Day 31: Roost, Roadblocks, and The Young Scientist

There is perhaps no better way to start a day hundreds of miles from home than finding a little bit of home just around the corner from your hotel.

So we slept in. We’re getting tired. By the time we left the hotel, it was lunch, and I turned to Yelp for help.

“Eat at Roost,” it said. “Good comfort food. Somebody says it’s their favorite restaurant in the whole country. Give it a whirl.”

Okey-doke. Roost Fried Chicken it was.

Forget love at first bite. This was love at first sight. There’s a See Rock City bird house in the front window!

We were immediately home sick. Then we looked at the menu. I might have shouted. People standing in line may have turned around to look at me.

I didn’t even want the extra pickle chip, but the whole restaurant sure thought I did.

The crazy Bama fan and her child continued to have fun while we waited for our food.

Then the skies opened and the angels sang and goodness was placed before me.

Fried chicken, fried okra, mac and cheese (with bacon!), boiled peanuts, and a Coke.

I did not eat it all. I did not even come close. But I took the art of savoring to a whole new level. Earl finished her Chicken-on-a-Stick long before I was done. She stared at me boredly as I chewed.

“Can we go?”

“Give me a minute.”

“It’s been a lot of minutes.”

Touché, my child.

It’s not often I come across a restaurant that I love enough to insist on leaving with a t-shirt and hat, but buddy, I sure did from Roost. Except they didn’t have their signature “Presheatecha” t-shirt in my size. Dangit.

Yellowstone greeted us with a traffic backup caused by an elk cow in the river.

I’m not complaining. It was cool, and everybody seemed content to deal with a little traffic tie up for a spot of wildlife.

A couple of miles down the road, though, people headed north on Grand Loop Rd. were not quite as content.

That bison strolled down that lane for ages, peering into oncoming cars and completely unaffected by the eventual 3.5 mile line of cars backed up behind him before Rangers were finally able to convince him to pull over into a turnoff so faster cars could pass.

If there’s a creature you do not mess with in Yellowstone, it’s the bison. People (who have a lick of sense) have an innate knowledge that you give bears a wide berth or stay away from things with massive horns, but bison appear docile. In reality, they’re ornery, temperamental, can run 35mph, and are capable of jumping 6 feet in the air. It was recently discovered by one woman from Mississippi that they also don’t like selfies.

Bison roadblock cleared, Earl and I returned to the Old Faithful Visitor Center where she checked out a backpack full of supplies to complete her Young Scientist badge work.

We walked the geyser basin looking for minerals by color and using the infrared thermometer to check out the temperature of the ground and pools around us.

We spotted features with connected plumbing like Anemone Geyser and its buddy.

We checked out hot springs that were bubbling gasses from deep within the earth and compared them with Ear Spring, which was actually boiling at the surface.

There were geysers of all sizes around us, spurting or erupting or steaming.

Earl spotted bison tracks in the bacterial mats and surmised the bison use the heat of the area to keep warm in winter.

The colors were not as vivid as I had hoped—there were none of the deep blues and greens I remember seeing years ago at Rotorua in New Zealand. I later found out that we missed the real marvel of hot springs in Yellowstone. A return trip is necessary. I must see Grand Prismatic Spring. Kicking myself for that one.

Not to take away from what we saw. It was impressive in its own right.

We sat down in one of the nearby lodges and worked on her booklet. Three hours worth of scientific study and observation in a National Park while on vacation is a tall order, but my kid tackled it with remarkable aplomb. She had her moments, but that was when I was there to help her along and give her a little boost. In the end, she earned her patch and the hearty congratulations of another Park Ranger. From me, she earned a stuffed bison. She named him Yell O. Stone. I call him Roadblock.

Of course, you can’t spend all afternoon in Upper Geyser Basin and not take some time to watch the pot that is Old Faithful boil over and erupt again.

Earl wanted to wander through the cluster of fallen trees between Old Faithful and the Visitor Center. It didn’t take long for her to find a natural see-saw and a friend.

I practically had to drag her away from the trees and Old Faithful, but the sun was setting and food was necessary.

Another late night, but in the long run, the memories and experiences mean so much more.

Besides, I’m hoping by the time we get home and start heading toward school starting back that Earl is ready to go to sleep at a decent hour for a change.

It might work.