Cross Country Trip (Day 26) – Cody, WY

Our Travels - 2016 Cross Country

Moving on to Yellowstone

The trip back to the U.S. from Banff, Alberta and south through Montana was really something. Neither Fay or I knew anything about Montana or had done any research on it, and we really weren’t prepared for the beauty. The Rocky Mountains that were so massive in Canada continued in the background, but things seemed to come to life as color came back into the picture as we moved further south.

Spring coming back into the scenery as we traveled south through Montana.

Spring coming back into the scenery as we traveled south through Montana.

As a side note, we’ve tried to travel on old highways and back roads as much as possible on this trip, traveling by Interstate only when we’ve not had any other good choice. The roads coming south through Montana were really enjoyable with very little traffic.

We often had the road pretty much to ourselves while we enjoyed the surroundings...much nicer than when we've had to travel by Interstate.

We often had the road pretty much to ourselves while we enjoyed the surroundings...much nicer than when we've had to travel by Interstate.

After a few days of driving, we finally turned east, crossed the border into Wyoming, and entered Yellowstone National Park. While many people spend days and even weeks exploring the park, we just didn’t have that much time. We spent most of one day there and tried to sample what the park has to offer...great scenery, animals, geysers and other geothermal features. The photo at the top of this page shows Fay and me in front of Old Faithful just as it was completing it’s reliable eruption. Below is a glimpse of the rest of our day.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

West Thumb Geyser Basin

You can't visit Yellowstone without seeing Bison.

You can't visit Yellowstone without seeing Bison.

To leave the park on the east side, we traveled through more mountains. We knew we were at a pretty high elevation due to the snow no longer being on top of the mountains, but instead reaching all the way to the ground.

Scenery as we worked our way out of Yellowstone to the east.

Scenery as we worked our way out of Yellowstone to the east.

Once we exited the park, it was amazing how quickly the scenery changed. We went another 25 miles to settle into Cody, Wyoming for a few days.

A drastic change of scenery as we left Yellowstone headed for Cody, WY.

A drastic change of scenery as we left Yellowstone headed for Cody, WY.

By the way, Fay’s tired of me referring to it as Jellystone, but I have fond memories of Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo from when I was little! Now that we’ve been there though, I believe it deserves my respect and will try to refer to it as Yellowstone from now on.

Check out our personal reviews of the campgrounds we stayed at the last several days:
Rocky Mountain Hi Campground in Kelispell, MT.
Campfire Lodge and Resort in West Yellowstone, MT.
Ponderosa Campground in Cody, WY.

Sunday May 29 - Cody, WY

Sunday May 29 - Cody, WY

Denny Johnson

Denny Johnson

After having spent most of our adult life in Orlando, my wife Fay and I moved to Knoxville, TN in 2020. We are loving the change of seasons and being near the mountains. Plus, this part of the country is loaded with great places to camp. 
 
We camped years ago with a pop-up camper, but got serious about it when we purchased our Casita in 2014. There was a lot to learn as we started traveling with it, and a lot of conflicting opinions on line. That's when I decided that creating a website would be a good retirement project. I started tinyTowable.com to share things we've learned along the way that have worked well for us in hopes that the information would be of help to others.
 
However, since moving to Tennessee, I've gotten involved with new hobbies (you can check some out on my personal website at https://www.softrite.com) and we haven't camped very much. So, at the end of 2023, I made the tough decision to stop updating this website.
 
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