I obviously didn't post anything last night. I was glued to twitter all evening/night, following the filibuster of SB5 in the Texas senate. I won't say too much on the subject, except for this: I am not generally one to support civil disobedience, but when the majority bullies and attempts to force through Supreme-Court-verified rights inhibiting legislation through questionable-at-best and unlawful-at-worst means, sometimes, the minority does literally need to scream to be heard. Plus, I don't think that it was an actual minority screaming to be heard last night. I think it was the majority, but because of unethical redistricting (as most recent redistricting has been, in my opinion), there is an unbalanced representation in our legislature. I happen to side with those that were screaming to be heard last night, so I was angry and upset when I fell asleep, but woke up to news that caused relief, if only temporary. This news was followed closely with the supreme court decisions around doma and prop 8 (or lack of a decision as it was, but still served a purpose), so overall, I was pretty pleased with the political news. I do wish I could see Rachel Maddow's show tonight on all of this. I miss my nightly Rachel Maddow dose. I may try to stream it tonight, although it'll be over 3G, not wifi (no wifi in a national historic site). I could say so much more on this topic, but I'll refrain in this context.
And onto what's been going on here in Wyoming: yesterday, it rained on and off, which you all know how much I adore. Thankfully, I was in the right mindset for it, so it didn't bother me too terribly much. I toured through the lower loop of the park yesterday and the upper loop today. The park is huge, the main roads making up a figure 8 essentially. I'm staying at the old faithful inn, which is in the south west corner of the lower loop (close enough).
So touring yesterday, I saw a lot of thermal features: geysers, hot springs, paint pots, fumaroles, etc. The features are really interesting, all stunning in their own right. I realize that I'm quite fortunate to have gotten to see these items multiple times in my life. At 32 years old, I think this is my 4th time to the park, once before the fires, twice after the fires, still as a kid, and now. A lot of people don't come here at all. In fact, there appear to be just as many international guests here as Americans. Seriously, you want to hear a variety of languages all in the same place? Come to a national park. However, I think because of my multiple experiences here, I suffer from a bit of underwhelment (yes, I just made up that word). The stuff I've seen is really great, but I go,"yeah, that's pretty much what I saw as a kid." One thing that has been different and interesting to me is the forests. I distinctly remember seeing the burnt out forests. I walked along a walkway today that I remember walking as a kid and seeing fire destruction for as far as I can see. The park service decided to let the forest replant itself, and it's absolutely thriving. The forest is very dense and seems very healthy, so it's good to see it rebounding so well.
The hot springs in particular, but all of the thermal features, emit hot, acidic, sulfuric steam. Seeing as yesterday was so chilly and windy, it was the strangest sensation walking along the pathways, getting hit alternately by cold wind and hot steam. Literally, one second, it's incredibly cold, and the next moment it's like I'm in a steam room. Very disturbing.
The park has issues with parking. More cars than spots available at most of the features, but I don't know what can really be done about it. Obviously, it wouldn't be good to just pave more areas in order to make more spots, so then, do you limit demand by not letting as many cars in? That doesn't make much sense either. So I don't know what the solution is. I do know that I spent a lot of time both yesterday and today searching for a parking spot. And a lot of people end up parking illegally.
As a kid, I remember hating the constant in and out of the car, and that's no different as an adult, especially when it's such a pain to find a parking spot. I skipped a couple places to see stuff because I just didn't want to deal with that whole process. Obviously, you have to get out of the car to explore and see many of the features, but it can be incredibly wearing doing it all day long. After about 6 hours of touring yesterday, I came back to the inn and crashed for a massive 2 1/2 hour nap, and I don't think that I even did a ton of walking. It was mostly short little walks, about half a mile each. In addition to the thermal features, I saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, which has the most gorgeous waterfall in it. I also drove down along Yellowstone Lake, which is massive. It's pretty amazing the variety of natural features all enclosed within the borders of the park.
I haven't seen a TON of wildlife - a bunch of bison here and there, but I have yet to see any elk or bighorn sheep. However, the ability of one bison standing close-ish to the road to cause a massive traffic jam is astounding. It's like people have never seen one before. Oh wait. I guess most haven't. I just know that I'll see some every couple of hours as I drive around the park, so I don't have to stop for every one.
Today, I mainly toured the upper loop, which was much more classically scenic than the lower loop. The lower loop has more geothermal features, but the upper loop has more vistas. I did also hit up the couple of thermal features that I had skipped yesterday due to to being able to find parking.
I cancelled my dinner reservation for tonight and am instead just eating at the bar. Haven't yet made it to a ranger talk, and I don't think I will while here in Yellowstone, but I did finally go out and see old faithful for the first time just before dinner tonight. Amazing how I've been here for 48 hours and have managed to miss it every time until now. The kid next to me was so funny. Before it went off, his parents were telling him to get his head out of his iPad and be ready to take pictures. He was all, "I'll take one when it happens. One." Then when it actually started going off, he was the one with the loudest "WOW!!!!!" Too funny. That reminds me of another teenage girl I saw today - "mom! Don't run - its embarrassing!!!" Oh, teenagers.
Ok, I think that may be it for the night. I know I promised a picture of the inn, but that's on my camera and I'm on my iPad, so maybe I'll come back and update this post or maybe just post separately the picture when I'm able to get back on my computer. Tomorrow - Grand Tetons!
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