Odometer: approx. 54,600

Time: 10:00

First we have to get our car checked as the tire preassure indicator comes up when we start. Luckily everything is ok and it just needs a little bit of air in both back tires.

We drive through to Norris and then turn north towards Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way we stop several times to walk from the street to some less visited hot pools. Mammoth Hot Springs does not have as much water as 5 years ago, but still is breathtaking! There are lots of people though, like at any other of the major attractions. We try to escape the crowd where ever we can and Marco is an artist in taking pictures (well that anyway) but here specifically because he most of the times finds an angle to take the picture without people.

Up there in the north we take the north exit to find a coffee shop to get an iced latte and then return into the park to drive all the way to the northeast exit. It is a wonderful stretch, very scenic mountains and valleys, lots of forests, rivers and meadows – Bear, Elk and Buffalo country! We actually see all of them, plus a Big Horn Sheep, an Osprey and some Gazelles.

Bears we see four, three of them are far away on a meadow only visible as black moving points and through the looking glass and one is hiding behind a tree quite close to the road. Buffalos are present in big heards and Elks in some places by the dozens.

From the Park exit to Cody we drive another about 80 miles through Wyoming. A road that is closed from late October until sometime in May, but now its spring and in the evening sunlight the landscape is very pictureque almost cheesy – just awesome, you could almost forget how hard the winters must be up here.

After a total of about 180 miles we reach Cody (Buffalo Bill Town) towards 09:30 pm. It is high season and we have to stop at multiple hotels and motels to find a place with availabilities and reasonalbe rates.

Overnight Stay: King’s Inn, Cody, WY

Dinner: Dairy Queen