Day 9, Bozeman, Mont.

BOZEMAN, Mont., August 14, 2010 -- Thanksgiving came early, because today was a feast -- for the eyes, that is. A bountiful cornucopia of images in the Great Northwest.

From a chilly start -- 46 degrees -- we headed into Yellowstone National Park while enjoying a stunning view of the Grand Tetons, which looked much like shark teeth against the sunrise. Yellowstone -- the granddaddy of them all -- did not disappoint.

We saw wildlife of all kinds -- deer, elk, chipmunks and a 200-head herd of buffalo. We were delayed about 10 minutes while we waited for a park ranger to convince an enormous buffalo bull to get out of the roadway. We even watched the human animal engage in an exotic and inexplicable behavior known locally as "fly fishing."

We witnessed the earth's heartburn -- geothermal activity. We watched the world's most famous geyser, Old Faithful, blow its stack, albeit about 10 minutes later than predicted. Maybe not so faithful after all. We watched a geothermal stew roil and churn at the Mud Vocano, which smelled a whole lot like Buffalo -- New York, that is. We saw innumerable and indistinct geysers sending vast plumes of white steam skyward.

We saw water. We sat on the shore of the stunning Yellowstone Lake, a glacial lake with water as clear and cold as Superior's. And we enjoyed -- or perhaps endured -- a stunning yet harrowing journey from West Yellowstone to Bozeman, Mont., along the Gallatin River valley, which reminded me of Route 14 in upstate New York, out of Watkins Glen toward the race track and Corning -- but on steroids. I was sobered by a sign just beyond the hamlet of Big Sky, Mont., that reported we were entering an "accident reduction zone." It seems a local group has adopted the responsibility for denoting traffic fatalities with white crosses where they happened. There we no less than two dozen white crosses in the "accident reduction zone." Needless to say, I held down our speed.

It's all topped off by our arrival in heaven -- the Residence Inn in Bozeman, where they had sold all the small rooms and were forced to upgrade us to a two-room suite. "Suite" indeed!