It didn't rain last night. We could have camped after all. Oh well. It sure was a treat sleeping in beds, having a bathroom right next to us, a nice shower and big fluffy towels, lots of space for our bags. . . . The inn even included a lovely hot breakfast with the overnight fee. Enjoyed having wifi for the first time in over a week. Skyped Young-il for the first time. Fun! Then I decided that we really needed to update our blog so we went to the library in Helena for a bit.
On our drive through Yellowstone to our campsite, we saw a coyote loping alongside the road.
Got to our campsite at Yellowstone very late and found another car parked in our campsite. What to do. Checked out the neighboring cars' license plates and found another one from Alberta across from our site. So, I went to their tent and asked if they could move their vehicle. They immediately came out of their tent and began arguing with us that they shouldn't have to move their car. They had two cars and their site only had room for one. Our site had room for two cars so they should be able to park their second car at our site. They'd argue with us and then heatedly talk to each other in their own language. The funny thing about it? They were speaking Mandarin and didn't realize that I could understand everything they were saying. Lisa could understand much of what they were saying. Finally they agreed to move their car so that we could back into the campsite and they would park behind us.It was their attitude that we minded the most. Not a very pleasant way to arrive at one's campsite, needless to say. Oh, and they still didn't get that we understood Mandarin even when I asked them at the end if everything was okay and thanked them in Mandarin. They just answered in English. How funny is that.
Heard the wolves howling in the distance as we set up our tent. What a treat!
Day 27: Mon, August 2
Woke up this morning to find that there was an enormous bison pie just 2 feet from the door of our tent. Missed that when we pitched our tent in the dark last night.
Saw Old Faithful today. Mobs of people. We'd read that half of all visitors to Yellowstone come during July and August but didn't expect that half to be so many! 
Thought our unfriendly neighbors had left today only to find them there when we returned this evening & constantly at our campsite getting stuff out of their car. Told the campground administrators about the situation and they immediately sent two different people over to tell our neighbors to move their car to another parking site. The whole family stood there and argued with each administrator. Unbelievable sense of entitlement. Finally we agreed to let them stay because they said they were leaving in the morning.
Day 28: Tues, August 3 
Rain today. Finally. Thunder, lightening, and rain. Left camp to drive to the public showers 3 miles away and it started to rain & hail when we got out. Remembered that I'd opened the rain tarp doors when we left so that it wouldn't get so hot inside the tent (it was sunny, blue skies when we left). Rushed back to camp and the inside doorways of the tent were soaked. Ah well, it was just the sheets. Not bad for 4 weeks on the road. And we have nice new neighbors today. Yay! 
Saw three white-tail bucks near our campsite this afternoon. The most glorious racks you can imagine! They were in the woods, enjoying the delicate lavender wildflowers, oblivious to the group of us gathered in awe across the road from them. 
Went on a ranger-led walk through the geyser basin this afternoon.
Day 29: Wed, August 4
Got up at 6:30 this morning and the ol' bison pie had frost on it. Didn't seem that cold last night. Joshua Tree the end of March was much, much colder. Must have been because we had our rain tarp on last night—it must have sheltered us from the cold. Usually we prefer leaving it off and just enjoying the open air. 
Drove to Mammoth Hot Springs today. Enroute we drove through Hayden Valley where we saw bison along side the road at many points. What majestic craggy creatures they are. Also saw two huge elk sitting right by the side of the road. They sat patiently chewing their cud while cars lined up to take pictures of them. Oh, they were wild; they weren't tame. They had just become inured to automobiles and two-legged creatures as long as these creatures kept their distance. Boy, did we feel sorry for traffic coming from the opposite direction once we'd taken our photos and continued on our way. It was backed up for at least three miles. Those poor folks had a good hour's wait and didn't even know why.
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