2019 Free Roaming 5000 Kilometers in the American West (1)
The American West has been on our travel list for a long time! I vaguely remember first making plans with friends in 2013, but that year we ended up going to Spain. The next year we planned again, but it turned into Australia. The third year, we actually went to France and Greece. The fourth year, an elderly relative had an accidental fall, so we stayed home to take care of them. Last year we tried again, but the kids unanimously complained about the long flight time, so it fell through once more... This year, 2019, we each bought our tickets and got our visas. The kids were told that this summer we would do a self-driving trip through the American West and experience the desolation and grandeur of the West! Too bad Dad Mao was extremely busy and couldn't find time to join us, a little regretful!
18:25 Shanghai to Los Angeles
After 12 hours and more than 10,000 kilometers, crossing the Pacific Ocean, we finally arrived!
I don't know which travel blog I read: "LAX is huge, transferring from international to domestic is very complicated, allow at least 4 hours for the transfer." We actually believed that... The truth is, after landing, we went through self-service customs, picked up luggage, answered a few simple questions from customs, and it was very fast and smooth. The signs from the international to domestic terminals were clear. After checking in again and checking our luggage, we wandered through every corner of the terminal shops, and then we just sat there waiting stupidly...
A full 24 hours: from Wuxi to Shanghai by car, direct flight to Los Angeles, then a connecting flight to Salt Lake City! But the kids showed no signs of fatigue from the long journey, only excitement at having arrived!
We checked into a hotel near the airport late at night. These two kids, full of boundless energy and unwilling to sleep, saw the frozen food at the front desk and their eyes lit up. They insisted on getting a pizza & pasta to comfort their empty stomachs. They called it: "Eat well so we can sleep well!" At that moment, the other companion traveling with us was already fast asleep!
The microwaved pizza & pasta smelled good, but the kids still preferred the instant noodles in their companion's suitcase!
Early in the morning, the bright sunshine of Utah woke us up through the curtains. Although we had only slept a few hours, the kids were full of energy.
After breakfast, we went to pick up the rental car. We arrived 30 minutes early. AVIS said we could take the car early, no problem, just pay extra. But we didn't want to!
The two bored kids started playing cat's cradle again. I remember when I was a child, the elderly would say if you play this, it will rain! But these two kids played all the way, and it was always sunny and bright! It gave us a chance to relive this childhood game from long ago. They could do all kinds of string figures, practically invincible!
Our first stop after picking up the car was Walmart. Every time we go on a self-driving trip, the first thing is always to stock up the car with plenty of supplies—that's the greatest satisfaction. Then we drove 500 kilometers north all the way to Yellowstone, checked into a log cabin deep in the forest...
A log cabin deep in the forest, a deer head on the door, animal fur on the stair railings... Oh my! When the lights go out at night, ghost stories could begin...
As usual! The kids drew playing cards to compare sizes, picking their favorite rooms in order from largest to smallest. Mao Mao drew the biggest card and chose the smallest room. When asked why, she said there was a cabinet door in the corner of the big room, and at night her imagination would run wild—it was a bit scary. Haha... Even a tomboy can be scared sometimes!
After dinner, the kids ran freely in the forest. When they returned to the cabin, I thought they would be tired and ready to adjust to the time difference. But instead, they were still full of energy late at night, and none of them wanted to sleep. They dragged their parents into playing Werewolf...
The kids, with no concept of jet lag, got up at 6:30 sharp, full of energy!
They brought notebooks and colored pencils, and whenever they felt like it, they wrote and drew, recording the joys of the trip...
After finishing their diary entries, the kids strongly demanded to make breakfast: fried mushrooms, Spam, and boiled noodles. If they couldn't make a perfect sunny-side-up egg, they just scrambled some.
Starting from the forest cabin, we drove 28 kilometers and officially entered Yellowstone National Park.
Why choose to stay so far away? First, there aren't many bookable accommodations inside Yellowstone, and you need to start reserving at least half a year in advance. Second, the entire park covers about 898,317 hectares, stretching 101 kilometers from north to south and 87 kilometers from east to west. The internal roads total about 230 kilometers. Considering that, 28 kilometers is still acceptable...
The Grand Prismatic Spring, the third largest hot spring in the world, was already on our itinerary for the day. But because of a traffic jam and detour, it suddenly appeared before us... The entire boardwalk loop surrounds four hot springs: Excelsior Geyser, Grand Prismatic Spring (the famous one), Turquoise Pool, and Opal Pool.
