By the time we made it to Yosemite the rain we were driving in turned to snow, so we checked into a motel. When we did get in the park the next morning the weather wasn't favorable for driving too deep into the park. They were also requiring drivers to have chains. The weather forecast wasn't any better for the next day, so we decided to stay and make a decision in the morning. Weather wasn't any better in the morning so we decided to head north to the Redwood Forest. We took the most beautiful route to get there. Strawberry Fields Forever.
We drove until well past dark, we did find a campground so we pulled in and set up for the night. What we didn't know was that when you check in during normal business hours, you receive the combination to get into the bathroom!! Once Marty found that out, he knew that I wouldn't be happy when I woke up, so he did the only thing Marty knows how to do...he took off with me sleeping in the back, AGAIN! We didn't leave any money in the envelope, "no pee, no fee", that is my new motto. (By this time I am on to Marty, I slept in my sweats!)
When I woke up, the sun was just rising. I looked out the back window and I saw Marty standing over a campfire he had built for me, he was in the middle of the most massive trees I had ever seen. Marty had managed to find a state park in the forest. Marty delivered again, I was in the Redwood Forest!!
We enjoyed the fire and I made us a pot of coffee. Of course there wasn't any electric at the campsite, so me being the caffeine freak I am, I found electric and a shelf in the men's room. So right there right next to the urinals, I brewed our morning coffee! We also grilled our breakfast (all beef hot dogs) over the fire. That was the best hot dog I've had, even if we didn't have sauerkraut.
When the fire burned out we packed up and headed into the forest. Oh my God! It is just so hard to find the words to describe these trees. We went to the site of the biggest tree in the world. I felt like I woke up in the land of the jolly green giant!! We came across a herd of elk and watched them for a while. We took a small hike. We even paid for a stupid "tour thru a tree", but it made for a nice picture.
We found a beautiful campground, again almost completely empty. This by far was the most beautiful site. The only problem, bear country!! Each campsite was equipped with a steel vault to lock up all your food. I was a little nervous at first, but became comfortable very quickly, until about 2:30am when I had to decide just how bad I had to go to the bathroom. I had to go pretty bad! I am still here, so you can breathe now, there wasn't a bear out there. A great nights sleep for both of us.
The next morning we decided to continue up the coast since Yellowstone was northeast from where we were. That was pretty much a day of driving and enjoying the scenery.
Our next destination was Crater Lake park in Oregon. That was incredible too. This park is opened year round, I don't know how they do it. The guides for the snow plows were like 12 ft. high. At one pull off, I took a picture the snow was taller than Ruby. Did I mention that we were driving thru an avalanche zone? When we got up to the lake, which in on top of a mountain at 6600 ft. there were more people there. There were a lot of hikers hiking in snowshoes. To get into the lodge/gift shop you enter thru the basement and take the elevator up, because the snow was too deep around the front doors.
The rest of the drive thru Oregon sucked. We nicknamed it "Boregon". We drove for miles and miles and miles and didn't see anything!! We drove into Idaho and had to settle in for a couple of days so I could have an address to send my fixed computer to. While we were there we did some housekeeping. We also went to a Birds of Prey exhibit which was very interesting.
The computer was to be delivered by noon. I tracked it thru FedEx and I knew it was on the truck for delivery, so we waited and waited. At about 1:30 decided to get some lunch, as soon as we left we passed the truck on the road. Yeah, we're on our way again!! Headed to Yellowstone.
Another day of driving. When we made it to Yellowstone we checked into a hotel.
Got up early this morning and it was snowing just a little bit. We didn't know whether we should do an imax movie first or go to the park first. We opted for the park. When we entered the park the ranger told us which roads were closed. There were the ones at the highest elevations and a couple of loops for the bears who are just coming out of hibernation. We had entered at the west entrance and planned on leaving thru the north entrance which was still open. I think we stopped at every pull off on the way to Ole Faithful. Our first spotting of wildlife was a couple of mule deers. They were pretty far off so we needed the zoom lens. We thought that we were destined to not see anything. We turned a curve and right in the road huge bison, just standing there. I didn't know just how big they are, they weight up to 2,000 pounds. Beautiful animals. When we got to Ole Faithful it was snowing pretty hard and the wind had kicked up a lot. It was quite the wait for the next eruption, so we decided that the smaller geysers (vents) that we had pictures of would have to do!! It was like 24 and the wind and snow blowing like crazy, it was cold! We headed out toward the north entrance and planned on finding a motel there and continuing exploring in the morning. By that time they were closing all the roads in the park. I don't usually do the snow driving, I leave that up to Marty, but at this point I was driving. The snow was coming down so hard we couldn't see in front of us, and the wipers were freezing up, and there wasn't a place to pull off to clean them, but I did it. Dad, would would be so proud.
We found a hotel and took a nice long nap. When we woke up we went to the imax theater. We watched both of the movies, Bears and Yellowstone. Great shows, both of them. We were planning on heading back into the park in the morning, the weather earlier said that only flurries tomorrow. Just watched the local news, they measure their flurries in inches here! So we don't know what we are going to do. hmmm, should I stay or should I go now?
I know I have forgotten a lot and will add it when I remember. It's just nice to have my computer back.
For some reason, I can't put my pictures in right now, but I will try one more time tonight.
I'll let you know what we decide to do.
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