Sunday, July 18th

After worrying about whether the room would cool down, it was a pleasure to pull up the bedspread in the middle of the night and snuggle down! It was even okay that the garbage truck showed up at 6:20 to make sure that all the campers were up for the day! Fooled him! We stayed snuggled until seven! Stretching and breakfast and a couple of shots of the little ground squirrels that live under the cabins and convene on the lawns, and we’re off to beat the crowds to the hiking portion of the Mammoth experience.

We are still searching for that iconic photo that heads the Yellowstone map and we think we’ve finally found it! And if that’s not it, it’s fine because it is beautiful! There even is a waterfall!

There are a couple of bluebirds that taunt us and a whole flock of beautifully colored little feathered guys who are perched on a ledge that is just too far away to make a decent photo. One, though, lands in a tree that is closer and he is quite the poser!

Back to the car for a look at what must be the home of the hotel manager. A naturalist certainly wouldn’t have such a green lawn out here! Across the street is Pinnacle Cap which looks like one of the Easter Island heads – or looked at from the other side, a Trojan helmet.

Back at our cabin we take a walk around the neighborhood to check out the enormous bushes of yellow roses and to notice that some of the trees have wire mesh around them to keep the elk from destroying them. I guess the other plants are considered elk delicacies.

Salad for lunch, blogging and a nap for Marilyn….then we are off to Gardiner to see if the internet café will let us camp long enough to upload FOUR days worth of blogs!

First there is a little stop at the General Store to see how their prices compare to Gardiner. Guess what? They are higher! Back to get the car and computers and as we are driving out we see why they say that if you haven’t seen any elk, you just have to go to Mammoth Hot Springs! As we pull onto the main street we see about FORTY of the critters scattered all over the medians and the lawn of the administration building. There is even one in the post office driveway! There is a ten-point bull and the rest are his harem, cows, yearlings and one calf that still has its spots.

The rangers have orange cones out to keep the people from molesting the elk and they have their hands full. People seem to think that because the elk are quietly grazing and occasionally crossing the street, that they are domesticated, like in a petting zoo! One of the rangers explains that they “are very patient, but have extremely short tempers!” He keeps having to yell at people not to cross the street and to stay away! You’ve never seen so many cameras!

We go around one of the medians to get back to our car when we’re pictured out. Then we head into Gardiner and find that the internet café, High Country Espresso, will let us camp as long as we want to for only $2.50! We each get a cup of hot chocolate and proceed to flood the blogosphere with our ramblings.

Three hours later we are fairly well caught up with our email and blogs and are ready for dinner. First a brief stop at the grocery for basics, like coffee and bread, then it is on to Outlaws for a medium pizza with chicken, bacon, onions and black olives – and the special sauce! It is really yummy but we can only eat half of it. I asked for a sample of Moose Drool. Glad I did. I didn’t order a mug. Water is a much better choice! Our waitress is from Bulgaria and wears a marvelous perfume which might be called Armanico??

As we leave Outlaws it is beginning to drizzle and there is a rainbow! We’ve decided to go back to High Country Espresso and get some Moose Tracks ice cream and by the time we arrive the rainbow is now a double one! Lynn, the proprietor, says they have been having them all week! She has lived in Gardiner for thirty years and we quiz her about what the teens do for fun (sports, movies and shopping in Billings which is an hour and a half away, there is also an outdoor pool in town at a resort that they can use, classes at Yellowstone, and working). She also says that Xanterra advertises overseas for employees, as does the government, although the government jobs are usually in research. She says the the people from outside the US are really hard workers and usually take a second job in town, working eighteen hour days.

It’s drizzling a bit when we get back to the cabin and the air has cooled down wonderfully. Sleeping is grand in this weather!