Sunday - September 22, 2019
We had a nice trip to the Tetons and on to Yellowstone. Unfortunately there is almost no cell coverage here and no WiFi. I am doing this post on the phone (painful!). I will have to wait until we are out of the park to catch up.
See you in a few days...
I am back! After 5 wonderful days in Yellowstone (except limited cell service and not internet), we are in the small town of Hardin Montana. I'll be telling you more about Hardin in a later post. For now, I need to get caught up with my post from Yellowstone.
We were up early again because we knew it was going to be a long day. We drove from Ogden to Yellowstone via Grand Tetons National park. We knew we would not have much time in The Tetons so we decided to not do any hiking, just a scenic drive and have a picnic lunch.
We enjoyed the drive through Idaho, the country side is beautiful. We passed miles of potato farms, some of which had recently tilled soil. The earth is a dark, rich color and the refreshing earthy smell permeated the car. We did have to watch out for cattle, since we passed through open range.
You know you are in the outback when you see a sign that says next gas is 70 miles!
We found our cabin, and it was about what we expected, small but clean and in a quiet location. It definately was not an Embassy Suite room (although it cost more than one) but we will survive for 5 days. The big disappointment was the lack of internet and cell service. Later in the evening I realized there was minimul cell service, but when the park is crowded and everyone is on their phone, it is almost no-existant. Even in the late hours, it only barely enough for email and texting.
After passing out of Grand Tetons National Park, it was only about 10 miles until we passed through the entrance into Yellowstone. We still had over 50 miles to go to reach Old Faithful Lodge.
When we finally arrived, it was less than pleasant. First we couldn't find any parking. The place was packed with people and vehicles. Signage was poor and we could not locate a parking spot to even register. When we finally did find parking and reached the desk at the lodge, we were told it would be another hour before our cabin was ready. This wasn't really a surprise because we arrived at 3:30 and check-in is 4:30. I was beginning to have second thoughts about scheduling 5 nights here. We decided to have a look around the lodge and then wait in the lobby. When we did receive our cabin key and went to the car, the lot was about a third empty. Everyone was there to see Old Faithful erupt!
After settling into the cabin, we walked back up-to the Lodge to view the last eruption of Old Faithful before dark.
I was really surprised how small the eruption was...
Maybe after a nights rest, we will have a different perspective.