Big Sky & Yellowstone
Thanks for all of your comments, words of encouragement, humor and, best of all, taking this journey with me! I would have responded sooner, but the past few days have been filled with more incredible adventures as we explored Big Sky, Montana and Yellowstone National Park, which is effectively a cellular dead zone. The good news is that Yellowstone had more than enough sites and activities to keep us engaged, especially when you consider that the park is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The bad news is that satellite radio still worked and after all of that time spent in the car, I would be okay never hearing the following four songs again — 1. Fancy by Iggy Azalea, 2. Problem, by Ariana Grande (featuring Iggy Azalea), 3. Wild Wild Love by Pitbull (featuring G.R.L.), and (4) Dance With Me Tonight by Olly Murs! On the other hand, my new summer song is Rude by MAGIC! — such a catchy tune. Enjoy my second installment!
MONTANA
Big Sky
Big Sky is a small but, growing, community that is truly an outdoor playground — skiing, rafting, horseback riding, hiking, etc. It also has the added benefit of being "The Gateway to Yellowstone National Park" (less than an hour from the West Entrance), so it was the perfect place to explore and enjoy before heading into Yellowstone. We spent our days outdoors and our nights feasting on lovely and innovative meals that included wild game. Who knew that a place with a name like Buck’s T-4, which is where we stayed, would have an executive chef who has won rave reviews and has presented a meal at the James Beard Foundation?! Here are the highlights.
Nature Zip
We hit the ground running with a Nature Zip course at Big Sky Resort. It began with a 20 minute hike up Lone Mountain and consisted of three zip lines ranging from 350 to 500 feet in length, and 30 to 60 feet in the air. I will admit that I was a bit nervous, but the girls were real troopers, with Peytin yelling out “THIS IS AWESOME” as she zipped down the first line. Unfortunately, you will have to use your imagination on this one as the cost of a single photo was outrageous (and, I say this as someone who is used to overpaying for digital images at these tourist attractions)!
[TAKE A MOMENT TO PICTURE US ZIPPING THROUGH THE TREES]
Whitewater Rafting
Our hotel was situated along the Gallatin River and so what better way to experience the river than to book a whitewater rafting trip?! The grand scenic family tour was billed as the right combination of scenic floating and rushing rapids, so we booked it. The tour company gave us fair warning the water would be cold — around 40 degrees — and provided us with wetsuits, fleece pullovers, water booties and waterproof jackets before setting sail but, damn, the water was cold! Even with all of our gear, the only way to have stayed warm would have been to stay home, but where is the fun in that?! We had an awesome time, especially when the rapids became so rough that the girls had to crouch down in the raft to avoid falling overboard!
Horseback Riding
No trip to Montana would be complete without a horseback ride and so we booked a ride that brings you into the foothills of the Gallatin range of the Rocky Mountains, giving you a wonderful view of the Gallatin Canyon and surrounding peaks. The big girls were in complete control (which was both exhilarating and scary at times), and Peytin was tethered to our guide, as we trekked across the river and up into the mountains. Here is a photo of us at the summit. It was a breathtaking trip!
Oh, and here’s a grammar question for you — is it correct to say "Sydney and I were in complete control"? I couldn’t find a definitive answer online and so I punted and went with "The big girls were"….
Closing Thoughts
I met some great post-college twenty-somethings who are adventurous souls — from the waitress who is in Big Sky for the summer season earning money before, hopefully, going to teach English abroad (she has an upcoming interview for a post in Sri Lanka), to the rafting guide who hasn’t experienced winter in 9 years as he is always chasing summer and various rafting gigs, including stints in Uganda and New Zealand. It made me think about all of our children and what a wonderful gift it would be to lay the foundation of education, family, compassion, community, ambition, adaptability, spirituality, and a sense of adventure and then let them take flight. It’s a tall order but, oh, the places they’d go!
And, here is an interesting Big Sky fact — there were only 3 kids in the high school Class of 2014. Can you imagine?! The community, however, is growing and there is a new elementary school being built to accommodate that growth. Way too small for my taste, but I do like the idea of “Ski Friday’s", in which all students spend the day taking ski or snowboard lessons during ski season, which counts towards your P.E. credit!
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
I could go on and on about the beauty, vastness and diversity of Yellowstone National Park, but here are a few fast facts that capture this natural wonder. Established as a national park by Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, Yellowstone (1) is the world’s first national park and the second largest national park in the contiguous 48 United States (Death Valley National Park is larger), (2) is an active super volcano, (3) is home to bison, moose, elk, bighorn sheep, wolves and grizzly bears, as well as many other mammal, flora and bird species, and (4) has a grand canyon, more than 300 geysers, the largest high-altitude lake in North America (Lake Yellowstone), 5 park entrances, a 142-mile grand loop that could take two full days to drive, and 9 hotels / lodges. Given our desire to experience all of these wonderful features and the enormity of the park, I decided to stay in two different parts of the park so as to lessen our drive time. As an example, the National Park Service distributes detailed park maps with driving distances and times between each major junction and estimates that a 17-mile stretch of highway could take one hour. Add the long stretch of cars backed up due to animal sightings or, better yet, animals crossing the road and you can imagine the drive times. We admit to contributing to the traffic jam, especially when we spotted a black bear and her two cubs, but the Park Ranger forced us all back into our cars before I could snap a great photo (something about our being perilously close (smile)). I could go on and on, but the best way to tell our story is through pictures.
Animals Galore
So many choices, but these five photos best capture our animal experience!
Geysers
Geysers are hot springs with constrictions in their plumbing, usually near the surface, that prevent water from circulating freely to the surface where heat would escape. There are more geysers in Yellowstone than anywhere else on earth, the most famous of which is Old Faithful.
Old Faithful
Jewel Geyser
Hot Springs
Hot Springs are similar to geysers, but their underground channels are large enough to allow rapid circulation of water. Many of the bright colors found in the pictures below come from "thermophiles" -- microorganisms that thrive in hot temperatures. So many microorganisms are grouped together that they appear as masses of color.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is roughly 20 miles long and up to 4,000-feet wide and 1,200-feet deep in some places. The canyon was formed by erosion as Yellowstone River flowed over progressively softer, less resistant rock.
Quick Tips
If you are considering a visit to Yellowstone, here are two quick tips. First, if possible, stay inside the park as this will greatly reduce your drive time / travel distance each day. I highly recommend the Yellowstone Lake Hotel, which has the distinction of being the oldest national park hotel — it’s quite grand! Second, avoid accommodations in the Old Faithful area of the park, as it was the only area we visited that I found to be crowded and a bit overwhelming.
Finally, a special congratulations to the girls for once again being sworn in as Junior Rangers. We decided to commemorate the occasion by purchasing Junior Ranger vests so that they would have a place to secure all of their pins and badges!
Okay, that's all for now. We arrived safely at our next destination — Jackson, Wyoming -- so stay tuned for the next blog that will focus on Jackson and Grand Teton National Park!