Our drive to the park took two long days, May 22 and 23, but it was uneventful until we reached Gardiner. We couldn't believe the flooding along the way. Even Lake Coeur d'Alene was over its banks, and there was a no-wake zone all over the lake. That's why we didn't see any boats on a beautiful, sunny day. Campgrounds on the opposite side of I-90 were flooded, too! Maybe we should be working on an ark!
We had reservations at Yellowstone RV where we had stayed on numerous occasions; however, the last time we tried to book a space, we were told that we could not back in on the river because those spaces were "saved" for Xanterra (park) employees! That was two years ago, and we stayed at the Yellowstone Grizzly RV park in West Yellowstone. It's a long drive from there to Lamar valley, so we thought we would try the one in Gardiner again.
Everything seemed fine. They would save us a spot on the river, etc. Well, we pulled in and got our site number, backed the trailer in and discovered that the site wouldn't work. Several years ago, they planted some trees at the back of where the RVs would be parked and those trees were now tall enough to interfere with our satellite system receiving a signal! WiFi in the RV park covered about a third of the park, and our site wasn't in that one-third. This ain't gonna cut it!
We checked out other vacant sites and found one that would work, but we couldn't have it. It's one of those reserved for potential Xanterra employees. Now this particular site hadn't been used for a very long time, we could tell. We pulled our trailer out of the assigned site and stopped at the office to get our money back, which they did without a problem.
Remember how for every door that closes another one opens? That happened this time. Rocky Mountain RV park is the only other show in town. They accommodated us, and we had a great week at Rocky Mountain. It apparently has new owners who were working their butts off to improve the park. New cabins are going in, their WiFi is exceptional and free, and it is SO quiet there! Yes, our satellite system worked, as well, so Bruce had TV. Yea! We'll book at Rocky Mountain next time we come to Yellowstone, no problem!
So moving right along, let's go to our visits inside Yellowstone National Park!
