Remember the fool from Iowa? This could have been him, right in front of our eyes.

Penn. boy injured by bison while taking a photograph
Wyoming Tribune Eagle

A 12-year-old boy from Pennsylvania was hospitalized after he was flipped into the air by a bull bison at Yellowstone National Park.

Park officials say witnesses reported that the boy was posing Thursday with members of his family within 1-2 feet of the mature bull bison. The bison flipped the boy about 10 feet in the air.

The incident occurred on a trail near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Although the boy's visible injuries were limited to abrasions, he complained of abdominal pain. He was flown ti Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.

Authorities are not releasing the boy's name or hometown and no information is available on his current medical condition.

Park rules require visitors to remain at least 100 yards from bears or wolves, and at least 25 yards from all other animals.

Wanted

Home

We made it to Cheyenne (and Brea made it another 104 miles to Denver). We traveled a little over 1600 miles and it was full of laughter, friendship and fun. BFFs Forever!

Us and our trusty steed at the end of our journey...and none of us died of dysentery.

Stay tuned as we compile photos, memories and an analysis of our gas mileage ;-)

Day 5 - Here?

@ Hells Half Acre

We hit the road again not before getting stopped for 20 minutes outside of Heather and James’ house because of some road construction…its hard to explain how random and awful this experience was. Jessica also managed to narrowly escape high centering the Prius in a pile of dirt. Brea cried a little when it happened…she loves her car and it’s served them well.

Seriously?

We first journeyed back the way we came to visit Sinks Canyon where a raging river disappears from view, only to appear again ¼ mile down the road. We can’t get enough random nature crap. After leaving Sinks Canyon we saw some horses carrying some random tanks that read “poison” and Brea immediately thought they were terrorists before Jolea said “I think they are spraying for bugs.” Too much of a rush to judgement, apparently.

We then headed to Thermopolis (that included a quick pit stop at Wal-Mart for some beach towels that they thought we stole since we try to save the environment by not utilizing plastic sacks) and soaked in the State Bath House. Because the water is from the hot springs and is (surprise) HOT, there is a mandatory 20 minute time limit but it was nice and free and relaxing (and the sulfur smells were at a minimum). Afterwards we took a well needed (and deserved) shower since the last time we showered was in Cody. Yeah. Again, we travel a Prius, avoid plastic sacks and figured let’s conserve water as well (either that or we’re ruffin’ it).

So fresh and so clean....

Lunch was the first and only visit to the beloved Taco Johns. Jessica’s super potato ole almost put her into a food coma (either that, or the Hot Springs made her drunk). From Thermop we went to Shoshone to the world famous Yellowstone Drug Store that has recently moved to a new location and is not nearly as cool as it once was, but the banana shake was delish.

Panoramic!

Taken by yours truly!

Day 4 - We're kind of dirty and delusional...

Grand Girls in front of the Grand Tetons

We indeed survived our night of camping…even Jolea. After rolling out of camp we toured the Tetons popping off at many scenic overlooks and trying to find the elusive Moose. We stopped at Jenny Lake where Jessica suggested we take a boat trip across the lake…about halfway there, she says, “So what do we do when we get over there?” Something that should have perhaps been researched before we got on said boat, because basically you hike on the other side of Jenny Lake and Brea and Jessica were wearing flip flops. We still managed to do about a mile hike to another fantastic (although not as fantastic as Yellowstone’s) waterfall.



We then headed into Jackson where we had lunch at the Cadillac Grill. Jessica and Brea dined on a Buffalo burger, mostly because Brea was still bitter about the hellacious herd of buffalo from the day before (and she hates CU). We then saddled up (literally) to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar where we requested a local brew to slam back before hitting the road again (don’t worry parents, Jolea drank water). Brea was bummed when she realized her local brew was brewed in Idaho. Idaho? No, you da ho.

How gorgeous is this?

We journeyed through the Wind Rivers into Lander and along the way found the elusive Moose on the side of the road completing our animal quest. We also stopped in beautiful Dubois where we sat on the Jackalope…Jolea calls it mangy, Brea calls it fun.

This is about when the delusional portion of the title comes in because Jessica was crazy. She started a game of 20 questions and some of the fabulous questions included:

Is it bigger than an ipod nano?

Once in Lander we headed to our friend Heather’s house in the middle of nowhere. We love small towns when directions include phrases like “just a few properties after the junk yard.” We headed to dinner with Heather and James at the lovely Lander bar and got a private tour of Heather’s museum, the Fremont County Pioneer Museum. It wasn’t as interesting as the movie Night at the Museum, but we did see a 2-headed sheep. All and all a nice and scenic day…we turned in for the night and tried for a good night’s sleep since it was almost our last day...and we still had ambitious plans.

Night 3...Wait...there's something out there.

