Today started at 6:30 a.m. in the Three Bear Restaurant with a bacon/sausage/ham/egg/cheese mixed skillet. The motel clerk assured us we'd want to be there by 6:30 to beat the crowd that would arrive at 7:00. When we left the restaurant at 7:30, there were about six other people in the restaurant. The restaurant probably seats at least 150. That quality of that advice is consistent with the rest of the service the staff here have been providing.
We got together again at 8:25 in the snowmobile prep room since our paperwork stated to be there and ready to ride at "8:30 PROMPTLY!" To our group of four, they added another group of six, only four of whom were there at 8:30. By 9:15, the other two members of their group arrived. I did not catch the two ladies' names, but Dumb and Dumber would turn out to be suitable nicknames.
Our guide for the day, Aimee, who has been guiding here for 13 years after moving from Pittsburgh, was quite a hoot. She's very comical, provided that you are one of the 99% of people on the planet able to detect obvious sarcasm and humorous statements. Unfortunately, Dumb and Dumber do not possess this gene. After Aimee finally cleared their confusion and helped them to understand that they really shouldn't actually run from a buffalo, nor should they try to stop wolves from eating young elk, we were ready to get underway, albeit it an hour behind schedule.
Before leaving, it's important that everyone understands the most important rule: be responsible for the person behind you. If that person has trouble, pull over and stop your sled. Each person will in turn stop his sled, and eventually all sleds will stop and your guide will know that something is wrong.
Ok, time to hit the trails.
Riding in Yellowstone is rather boring since you must stay on the trails and there is a 35mph speed limit. The scenery is terrific and does help pass the time, but it's a 30 mile ride up to Old Faithful, so with various stops along the way, it's about a 2 hour ride.
Our first stop was to see this young bison that was separated from it's mother a couple of weeks ago.
The mother is long gone, so as soon as the wolves find him, he'll become a tasty treat.
A few more miles up the road, we ran across these elk grazing along the river.
The rest of the ride to Old Faithful was more elk, then more bison, then more elk, then more bison and, of course, many mountains.
We finally got to Old Faithful about 15 minutes before the next release. It was pretty much just like I'd seen on television. It looked like this:
After watching the steam blow, we ate at the pricey restaurant next to O.F. I had a very dry $9.00 hamburger (no picture available).
After lunch we hit the sleds again to head back from where we came.
About 10 miles down the road, I noticed that the person behind me was slowing down, so I proceeded to do the same. Eventually he stopped, as did I, and everyone else followed suit. I also noticed that the person at the back of the pack, Dumb, was using a hand signal that we didn't cover in class -- a wave.
Aimee, our guide, noticed that everyone had stopped so she circled around and drove back to where I was parked. Dumb didn't pull over, she rode up to Aimee, so I had a front row seat to the conversation.
"Aimee, the two people behind me turned around right after we left Old Faithful," said Dumb.
"What?!?!" said Aimee.
"I've been doing the 'Oh Shit!' signal since we left, but no one would stop," said Dumb.
This is where the possession of that gene I mentioned earlier becomes important. See, it was clear to everyone else in the room that the "Oh shit!" signal wasn't an official signal. Used in this context,
we all almost everyone understood this to be Aimee being humorous. "If a buffalo starts chasing you or you've gone off a cliff, do the 'Oh shit!' signal, which is waving both arms in the air frantically."
So, it takes at least one hand to drive a snowmobile, so when both arms are up in the air waving frantically, your snowmobile should be stopped. In theory, had Dumb just kept waving her arms, we'd have all stopped right away and the system would've worked.
Anyway, Dumber had left her camera back at Old Faithful, so rather than pull over and stop, which would've triggered a domino stop effect, she and her friend decided to just turn around and go back without telling anyone.
Well, Aimee apparently gets in a lot of trouble if she lets members of her group ride unaccompanied in the park, so she's not a real happy guide anymore. She then tells the rest of the group to just stay put on the side of the road and she'll go back and find the other two people.
About 30 minutes pass and along comes another group of riders. The guide at the front of this group stops and asks Dumb, "Is this Aimee's group? If it is, I've got two of her riders with me."
So now we've got Dumber and her friend back, but Aimee is still off searching for them. The other guide says that she'll send a text message to Aimee telling her that she picked up the two lost riders, but that Aimee won't get the message until she stops her sled, which will be back at Old Faithful.
Fast forward another 30 minutes or so, and Aimee is back. Aimee doesn't say a word, but instead just queries the group with the "All ready?" signal and when she gets confirmation from everyone, off we go.
The rest of the ride was uneventful. We stopped to see more bison and a waterfall.
The ride concluded with giving Aimee a gratuity (I decided on $20.00, though I'm not sure what the norm is), taking a warm shower and then heading to the local watering hole. I spent the rest of the evening at the watering hole (drinking water), and finally called it at night at about 7:30 p.m.