You know how on Saturday we let the ladies sleep in until almost noon and the thought was that that was our rest day? Well, it turns out that today was our first true (and unintended) rest day. Saturday we ended up going to Norris and Lower Geyser Basin and didn’t get back to the hotel until quite late so it ended up not being so restful.
Woke up, checked out, ate breakfast at Ernie’s, got gas, went to buy something I failed to buy on Saturday and Wham!, 11 AM by the time we left West Yellowstone. Not too late, but still a bit late.
Having visited Grand Teton National Park the day before there wasn’t a need to take the long cut through Yellowstone and Grand Teton to get to Idaho Falls (an almost five hour drive) but rather the more direct route on US-20 (a two hour-and-change drive). The drive wasn’t hilly but there were mountains and hills and, for a long stretch, the amazing Tetons, off in the distance. One mountain had what looked to be an observatory on it but the trusty Rand McNally atlas was no help at all figuring out what it was.
Woods gave way to farmland. We saw hay, alfalfa (only because it was labeled), and I imagine potatoes but honestly I don’t know what those look like “in the field” — some Irish I am! Michelle was amused that the “watch for wildlife” signs quickly transitioned to “watch for game” signs — the perils that any animal that leaves the National Park system faces are quite dire.
While crossing over the Snake River I saw a huge, white pelican with black on its wings. I was surprised because I had no idea that pelicans’ range included Idaho but it turns out (after a check with Wikipedia) that the American White Pelican does.
Despite several single-lane parts of US-20 where we had to wait to follow a lead car we made decent time to Idaho Falls, arriving about 1:30 PM. We hadn’t eaten lunch yet, however, meaning we wouldn’t set out for Craters of the Moon National Monument (one and a half hours away) until 2:30 PM, putting our arrival at 4 PM. Given that Craters is treeless and waterless we figured it best to wait until Tuesday.
Soooo, in Idaho Falls (a pretty small town) with the afternoon and evening to kill. We ate lunch at Famous Dave’s Barbecue. I think it was trying too hard or something, and the portions were smaller than we’d have liked, but at least it wasn’t too expensive. We then went to GameStop to buy Genetta a new Nintendo DS — her existing DS was having a row of pixels give out, it started as a single pixel and now was almost all the way across a row of the top screen. Since her DS was originally mine and at least five years old I decided it was time to perhaps get a new one (and now I get the busted one all to myself again). Also picked up Dragon Quest IX for the kids to play.
Went to Wal-Mart afterward to get an oil change for the rental car — we’d already been over 2,000 miles and the change oil reminder had come on. Since we have about another 1,000 miles to go (and the rental company said they’d reimburse us) we figured we’d change it to be safe. The store employees were having issues with management and it took way longer than it should have. As with many things on this trip, however, the delay provided an opportunity to talk with a gentleman who was a former police chief and lived in Arco, Idaho. He asked us about our trip, told us a lot about the area and his love of Seattle (which we hope to travel to someday), etc. Generally a great conversation. While at Wal-Mart we also picked up bottled water as the trips to Craters of the Moon and Dinosaur National Monuments would be quite arid.
Checked in to our hotel and decided to go see a movie. We went to Inception at the Grand Teton Stadium 14. Decent theater (neatly decorated with neon and painted murals of movies past) and an interesting movie. Ate at Sol Rio, a Mexican restaurant that managed to be affordable and tasty. Quite the feat! Returned to the hotel to prepare for a very, very early (I’m hoping to get out by 8 AM) checkout and trip to Craters of the Moon.
I may update this later with a few of the pictures I took out of the window during the drive through eastern Idaho but honestly they aren’t that grand. Maybe we’ll just give my hosting provider a rest for the day as well in the form of no photos eating bandwidth!
I’d also like to wish my parents a very happy 41st anniversary!
Route for July 19, 2010