Day 10.5—flexibility is my middle name

Okay, so those of you who know me really well are ROTFLOL at that title!! I guess it should say ‘I’m learning to make flexibility my middle name’!! After shivering through Yellowstone for 3 days, the troops were done. Truth be told, we actually had decent weather compared to their previous 2 weeks straight of rain—but we are not really the hardy outdoor type and so sightseeing in the 30 degree temps took its toll. Thanks to some extremely nice people at Xanterra Parks, we were able to cancel our reservations and get a refund of our camping fees. We decided to head out of Yellowstone in the late afternoon with Cody, WY as our destination.

But I’m getting ahead of myself again. Let me rewind to our EARLY start of the day. We entered Yellowstone before 7 am in order to increase our chances of seeing lots of animals—the common feeling is that the best times are early in the morning or late in the evening when they are the most active. So, to my children’s disgust, I was rousing them from a sound sleep around 6 am—it was fully light outside, so I should have just told them it was 8 am (which technically was true… for Georgia!!).

The highlight of our trip to the Lamar Valley occurred during our stop for breakfast. Thanks to the sharp eyes of some other tourists, we were able to spot a coyote who was out hunting for her own breakfast. She walked about 15 feet in front of us during her hunt—and didn’t seem at all phased by the cars & people stopping to photograph her. She was on a mission! It was really incredible to watch.

After watching the coyote and seeing literally hundreds more of Yellowstone’s bison herd (I am pretty sure we saw nearly 1/2 of the 3000 of them in 3 days!), we headed to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone for lunch and more photo ops.

The girls completed their booklets for their Jr. Ranger badges and were ‘sworn in’ at the Canyon Visitor’s Center. We had a nice chat with the ranger who told us that she’d welcome a few of Georgia’s 90 degree days for a change!

Our trip out of Yellowstone took us on some winding mountain rounds, but Michael handled them like a champ—I’m SO glad he is a willing driver! As proof that winter has not completely left Yellowstone, here is a picture of an almost entirely frozen lake that we drove past!

We arrived in Cody around 6:30 and found a small campground with vacancies. After dinner and a little internet time, we were all in bed around 9—exhausted!

Tomorrow we’ll explore Cody (and make Wal-mart stop #3!) and make plans for another revised itinerary!!