[Christina] Day 6: Tetons and Yellowstone!

(Day of June 25)

We woke up early and set out for The World's Longest And Most Scenic Drive-- Craters of the Moon to rural western Montana via Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone! [Elizabeth sidebar: it wasn't that long, except for the traffic jam]

Before we left Idaho, we FINALLY managed to grab a photo of this sign, which I unfortunately couldn't find when it came time to make this post.  Anyway, other states have Wildlife Crossing; Idaho has Game Crossing.  Interesting implications for the relationship of this state to the natural world.

We also drove past the site of the world's first nuclear power plant.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop and look around.

The Power Prius was a real trooper and got us up the mountains to the top of Teton Pass [barely].  Of course, there were glorious photos from the top.

Our elation quickly turned to grumpiness when we got stuck in traffic in Jackson, WY.  Far too built up and affluent for our tastes, we who had gone three days without showering at one point!

Once we reached Grand Teton, however, the traffic dissipated and the scenery was astoundingly beautiful.

From there, it was a quick drive to the entrance of Yellowstone.  The rivers and falls near the South Entrance look like something out of a Bob Ross painting.

At Yellowstone, we had one mission and one mission only: find Norris Geyser Basin. [Elizabeth sidebar] My PhD advisor, Dick Norris, is just about the most knowledgeable person about field sites and places to visit ever. Seriously, I swear he's been pretty much everywhere. He also happens to share the name of Norris Geyser Basin. So when he suggested it as a less crowded and prettier alternative to Old Faithful, that sounded like a fantastic decision. It was still somewhat busy, finding parking was an adventure, but it was SOOOO worth it. Pro tip, if you want to see geysers at Yellowstone, and, you *want* to see geysers at Yellowstone, Norris Geyser Basin is pretty epic. [end sidebar]

We did still manage to see some bison, though.  They are fuzzy and adorable and look like they could kill me in a heartbeat if I made them mad.

There were many lovely rhyolite deposits on the way out of the park.

[Elizabeth sidebar] We had one other very special occasion in Yellowstone: the Power Prius turned 100,000 miles. A fitting place for such an auspicious moment. She's been quite a faithful car thus far, and I hope she continues on for another 100,000 or more. [end sidebar]

From Yellowstone, we drove to Condon, MT.  Why, you ask?  A few months earlier, I had some awesome linguistics research which I wanted to run by Amazing Linguist Sally Thomason at the University of Michigan.  I wrote asking if I could visit her in Michigan.  No, she replied, I'm going to be in Montana, but you are welcome to visit me there, but it's not really on the way to anywhere except Glacier National Park... 

YES, SALLY!!!  [Elizabeth sidebar: I've always wanted to see glaciers before they disappear, so this is a *great* excuse to do it]

We had trouble getting in touch with her, and had ended up only contacting her the day before.  She agreed to host us on one day's notice, which was really, really, really nice of her and her husband Rich.

Getting there proved to be something of a challenge.  We got hit by heavy rain on I-90, and then got stuck in stop-and-go traffic for nearly an hour between Bozeman and Belgrade due to a collision which involved (by the time we got there) four police cars, two fire vehicles, and nine other cars spread across the shoulder. [Elizabeth sidebar: note that this was probably at least 1.5 hours after the accident, and all ambulances were gone from the scene. At least a few cars had also already been towed, as we had seen tow trucks driving past us. Quite a doozy, and we hope that everyone survived.]

At some point after we turned off I-90, we had to stop for gas.  I needed to use the restroom.  I asked an employee about it and was told that the women's restroom was already locked for the night and that I would have to use the men's.  No thanks!  Elizabeth needed to use an ATM.  There was one, but it was in the combination lounge and casino adjacent to the convenience store.  No thanks!  We continued onwards, though we did get a full tank of gas.

As we reached more rural areas, the roads got narrower and narrower and it got darker and darker and rainier and rainier with more and more deer culminating in a tiny dirt road with huge puddles.  It was nutty. [Elizabeth sidebar: it's a darn good thing I drive giant vans for field trips on crazy off-road adventures on a regular basis - this was definitely an adventure, and the Prius did very very well in its newly minted 100k miler state... Sometimes I feel like we should be feeding the car apples at the end of the day for a job well done or something]

But still, we persevered, and finally made it to Sally's.  Thanks, Sally, for letting us stay with you!  She and her husband live in an actual log cabin in the woods with a wood-burning stove and a dog with a Salish name and it is pretty much the coolest thing ever.