Day One and Two in Yellowstone

Some Elk in Gardner, MT

 First and Second day in Yellowstone

Our first day here in Yellowstone, was unexpected. When we first got here we both expected to be living in the Aspen Dorms, which are the married or couple dorms…and seeing as how we’re married…why wouldn’t we? We were told by Ken our Personnel Supervisor, that we’d be living in the Juniper Dorms…21 and up dorms. That’s where Mike lived last time he worked in Yellowstone. Also, they wouldn’t have a shared bed for us. We’d have to push two twin beds together. As soon as he told us that, I laughed and he looked at me strangely. I explained that the mental image of I Love Lucy came to mind. (I used to LOVE that show. Vitameatavegamin was my favorite episode. I actually just watched a movie on Netflix about the real Lucy and Desi called Lucy that was pretty interesting. I digress….) 

After we got to our room and started unpacking, we discovered something TRAGIC, our Amazing pillows Nathan got for us from Sleep Number were missing. After thinking about where they could be, we figured out we left them at the stinkin hotel at Sheridan, WY. Don’t worry, we called and are having them shipped to us….at our expense. =( We pulled our sheets out to start making our bed…beds and they didn’t fit. Our twin beds became a king size bed, which would be great if we had brought king size sheets. Alas, we brought queen size sheets (isn’t that always the way?)

 If you’ve never been to Mammoth, let me explain the size of the nearest town, Gardiner….the population is about 800, so we drove to Livingston (about an hour away) to this knock-off Wal-Mart named Pamida. They did have sheets for five dollars. We bought some sheets that we thought may have worked. The sheets fit but imagine those amazingly flattering and oh so comfortable hospital gowns…that in sheet form. When I lay down, I was scratched, literally! So, Mike texted Patti (his mom) and she’s going to send us some non-hospital gown, scratch resistant sheets. HOORAY! We are now using a sleeping bag to avoid looking like Edward Scissor Hands. It’s been pretty funny, you see because the beds are pushed together and Mike insisted (and I’ll admit I didn’t resist too much) to have my mattress sitting the way it should and his on the ridge of the two beds…so each night he has to make sure he doesn’t slide/roll down and off the bed onto the commercial... and I’m sure completely clean carpeting. This morning he told me about sliding down the bed to get something off the night stand and assured me it was a blast…I tried it…it wasn’t.

 We went to orientation the next morning and met some super nice ladies. There is the two…seasoned ladies; Rose (we met her on the first day) she just had major back surgery and went white water rafting the day before we checked in and Patsy who is feisty and gives all the sarcasm Mike throws at her, right back in his face and two girls around 22; Kirby, who’s super funny and outgoing and Allison, who’s sweet to everyone she meets.

The bison in front of our dorm was as big as our car!

 When we left to go to walk around after orientation, there was a bison sitting right in front of our dorm. It was amazing! We were just walking and I saw something ahead of us and thought, “man, that sure is a huge rock in that grass.” (the bison’s back was toward us). Mike stopped and said, “uh, that’s a bison…let’s turn around and go another way. (Apparently, they are the deadliest animals here in Yellowstone…be assured we stayed clear of it.) 

The Wagons and horses that I learned are called Belgian Draft horses

Our view at Pleasant Valley

That night we were invited to go on the chuck wagon dinner. Basically, we rode in wagons down to Pleasant Valley to eat AMAZING steaks and all kinds of helpings. We saw bison, heard wrangler stories and had a fun time, despite the cold. We heard stories about Truman Everts…that got into all kinds of “shenanigans” in Yellowstone. 

Click on the Pictures to make them larger.

Yes, the two bison in the picture are peeing...they were mad 

that the wranglers kicked them off our wagon trail. 

 

  

That pretty much all that happened our first two days here in Yellowstone and it’s been an adventure to say the least.   

                                      In the words of the Chuck Wagon Trail: