YELL Day 1

My summer vacation posts this year are going to be called "YELL." My friend, Alan, says I should whisper because it would have more impact, but no matter, I'm going to YELL!

Let me quickly explain the acronym system used by the National Park Service. If a park is mostly known by one name, then they use the first four letters of that word to refer to the park. If it's known by two names, then they use the first two letters of the first name and the first two letters of the second name. Here are a couple of examples: Timpanogos Cave National Monument is called TICA. Get it? TImpanogos CAve? Golden Spike National Historic Site is known as GOSP. Hence, Yellowstone National Park is known by rangers as YELL. Have fun with that. Unfortunately, I'm unable to spend one hundred percent of my summer in the park, but my actual vacation days will still be called YELL Days (and they'll be numbered), no matter where I'm spending them.

So, YELL Day 1 happened on Tuesday 11 June 2013. I woke up very early to do laundry, water plants, and pack. Let's just say I forgot a few things. I headed out to get my oil changed and Carl, my service advisor, is just as great as ever, FYI. I stopped at a Costco along the way mostly because it's really dumb to enter the park without food under any circumstance, but when your husband lives and works there, trust me, he appreciates nice fresh food! I don't know why, but the Costco employees in Pocatello, Idaho are so nice and so helpful--outstanding! I found the manager and mentioned it to her. Turns out they sell this really cool "freezer bag" for less than $7. Picture a pizza delivery insulated bag and you'll get the idea. In fact, this bag can be used for hot or cold things, just not hot and cold together, you know? Anyway, it was PERFECT. As in...magical. As in...the Kirkland Frozen Meat Lasagna was still perfectly frozen when I arrived at Lake. K is impressed! By the way, we saw some cheap "insulated" blue bags about the same size at Wal-Mart for $2 and they are not even holding a candle to the Costco bag--flimsy, lightweight...go for the quality.

In the photos above, please note how "safe" everyone is being at this elk jam. That female was posing right next to the cow elk for a picture. Yeah, she was backing up traffic and all that. Lucky for her, the elk chose food over a human invading her personal space. My favorite are the bison jams within three miles of the park entrance. "We're HERE! And oh, look! There's a bison! Stop the car!" I know, if you've never been and have never seen, it's super exciting, but just keep driving folks and you'll see a LOT of bison. It's a huge park, people, and you're stuck in a jam three miles in.

It takes a big chunk of the day to get to Lake. K whipped up some Hamburger Helper for dinner and I had mine over fresh spinach.