After a long day of seeing the sights, I want a really good night’s sleep.  And since I don’t always stay in five star hotels in the best part of town, I take along a little insurance to make me sleep just a little bit easier.  I present for your consideration….the humble rubber door stop.  My little triangular friend has seen action in the field keeping my hotel room door secure from a drunken hotel guest with dyslexia who mistook my room number for his, and a hotel employee (?) who wanted to deliver fresh towels at 3am.   It is cheap, easy to pack and very effective.  I advise you to bring more than one however.  You will invariably leave one or two when you check out of your room.   I have left so many behind over the years that I should have them printed with my logo….

The door stop and my other never-leave-home-without item add up to a great sleep.  oh, the other item?  Stay tuned!

After having been all around the world, I decided it was finally time to hit one of the great natural wonders of the world right here in the USA, Yellowstone National Park. 

We decided to take our RV (a 35 foot motor home) from Las Vegas to West Yellowstone, MT, and stage out of there.

The first tour we took was the afternoon wildlife tour around the upper loop.  As we left West Yellowstone we followed the Madison River into America’s first national park. 

Entering Yellowstone. Even if you are coming in on a tour, you can get a vehicle pass if you plan to drive in on your own later.

Within minutes, our guide pulled over to let us take a look at Bald Eagle that hangs out on this stretch of the river.  He pulled our a high powered spotting scope, and gave us a good look at our National Symbol.

This picture of a Bald Eagle was taken through the spotting scope.

The elusive goal for the days tour was to find a bear, or maybe a wolf.  While there are probably close to a thousand bears (black and grizzly) in the Yellowstone area, we didn’t have any luck this trip.  That doesn’t mean we didn’t see some wildlife. 

Bison are common.  They seem to fear nothing, and are very used to people and cars.  We saw them both in small groups, and big males individually.

Bull bison lounging in the dust

Herd of bison in Yellowstone National Park

We were treated to small heard of big horn sheep coming down to drink from the river.  It’s remarkable to watch them navigate effortlessly through the loose, rocky, steep hillsides.

Big horn sheep drinking from river.

The other rarity in the park is moose.  Our guide told us he sees them just a few miles outside the park, but ever since the big fires of 1988, they have been pretty rare inside the park.  While we didn’t see any in Yellowstone, we did catch a glimpse later in Grand Teton National Park.

While the wildlife of Yellowstone is fascinating to observe, all these animals can be seen elsewhere.  What makes Yellowstone unique is the geology.  Read part 2 for information on why Yellowstone was set aside as the worlds first national park.

This is a great National Park, and one of the windiest places on the North American continent. Amazingly beautiful, and on the day we were there….cold!

Hurrican Ridge Olympic Peninsula

And there we were, waiting impatiently like the 6 yr olds around us, for the gates to open to the Happiest Place on Earth. It was like a United Nations meeting. I heard languages from all over, and some that I couldn’t recognize. The one common denominator was the apparently required clothing components. Fanny pack? check. Some sort of hat? check. Shorts showing way too much of some people? check. And the faces were all the same. Smiling, expectant, and ready for a magical day. I was all so superior since I had been there a million times. I was there to see the updated submarine ride, now centered around Nemo.

Yep, I was so above it all. And then the gates opened with a flourish, and I was 6 years old all over again, filled with wonder. And yes, I did have a magical day.