We rolled into Colter Bay a little late, thanks to the aforementioned encounter with our friends, the Buffalo. After checking in and finding our Tent Cabin (the camping compromise city girls Brea and Jolea made with Camper Extraordinaire, Jessica. She quickly made a fire (almost quicker than they do on Survivor, but she was working with wet wood so she's going to try out next season). We started to prepare to drink some wine and make some Smores (because what else do you do when camping?) when our newly purchased Devils Tower corkscrew broke. What are three girls in the woods going to do?


Options:

1 - Jessica: I'll pound it in with the Smore stick.


2 - Jolea: I have a small, dull pocket knife...maybe we can dig the cork out?

3 - Jessica: We could chop it off with the hatchet (thanks Papa Memmel for making us pack this)

4 - Brea: I saw some people with wine earlier, I'll go find them (goes to find them, can't because it dark) and is then joined by Jolea (while Jessica tends the fire) and we find some friendly folk from HOTlanta who just purchased a corkscrew and they SAVED us. Thanks new friends!

Once the crisis was averted, and we convinced Jolea not to sleep in the Prius (note from Jessica and Brea: seriously, girlfriend goes to India and travels around but doesn't "rough it" We think this is odd.) We then pulled up a log to the fire, made some Smores with the handy Target dollar bin camping gear that Brea purchased and watched the stars come out and the fire burn. Both quite mesmerizing.

Once we decided to turn in for the night, Jessica worked on starting our inside stove so Jolea wouldn't freeze and die in the 40 degree temps. She only had to use 1 cardboard box, half a roll of paper towels, half a box of matches and three pieces of wet wood (editors note: we purchased this wet wood from the darn campground people...thanks folks!). However, once we decided to just shut the stove door and let 'er rip...it took only about an hour of smoldering before BAM the thing lit on fire. Brea awoke with a startle and said "Jessica! It's smoking! Fix it!" So she did, because she's amazing...and then Jolea decided she had to pee. So she said, "Jessica! Come with me!" And our little REI superstar say? "Wait...there is something out there."

Burn baby burn...

After cautiously exiting the tent and leaving Brea (who was back asleep by this point) to fend for herself...the girls headed to the bano and returned safely. Jessica is still convinced there was "something out there." It touched her feet.

Anyway, we all survived the night...it was actually quite fabulous...and headed out to visit the Grand Tetons, Jackson and ending up in Lander the next day.

Brea woke up 3 hours ealier than J and J...so she had to entertain herself...notice the layers.

Where we camped...not to shabby.

Day 3 - The day of the Buffalo

Us at Yellowstone Lake

Yellowstone is magnificent. We left Cody and headed towards the park...after drinking a smoothie and taking a saloon girl photo which we will definitely be posting in the future. Our first stop was the Buffalo Bill Dam...which was pretty cool, especially considering we got to ride in a golf cart to get there!

Once in Yellowstone, we again saw snow...lots of snow...and quickly discovered that many of the smaller lakes were still frozen over. It's the end of June people. We also quickly encountered the amazing wildlife in their natural habitats. Here is a quick (probably non-inclusive) list for our entire journey, most sightings taking place in Yellowstone:

Buffalo (we'll talk more about them in a minute)

Elk
Deer
Antelope
A Bear and cub (Seriously! A bear! See the two specs below!)

Moose
Turtle
Wild Turkeys
Birds (a variety)
More Buffalo
Did we mention Buffalo?
Mosquitos and currently (blogging live from Lander) Miller Moths!

At our first buffalo sighting we saw a group of them near a hot spring on the side of the road. We pulled over to take some photos (we stayed in the car) but there was a few people out of the car...including two idiots from Iowa (note from Brea: I generally love the people of Iowa thanks to their support of Obama), one of whom was not wearing a shirt (classy) who proceeded to waltz through the field of buffalo like they were strolling through a herd of gentle flamingos. A park ranger quickly came over, pointed out the fresh deer carcass that the buffalo devoured, and encouraged the boys to get back in their car. We stayed just in case they got mauled so we could film it and report live on CNN.

We had a great visit doing a loop of the park, including the awe inspiring Upper and Lower Falls. We were trying to find the place we "all remember" from our childhood...and ended up hiking to the base of the lower falls...turns out, it's 328 steps back up to the top. It was exhausting...we blame the altitude. The bottom of the falls however created an amazing rainbow...Yellowstone is beautiful and everyone should go visit.


Now comes the truly fun part. As we headed 'round the bend to Old Faithful, traffic stopped. A "Wyoming Traffic Jam" if you will which we all joked about...this traffic jam resulted in us going 10 miles in 2.5 hours. Yes, you read that right. A herd of Buffalo decided to meander back and forth across the 2-lane road causing a 10+ mile traffic back up. Once we FINALLY made it to the buffalo, it was indeed a cool site...and a mommy and baby crossed right in front of our car. We befriended the motorcycle dudes behind us and the Prius was used as a blocking mechanism in case the buffalo decided to charge the motorcycle dudes. This journey also included the world's most repulsive bathroom (should have peed in the woods), a cameo on a random family's home video and sereneding the buffalo with "Sweet Caroline (dun dun dun)."


