Day 14

It appears Yellowstone has become more of an amusement park.  The true wilderness has died with the turn South

We let the children sleep in this morning as we figured they needed it.  Truthfully it was nice for us adults to sleep in as well.  We made the usual preparations to get the Endeavor underway.  The road to Yellowstone was short and followed the Gallatin river all the way to the city of West Yellowstone, which borders the park.  We decided that with the amount of laundry we had to do, we could find a laundromat and knock it out before we got into the park.  We found one just off the main drag.  Amy took the kids to a nearby park while I knocked out 5 loads of laundry.  With 4 kids, we sure travel heavy.  While that was going, I cleaned and swept the trailer.  I made the mistake of checking on the news while I waited.  I was bombarded with stories of a bombing of an airport in Turkey, and a mother who murdered her teenage daughters.  Mistake.  Perhaps I will turn North again after all.   I prefer the honesty of the wilderness.

We left the town and drove into the park.  I am not sure what I was expecting, as this is my eighth visit to Yellowstone, but the place is a zoo.  I do not remember this sort of crowding.  Immediately I am confronted with the behaviors of the rat race that I tried to escape.  Unsafe driving, tailgating, and throngs of people vying for parking spots.  We stopped at the Old Faithful visitor center for the children to get their Junior Ranger books.  They apparently charge for them here and the whole Old Faithful area was chaos.  Horns blaring, throngs of people loud and boisterous.  Amy and I discussed altering course for a new destination.  We both agreed we should have made the Left turn North.

We found our campsite among 480 others in the campground.  Luckily the family in the closest spot has many children, and ours seem to get along fine with them.  We ate chicken stew for supper and decided to take a drive in search of wildlife. I traveled to an area of the park that is usually good for that purpose.  Sightings of buffalo gave way to a rare sight.  A traffic jam directed our attention to a large grizzly bear slowly and purposely eating the carcass of a dead buffalo.  Despite the crowd, it was a pretty cool site to see.  Interesting how habituated the Bears have become that the crowd of people watching did not seem to bother it.  On the way back to the campsite, we out another good look at a black bear foraging for food along the road way.  Despite the Endeavor's Officers disdain for the spectacle Yellowstone has become, the crew seem to enjoy the wildlife sightings.

It has started to rain lightly, we will attempt a hike in the Tetons tomorrow.