August 16, 2019 - Moving to West Yellowstone, MT - Meeting Up with Friends - Yellowstone National Park....Here We Come!

August 16, 2019 - Moving to West Yellowstone, MT at Buffalo Valley - Meeting Up with Friends - Yellowstone National Park....Here We Come!

This was the granddaddy of our entire trip.  We made the reservations for this park on January 30, 2019, and almost seven months later we pulled up our jacks at Moran, WY and headed north at 9:31am.  We took Hwy 191 (commonly known as the John D. Rockfeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway) from our campground in the Grand Tetons to Yellowstone National Park entering at the south entrance.  We only stopped once until we reached Buffalo Crossing RV Park in West Yellowstone, Montana.  

Bathroom breaks are necessary and we found the perfect spot to make a stop several miles north of the entrance into the park.  It's nice to have your own personal potty with you!

Such a beautiful stop - this is part of Yellowstone River.

It was a gorgeous day.

We enjoyed "gawking" as we approached the various locations of springs, geysers, waterfalls we would eventually visit first hand later in the week - while we weaved through Yellowstone NP today. We arrived at our park (12:40pm) to find our friends had pulled in just before us and were in the process of checking in.  We could not have timed that better.  While we were in Texas we decided to make plans to meet here with our friends Frank and Joyce, along with their friends Ray and Debbie.   We got settled into our site and a short time later we all walked downtown to eat a late lunch at Timberline Cafe. 

Joyce, Frank and the friend they met in downtown West Yellowstone.

The food was pretty good.  Dean chose a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and I went with a Reuben - one of my favorite sandwiches!  We walked around town including taking a look at some of the buildings and their museum before walking back to our park - just across the street.

Can you imagine moving snow in this - I'm not sure how they managed to keep warm.  Look at the size of that plow!

Snow plane

The old Union Pacific Depot is now the city's museum.

Yellowstone Park Bus

We are in such a wonderful location.  Right next door is the IMAX theater, gift store and all the ice cream you can get in a cone for only 50 cents--with choices of vanilla, chocolate and huckleberry.  Yes, we did visit here a time or two!  Also next door is the beautifully arranged Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center.  More about that later.  We are within a block of the downtown shops and restaurants making it easy to walk to.

It was a beautiful day, and after we returned to the campground we discovered it cools down much quicker here.  Speaking of cool weather, it was 53 when we left Grand Tetons and it was 67 when we arrived in Yellowstone.  I failed to mention overnight temperatures in Grand Tetons were in the mid to upper 30's - perfect sleeping weather.  I also failed to mention...actually, I'd like to forget about the little friend we picked up the night before we left.  I found a sign of a mouse----and after making a thorough check of the pantry and other drawers and cabinets, we were watching TV when the little stinker ran across the floor.  Dean headed to the basement to get the mouse traps.  He set three.  When we went to bed that night - we were not even asleep yet when I heard one of the traps go off.  Sure enough we got him and have had no signs of any since - so I guess he was a lone wolf "mouse"!  

It wasn't long before everyone retired to their rigs for the evening after making plans to have breakfast at one of the local restaurants in the morning.  It was too cool to sit outside, and we could not have a fire.  We were very disappointed to find out we could not use our pellet stove here at Buffalo Valley.  They are extremely strict about any type of fire.  In addition, they explained if we grilled to make sure we cleaned the grill good, and it was always put away before retiring for the night, as bear have been known to walk through the area.  If there are any signs of food they will go after it - even in vehicles.  We were very careful to be sure they found no reason to bother us!  Stay tuned for Days 2-7!

Sunset in West Yellowstone, MT