Turn Up The Heat, Please

(Posting for Saturday, June 7th)

It’s shaping up to be dark and cold night here at the Lake Hotel. Shortly after we checked in yesterday, the power flickered on and off a couple of times. When we made it back to the hotel this afternoon, it became apparent that the power outages were back and were a bit more widespread. Luckily, we have power in our room, but most of the common areas in the hotel and the restaurant lack full power. It also appears that the heating system lacks power, since the radiator in our room has been cold as ice since this afternoon. Not a very reassuring thought on a dark and cold night…

Anyway, today was a good day. We awoke this morning to a beautiful sunny day. The storm late yesterday ended up dropping about 8 inches of snow on and around our hotel. Luckily, the roads were cleared and the sun was out when we ventured out late this morning. Everything was covered in a magnificent layer of white snow – a really spectacular sight. Everyone in the hotel has been joking about enjoying their “winter” summer vacation.

We left Lake Hotel and headed over to Fishing Bridge late morning. We checked in at the ranger station, picked up our junior ranger materials, and took a stroll on a snow covered Fishing Bridge. While out of the bridge we saw several pelicans, geese and a solitary wolf sniffing along the banks of the frigid river. The snow started again while we were out of the bridge, so we made our way back to the card and headed on towards West Thumb.

Our original plan was to cruise on up to Old Faithful and grab some lunch. However, a couple of miles past Grant Village, the snow became pretty fierce, so we decided to stick closer to home. We found our way to the restaurant at Grant Village, grabbed a late lunch and took in the snow storm. We all got soaked in heavy, wet snowflakes during the short walk back to our car after lunch.

As we worked our way back to Lake Hotel, the weather improved, so we decided to take a ride towards the Canyon area and through Hayden Valley. Along the way we stopped at the Mud Volcano area, and battled snow and ice along the trail. The kids got a kick out of all of the really smelly pools and thermal features. As we pulled in, the parking lot was overrun with bison, casually working their way across the road. After hitting Mud Volcano, we worked our way through Hayden Valley, and had out first bear sighting – a grizzly with 2 cubs not that far off the road. We continued on towards Canyon and saw lots of bison, but no more bears. We made a quick stop in Canyon to check out the lower falls of the Yellowstone before heading back to our hotel around 4pm or so.

We all lounged around the room for a while, snacked heavily for dinner, and headed down to the lobby to enjoy the piano music and play cards.

The weather wasn’t that bad today when it wasn’t snowing heavily. Temps were around 35 degrees or so with little wind. Tomorrow it’s supposed to warm into the 40’s, with temps climbing into the upper 50’s next week.

Tomorrow we leave Lake Hotel and move (across the parking lot) to the Cabins at Lake Hotel. We’ve enjoyed our time here, but the hotel really is a little spooky. Makes me want to watch the movie The Shining again.

Internet (and cell service) are scarce here, so no pics for now. We’ve snapped tons of good stuff that we’ll get up as soon as possible.

(Finally found some so-so internet at Old Faithful Snow Lodge to get these posts up on Sunday PM).