2.1 Montana / Wyoming - Yellowstone

Just looked through all of Georges pics since the beginning of our trip.. and for starters.. I had NO clue what our start date was anymore.. (thats actually why I started looking-- and to see if he took any pics of me when I wasnt looking..)

But it was September 4th! How crazy. We’ve already been on the road for 24 days. Next Sunday will be a month away, and it really feels like we’ve only just begun.

Man, so much has happened in the past month.

I mean for starters I started writing again. That’s a big accomplishment in itself. And the RV and travel stuff kinda speaks for itself. Lots of love Nik's way and thank yous for being a guiding light and that kinda stuff.

So lets get into it--- I left off the last post with a nap. Which actually wasn’t really a nap just agood zoning out sesh, taking pics of the winding roads of Montana and listening to ‘We’re Alive’ (amazing pod cast—if you haven’t listened start NOW-- like stop reading this for a second to download the first season- then carry on with the written words below).

I told you I would update you on Yellowstone. So yeah lets do it.

We’re finally in 2.1 …..

THE TRIP

(chapter 1 was the journey to Nik’s RV and to visit Jared)

So our last day at Jareds we figured we might as well go north before the cold really set in (and boy is it COLD here—our water hose froze solid last night!!!!!!!). We looked at a map for a couple minutes and realized we had to do Yellowstone. We were too close not to.

The drive was beautiful—and our destination? KOA (kampgrounds of America) West Yellowstone.—I think you may have seen the tag in a few of my instagram posts (at least you would have if you’re stalking me like you should be). Its in Montana just outside of the park—about a 10 minute drive. Nice campground, beautiful sunset—tons to write poetry and songs about, but being that I’m blogging—lets get to the nitty gritty.

RV park was really just for sleep.

YELLOWSTONE---

WAS

MINDBLOWING.

The best way I could describe it for anyone who hasn’t been is—a natural amusement park. And by that I mean—the road is pretty much shaped like a GIANT figure 8 and every so often there is a village, or natural spot to see, whether it’s the painted pots (thermal pools of different colors) geysers, hot springs, a giant lake or an abundence of beautiful nature, its laid out in such a way feels like its Disneyworld for tree-huggers. There are paths and planks laid our for viewing and im sure during the high season there is a wait for somethings.. like waiting for a picture with Pluto or Goofy.. except its for your picture with hotsprings or a geyser. You get the idea.

Yellowstone really has it all—if you plan your trip correctly for the right season and what not I’m sure you can make a full real vacation out of it, complete with relaxation, beers, reading, whatever it is that mellows your mood.

But because Georgie and I are doing ‘AMERICA:THE SAMPLER’ we’re jam packing everything into small amounts of time and running ourselves into the ground.

But its worth it. And here goes—my one travel tip for anyone doing anything. Plan half of what you think you can do in a day—DO it.. leave the rest of your day open just to happen. You’ll have so much more time for those unexpected moments to pop in—and especially in Yellowstone—you’ll need those moments. You’ll find yourself looking at a jam packed pull out wondering what could be so interesting, and then you’ll realize theres a wolf running across a meadow in the distance. Or a bison crossing the street OR…. an elk in a meadow.

And TRUST me, you’ll need that time.

Yeah--- about that elk in the meadow…

Our second day in Yellowstone, we got up early made breakfast, got our maps and plans in order.

1: head to grand prismatic 1st because it was too dark last night.

2: see everything else we missed.

(great plans I know)

we figured day three we’d pick 1 or 2 of our favorite places and go for an epic hike or two.

We had the whole day ahead of us to see things at our leisure.

Ha.

So we drive into the park through the west Entrance, see the ‘welcome to Wyoming’ sign after a few minutes, and shortly after that we see a ton of cars in one of the pull off viewing areas. They were in front of a meadow so we knew there had to be some cool animal. Low and behold, there was a giant elk--- not sure if the big antlery males are called bucks like deers are—if so it was a buck. If not it was a male elk with antlers. This guy was basking in the meadow—it was beautiful. There were a bunch of photographers out there with lenses that cost more than a smart car. No joke—I was drooling more at the lenses than the elk. Ok no I wasn’t.

I get my camera all set and ready—zoom lens and I’m stoked. George and I make our way out to where the line of photographers is set up—at a safe distance. The last thing im about to do is get too close to someone with antlers. No thank you. Not looking to be on America’s Funniest Home videos… or worse Ridiculousness.. yikess.

After a few great photos, this guy really struck a pose a couple times AKA looked up from eating grass, I was satisfied with my bounty and we were on our way.

We get back to the car and I start feeling my pockets. Slowly at first. Then anxiously…. Then viciously. Then I look around on my seat real quick. My heart sinks and “Oh my god my phone” comes out. Followed by approximately 124 expletives.

Yup.

George immediately wanted to head back our and retrace our steps, but I figured, me being me, it was in the car somewhere. So we quickly tore apart the car and after confirming that it was not there and that it had slipped out of my pocket we headed back to the meadow.

