Day Four and a Half: Buffalo Soldier
Once again, plan failure has resulted in epic experiences. Around 7pm on Monday night, we found ourselves at the entrance of Yellowstone National Park debating whether to pay the $25 entrance fee knowing all hotels and campsites were full. Would we even get to Old Faithful before dark?
Knowing we would never forgive ourselves for missing this national treasure, we plunged ahead with no idea of where we would sleep.
It was so worth it. If you’ve never been to Yellowstone National Park, go. Here’s the rub, though. Around 1 am we had passed through the park and were in Grand Teton national forest fighting the fact that we were nodding off. We decided to pull into a parking lot and catch a few Zs till daybreak.
That’s when the fuzz knocked on our window and told us we had to either pay the $30 to camp for 4 hours or move on. We moved on.
Enter, the craziest drive of my life. Forget the thunderstorms from last Friday. We dodged Elk, Bison and Moose who outnumbered us at least 100:1 on a road where we were the only car for two hours. And when I say “dodge” I mean it literally. Bison pranced across the road en masse. We had to drive so slowly to avoid hitting large beasts that it took us two hours to drive the 55 miles to Jackson.
Which brings me to my point. While having a plan is important. Being open to turning disappointment into opportunity is crucial. There are people who would pay good money to go on the midnight safari we encountered last night. And we just stumbled into it because our plan failed.
Brilliant! What an adventure, compare that with gauping at the internet for hours.
Wish you could join us. I have such fond memories of Luxembourg and beyond
[...] last night’s midnight safari, lack of oxygen from high altitudes, and then a full day of exploring the Grand Tetons and then [...]
[...] only did we once again capture a lifelong memory by going off the plan for a moment but I was reminded again of the importance of always giving everything a close look [...]