Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park was established by the U.S. Congress in 1872 and signed into law by Ulysses S. Grant. It's mostly in the state of Wyoming, though part of it extends into Idaho and Montana. It spans almost 3,500 square miles, and Yellowstone Lake is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano in North America. It's home to grizzly bears, wolves, bison and elk and is the world's largest collection of geysers. It's also a UNESCO world heritage site (My second in one month.. woohoo!)

We've been talking about this trip for three years, so it's so exciting to go! The plan was to fly into Billings, Montana via Denver, CO. We made it into Denver and twenty minutes later, boarded the plane. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally the captain got on and said that the first officer scheduled was flying in from another location and they hadn't heard from him. So, they were hoping to get another,... Blah, blah. They had us all leave the flight, then a while later we reboarded with a new first officer. I think we lost around three hours.

We arrived in billings and our bags did all make it.. Perhaps we should be thankful for our extra time. One do the people I am going with lived in billings for fourteen years, and is playing tour guide. Sweeter! One of the only trips I have been on where I didn't have to do the planning! Her friend got us at the airport and took us to the rental car place. Very nice, especially given the significant delay. She was a really cool lady. 

We decided that with four of us along with our bags and a big cooler, we were best off upgrading to an suv. Great idea as our things JUST fit! We headed off to our first destination, red lodge. It's a very picturesque town at the base of granite mountain,con one of the paths in to Yellowstone. The pollard is a wonderful old lodge with wood paneling, wood and leather chairs and a real sense of a time past. We got settled and since it was close to eight, decided on a restaurant. We checked out a few and decided on the pub in the hotel.

Great choice! Irish fare there was great, and there was a guy playing guitar. Beet salads were the popular dish, not for me though. The place has things like wild boar ribs, Cornish pastry, and some other traditional fare. 

Tomorrow I'll take some pictures of the town of Red Lodge. It's basically one main street and very quaint mostly brick buildings with two or three stories consisting of a storefront on the lower level. Very old town USA. Then we will drive down the Bear Tooth Pass which according to our tour guide, is the most beautiful route into Yellowstone. 'magnificent views and you feel like you are on top of the world.' it's also been called the most beautiful highway. 

Can't wait!
S