June 6. Yellowstone National Park

 Everyone says that it’s best to get to Yellowstone early as it gets really crowded later in the day.  We have a light breakfast and are on the road by 8:30.  Our campsite is on the North edge of Tetons National Park which is the exit that we need to head to Yellowstone.  We go  along the John D Rockefeller Jr Memorial Highway which connects the two parks.  Scenery is beautiful but then there are large swaths of dead pines.  Some of them look charred and some just look dead like an insect invasion.  There are at least new trees coming in.  

Since Old Faithful is the must see of the park, we go there first.  The park is hugs so even once you’re in the park, it is still a good hour drive to get to the center with Old Faithful.  We got there without any traffic problems and found a place to park that was reasonable.  Old Faithful is slated to erupt in about 30 minutes.  That gives us time to see most of the education center.  We go out in the blaring sun with all the other tourists and wait.  At least they have benches.  A few false starts and then there she blows.  It is quite windy so it isn’t the single shot up but more a huge mass of steam and mist.  This was Nick’s first time to see it.  That can now be checked off the bucket list.  

There are lots of short trails around Old Faithful of other geysers.  Lots of bubbling and steam!  I remember it smelling really bad but the sulphuric smell was pretty minimal.  Lots of  warning signs to stay on the boardwalks.  Everyone was very compliant.  Many of the geyser pools have beautiful turquoise water.  They remind me of  some of the denotes in Yucatán, especially with the soft white material around them.  Of course, how the two are formed are very different and swimming in a denote is cool, refreshing and live giving while the swimming in a geyser would be the last hot spa of your life.  The entire area is pocked with little geysers and bubbling hot pots.  Each one is just unique enough that we stop to admire some aspect of it.  

We take enough time walking around the geyser basin that it is now  almost time  for the next  Old Faithful eruption.  This one has a much bigger audience.  I don’t know if it is the angle or just a bigger eruption but we both agree that this performance was better than the previous one.  

Can’t get the video to load.  Ugh!

We eat our packed lunch sitting in the rocking chairs outside the education center.  Good people watching!  So many languages.  T-shirts from all over.  Lots of families, people in really good shape, really overweight people, 

This park is huge!  The distance between different points of interest might be 20 or 40 miles.  The main roads in the park form an “8”. Today we’re doing the bottom part of the “8”.  We came in at the very bottom.  Going around to the left, Old Faithful is about a quarter of the way around the bottom circle.  We stop at several geyser basins  Each of them includes a walk along the boardwalk of 1/4 mile to a couple of miles.  We generally take everyone.  About the time that we’re getting jaded with the geysers, we get to Canyon Village.  (All the intersections with gift shops, restraunts, restrooms, etc are called villages.  Old Faithful Village, Lake Village, Grant Village….)  This path isn’t a boardwalk but a real dirt path lined with  stones.  We get to the look out point on the Northern Rim.  OMG and Wow! I didn’t know Yellowstone had a big canyon.  My opinion of Yellowstone just shot up a bunch of points.  

We stopped at several viewing points and I found myself taking a lot of pictures of the trees holding on for dear life.  What determination.  Some trees can peacefully grow in a yard with few challenges and then there are others that endure fires, wind, intense drought, poor to almost no soil.  I guess it is like that for people too.  I’m grateful to have a life with roots in fertile soil and challenges that I can handle.

Back to our camp home where we cook dinner and have a nice fire.

June 5. Grand Tetons

 Today is our 19th wedding anniversary.  

Nick didn’t sleep well last night and is having some digestive issues so we take the morning slow.  It did pretty cold last night - low 30’s.  With long underwear and my hoodie, I felt pretty cozy.  But this morning when I poked my nose out from the sleeping bag, it did feel and smell like cold.  

