Yellowstone, the First National Park

We've been to Yellowstone twice. Both times we camped, the first time with my in-laws. That was an interesting trip. It was summer time, we're caravaning from So. California and my father-in-law refused to run his air conditioning through the Nevada desert. He didn't want to pay for the cost of "wasted" gas mileage. Boy, talk about rosy cheeks. My mother-in-law and brother-in-law sure were red when they got out of their van. Could of been from the heat, could of been from yelling at him.

That was the year (1988) that Yellowstone had a really big fire. We were there. It got smokey. It was a little scary. We got out of there. We cut short our visit by one night, cause I tend to breathe through my mouth when I sleep and I was afraid I was going to wake up with a sore throat from sucking in the smokey air at night. You could see the column of smoke billow up into the sky from anywhere in the park. The smell of smoke was everywhere. I remember distinctly making the decision to bail out of there in the late afternoon and after packing up and starting out of the park, looking in the rear view mirror and seeing the smoke filled sky behind us.

Well, as for the park, it's pretty neat. We did go twice, although the second time we were actually on our way somewhere else (Mount Rushmore). It's a big park. And its really great if you like the smell of rotten eggs. You know, that sulfer smell. That's a distinct memory of the mudpots. It's strong enough to curl your nose hairs. And there is wildlife, some of which is very difficult to find anywhere else. I am talking about the bison. We came across some in a parking lot to one of the many fumerole, geyser or mudpot sites. Actually they came across us, as they decided to move through the lot. I found it interesting that some people would actually move toward these large and heavy animals as they ambled by. I myself thought it best to give them plenty of room, just in case.

Back to the Koga Family Adventures Homepage