One of the most beautiful places on Earth
The drive into Yellowstone was very beautiful but slow. The constant ascension and descension combined with the very winding roads makes for slow travel which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since there is so much to look at. Cindy was very excited when we hit crawling traffic due to buffalo crossing the road. They were literally a few feet from us, giving us some awesome photo opportunities. Cindy was not as excited to utilize the outhouse style toilets that are used primarily in the park. I am not a big fan myself, utilizing mouth breathing and a refusal to look into the deep, dark cavern of excrement below.
Since we have a second day tomorrow to do some additional sight seeing in the park, Cindy worked on a game plan as far as what route we took. We pulled off a few times briefly to check out various cool sites but the first major stop was West Thumb which has a creaky boardwalk that winds between various hot springs and follows the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake. If you have never seen water boiling out of the ground before it really seems weird. The steam, sulfur smell, and wild colors that come with it are pretty unique too.
We decided to then drive over the the Old Faithful region of the park. It looked to me like the next eruption should be about 12:15. Well we arrived on site shortly before 12:15 only to find the geyser was a bit premature, going off around 12:07. Ok, no big deal, we figured we could eat lunch and then catch the next show since it blows roughly every 90 minutes.
The temperatures by noon had warmed nicely into the lower 70’s. I walked around in shorts and a t-shirt all day and felt totally fine for most of it. Cindy dressed a little warmer than me since she has a lower cold tolerance.
We ate lunch at one of places inside a lodge. Well we got the food and then walked outside with it since the inside was clogged with people. At lunch a trend we already noticed elsewhere was very evident, there were Asian tourists EVERYWHERE. It was very odd to see so many, there must have been some sort of massive bus trip. In general there were a ton of foreign tourists there, we heard a lot of foreign tongues. I was surprised that on a Thursday after school was back in session that there would be so many people there. Nowhere was it more evident than at Old Faithful which is the biggest area in the park by far. It literally has stadium sized parking space.
After we ate we dropped off a postcard at the onsite post office. Cindy talked to the workers there briefly since she is an ex-postal worker. We found it odd that the entire park pretty much shuts down from late October to May. I wonder where all the people that work there go during that time?
So we were about 30-35 minutes till the next Old Faithful eruption which they had posted as 1:41. We saw people were already starting to congregate around the bench seating by the geyser. We did not feel like standing the entire time so we decided to walk up and stake out our own bench. It wasn’t a bad move in retrospect since very quickly after we got seated the mass of humanity piled in behind us several rows deep.
Once again the geyser had a premature eruption, firing off at 1:34. Since I saw it before it was a little less draamtic but still cool to see. It blasted water high into the clear blue sky for a couple minutes. I remember when I saw it years ago the crowd applauded afterward. There were no applause this time. After the show Cindy and I walked a long winding path through a geyser field. We saw a large variety of big and small geysers. We probably walked 3-4 miles taking it all in.
After the walk we went into another lodge and relaxed for a couple minutes in some comfy chairs by a huge fireplace. After a brief rest we indulged in what is becoming a weird tradition on this trip, getting some ice cream. I am normally not a big ice cream guy. If I have it a few times a year that is normal. For whatever reason we have been downing it quite regularly on the trip so far.
I can’t tell you how many incredible pictures we took today. The visuals are just absolutely stunning. We are looking forward to blowing some of them up to be used as decoration at the house.
Late in the afteroon I pulled off to put the Phantom up to get some unique aerial video. The spot I was flying at had a creek and a steep mountain on the other side. Due to the mountains I couldn’t get a full GPS lock but it was close enough. It was also VERY windy. I was so confident from my past experiences flying the quadcopter in windy Florida conditions I wasnt worried.
So I got the copter up in the air without a major problem, flying up the face of the mountain and up and down a short section of the creek. The battery light started flashing red so I brought the copter back to me. The wind was really kicking up but the Phantom was still handling it pretty well. I manuevered it behind the Prius and touched it down to the ground. I held the throttle stick in the down position which kills the motors after a few seconds. Well before the motors stopped a particularly strong gust of wind came in and picked the copter back up, tipping it into the large wood barrier and then flipping down the other other side of the rocky, dirty hill.
Cindy shrieked as my toy went tumbling down the hill, upside down, with the blades still spinning. It stopped less than 5 feet from the edge of the water. I said nothing during the crash although in my mind I was swearing up a storm. Of course the first thing I tried to do once Cindy retrieved the copter was firing up the Phantom. My heart sunk when only two of the four propellors spun up. When I tried to move the two dead props there was immediate resistance. Further inspection makes it seem like when the Phantom was upside down sliding down the hill with the props spinning it sucked dirt/pebbles into the brushless motors. I am crossing my fingers that removing the motors and blowing them out will be an easy remedy. However if the debris damaged the windings on the motor I will be SOL, requiring at a minimun new motors to fix it. Depending on the cost of that option, it could be a reason to more seriously consider upgrading to the pretty awesome Phantom 3.
I was pretty pissed at myself after the crash. In retrospect with as windy as it was, a much better decision would have been for me to just snatch the quad copter out of the air by hand. It was pretty dumb of me to try to land it conventionally with those kind of gusts. The only good news is I had the GoPro running the entire time so eventually you will be able to see my boneheaded flying in action.
Our time calculations were not very solid so we are winding up getting back later than we hoped. There was a traffic jam leaving the park. We were told it was due to some sort of bear interaction. The traffic eventually started to flow but we heard what sure sounded like a gunshot as we drove by. We both crossed our fingers it was a warning shot and they didn’t have to shoot an animal.
Tonight we are hoping to just do a simple soup and salad dinner to atone for some of our egregious eating recently. We also have a TON of beautiful pictures to get online since internet service inside the park varies from none at all to dial up speed. Tomorrow we will be hitting another section of Yellowstone as we drive through to the western exit which will eventually take us to our Friday stopping point of Idaho Falls.