William F. Cody didn't have just a city named after him. The road to Yellowstone goes along the Shoshone River, where the Buffalo Bill Dam was erected to be the tallest dam at the time. The nature became more and more spectacular as we approached Yellowstone Park. Some construction project going on at the East Entrance delayed us to the limit of pissing us off. Then we drove for miles through pine forests which were ravaged by the 1988 fire. The scenery was extremely sad, it seemed like the whole place was on fire just a few months ago. The day was very hazy and it shows in some of the pictures, especially for distant objects.

Yellowstone Lake was waiting for us, as representative of the Lake Country. We walked on the Fishing Bridge, where (despite its name) fishing is not allowed (anymore). Then we stopped at Mud Volcano, Dragon's Mouth Spring and Sulphur Caldron. And in many other places, especially if crowds of people signaled that something was going on (usually wild life watching). We saw the main attractions in the Canyon Country (the Lower and Upper Falls) only from the south of Yellowstone River, we will have to go back for the north trails. The hunger cornered us in Canyon Village (I can't believe how salty those sandwiches were), where we finally found some decent restrooms.

We heard that everybody going to Yellowstone for the first time must see the Old Faithful, so we drove all the way south into the Geyser Country. Of course, we had to take a few pictures of a buffalo herd having a siesta very close to the road. We most likely got to the Old Faithful right after its erruption because we had to wait about one hour for the next one. While waiting for the big event, we walked around staring (sometimes obsesively) at the water boiling in the broken rocky pots. The Old Faithful faithfully errupted at the exactly predicted time and throwed boiling water at some 50 meters up in the air. After the show, we headed toward the west exit, stopping at a few more geysers on the way. On the Fountain Paint Pot Trail we realized that the noise of the geysers started to combine with the increasing darkness to create the ambience of a scary movie.

To see most of what Yellowstone has to offer, one needs to spend there at least one day in each of its five "countries". One day was definitely enough just to open the appetite.

• Three states
• Chicago (the city)
• Three more states
• Mount Rushmore
• Devils Tower
• Yellowstone
• Driving Through Idaho