I thank Wendy for letting me experience that!
 



Bronze artwork from museum




Painting from museum..Beautiful!




Buffalo Bill and myself outside of museum

 If all this was not enough, I went back to the B&B and had great conversation with Jim about Yellowstone. Jim had done a week long trek with two other guys thru Yellowstone and he showed me on the map. He had great reason to be proud of that trip. He then showed me all the clippings about bears in the area. Jim keeps all the newspaper articles about bears. Wow, I was a little nervous after looking at some of the articles. It was really nice conversing with Jim. I went to shower and later Mary, Jim, another guest named Terri and myself walked to the local Mexican restaurant and had dinner. It was a great eve to the day that would be my birthday! Tomorrow. The very next morning I woke up a little early and  went on a bike ride took pictures around town. Mary had told me to be back around 800am for breakfast. Ahhh, what I came back to was pure bliss! A artichoke souffle, with cheese, egg, and sour cream on top, fresh cut peaches, coffee, orange juice. If that couldn't be beat, Mary brought out my souffle with a candle on top and the three women at the table sang happy birthday to me.


 It still brings a tear to my eye to think of the kindness of these women. Somehow when talking about my trip she had remembered that today was my birthday. Ahhh no better place to celebrate it! After breakfast I showered and walked to the local wine shop to buy Mary and Jim a bottle of wine and a Thank you card, it was the LEAST I could do! They will never know how welcome they made me feel while I was out on my no-expectation vacation, and I will be forever grateful. I only hope to possess the same kindness that I found in the town of Cody, WY a place that will forever be etched in my heart! Below I have pictures posted of the town and of the Lambright B&B. If you are ever in Cody, WY try and make it a point to stay there. Not only is it a cool town, close proximity to Yellowstone, but Jim and Mary make it all worth while and it is always cool to support the small owned business and the local economy!


My beautiful room at the B&B




Taz or chaz not sure but the B&B cat




Irma hotel built by Buffalo Bill and named after his daughter





Breakfast time at the B&B





farewell picture with Mary and Jim




Mary and Jim aka the kindest people in Cody, WY

After saying our farewells, I had decided that since I was this close that I would spend a day in Yellowstone. If I drove this far I might as well at least drive thru the park. So I left  Cody and headed towards Yellowstone! The views leaving Cody were AWESOME!



This day was September 27, 2010 my 29th Birthday and I was headed towards Yellowstone to spend my birthday there. Sounded like a pretty good present to myself! Til next time Peace and Love ~KT~

No Rush, but I made it to Mount Rushmore

Current mileage: 3200 miles

Current location: At a Denny's in Great Falls, Montana
Day # 13 of the no expectation vacation

 I dropped Wayne off at the airport on Thursday afternoon and headed towards Mount Rushmore. It was cold and rainy in Bismark, but I still decided to take back roads into South Dakota. There is always beauty, when you least expect it. When I say that I took back roads, I mean that there were periods of time, that I did not see one single person on the road for hours. The house's that I did see, I wondered what the families did for a living, or how long it took them to get to town. It was actually a quite peaceful drive with lots of beautiful scenery!

 

 

I was told by many people that I need to stop by the Badlands in South Dakota, so I decided to head that way as I was heading to Mount Rushmore. The Badlands are breathtaking, after all, I had seen  mostly  corn fields, and wheat fields thus far on my trip. It was even more beautiful because I captured the pictures with a storm in the background. I am so glad that people told me to drive by them. They were something worth seeing!

 

                       I finally arrived at Mount Rushmore late Thursday night. I arrived at the KOA campground right at closing time but Sharon from NY ( who lives in her RV full time with her husband and travels around the US) was nice enough to check me in and be patient, since of course I had no reservation! I ended up sleeping in my jeep that night and froze! I woke up with frost on my jeep and my nose cold. I thought to myself...oh boy, it's going to be really cold in my tent. I woke up the next morning and made a breakfast of champions. It is amazing what a flight attendant can do with hot water!!

That morning I went to Mount Rushmore, and it was a beautiful day to experience the beauty of the mountain

I spent most of the morning at Mount Rushmore, and than went into town to buy some groceries. I made it back to the campground to relax. I was not going to put up my tent since I was only staying for one more night but decided I would since it was such a beautiful day outside. it was time to test my tent skills all by myself!

      

After setting up the tent, relaxing for a few, and chatting with some of my campground neighbors I went back to Mount Rushmore to see the lighting of the Presidents. The first encounter I had was with this White Mountain Goat. I had seen them earlier in the day and assumed they were tame since they had collars on them and they were roaming freely around people. Well don't ever assume, just as I was getting close enough to take a picture he/she started coming after me. I wish I had that on video, because I am sure it was hilarious!  But back to the lighting of Mount Rushmore. It is something I highly recommend (during off season) to see once in your life. It is hard not to feel patriotic especially under a clear sky and a full moon as I had that evening!



