2nd day, heading to the moon

Last night we got back later than we planned due to slow pace of vehicle movement in and out of Yellowstone.  We decided to do a very simple and low calorie dinner, picking up soup and salad that we prepared in the room.

I also messed around with my Phantom copter, trying to dislodge whatever debris was making the motors stick.  I turned it upside down and smacked each motor mount several times. I followed up by using my mouth as a primitive air blower, using it to try to further dislodge any foreign objects.  I plugged the battery back in and was surprised that all four props fired up again.  This morning I put the drone up in the air for a minute to make sure it was ok.  It appears to have survived my poor piloting decision.

Last night Cindy was trying to nail down our lodging for tonight.  We planned to stay in Idaho Falls.  After some searching it seemed like there was basically nothing available which seemed odd.  Sure it’s a Friday night but it’s Idaho Falls, wtf?  During one of Cindy’s calls where she was told there were no rooms we asked if there was something going on that was causing the lack of hotel rooms.  The woman said that this weekend was college check in weekend and the entire town was basically sold out.  It seemed late to me for college to be starting but at least we have our explanation. We wound up having to book a room at a hotel in a town named Pocatello which is 50 miles further south.

We woke up this morning after a less than stellar night of sleep.  So far on the trip I only recall one night where I slept straight through, everything else has been fragmented.  We enjoyed our free breakfast and checked out.  The hotel was great, the only negative was the the 20 or so taxidermied animals that were used to decorate the lobby.

One of the first places we stopped at in the park was Mud Avalanche, a cool spot with a bunch of thermal activity.  We walked the 1KM path which included a steep incline that had both of us out of breath.  The thin air was doing a number on us.

Even though we were getting out of the car often to see various sights we also were still spending hours driving around.  The excessive sitting is getting problematic.  In my case it is my lower back that is the most sore.  I could really use a day with no driving.

We had some awesome wildlife sightings on day two .  Multiple times we were face to face with packs of buffalo.  We also saw a very large bear crossing a lake near the road, there were tons of people stopped to check it out.

We took the northern loop today, covering the area we did not drive yesterday.  It was definitely different visually including a beautiful canyon area that was very, very cool.  Since we had to still drive a good distance to get to our hotel we made less stops in the park, just hitting what we found cool.

I am finding myself getting a little nuts from all of the driving.  When we took the Prius last year we had those few days in Durango where we basically stayed put.  This time we haven’t had that break since visiting Yellowstone still requires a lot of drive time.  We recently cleared the west entrance of the park, cutting through the corner of Montana before heading south in Idaho.

Our two days in Yellowstone were nothing short of spectacular.  The weather was pretty much perfect and we saw so many incredible things they all blur together.  Being in places like Yellowstone is a good way to realign your internal compass and get some perspective on what is truly important and beautiful.

Tomorrows highlight is a return to Craters of the Moon.  I look forward to taking my time to explore the park.  If you have ever seen the single wooden pole picture that adorns my blog, that is from Craters of the Moon.  It is one of most unique spots I have ever seen.

We have so far put more than 3000 miles on the odometer, a hefty total for 6 days.