Here’s the thing. For the last, I dunno, 400 years, my birthday has never quite worked out the way I plan. I get sick. Plans go awry. The weather doesn’t cooperate. At some point I angered the Birthday Gods and they have been riding my ass ever since.
Anyway, in an attempt to prove the Birthday Gods have no control over my life, on Sunday the husband and I decided to be ~spontaneous~ and go to Yellowstone. It’s only 80ish miles from the house, so why not? I thought we’d go up there, buy our yearly pass, buy a coffee cup at Fishing Bridge, and turn around and go home. Easy peasy.
Oh. Silly me.
The drive up to the East Entrance is, as always, gorgeous. This whole area has been under a flood advisory for the last few days; rainfall in the mountains is melting the snow and causing tons of runoff. There are always little waterfalls along the road, but they did seem more vigorous than usual.
Gorgeous. Wish you were here.
I took this picture, we got back in the truck, and a park ranger stopped to tell us that they closed the East Entrance behind us due to a mudslide.
I might have panicked. (It is a long way around to any other entrance, my friends.) Luckily part of the Beartooth Highway opened a few weeks ago; we were able to exit the park via the Northeast Entrance. Our leisurely afternoon jaunt turned into a “if we’re lucky we’ll get home by 9 PM” jaunt.
But oh. The scenery. Buffalo in the Lamar Valley.
Crazy Creek Falls in the Beartooth Wilderness.
The day turned out so beautifully, I thought I’d beaten the Birthday Gods. Then we got closer to home.
Sweet Mary. Rain like I haven’t seen since we left Wisconsin. You know it’s nasty outside when clouds cover all the mountains and it looks like you live in Nebraska.
Nice try, Birthday Gods. It was still an awesome day.
See you later!
Black Spruce Hound 