OF TALL BROWN GRASS

WHERE MY BROWN PHONE WAS MISSING.

WHAT

THE

….(fill in the blank)

to make matters worse, all the other photographers had cleared out by then so I basically had no landmark to work off of. It was just a sea of hay.

But dana, why didn’t you just call your phone? I know you have an obnoxious ring tone that feature on where your phone flashed like crazy when it rings and gives people epilepsy.

Good question! Mostly because we had zero service! What luck!

There we were, alone in this meadow—so we went back to the parking lot after about 30 minutes of searching—just to think. Also because during that time searching I noticed a wolf about a football fields length away, eyeballing us and licking his chops… soooo

Then we were alone in the parking lot. Every now and then people would pass through, at one point there were two cars with elderly people in them.. Being that I have an adoration for old timers, I figured I would try my hand and ask them if they had Verizon (because ATT sucks and Georges phone was ATT) I thought there be the slightest chance they might have service and I’d hear my phone.

No dice.

Cue dream sequence with foggy overlay that implies back story:

One day maybe 6 months ago, maybe longer, I was grumpy, I kept thinking to myself, this is ridiculous you need to realize that you are your own happiness.

So I set an alarm on my phone to go off, EVERYDAY at 1:31pm that comes up with loud crazy music and the dancing lady in the red dress emoji—several of them actually… cause it has to be a party. The text on the screen reads “time to dance”

And I will tell you, honestly, every day that I hear or see it (even if I have to silnce it during a meeting, it lightens my mood, makes me happy and when I can I get up and dance.

Its one of the smallest life things I’ve done that has brought me the most joy…

And we’re back to the field. You can see where this is going. At this point its probably around 10:30 so I jokingly say to George, ‘I guess we’ll just have to wait for the dance alarm’

In the time leading up to that, I pestered people for cell service in the most pathetic demeanor I could muster, and tried the whole “find my phone” app, but without LTE or cell service, those efforts were fruitless.

We took tons of time in the field itself, hunching over and looking, retracing our steps and marking out a square of where it “could be” with street markers we pulled out of the ground. Which were yellow and impossible to see from far away—they totally blended in with the meadow from a distance. Good luck with anything in the brown/yellow family.. as I have well learned.

By the way I’m not remembering that every other step I took was in a pile of dried bison crap—and because it was hard, I built up false hope with every one of those steps. I also can properly identify different types of scat, so hey it was a learning experience right??

We did an alarm test with georges phone playing the same tune to see the radius the sound travelled and it was about 6 paces.

Not very far. His also was on full blast and I knew I lowered mine because it was obnoxious..

So low and behold, 1:31 comes around. And I must have been holding my breath for a full minute, made cones out of plastic plates and held them to my ears with such high hopes.

And…..

nothing.

What a sinking feeling. I was screwed, everything was in there. It was one of those wallet types that had not only my phone but also my creditcards, insurance cards, and my ID.

Yeah that was the big one—how am I supposed to do anything without my ID.

(we had just been talking about taking a flight)

around 1:38, both George and I had covered every portion of that sectioned off area we created (we had been scouring it for the entirety of the day beforehand)

So I looked over at him and said, “I’m going to check by the car”

I walk about 30 feet away towards the parking area and boo bee doo bee doo..

I hear the whisper of my dance alarm.

I honestly thought it was in my head at this point and took a step away. I stepped back and got closer and heard it.

I’ve never jumped so high in my life.

It was the best feeling and I was on top of the world. We jumped and hugged and took a selfie, we screamed and just wow.

We walked back to the car and were talking about how we could accomplish anthing together blah blah blah and this guy rolls up in his car.

He points his camera in the other direction, takes a bunch of pictures of this mountain with a big rock in front of it and says what a beautiful day it is, I remark how lucky we are today and he says yes we sure are as he clicks away.

The guy drives away, george gives me the side eye and goes, I didn’t even realize there was a bison next to us.

Here I am thinking the guy was just ultra satisfied with the weather, and nope! Theres a buffalo within 5 feet of me, that I thought was a rock!!!!!!!!

We got a couple pix of him, moved onto the rest of our day.

Highlights: Grand Prismatic, I loved seeing Georgie light up at the thermal pools. That was so rad. And also Mammoth Springs was really really really really cool.

We had dinner in the Mammoth area and of course my salad had a sharp piece of plastic in it—no cuts of anything, I didn’t give it a good chomp or anything. I recognized that there was a foreign object in my mouth immediately! Thank goodness… if I swallowed it I’d be in a whole other bought of hell. Several managers came over and were really nice and concerned. They comped our whole meal.

I shoulda gotten the fillet mignon…

Lol.

Anybody surprised here?

Well, between then and now a lot has happened, but I doubt you’re still reading, so we’ll save that for another entry.

Much love from Montana

xo