We are back in the land of wifi and t.v. Sorry to learn of Hilary's illness. Sorry that CNN will beat it to death. So we watched Shark Tank for an hour, and that brought reality back into our lives.

What to say about Yellowstone Park? One of the true natural wonders of the world. And we reached that conclusion after only two days of taking it all in. Man, I gotta tell you, we saw things that make your head spin...geisers, boiling mud pots, beautiful aquamarine pools emitting clouds of steam, runoff from pools pouring into the surroundings in shades of orange, rust, pink. It's all another world, one of the most amazing places in the world. We also managed to view Old Faithful, along with several hundred others, and he/she kept us in suspense for about 20 minutes past scheduled time, finally letting it all out. Doesn't want to be taken for granted.

Not just the thermal marvels, but the scenery, the rivers, the lake (highest/largest fresh water lake in NA), the waterfalls, the magnificent Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, the wildlife. Best of all, we had two sunny and warm days to enjoy it all. Have to admit, the altitude had some effect on my feelings of health, as we're up at around 7,000 feet for most of it. My cold prevails, but we mucked our way along, even doing the 300 steps down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to get a great view of the lower falls. Spectacular rock formations in pinks, reds and of course yellow hues. Takes your breath away. Didn't see any mooses or bears, but lots of bisons, elk, deer, antelope, a coyote, even a chipmunk or two.

Could go on for pages. But let's just say that if you haven't been there, put it on your bucket list. And be prepared for interesting developments. We were planning to leave today by way of the south gate, into the Teton Park. Yesterday, the gate was closed due to a big forest fire. In addition, the West gate was down to one escorted lane to get in or out, again because of another big fire. The Grant Village was being evacuated. The air was very smoky as we did our tour, so it is not small fires we're talking about.And this morning, we learned that the north gate was closed because of snow. We awoke to snow floating down in large soft flakes, and a temp of about plus 2, Canadian Celcius. Fortunately, the snow was not accumulating, but it was a concern, and certainly pushed us to make our exit. Hopefully, the snow had some impact on the fires.

The drive out of the park was great, both within the park and along the way to Cody, where we are hunkered down tonight. The route runs through a range of volcanic peaks and ridges of weird formations and fantastic shapes. No wonder the stretch of road between the east gate and Cody has been called one of the most amazing drives in the U.S. We stopped at the Buffalo Bill Dam Visitor Center, before reaching Cody, and found it well worth the stop, despite a raging wind and frigid temps. We were ferried to the center on a golf cart from the parking area, and froze our butts off. But it was worth it, as the history of the construction of the dam is most interesting. Three companies went broke doing the development, putting up the highest dam of its time, early 1900s, in the world.

Cody is a bustling tourist town, with loads to do. We soon found a good r.v. site, only 3 blocks from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Excellent!! There are 5 museums within the complex, and the ticket of entry lets you have two days to do it all. We did the Natural History section today, which was great, and will go back to do two more, probably the Native American section, and the Buffalo Bill museum. There's also an excellent photography area and a local Art area. It's a terrific site to visit.

So there you are. We're getting bored with the overplay of CNN of Hilary's health. Time for something more entertaining. Meantime, we may head on to a little town called Thermopolis, which is a major thermal hot springs area. Maybe a good long soak will cure my cold, and fend off the twitchy throat poor Gail is experiencing. Meantime, we rely on a little dram of Scotch.

More later. Stay tuned.