About noon we drove down to the visitor’s center where we got some good suggestions of activities.  We drive to the visitor’s center at Lake Jenny to check out the boat ride.  I think everyone in the park thought that was good plan.  The overflow parking was full and they were parking for what would have been blocks if there were blocks.  We managed to snag a place that was actually in the parking lot.  Check stuff out and move on to less populated spots in the park.  That would be String Lake where we take a walk and watch a few crazy people doing surfboard paddling.  Fall in here and it’s going to be mighty cold!  There are some canoers and kayakers.  That looked like it would be nice as it String lake is very calm and has a beautiful view of the mountains. 

 After lunch we continue on to the drive up Signal Mountain.  It’s a steep, narrow, curvy road of about 2 miles.  There is a sign saying not to attempt the drive with a trailer or RV.  Good call!  We get to the top and  the view is spectacular.  You can see forever in all directions.  I love the yellow flowers that dot the mountainside.  So wonderful to be here in the spring when they are blooming and things are so green.  I saw the spot for “The Perfect shot”. As I start down the path, the pebbles shift and down I go.  I’m fine and a nice gentleman helped me up.  He had a definite accent and when I asked him where he was from,. He said “Europe.”  Well, that was obvious.  What part.  A little country that people get mixed up with Australia.  They were pleased that I knew the difference and had actually been there.   Oh dear, an RV came up the mountain.  How will they ever get turned around to go back down?  Took a bunch of “K” turns but they finally made it.  Glad we didn’t meet them on that road!

From Signal Mountain, we headed back to Jenny Lake.  Not nearly so crowded now.  We walked down to the boat dock and walked right on to the next boat.  This morning, the line was about a 30 minute wait.  This is really a shuttle boat to get you to the hiking trails on the other side of the lake.  The ride was only about 15 minutes but it was pretty and it got us to the trails we wanted.  Our destination is Hidden Falls.  The path starts an upward trajectory right away.  We hear the water and there is a bridge across the stream.  That was 1/2 mile????  Oh, the path keeps going up and up.  Another bridge crosses back over the stream.  Well, these are pretty small and don’t seem all that hidden.  Someone tells us, the real falls are another 100 feet or so up the path.  I guess they truly are hidden.  Oh, yes!  These are worth the climb up.  Everyone is taking selfies and taking pictures for everyone.  A very nice vibe.   Back down for our shuttle boat back across the lake.  

Back to our tent home where we grill some chicken to add to a packaged Caesar salad with fruit.  We make a nice little fire with some of the wood that was left for us and roast some marshmallows.  A nice day to spend together on our anniversary.  

June 4 On to the Tetons

 As we drive out of. Buhl, Idaho, were we. Spent the night, Nick says, “sure is flat around here.  Within moments we come to a bridge, look way down and there is the Snake River.  Wow! Sure did cut through all of this flatness.  We cross the river several times throughout the day but never as impressive as the gorge.  

Again, I’m impressed with the valleys and the abruptness of the mountains.  The valleys are agricultural and could almost be Iowa except the soil is rather gray instead of the nice Iowa black dirt and the background of the mountains.

We stop to get new windshield wipers.  There is a car wash place right next door. With all of the driving we’ve been doing, the car is quite dusty.  That’s how we know it’s ours.  But we treat her to a cursory drive through wash.  Haven’t done  one of those in a long time.  Vacuumed the front part of the car, back portion is packed to the gills.  It  is nice to be in a cleaner car again.  The fact that I even mention this is indicative of how dirty it had become.

Jackson, Wyoming is the gateway to the parks.  We are in tourist country here!  By the look of the hotels, restaurants and shops, a rather well-heeled group of tourists.  We stop and get grocery supplies at Albertsons.  I can’t resist their fried chicken.  That is what we always had on our sailing days in Tampa. In Wyoming, alcohol can’t be sold in the grocery store, so there is a separate place right outside.  Shortly after getting out of town, we enter the park.  A very large, green meadow.  Around a curve and Oh Wow! There they are in all of their jagged, snowy glory.  Our campsite is quite far into the park at Colter Bay campgrounds on Jackson Lake.  Our site is nice and they sites are pretty far from each other.  The only disappointment is that we can’t see the mountains from our campsite.  

