Road Trip 2019 Day 3: Yellowstone and Grand Teton

Day 3 - 24 June 2019

Our alarm went off around 6am. I had woken up about 4am, but managed to fall back asleep. The tipi bed was very comfy and we stayed warm with a pile of  blankets. I eventually rolled out of bed, gathered up a towel and toiletries and wandered to the shower/bathroom area just a few yards from our tipi. One of the guard llamas was grazing in its pen near our tipi. It still had a very suspicious look on its face and wouldn’t come near me for a few pets. The bathroom set up was very nice. The hosts had some croissants and cinnamon rolls out for all the guests to snack on. We packed up and were headed to Yellowstone by 8am.

We made it to the entrance of the park by 8:40. It took another hour or so of driving, with construction, to get to the heart of things. We had to stop for gas once we got into the park. We stopped to see some sulfur springs, aka Earth farts. Pheew! While we were driving super slow in construction traffic, Ross plotted out the route to take based on how much time we wanted to spend here for the day. The first stop was Uncle Tom’s trail and the Upper and Lower falls, and Artist’s Point. Such wonders of nature. After the falls, we stopped at the Steamboat geyser, which is one of the highest geysers in the world. The last major eruption was about a week prior and at 2:20am. We just saw it steaming, but no eruptions. We didn’t stay long at this stop because we wanted to have time to see Old Faithful. I enjoyed all the signs just off the trail that said “fragile thermal area.” The next stop planned was the Grand Prismatic Spring, but I drove right by the entrance. It was so busy, that we didn’t bother turning around to check it out. We saw some of it while driving slowly along our route. 

We finally arrived at the Old Faithful area around 1pm. Man is that place crowded. It took us what felt like forever to find a parking spot. As we drove around the lots, we noticed Old Faithful was doing its thing. That meant we had anywhere between 75 and 105 minutes until it went off again. Finally, we found a good parking spot and got to the visitor’s center. The predicted next eruption was 2:26pm, plus or minus 10 minutes. We had just under 90 minute to wander. This area of Yellowstone is SO CROWDED. The lines for the gift shops and snack shops were so long. We did wander into a gift shop and I found a Christmas ornament that had the year on it. I’ve started to collect ornaments from places we’ve been, so I dropped the $30 for an overpriced ornament to add to our collection. After our hour of wandering the area, we found a spot on a log to sit and wait for Old Faithful to wow us with its high flying water show. It spewed at 2:22pm just a few minutes earlier than predicted.....typical...;)

After witnessing the majesty of Yellowstone, it was time to move on. We headed out of the park and towards the Grand Tetons and dinner. Ross had found a place called Leeks’ Marina that serves pizza with an amazing view. Funny story, when researching the place we mistakenly read “Marina” for “Marinara.” So we just called it the Marinara. Makes sense. Marinara goes on pizza, right? Anyway, We got to Leek’s around 4:15. We ordered a Popeye pizza and added broccoli from a lady named Charlotte. The pizza was great and we had leftovers for either later that night or the next morning. And the photos didn’t lie, the views of the Grand Tetons was amazing. I loved it more than anything I had seen in Yellowstone. After we left Leek’s we headed towards Idaho Falls. Not long after we were on the road, we saw a bunch of people pulled off to the side of the road. An entire heard of Bison! We did the same and got some photos. It was so beautiful with the Grand Tetons as a back drop. The views were just incredible. The Grand Tetons already have a special place in my heart. I was fascinated by them. 

We crossed into Idaho at 6:45pm and made it to our hotel, The Shilo Inn, at about 8pm. We were in Idaho Falls! The city of my birth! I was excited to explore the next day to see what we could find. After unloading our bags in our room, we decided to go exploring for a little bit. We found the supposed bridge where my parents carved their initials in, so many years ago. After texting my mom, we decided to come back the next morning to see what we could find. Our final stop of the night was a local bar called Tap N’ Fill. Ross got two local beers. Stouts called Black Cauldron and Ivan the Terrible. I had a cider from a Washington place called Avid. They closed up around 9pm, so that meant it was time to head back to our hotel. I finally posted Day 1 of the blog and then tucked in for bed, excited to see what Idaho had in store for us in the morning.

Stats

Miles Driven: 312.2

Hours Traveled: 12

Steps Taken: 10, 419

Miles Walked: 4.9

Bison Seen: So many!