We drove from Gros Ventre National Park Campground in Jackson Hole, Wyoming to the Yellowstone Valley Inn/RV Park located just 18 miles short of Cody, Wyoming. Left at 7:45 and arrived at 11:20.  Although I was a little nervous about the narrow roads and big crowds in Yellowstone, the roads were excellent and the people were few. There was a 30 minute delay for construction at Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone NP. We had to drive on a a gravel road with the trailer for about fur miles; not a big deal. One significant climb on Sylvan Pass as were drove from the Yellowstone east entry towards Cody.

We left early to travel to Yellowstone National Park for what was to be the first of two days to see the park. We entered the park and climbed over Sylvan Pass to Yellowstone Lake. We then drove to the "Fishing Bridge" area of the park. There was construction on the road near Fishing Bridge, so the truck we had just washed became covered with mud from the gravel road. We headed north towards Canyon Village. This road is famous for the beautiful valleys along the Yellowstone River and the abundant wildlife in the region. We also get to see the Lower and Upper Falls on the Yellowstone River as they flow into the Canyon of the Yellowstone. Before we got to the falls, we came to a complete stop on the road. Traffic was backed up as far as I could see. Seems that a herd of buffalo was right next to the road and several decided to use the road to get to greener pastures. These bison blocked traffic and the tourists were taking photos galore. We were no different. We opened the moon roof of the truck and Lisa stood on the seat with her torso our of the truck to take photos and videos. She caught one bison swimming the Yellowstone River. Others rolling in the dirt. We got some great photos of the Bison herd and individual bison. We then came to the area of the North Rim Road where you can drive along the rim of the Canyon of the Yellowstone and then stop to walk to scenic overlooks where you can see the falls, river, and canyon. Pretty darn impressive! Lots of photos were taken. You could also hike down to where the water was going over the Lower Falls. It was about a 600 foot descent into the canyon. We did this twice and Lisa was ready to buy a commercial video after the second trip to the top. We also heard that there were grizzly bears in the area, but we did not see one; yet. We drove on to Canyon Village were we ate the picnic lunch we had brought along. We then began the highly scenic drive to Mammoth Hot Springs. Absolutely gorgeous scenery. Vista in every direction. We wanted to put our our gravity chairs and just soak up the beauty of the region. The weather was perfect and the skys were clear with puffy white clouds all about. We stopped to see Tower Falls just before getting to Mammoth Hot Springs. The hot springs are just that; Mammoth. Hot water bubbling up and forming the most beautiful terraces of silica. There are great walling platforms that brought you right up to the action on the ground. It was very impressive. See the photos. After leaving Mammoth Hot Springs, we headed for Norris. Not too much to see here, but still pretty. We then drove back to Canyon Village where we had lunch. We then had to retrace our steps back to Fishing Bridge where we had started the day. We did not look forward to this part of the drive because of the roadblocks near the bison herd that we anticipated. The cars were lined up again only this time is was because there was a grizzly bear fairly close to the road. I got out of the truck and climbed a small hill to get some fairly descent photos of the animal. It was pretty big; I was glad it was not closer. We then proceeded through the traffic quagmire to Fishing Bridge were we had a nice dinner at the General Store there. We then began the hour and a half driver back to our RV over Sylvan Pass and out the east entry to the park. We decided that we could not handle turning around in the morning and driving the route again to go to Old Faithful. We re=arranged our plans to see that part of the park when we head south after our visit to Glacier National Park with Bob and Charlotte Capp. Yellowstone is amazing lots to see from a tourists point of view. Grand Teton, on the other hand, has a lot more to "physically" do with rafting, kayaking, fishing, biking, and more. Biking in Yellowstone is not a great idea, although we saw about 10 people doing it.

We drove into Cody to go to a laundromat to wash our larger throw rugs. We went to this laundromat because it said that it had WiFi. We could "kill two birds with one stone" by washing our rugs and posting to our blog. We were amazed; the speed of the WiFi was the best that we have seen since we left home. I was able to upload two Camtasia videos to YouTube in about 45 minutes, a new world record. Much better Wifi than Starbucks.

After our laundry was done, we took a walk down main street in Cody to check out some stores and get lunch. It was a bright sunny day and clear with a cloud buildup to the west. We went into a Mexican food restaurant and sat out in the patio covered by a corrugated tin roof. It was pleasant. Then the winds picked up and the clouds grew darker. There were several very loud thunder claps, one of which had to be nearly on top of us. Flash-bang! No time between the flash and the boom. It got everybody's attention at the restaurant. Soon it began to rain and rain hard. Then the winds came blowing from west to east right down the main street of Cody. Within minutes, the water was flowing over the curbs and onto the sidewalks. Cars on the street were up to their axles in flood water. it rained and blew hard for about 30 minutes and then started to taper off. There was some hail, but it did not amount to much. One thing is for sure, weather in the plains can be pretty nasty!

After the storm, we went to the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum in Cody, Wyoming. As we entered, we found that the admission cost was $18 each, and I thought this to be somewhat high. Then we entered and found that there were so many exhibits that the cost of entry was a bargain. There are five separate exhibits in the museum and one is a collection of guns, rifles, and shotguns. This is a "must see" exhibit for anyone who owns, shoots, or is fond of guns. They have every gun that has been made to include machine guns, derringers, and even a "2" gauge shotgun; with a barrel that is about three inches across. You are shown how guns were made and sold too. I cannot do justice to this exhibit in this post; if you are ever in the Cody, Wyoming area and you like guns stop and see this exhibit. I will post some photos of this one exhibit. The exhibit on Buffalo Bill Cody was also interesting. He lead an amazing life. He managed large teams of horses on freight wagons, rode for the pony express, was a scout for the cavalry, and ran a huge wild-west shot that employed over 700 people at its height. Pretty amazing. The town and a huge lake outside of town was named after him. The Bufalo Bill Cody Dam on the Buffalo Bill Cody Reservoir is the highest dam in the United States. It was finished in 1910 after five years of labor. Three separate companies contracted for the job and the first two had to walkaway because of the hardships involved. The third company finished the job; total cost, $960,000. The dollar went a lot farther then and budgets seemed to matter.