All U.S. Service men/women on stage at the lighting of Mount Rushmore



                                                        After the lighting I went back to the campground and made my own lighting. I made my very first fire all by myself (besides the one from toasted coconut that almost burned down my loft a few months ago) This and putting up my tent can now be checked off my list of things I need to know how to do in my life! Pat on the back for me!  The rest of the night was  spent around the campfire with my neighbors and a newly found friend named Brandon from Chicago who was also traveling alone. Sometimes campfire chats are the BEST! 

The next morning I had to check out, and I have to admit I was a little sad. I had made my very first on the road friends and it was mixed emotion to get on the road all by myself again. I took my time getting ready, took a nice long shower, said my good byes to my camping neighbors, and of course stopped to thank Sharon in KOA office for being so nice! (even filled out a compliment card) And after that I was headed towards Glacier.

                                                    

Dan and Ely my camping buddies from OH

After talking to Sharon in the front office she recommended that I take the scenic byway Alt 14 thru Deadwood and to Spearfish, SD. Since my atlas had it as a "red ribbon" scenic road I decided to take Sharon's advice, and my oh my it was beautiful!

After a long drive on Alt 14 because of all the people I finally made it to Wyoming a couple of hours later. This day in particular was a hard day. I was just not in the mood to drive, so when I saw a sign for a Starbucks (in Gillette, WY) I decided that maybe I just needed to get a coffee and relax and pretend that I was in my hometown and not 2500 miles away. I ended up spending almost three hours in this Starbucks and actually closed it down.

After I left the Starbucks, I drove on I-90W. Here are some things that I know now about Wyoming:

~the deer population is much bigger the human population. When there are sign that say watch for wildlife, they are not kidding. As much as a expert deer spotter that I think that I am, on numerous times I almost came home with a rack that all of my ex-boyfriends would be jealous of. Not because I was hunting, but on the account of the deer running straight into my jeep. I called my sister and told her I now know an excellent hunting spot for her husband Fig. Right on I-90 in WY!
~Next, rest areas.. Hummm is all I can say about that, because they were non-existent! I thought for sure there would be a rest area, a gas station or some place that I could pull over and rest but nope....zero, so I had to keep driving!

As I kept driving I noticed that there were gates that could shut down the road for winter. This should have been my sign that the road was probably going to get pretty high, but do you think that I realized this? Nope, not til I was way far in. If I thought I-90 was bad I then got onto 14 which ended up taking me thru Big Horn National forest. Ok, once again I did not get the memo, that I would be the only person on this road and that I  would be seeing animals that I would be frightened of during the day, let alone at 10pm. Since this road led to Yellowstone I assumed that it would be populated, I thought wrong! I can only say that I know this would be a beautiful drive in the day, but from experience, DO NOT do it at night. As if the deer had not stressed me out enough I was now driving on a cliff, with me being the only car on the road....Ahhhh that was a long night! I finally made it off the mountain, by this time I was just plain tired, and was trying to make it to the next big city (Cody, WY) to sleep for the night. I was zooming thru small towns desperate for a place to sleep, no problem though, cause just when I couldn't get any more stressed out I saw a SUV turn around, and next thing I knew there were flashing lights behind me....Crap, maybe he was not after me, maybe there was a break-in and he was on his way to catch the robber. I decided since there were no other cars, and no houses around, that yes, he probably was after me. Well looks like I am getting pulled over for the first time on my road trip! Not only was I getting pulled over, but I knew my chances on getting out of this ticket were going to to be slim to none. If ever my looks could help, tonight was not the night. I had no make-up on, had been in the car close to 8 hours at this point, my jeep looks like a crazy mess, all odds were against me. As soon as the "sheriff" approached me I used the really good manners." Hello sir, I am sorry sir, I am not from here sir, I am looking for a place to rest sir, I am traveling by myself sir" He explained that he clocked me going 58 in a 35. I explained that I had seen a 65mph sign "sir". Crap, he still took my license and insurance...I am getting a ticket....crap..crap..crap! To my surprise he came back, and said to slow down, there were lots of "elk, deer, and other wildlife" what I wanted to say was "no s*** sir, but what I said instead was "yes sir, I am sorry, and by the way, do you now where the closest rest area is?" This is the best part of the story, he turned around and pointed directly behind me about 200 feet. Apparently during my police chase I had missed the sign to the rest area! Funny, so not only did the "sheriff" NOT give me a ticket, he also informed me of the location to the closest rest area (which was directly behind me) After this long day, I decided to turn around and sleep at a place that WY  calls a "rest area." Thank you to the "sheriff" from Grey Bull, WY. He made my night!