Yellowstone Travelog #1 Snow, Special Event, Janee, Tauck family, Dinner
We are in Bozeman, Montana on a Tauck World Discovery Special Event called “Winter in Yellowstone National Park”. Not many people come to Yellowstone in the winter but all 165 of us did for this Tauck Event. This is my second event with Tauck. The first was Rome for their 85th Birthday. Since then, they have had other events about the Civil War and New Orleans. All of these events feature Ken Burns and his documentaries on America.
I heard from my tour director on this event 6 weeks ago and I have even met her on another tour of the American West. So I am very excited to have her again as she is an A+++++tour director. Her name is Janee Sundby and she would always say to us as we toured the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, “Have no fear, Janee is here.” I bet I hear her comforting motto on this tour also. And we had nothing to fear as she took excellent care of all of us then and I know it will be the same in Yellowstone. She is married and her husband, Jim, is also a tour director on this event.
Special things that show how excellent, thorough and caring Tauck tour directors (TD) are. Janee called us 6 weeks before the tour to say she was going to be our TD. And she wanted to know when we would be arriving and departing the tour so she would have someone meet us at the airport and take us back to the airport. I told her at that time that I was Gluten Free-Celiac Disease. When she greeted us at the front door of this hotel upon our arrival yesterday, she told me she was Gluten Free also. And for us and the other people on the tour, she said she brought Gluten Free bread us all to eat. I was just blown away by this surprise because Gluten Free bread is the one thing that I rarely get on tours. Normally, restaurants do not have or make Gluten Free bread.
As we flew from Denver to Bozeman, the scenery was just beautiful with snow everywhere. We just can’t wait to see if it is real because we have only been in snow twice, one hour in Antarctica and a day in Churchill to see the polar bears. So this will be the first time for several days in the snow. We can’t wait to see how it all goes.
The tour begins in Bozeman where we stayed last night and tonight. Then, it is off to Yellowstone. So, I will keep you informed on everything that happens so you can experience Yellowstone in the snow with us. One highlight we plan to do on our own that neither of us have ever done. And that is ride a 1-horse open sleigh!!!!!!! But they tell me at our hotel in Jackson (at the end of this tour) that they only they have 2-horse open sleighs, so that will make us very happy.
After we landed in Bozeman, we had a 1-hour bus ride to our hotel sitting all by itself close to mountains in the woods. It was such a beautiful ride with the almost full moon shining brightly on the snow below. I could just see the “Night Before Christmas.” story unfolding before my eyes. The mountains were black and the snow on it was white and shining. BEAUTIFUL.
Our room at Chico’s Hot Springs Resort is like a lodge with NO TV and NO telephone. Luckily, I have my cell phone but reception comes and goes. One conservation took 5 attempts to complete. But is part of the flavor of Yellowstone. So, I will post an update when I can on this trip, but know that I will be keeping up with everything so you won’t miss any of our adventures. I will notify you via email when another update has been posted to my blog.
Several Tauck family members are here for this event. Lee Tauck, the young 80-year-old Mother of the 5 Tauck children, is here. We were together (with Robin Tauck) in Papua New Guinea, Rome and now at Yellowstone, she is with her son, Chuck. Chuck Tauck is here with his son, Tyler, who does tour directing for Tauck. The Tauck’s all come out in force for one of their Special Events.
Tonight is the Welcoming Dinner here at the Chico Resort in Montana and Chuck Tauck has invited Tom and me to join him at the head table so we are looking forward to that dinner.
It is cold outside with little snow in the area of this hotel, but we are being told Yellowstone is full of snow and beautiful.
Tomorrow, we arrive in Yellowstone and stay at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. We will attend a speech by Yellowstone historian Paul Schullery, and then tour the Mammoth Hot Springs, Fort Yellowstone and the Albright Visitor Center.
Carolyn's TraveLog 