(Jack) We've spent the last 4 nights in Yellowstone--geysers, bison, elk and tourists everywhere. Mostly tourists. We handled it pretty well until last night, where we stayed at the Old Faithful Inn. (OFI) The Moon Guide had recommended a stay there, just because the place is such an icon. On this much we agree. but the room, while charming and rustic, was noisy most of the night. I would not have thought log walls could transmit sound so well. The restaurant food was mediocre; better to eat at the grill at the store next door. Nancy was loving the place, taking many pictures of geysers, algae patterns, and animals. But one night in the OFI engendered a major crab attack.
Today we are back at the Tetons to look for a couple more images I have in mind, and to decompress from the madness of Yellowstone.

(Nancy, before crab attack)
Now we’re in Yellowstone, my first time and Jack’s first time in quite a while. It’s very crowded of course, which is not our cuppa. But we’ll put up with it to see magma-heated water bubble to the surface everywhere, creating minterals, steam, colors and shapes that are strange, otherworldly and beautiful, and smelly. I’ll never boil an egg without this park’s memories coming back to me. We’ve done all the proper Must Do’s, been wowed several times, thought about the volcano forces at work right now beneath us…. And looked for wildlife, a lot. If only I’d pursued on of my other lives and become a wildlife biologist, I’d be here or somewhere studying animals. To me, most trips are defined by the animals I saw. No moose or bears yet, but there is a stunning huge bull elk near the campground that we’ve seen twice. His antlers are wider than I can stretch my arms and his coat glistens copper, visible from quite a distance against the neon green meadow. He is a handsome boy. Lots and lots of buffalo in the Grand Tetons. We camped near one of their favorite spots; there were probably hundreds of them. And today, I did see two wolves only about a thousand miles away, little blobs running way, way over there. (This was in a grizzly preserve but I didn’t see any griz). I could tell one was black and one was gray, and once I knew they were wolves (several other people told me) I could tell the canine gait, definitely. I took a walk alone today and turned back, wondering if there was a bear in the vicinity. You sing the whole time. Yes, statistically you’re more likely to get in a car wreck than a bear wreck… but still….In this campground you can’t leave food out for a minute before you get a ranger and a ticket in your face. And all dishwashing and teeth brushing needs to be done in the room they provide. It’s taken very seriously here, and I guess when we head up to Canada we’ll be among even more of them. Jack’s been keeping our aluminum cans to make some kind of bear alarm system.
Anyway. We are very happy, having way too much fun, getting in lots of hikes, and we’re so thankful that we were able to do this. We love being together and so far the camper is almost big enough, which is good enough. We’re outside most of the time anyway. However, we still miss Cookie, worse than ever. I met a camping cat yesterday, and her parents told me that from kittenhood they’ve been taking her camping and traveling. She doesn’t run away; they’ve trained her to stay near them. I was very impressed and pretty quiet for a long time. That cat, I could tell, was more calm and less crazy than Cookie. Cookie does like to disappear on her own, instantly inventing needs for secret explorations.
Interesting people we’ve met: A couple on their way back from a 3-month Alaska trip in a camper kind of like ours, who invited us to visit them in Florida someday. She’s a linguistics professor, he’s an ex-photographer now blueberry farmer. The ADD teenagers on a wilderness camping experience. The old and young people working at National Parks for the summer or all year. The amazing camping cat people. The pilot from Sebastopol where we almost moved, who is flying his little plane back from Wisconsin on the scenic route. The young mom of two very cute blond kids, who told us about coming across a grizzly on the trail the day before, just the 3 of them, a very close encounter. The Italian chef in the small Wyoming town of Saratoga, making gourmet food in a little espresso shack and on his way to court for harassing his ex. That third guy she started seeing really put him over the edge. The best part was the old grizzled cowboy sitting at the next table (perhaps his grandfather or uncle?) commenting “Yeah, I couldn’t believe it when you let her get away with that for the third time.” And if I run short, I’ll just make up some others.
We miss the kids. Everywhere we go we wish you three darlings were here with us. Now, and not to mention 15-25 years ago before we even knew each other. We are crazy about you kids and so proud of you. Part of me wishes we were rich enough to fly you out in our private jet any time the mood strikes. We’re working our way out there, slow but sure, in the Chevy. Sorry, y’all, for rambling. Xxxooo.

-postscript-
I just called the ranger station in Lovell about visiting the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Refuge. He said that if we drive up into the mountains there is a good chance we will see many, many horses, up close. We leave tomorrow. The crab attack has abruptly ended.