Day 19 and 20: Yellowstone National Park

We stayed at the Canyon Frontier Cabins--it was clean, had indoor plumbing, and otherwise reminded me of one of Bill's sheds. Except for the Old Faithful area, there was no cell phone reception in park so I had to put quarters in the pay phone at the lodge. On the way to the cabin, we were thrilled to see our first moose/elk kind of animal (it was in a pond a long way off), a grizzly bear sleeping by the road after a full meal (it was guarded by a park ranger), lots of buffalo, and stupid people disregarding the signs saying something like "Caution: buffalo can run faster than you and many people are gored each year." We also became accustomed to cars stopped in the middle of the road every time they saw a buffalo, deer or duck.

People getting out of their cars and approaching a herd of buffalo.

A coyote in the distance.

A deer staying cool in the woods.

We drove over to Old Faithful just in time to see the big geyser erupt. We had lunch in the inn at Old Faithful--it was the first time I wore my Penn State shirt and we met a couple from Pittsburgh who had just been to the Glacier NP.

Old Faithful erupts.

Inside Old Faithful Inn, it looks like stacked post and beam construction.

On the way back to the cabin, we stopped to see the Grand Prismatic Spring -- a crust of heat-loving microbes formed on top of the pool creates a rainbow of colors and smells of sulfer. Signs by the boardwalk threatened us, but it looked like a hoofed animal had walked across the crust--don' know if it fell in.

Grand Prismatic Spring.

Day 4. Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico

Oklahoma was very welcoming--signs every few miles inviting travelers to stop at attractions and casinos. Unfortunately, it was after five and most parks and museums were closed, and we were not interested in gambling.

The long hot drive through the Texas panhandle was accented by some side trips on Route 66. It was nice to have a white car, but the black dashboard absorbed a lot of heat.

We stopped at the Texas welcome center for a picnic...and were careful to stay away from the rocks and high grass.

We made a Route 66 stop in Shamrock, Texas to see a watertower and a couple of restored gas stations.

And later we stopped to see what was advertised as the tallest cross in the world (hard to tell with the elephone pole in the foreground).



The highpoint of our drive through Texas was the Cadillac Ranch. We talked to a guy from Houston (seven hours to the South) who was spray-painting his name on a car. The experience reminded us of the fence at Carnegie Mellon.

The Cadillac Ranch

Except, for the Cadillac Ranch and some storms in the distance, the landscape looked pretty much the same. I tried about 20 times to get a photo of the lightning bolts out of he window, but missed every time.
Driving towards Sante Fe, we could finally see some mountains in the distance.

Day 3. Fort Smith, Arkansas

Fort Smith, overlooking the Arkansas River, was originally used to keep peace between the native Indians and the Cherokees who were moved to Indian Country (later Oklahoma) from the East.






Later, the Fort was used as a courthouse, prison and gallows. Judge Parker was the infamous hanging judge.

The underside of the gallows.

Day 3. Hot Springs National Park

We stopped at a gas station in Arkansas that also sold fried chicken and other specialties.






We stayed at the Arlington Hotel and Spa in Hot Springs. It was a very elegant hotel and quite popular before WW II--most notably with gangsters. Bathhouse row down the street from the hotel has been restored and one of the bathhouses is a museum run by the Naitonal Park Service.

The Arlington



The backside of the Arlington with one of the pools.


The path above the Arlington's pools.

The National Park Service bathhouse

Ceiling in the men's bath.

This spring is steaming!

On the promenade

One of the springs.