The water in Yellowstone is amazingly blue and so beautiful.

Now for my trip from Buffalo, Wyoming into Yellowstone National Park.  I was excited because of all the wonderful things I heard about the park.  Getting there was a lot harder than I had anticipated.  The mountain grades were so hard on the car and I was just not experienced enough to know how to drive them.  The scenery was breathtaking, there is no doubt about that, but so was the drive.

Mike had purchased for me, online, a National Parks pass which allowed me into the park for nothing which was quite nice.  I can always visit other National Parks for a year.  It is a great idea if you are thinking about visiting a few National Parks.

From the entrance to the exit was a line of bumper to bumper cars, vans, motor homes, buses and trucks.  I would assume that if I had actually had a plan for seeing the park, instead of just winging it, things may have gone smoother.  But as it was, I was panicked from all the traffic and was not able to enjoy the sights as much as would have liked.

My advice; if you want to see Yellowstone, have a plan.  Do not just show up and expect to have the time of your life.  There are a lot of people visiting at any given time and it can be overwhelming to be in such crowds.

On the way out of the park,I got turned around yet again and ended up on a dirt road (and I use the term road loosely).  It was really a path that a car could fit on.  Then all these large SUVs appeared out of nowhere going really fast.  It was like a scene out of “Men in Black”.  I soon realized after quite a bit of time on this path that there was a very swanky restaurant on the road and that is where the SUVs were headed.

The road finally spit me out in Jackson, Wyoming.  I was so exhausted from white knuckle driving all day, I luckily found a lovely camp ground in Victor, Wyoming and spent the night.

My observations on Yellowstone are probably not that of most.  I had not made a plan and it really did not work this time due to all the people and vehicles in the park.  Planning is imperative for this type of trip and if you plan, I am sure the experience will be better.

After yet another crying session, wondering if I have done the right thing, I decided to go back to Buffalo, Wyoming.  I really liked the town and wish I would have stayed there instead of going to Yellowstone.  Lesson learned.

I took I-90 back so as to miss he huge mountains and give Devi a little bit of a break.  It was a lovely ride back and it did a lot to calm my nerves.  As I got back into Buffalo, I stopped into the KOA I stayed at a couple nights before and I was EXTREMELY lucky to find out they had a cabin available.  A cabin was just what I needed to regroup and rethink.

Thank you to Shawn and Mickie, the hosts at the Buffalo KOA, and the entire staff for saving my sanity and giving me a place to shower, wash some clothes and basically just chill out.

This trip is much more grueling than I had anticipated and I am going to take another day to rethink things. I will let you know what I come up with!!  Thank you for listening!!