Walking along the boardwalk, we reached Excelsior Geyser, a geyser where large amounts of hot steam continuously gush from rock crevices, creating a magnificent misty scene. But for some reason, seeing this pool made me think of Gargamel from "The Smurfs" mixing potions, standing in front of a boiling cauldron, muttering incantations while adding various reagents, then the cauldron explodes, leaving a mess...
Continuing along the boardwalk, we arrived at the Grand Prismatic Spring. Nearly 90 meters wide, the boardwalk weaves through it, letting you get up close to the different textures and colors of the earth, the steaming hot water vapor, and the strong smell of sulfur.
On the other side of the boardwalk, Opal Pool looked like a miniature version of Grand Prismatic.
Old Faithful Geyser is probably the most popular spot in Yellowstone. The nearby large parking lots were packed with cars.
Before leaving, the kids and I watched a Discovery Channel documentary about Yellowstone at home. It's called Old Faithful because it's truly faithful: it erupts every 90 minutes, right on schedule, never disappointing. And we also learned the principle of geyser eruptions: groundwater seeps underground, is heated by geothermal energy until it boils and turns into steam. Under enormous pressure, it erupts, carrying water with it. Once the pressure is released, it calms down and prepares for the next eruption.
After Grand Prismatic, we went to West Thumb. It had over a dozen small springs of different types and colors, nothing too special. But the adjacent Yellowstone Lake was very impressive. The hot springs at the lake's bottom bubbled up continuously from the lake floor. I heard that fishermen used to catch fish and cook them directly in the hot springs by the lake... Quite unique.
Earlier, from the Discovery documentary, we learned that Yellowstone Lake is the center of the Yellowstone active volcano. The volcanic rocks covering the entire park all erupted from here. The lake's surface shows different colors—emerald green, sapphire blue, even dark black—due to different water temperatures and the microorganisms.
We continued to head toward Grand Prismatic, looking for a trail to climb up for a panoramic view. Lucky as we were, we easily found the small dirt road intersecting the main road. There was a warning sign at the small parking lot: "Forest hike, beware of bears."
Following the trail for about twenty minutes, the entire "big eye" was laid out before us—magical and colorful in orange, red, yellow, blue, and green. It was incredible, truly incredible! No words or language can describe it, and even a camera cannot capture its beauty. You really have to be there in person to feel the awe!
The three kids refused to climb up, saying they were tired and wanted to stay in the parking lot to rest. But when we came down, they didn't seem the least bit tired...
We slept in comfortably, had a nice brunch, and even packed fruit sandwiches for a second entry into the park. Honestly, we're used to domestic parks where you can find restaurants and convenience stores everywhere, and hunger can be solved in minutes. But in Yellowstone, it's so hard. Finding hot springs everywhere is easy, encountering animals is not difficult, but finding a restaurant or buying something to eat or drink is really, really hard...
Just as we entered the park, we encountered a small black bear foraging alone on a slope just a few meters from the road. It was scrawny and didn't look scary at all.
Norris Geyser Basin: thick white smoke and hissing sounds made it look like a battlefield just after a fight.
The basin was dyed in different colors by bacteria and algae, dazzling! But this green water stream was particularly striking, as if a can of bright green paint had been overturned, slowly spreading from dark to light in the water...
The clouds were so low that the kids felt they could jump up and stand on the white clouds... But they also knew that the seemingly cool and calm water under the boardwalk was quite dangerous—not only hot but possibly corrosive. They just hopped around a bit and were satisfied.
As we walked, a hot spring beside the boardwalk suddenly erupted without warning. But before the excited shouts of the surrounding tourists had ended, the eruption had already subsided...
We got back in the car and continued through the park, with scenery all along the way.
Mammoth Hot Springs, one of Yellowstone's top three famous attractions.
When we got out of the car, all we saw were large gray-white limestone terraces, desolate—hard to connect with a top-three attraction. Later, we saw pictures and learned that before an earthquake in 2002, the hot springs flowed down layer by layer, dyeing the stepped platforms in colorful patterns, quite dazzling. But now, most of the hot springs at Mammoth have stopped flowing, lots of bacteria have died, and the springs have lost their color.
The kids connected their phone to the DJI drone, switching between taking videos and selfies. They went all the way from the top of the mountain to the bottom without any sign of wanting to rest.
The only thing that worried the mother was the phone outside the fence—it felt like it could slip off at any moment. If it fell into the limestone, it would be slow-cooked at low temperature. If it fell into a hot spring, it would likely be boiled at high temperature. No matter where it fell, I would just watch and never try to retrieve it...
The area around Mammoth Hot Springs was probably the liveliest part of Yellowstone I saw: hotels, post offices, RV camping areas, and also wild deer resting under trees and bison grazing by the roadside—very harmonious and relaxing!
