23 June 2007

Trek to Ohio - Yellowstone









The first tourist attraction that we stopped at on the way to Ohio was Yellowstone. We entered the park at the west entrance and drove south to Old Faithful stopping at several spots to see the wildlife and other geysers. Here we checked out the lobby of the historic Old Faithful Inn.





After we saw what we wanted to see at Old Faithful, we loaded into the van and drove along the northwest shore of Yellowstone Lake (which is enormously huge) up to Canyon Village to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone where I was reminded of my fear of heights. We stopped at Inspiration Point and took a 3/8 mile hike down to the Brink of the Lower Falls.









And of course, we mustn't forget seeing all of the Bison which brings up an interesting bit of trivia: Are the terms bison and buffalo synonomous? According to Wikipedia, "Though both bison and buffalo belong to the same family, Bovidae, the term 'buffalo' properly applies only to the Asian Water Buffalo and African Buffalo." Interesting eh? What was funny about the Bison was that at first the kids were so anxious to see them but after seeing umpteen million of them they became like squirrels to us.



I found out from the little newspaper that they hand out at the entrance after you plunk down your 25 bucks that there were several podcasts I could have downloaded to my iPod for use in the park. Of course, since I did not get this information until I entered the park, it was too late for me to get it on my iPod to enjoy it. Oh well. Anyway, for your edification, they are called Inside Yellowstone and Yellowstone InDepth. This multimedia information is also available for viewing in your web browser here and here, respectively. Lessons learned: I'm going to visit the websites before visiting the tourist attractions to ensure I get the full orbed multimedia experience available with the latest technology.


Speaking of technology, Nicole and the kids got me a TomTom One for Father's Day at Costco. If you do any traveling at all, I highly recommend it. It's so small that it can fit in your coat pocket or purse. With this neat little gadget, you'll never get lost again. Heck, it's so easy and fun to use that even the technophobe Nicole loves it!

2 comments:

SalvadorSimpsons said...

I can't believe that almost a year after we did that trek, you did it. You have some of the same pictures we have, isn't that weird?

Deep thoughts... said...

Joan and I have been to Yellowstone several times, but saw something new and interesting each time we went.