Winter Wonderland in May

Yellowstone National Park

Adolfo and I have been concerned about snow ever since we left Texas. I must seem a bit paranoid because when I see white in the distance I keep warning of snow. Adolfo counters my suggestion by saying that all white patches are simply some sort of very light dirt. Well, today I won the battle. There is no question that much of what we saw today was snow—glorious, white, unspoiled snow.

We started heading for Yellowstone about a week ago, but decided not to go due to weather reports. The forecasts suggested that it would be in the teens here. A call into the park confirmed that we would need chains to drive through the park. So, instead, we stayed in Billings for several days and then headed for Bozeman. Adolfo has an affinity for Bozeman because it is the town where the protagonist in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance lived. I assume Adolfo hopes to move to Bozeman and go insane.

As we drove toward Bozeman, we got to Livingston and Hwy 89 which goes to Yellowstone. The weather was nice, so we decided to stay in a campground in Livingston and take a day trip to Yellowstone. If it gets too icy, we’ll turn around, I thought.

The road into Yellowstone was fine, no snow except on the distant mountains. We drove into Mammoth Hot Springs. Still, very little snow. What’s the fuss. Continuing on into the park, we began to see more and more snow, but the roads were clear and dry.

The snow became very deep as we ventured farther into the park. Wow! It was beautiful. Where there were streams or rivers, the snow gave way to icy blue water weaving through the mounds of snow. Gorgeous!

Adolfo and his cameras were popping out of the truck with every turn of the road. We kept creating a car jam as the other befuddled tourists pulled over to see what great wild beast we had spotted. Oh, those crazy Texans are just excited to see snow, they must have thought.

Of course, we weren’t the only ones to start traffic jams. We got caught in one for a beautiful black bear walking across the snow. Again, a crowd surrounded a group of bison. Cars nearly plowed into each other when they saw a tiny bison calf with its mother. Ok, I must admit, I was very interested in these creatures, too.

Adolfo remained focused on the snow.