After the three of us, borderline cranky and crazy, managed to get some food (hadn't eaten since breakfast) we saw Old Faithful and it was Old and Faithful. We then headed south into Grand Teton National Park to camp out at Colter Bay. That experience deserves a post of its own...

Day 2 - Lots of Snow and No Medicine Wheel

After a breakfast at the B&B...we went back to Devils Tower, this time the tower was encassed in sunshine, to do the hike around. It was fun...and tiring...we blame the "altitude."

From there we meandered over to Big Horn National Forest and the Prius climbed a lot of feet to summit the mountains somewhere around 9,000 feet. Lots of winding roads. Towards the top, we encountered some serious snow. We're not talking little pockets of snow, we're talking "if you go off the trail you have to be rescued by the forest service" types of snow. We climbed the dirt road to the remote and old (1200 AD) Medicine Wheel, only to discover that while the wheel itself was not covered in snow, the path was, and it wasn't recommended to go because, as the forest ranger put it, "If you slide off the path, our only option is to call search and rescue." Not really how we wanted to spend our vacay.

Coming down out of the Big Horns, we experienced a 10% grade for 15 miles and the Prius breaks decided to YELL at me. Oops.

We landed in Cody (and let me say the landscape on the East side of the Big Horns is much preferred to the landscape on the West side of the Big Horns) and checked into the fabulous and famous Hotel Irma, caught a quick gun fight, and headed to dinner. From there, we went to the Cody Nite Rodeo which happens every night in the summer, and were entertained by a bunch of kids chasing a calf around the arena.

A note from Brea: I found the most fabulous necklace ever. Not only is it turquoise, a mandatory element of any Western outfit, it features a rhinestone Longhorn. God Bless Wyoming (and Texas).

Tomorrow we're going to take an old fashioned photo as saloon girls (with guns) and head to Yellowstone. Should be awesome. Jessica will start her day with a Calf Scrambler...it will be delicious. Oh, and Jessica and Jolea suck at air hockey (Jessica, in fact, almost killed a kind young Cody man, with a flying air hockey puck).

At Devils Tower:

Jolea, knee deep in snow at the medicine wheel.

Brea's amazingly awesome new necklace.

Rocking our Cowboy Boots in Cody

Day 1 - Finding the Ruts

Blogging live from the Hotel Irma in beautiful Cody, Wyoming...after a few cocktails.

Yesterday we drove from Cheyenne, via Guernsey up to Devils Tower with the final destination of Sundance, Wyoming.

Believe it or not, we're mostly relying on maps and signage to get us places this trip. And that meant, a couple of pass throughs through Guernsey to find the Oregon Trail Wagon Ruts. They were spectacular. Followed quickly by a visit to Register Cliff...where we saw a bunch of names carved, with spectacular penmanship, into the rock circa the 1800s.

From there, we drove hours through nowhere. Jessica kept us entertained with a story of Mother Featherlegs, a prominent Hollywood Madaam (who actually lived in Wyoming in the early 1900s). She was killed by Dangerous Dick (and no, i'm not making any of this up) and we went searching for her memorial and pantalets but alas, we could not find them. They are somewhere around Lusk, Wyoming. We did, however, have a fantastic BLT/Grilled Cheese lunch at a diner in Lusk, where the wait staff hated us and we were surrounded by Army Men (covert ops in the Wyoming nowhere? I think so).

As we approached Devils Tower, we had been circumventing a storm for about an hour. Upon arrival at said Tower, the rain started. We left. And then went to stay at a cute cabin B&B for the night.

Side note--how do people live in these small towns with no restaurants? What do people eat? One can't possibly cook for themselves 100% of the time.

Other than that the journey consisted of Brea running down highways in her flip flops, Jessica actually wearing a winter hat because Cali girl was "so cold" and Jolea picking ham out of her grilled cheese.

TTFN! Brea, Jolea and Jessica.

Jessica and Jolea, exhausted from trying to find the ruts...

Wagon Ruts!

The picture Brea ran down the highway for...

Devils tower in the rain...

Wonderful Wyoming Weather

Internets...

Not sure how much internet access we'll have...but stay tuned ;-)

Target

The three of us reunited and had a successful trip to Target so we are officially ready to hit the road...

Good omen? Bad omen? Both?

I (Brea) got pulled over rolling into Cheyenne today...took the route that would equal the best gas mileage and low and behold, was going 27 in the 20mph zone in "downtown" Cheyenne. I dropped to the cop that I was from Cheyenne...not just a "greenie" with an Obama sticker. Luckily, I got off with a warning...so fair readers...good omen, bad omen, or both?

Some places we might visit...

You might have to zoom out to see it all!


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We're taking a road trip!

In June 2008, Brea, Jolea and Jessica are venturing out into the state we call Home...watch out Wyoming...here we come!


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