Today the kids and I knocked off another state that we've been in: Wyoming (Oh, yes!) is the home of Yellowstone National Park. It's only about 2 hours from Bozeman, and well worth the day we spent looking around.
Stop 1 was, naturally, Old Faithful. We saw it erupt twice-- the first time was just as we'd gotten in and the second took about 15 minutes longer than predicted, which caused me to wonder if I'd broken that bit of plumbing, too. We were treated to this cool inverted rainbow for our troubles.
From there we headed to the Canyon, which was a beautiful sight but a scary walk down to the lookout. Very skinny walkway, plunging over the side into nothingness. The mom in me can't handle such sights anymore... and maybe I'm getting a bit of mountain related anxiety. Notice how tightly I'm gripping them: that is not an accident. More on this later.
We crossed a few milestones the teacher in me enjoys-- the Continental Divide and the 45th parallel. I'm envisioning a "Where was Buckaroo and why should you care?" scavenger hunt to start the year.
Boy got to see his bison, and Girly her elk. We took the scenic route out of the park, right smack through the mountains, and I'm not kidding, I almost had a meltdown on the way down. The road was tiny-- enough room for 2 cars, 2 white lines, and 2 yellow lines. Outside the white line was nothing-- just the edge of the mountain. I pulled over to let the cars behind us pass and tried to get Uncle J to go ahead of me (he'd been behind us so we could pull over and look whenever we wanted) and he offered Dr. Sis to drive: it seemed smart to take them up on that offer. I'm not sure I'm going to be capable of driving the support vehicle on WB's cross country bike ride without therapy. Maybe I should start when we get home. Come to think of it, the Blue Ridge Parkway almost did me in post Atlanta Olympics.
(Yes, the irony of living in the Western Foothills is not lost on me. I can't explain why I'm losing it out here but have no issues at home. I keep telling Boy that traveling triggers my panic reflex. It might not be just a line I'm feeding him. I can cope going up, but coming down, well, it's not pretty.)
6 comments:
It's the whatever phobia we all have (I call it a modified agoraphobia). Mountain sides in cars are horrible, especially with a lot of exposure. I have been in tears after driving up mountains (climbing them is no problem). I think it's your inability to see the horizon line. The car cuts off your peripheral vision, so you just see sky. Eeeep! Bridges are the same way.
Remember, I drove a 16' truck with my car on a dolly over both the Blue Ridge and the Rockies. That is frightening.
But Yellowstone is cool. We saw everything we wanted to see, except a bear. Sorry Mike.
I've never been a fan of bridges, either. Whatever it's called, it's real and I have it.
Done Book Two yesterday! On to book Three!
Beaner, you rock!!!!
I get a bit of vertigo when driving along roads with a drop off one side :), but having grown up in the southeastern Kentucky Appalachian mountain region, I do miss the mountains (sometimes ;). I'm finding I very much enjoy the beach, too.
I get the reference. It's Blues Traveler - one of my favorite bands. Of course you're not a "blue" traveler, are you??
No, not a blue traveler. A traveler enjoying the scenery still but starting to look forward to returning to familiar sights...
If I get a good mountain pic as we head back to Yellowstone tomorrow, I'll make up a copy for you :)
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