We continued to Yellowstone Grand Canyon. Actually, before leaving, when I read travel guides online, the only impression in my mind was: the photos look fake like oil paintings, must have been Photoshopped! But after experiencing it in person, I realized my previous thought was hasty! What struck me the most here was not the waterfall, but the bizarre volcanic rocks on both sides of the canyon. The yellowish-brown cliffs were mixed with black-gray and faint pink, looking like an oil painting from a distance!
The entire Grand Canyon is steep and narrow. Peering down from above, the Yellowstone River was hundreds of meters below at the bottom. The kid lay on the rocks, clicking away with her phone, while the mother kept repeating from behind: "Safety first, safety first!" After she finished taking photos, a foreign couple smiled and pointed at her jacket, asking, "You are a wild child?" The kid laughed and replied, "Yes, I am." Hahaha...
So much joy from a silly kid...
The "wild child" skipped and jumped all the way down the spiraling boardwalk to the front of the waterfall, then started striking various poses for selfies, having a great time!
When it was time to spiral back up from the bottom of the canyon, the kid, running low on energy, was like the nursery rhyme: "A snail carries its heavy shell, climbing up step by step..." I followed slowly behind, gloating and taking photos. The kid muttered under her breath: "Bad mom..."
On the way back, we passed Mud Volcano, which was truly a pot of continuously boiling cement-like mud, with a pungent smell in the air.
We left Yellowstone at 20:30. Restaurants in the town either required reservations or had long lines. We found a supermarket and bought fruits, drinks, ice cream, and also oil, salt, rice, and meat, planning to go back to the cabin and make fried rice.
The kid slept on the way and quickly revived after arriving at the cabin. After bathing, she helped with the cooking. At 22:15, we had mushroom and diced meat fried rice. The kid wolfed it down, praising it as delicious. She asked for another serving, but it was limited to one per person! After cleaning up the kitchen and doing laundry, we sprawled on the sofa, chatting casually. It felt so comfortable, not like traveling, but like the relaxation of home life.
We said goodbye to the forest cabin and prepared to enter Yellowstone for the third time. However, the only road to the park was completely jammed. What should have been a 20-minute drive turned into several times that with no end in sight. We decided to leave the congested area and take a walk in the town to enjoy the breeze...
After several days on the road, drinking various "heated" drinks from the car, it felt incredibly satisfying to sit idle in the town, bask in the sun, and have a Starbucks with lots of ice! I've always believed that there's no good or bad during a trip; experiencing the unexpected and the real is the best.
At 3:00 PM, we entered Yellowstone again, going back to Norris Geyser Basin, planning to walk along another boardwalk.
The two usually gentle and sweet kids suddenly changed their demeanor, humming "The Great King sent me to patrol the mountain" and other weird songs... swaying with all kinds of strange and bewitching steps...
Hot springs of various shapes and colors: some bubbling, some hissing steam, full of activity.
Steamboat Geyser, the world's tallest active geyser, last erupted in September 2014, with a record height of 91 meters. It was hissing steam continuously, perhaps storing energy for its next powerful eruption.
The scorched soil and burnt tree trunks, standing or fallen, formed a unique landscape in Yellowstone.
At dusk, we drove to Lamar Valley. Countless herds of bison occupied the entire grassland—truly countless, very spectacular. And of course, there were ones crossing the road or strolling on the road, causing traffic jams in this vast open area.
Nature, the bison doing whatever they wanted, and us constantly taking photos—everything was so amazing.
Our last stop in Yellowstone was Fishing Bridge. We followed the GPS, drove around twice, but couldn't find this famous landmark. Eventually, we stumbled upon a visitor center that seemed to focus on bird exhibits, but it was already closed. However, a pleasant surprise: behind the visitor center, there was a trail leading down to the shore of Yellowstone Lake.
At 19:00, Yellowstone Lake, under blue sky and white clouds, was incredibly quiet. It was hard to imagine that this was once the mouth of a violently erupting volcano spewing lava...
The kid picked up a stick and wrote on the sand: "ZOE LIKES THE USA"
On the way back, we realized that Fishing Bridge was just an unremarkable two-lane bridge made of logs and concrete, and fishing has been prohibited there since the 1970s. But the insects hovering over the bridge were as dense as enemy bombers, quite scary! So we stepped on the gas and left.
At 20:30, we queued to exit Yellowstone National Park, moving at 1 km/h! We drove through the night, following the Teton Range, heading straight for Jackson Hole, 130 kilometers away.
In three days in Yellowstone, excluding the drives to and from our forest cabin, we drove over 600 kilometers inside the park—and this was after we had trimmed and minimized the routes! Once again, we marveled at the vastness of the park.
To be continued...
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