Goodbye Yellowstone and then Seriously Westwards

I wanted to say some more about the wildlife here, or at least the bigger stuff.  Yellowstone has a number of large mammals and while bears are the most obvious creatures to keep a safe distance from there are other dangerous animals around.  The big ‘uns are Moose, Elk, Mule Deer and Bison.  Bison are of course those big shaggy prehistoric looking car sized animals shaped a bit like an American Football player, all big shoulders and a little arse.  They look very placid and calm but the occasional tourist seems to think that ambling up and turning their back for a photo opportunity is a good idea.  Bison are very quick and very powerful, quicker than Usain Bolt and he doesn’t have great big horns to toss you in the air.  We’ve seen a couple of news stories of tourists who have done just this.  I suppose Bison have personal space too and they feel uncomfortable when it’s encroached upon.   Elk and Mule Deer are basically big deer and at one hotel we had Elk grazing four feet from us as we sat outside on our porch.  Moose are those big shambly creatures that remind me of Tommy Cooper.  Solitary, big feet, slightly ungainly, a bit clumsy looking but standing up to two metres at the shoulder.  A little taller than Tommy but there you go.  The scientific name Alces alces is the North American Moose and is also the European Elk.  The North American Elk is Cervus canadensis.  So the Elk is a different species depending on where you are, the very reason why the scientific name is used for clarity.

Smaller animals include Pronghorn, a very attractive deer with white markings, coyotes and a very few re-introduced wolves.  Probably mountain lions but they don’t seem to be mentioned.  We saw all of the above except bears, wolves and mountain lion.  The re-introduction of the wolves has led to a dramatic change in the ecology of Yellowstone in the areas where they’re found and anyone interested should have a look at this four minute video.  

 http://twistedsifter.com/videos/how-wolves-changed-an-ecosystem-trophic-cascade/#.VspxSyzqhy4.mailto

Yellowstone is very much worth a visit. 

To the northeast of Yellowstone is a scenic highway described as ‘the best in America’.  To be fair this accolade is ascribed to many scenic drives in this land that put the hype in hyperbole but where I think the exaggeration is often meant to be taken seriously.  I just can’t tell.  Newt believes a lot of it is tongue-in-cheek.  Anyway, The Beartooth Highway as it is known is indeed spectacular, especially lightly dusted with snow at higher altitudes and with the extra advantage of a sunny day with puffy white clouds in a blue sky.  The air was clear and the views were distant.  Right at the beginning of the drive was a peak looking like an extra sharpened Matterhorn or chunk of Toblerone if your thoughts run to chocolate.  Another, now called Index Peak is I think you’ll agree, an improvement on the previous name of Dog Turd Peak.  The highest point along the road is a fraction under 11,000 feet and at this height the snow lies in the many gullies in long drifts looking from a distance like fingerprints on the landscape.   From our hotel in Cooke City, previously called Shoo-Fly (!) (population 85 according to Lonely Planet) along the highway 60 miles out and 60 miles back took us all day.

I should mention here that my other reader reports that there’s a TV station in Texas called Encore Westerns showing Laramie, Bat Masterson and Gunsmoke among other old favourites.

From here we take a couple of days to go not very far before some heavy driving through Montana and Idaho consisting of a 400 mile day followed by a 250 mile day.  Don’t forget though that while we Brits think 400 miles is a long way, Americans think 400 years is a long time.  The first day ended with an amazing run alongside a river from a pass when we did 90 miles downhill.   These two days took us through a number of Nowheresvilles, USA and with the distance we had to cover we just kept going.  We were heading for the mighty Columbia River.  Disappointingly, we went right through Idaho without seeing any herds of their famous potatoes roaming the countryside.  Still, they have eyes and probably saw us coming.   The countryside was gently undulating with mountains in the distance with the expected wide open spaces and immensely long freight trains.  We saw one with four locomotives at the front and two more at the back with possibly a hundred wagons in between.  I counted one later in the trip in Seattle with 130 wagons each carrying two shipping containers one on top of the other.  All the trains seem to move at between perhaps ten to thirty miles an hour which I imagine is how those hobos could get on and off them sometimes.  In one town where we stopped Heather noticed a café with NOPE across the door and then realised that by moving only one letter instead of the whole sign it could read OPEN.  Good piece of energy conservation.

I suppose I should explain that only Heather and I are driving for what seems a faintly bizarre reason.  We were told that because we had booked the car from England, US residents couldn’t be added to the authorised drivers.  No I don’t know and we thought that asking for a reason might leave us lacking the will to live.  So Bonnie and Newt have to watch us drive on the wrong side of the road and navigate instead.  I have to say they are remarkably easy to travel with which is possibly why they don’t seem to feature much.  We just all rub along together and see and experience the same stuff.  Occasionally of course a bit of translation/interpretation of language clarifies a point here or there.

For the overnight stop between the two long days we stayed in an eccentrically furnished and decorated hotel which had about six rooms and a creepy sort of owner.  Our room was the Windsor Suite which was a bit like an impression of Versailles with the added attraction of a Jacuzzi.  Yards of swags, seemingly dozens of cushions, an interesting colour scheme and not really my style at all.  This was in Kamiah, Idaho? I was a bit fuzzy at this point.  It was one of those towns where I think they usually shoot vegetarians.   Heather’s Baked Potato from the section of the menu listed as ‘Vegetarian’ came with bacon bits.

I was obviously still a bit fuzzy the next day when I drove off without Heather.  Fortunately our native scouts pointed out my error before I’d gone too far.

Various US States have legalised cannabis for recreational use and make substantial tax revenues although there are strict regulations on usage and ownership.  Laws must vary from State to State but there are limits on quantities you can have, it can’t be smoked in public and the shops seem to have blacked out windows just like sex shops used to have.  Sorry, Adult Entertainment Emporia.  With that in mind we all liked the Italian restaurant we saw that advertised Legalised Marinara.