Heading for Yellowstone part of my inner child was hoping for a glimpse of Yogi Bear. Unfortunately as he is a cartoon my chances were pretty non existent!
However the reality of an encounter with a live bear was much more likely. Which is how we ended up undergoing ‘bear attack training’ on a cold rainy morning in the Rangers Office.
Despite seeing the bear spray & reading that such creatures room wild the prospect of meeting one close up hadn’t registered. This was a little naive considering we about to enter an area in which potentially we could meet one. I confess feeling very unnerved at the prospect.
Yogi & Snow?
We listened intently to the Ranger who offered sensible precautions. Still slightly bemused as to the likely hood of meeting a one of Yogi’s less friendly cousins & encountering snow. It was August so was the weather warning & bear stories designed to scare the tourists?
About Turn
The answer was ‘ probably not ‘. We ended up performing a multiple point turn on an alpine road. With the snow driving in horizontally I ended up outside as banks man.
Thankfully I didn’t need to put my new defence against bear attack skills to the test. Note to self : Ranger’s probably do know the territory & ignoring his warnings would have been foolhardy in the extreme.
A short clip of snow in August driving through Yellowstone Park.
Completely turning around significantly altered our sight seeing plans. Battling against inclement weather meant viewing different scenery.
It was a good decision as less rain led to some amazing views of the hot springs. The slightly strange topography unique to the area was awesome too.
A clip showing some of the unusual geological features of Yellowstone Park.
We left the park and caught sight of some of the other interesting animals that live in the vicinity. Leaving the Park we headed to downtown Yellowstone for a meal.
Bang Bang
Whilst dodging the showers in our newly acquired plastic ponchos we spied a gun shop. Inside we were surprised that for a few dollars you could pick a weapon & have a go.
My buddy had previously declared a desire to have try firing a gun. So without much encouragement we found ourselves in the shop agonising over the choice of hardware.
I had previously been clay pigeon shooting with a shot gun. Something that hadn’t been the most enjoyable experience so I was a little nervous about this. So we selected a handgun and followed the instructor into the range for a safety briefing.
Taking in turns we fired off the rounds at targets at the end of the room guided by one of the assistants. The two young men surreptitiously rolled their eyes at us when we entered the shop.
I think they assumed that two middle aged Brits wouldn’t have a clue how to handle a weapon.Seeing how accurately we had ‘peppered ‘the targets we were offered a degree of grudging respect
Pie For All
Clutching our paper prizes we entered a local restaurant. Inside we were able to sample meals that contained elk & bison & finished with some blueberry pie.
We were stuffed but happy as we drove back to the campsite. Having ticked off several bucket list firsts in a day.
Use the link below to find out more about Yellowstone National Park
https://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm
Bunged Up Bowels
Our jubilation was short lived though. As the next day Bertha developed what could be politely referred to as ‘digestive problems’ . The humour of two Endoscopy nurses having to give the bus what amounted to an enema was not lost on us.
Armed with the ‘book of words’ we prepared for the procedure with gloves & hoses. However we were offered assistance by two chaps (to whom we remain eternally grateful) ensuring we didn’t spray the contents of Berthas plumbing over ourselves & surrounding area.
With Bertha sorted we hit the road and prepared to ‘head for the hills’ & catch a peek at the Grand Tetons.