We head to the Colter Bay visitor’s center and village and walk down to the “beach” of stones. The sun will be setting behind the mountains.  We enjoy the view and people watching for about an hour hoping that a beautiful sunset will develop.  It’s beautiful but the sunset doesn’t develop into anything spectacular.

  

When we went to put our food in the bear box, we discovered that the people ahead of us left 2 big bundles of firewood.  Thank you!  As soon as the sun went down, the temperature dropped dramatically.  It was really nice to huddle around the fire before retiring to bed.  It’s going down into the 30’s tonight!  So much for being just fair weather campers.  But it isn’t windy like back at the Oregon coast so we’ll be fine.  

June 3. Long travel day on the way to Grand Tetons

 Long travel day today.  But those are interesting too. Nick likes to drive so that gives me an opportunity to embroider, snooze, write, read, watch the schemers. We’re going from Fort Klamouth OR to Twin Falls, Idaho.  It is about an 11 hour driving day.  We got the car packed last night except for suitcases and ice chest.  We’re on the road by 7:30.

We start the day with flat land, pines and mountains in the distance. Some of them are snow-capped.  One of them cradles Crater Lakew.  the town are small with a smattering of old style motes, little wooden cabins and small struggling Clare’s.  no chains of any sort.  Then a Starbucks sign???? Nick exits for the anticipated coffee fix.  We come across a hole resort and planned community.  It just doesn’t fit with what we’ve been driving through.  Someone is an incredible marketer.  There are massage, nail spas, upscale restaurants.  Even a virtual reality room.  A realty office has a prominent location next to Starbucks.  A sign bragging that there is 100% ownership of bicycles.  Well, that’s better than Kennesaw with an ordinance that all residents own guns.  After a coffee fix, we’re on our way again.

The topography starts changing quickly.  We’re now entering the high desert.  The resort is starting to make more sense.  I didn’t know there we high desert in Oregon.  In the next several hours, it gets more and more desolate.  At first there are small pine trees which become sparse and give way to sage as far as the eye can see.  Hmmm.  We really should have gotten gas back ty the Starbucks.

A sign says there are 2 towns that are within our gas supply.  We get to the first, Two Brothers.  We didn’t realize how literal the name was.  No gas here or much of anything else.  Still another chance for gas in Hamilton.  There is a gas pump! But wait, looks suspiciously abandoned.  We go in the cafe/grocery next door.  Seems like a movie set. definitely the local social hub.  A side room with a couple of men playing cards.  Two women taking food orders behind the counter.  A small wire shelf contains a variety of canned foods for sale.  At least if you have a can opener, you won’t starve.  Boxes of Mac and chees, cheetos, cam bells soup, dish detergent.  

The gas pump attendant had left to go to the nearest town which is 40 miles away.  One of the cooks is covering.  When the cooking is under control, she runs out to put a couple of gallons in our tank before her food required attention≥. Whew! Forty miles and we get to the “real” station.  This metropolis has a post office and gas station that sells hunting supplies and junk food.  

Gradually we see a bit more life.  An occasional farm house and irrigated fields.  The town of Burns actually has a real downtown complete with a library.  We eat at “Burns Best Drive-in Diner”.  I think it is the only Drive-In Diner but who’s paying attention. It was actually pretty good.

Just before entering Idaho, we connect up with I—84.  Goodness.  All this traffic! We have 180 degree horizon and can easily spot “scattered showers.”  There are a few hills in the distance and they seem to be congregating in that area.

We have reservations in Buhl which is outside of Twin Falls.  It’s a bit further off the interstate than we thought but gives us a look at rural Idaho life in the area.  It was part of the Oregon Trail.  Our motel is a 60’s style place complete with wagon wheel decoration.  It’s clean, comfortable and friendly.  Everything we need for tonight.  It’s Saturday night and we venture out to a brew pub.  For a Saturday night it’s pretty dead!  But they have some good beer - a chocolate cherry porter is my choice.  That and some good meaty wings.  

Tomorrow we will be at Grand Tetons National Park.  We probably won’t have any internet so this may be the last post for a few days.