33 Days and a wake up.................

Today, August 31, we woke up to snow!!  Enough snow to give us taste of what is to come.  Hopefully we will be gone before then.  The weather has been cold and wet for about a week now.  Everyone is beginning to count days, so it is not just us.

We celebrated "Christmas in Yellowstone" on August 25th.  The legend is that in the early 1900's a freak snow storm stranded a group of travelers and their stagecoaches at the Old Faithful Inn.  To pass the time they decided to celebrate Christmas.  So every year the park decorates for Christmas in August.  Our registration building was decorated inside and out.  We had a Christmas ham dinner (I brought the green bean casserole), we exchanged presents ($10 limit), and even had Mr and Mrs Claus join us.  Some of our co-workers drove through the campground, in the back of the company pickup, and sang carols.  It is my understanding the guests enjoyed it.......  they would not have been so receptive had I been singing.

We were going to celebrate "New Years in Yellowstone" today but it has been postponed because of the weather.  One of the camp hosts is going to have an ice cream social.  Which should be perfect in August, however this year is the exception.  It is too cold to enjoy ice cream outside. Brrrrrr

The last week or so the campers have been fewer.  Evidently, school has started in a lot of areas so families are back at home----thank heaven.  However, we have been told to expect the next wave after Labor Day.  The retirees will be back and we will be full once again.  What I find fascinating is the number of people staying in tents.  At least, half of our guests are in tents and with the rain, cold and snow it looks plain miserable to me.

It is hard to believe it is the first of September all ready.  Most of the facilities in Yellowstone start closing now.  We close the morning of Oct 3.  Unfortunately, the concessionaire that runs the gas/propane station and the general store is scheduled to close Sept 20 .... oh and the post office closes then too!!!   So we will have to keep our propane use down and load up on groceries.  Our other choice is to go to West Yellowstone ... 50 + miles away.

The picture of Old Faithful was taken from inside the new Visitor Center.  It opened on August 25.  We saw it for the first time today.

The horse pictures are from the Cody area.  These are wild mustangs.  We had a great time trying to get close enough to get a photo.  They are located 12 - 27 miles east of Cody in a place called the "McCullough Peaks Herd Management Area".  It is around 109,000 acres and their goal is to maintain a herd of 100 wild horses.  This is a high desert area so they need plenty of space.  You can drive out there on a dirt track, which is what we did, and we managed to find them.  It was amazing !

Time to enjoy fall!!!!  Love to everyone!