Yellowstone wrap up

So this morning we awoke to the ground with a fresh coat of snow on it.  I saw people out scraping their windshields, it made me laugh.  The road also had a thin coating of ice in certain spots.  I almost lost my footing a couple times. 

I didn’t want to waste time so after eating a quick breakfast from the deli we packed up the van and headed out.  Our plan was to go around the loop in the opposite direction we went to get to Old Faithful.

We saw so many awesome sights along the way.  We saw a ton of bison, some of them no more than 20 feet away from us.  We also went through another geyser hot spring area that had quite an interesting history.

The area is full of downed, dead trees.  After reading the info board we found out why.  In 1978 there were a series of strong earthquakes that shook the hell out of the trees but they remained standing.  However shortly after the earthquakes the ground the trees stood on got incredibly hot, around 200 degrees.  The high temps killed the trees from the bottom up.  Could you imagine 200 degree dirt?

We spent into the early afternoon exploring the park.  It was fantastic.  We wound up our Yellowstone experience eating lunch in a picnic area where we were observed by some sort of gopher/squirrel/prairie dog looking animal.

The only gripe we had about the park was they are very restrictive on their rules with dogs.  They aren’t allowed on the trails, not allowed more than 100 ft off the road, not allowed to do very much at all.  It’s a bit of a bummer.  I would have loved to hike some trails with the dogs.

In reality we only brushed the surface of what Yellowstone has to offer.  Hell we could have easily spent a week there hiking and exploring.  Unfortunately for us to do that we will need to do a trip sans-pooches.

Luckily we had a relatively short drive to Idaho Falls which is a good thing.  I just was sick and tired of driving.  Idaho is very pretty and very rural.  The populated areas are few and far between.

I was a bit rammy when we got here.  Not being able to do any semblance of a regular workout routine bothers me.  I did a quick search for “Idaho Falls playground” hoping to find a spot with some bars where I could do some body weight work on.

I got a hit that was less than a mile away.  I told Ali I was going to check it out.  Well what I actually found was a beautiful park along the river that was dog friendly.  I called Ali up and told her I would be right back to get her, the dogs will love it.

So we headed back here with the dogs in tow.  They have been getting rammy themselves.  They didn’t understand why we left them behind in the van time and again as we checked out various things around Yellowstone.  We put them on their extended leashes so they could roam around awhile.

The park was very scenic.  We walked a good distance up and back.  We saw an otter on our journey as well as somebody water skiing in a wet suit on the river. Everyone had a good time.  Nope I never did find any bars to work out on.

This trip has mentally been tough.  In the past on our journeys west we had periods of 5 or 6 days when were at my dad’s place waking up in the same bed.  This time around the only time we will be at a place for more than one night will be the two nights at Aspen.  Other than that it is round robin accommodations.

We travel with a lot of stuff.  Each time we crash at a hotel I have to lug no less than a dozen bags up into the room and then reverse the process the following morning.  It’s a drag, believe me, not to mention EXPENSIVE.

Tomorrow Ali is running in a local 10K, something she planned months ago.  After that we have a very busy day with many things to see and not enough time to see it all.  Originally I had hoped to make  a mid-trip addition of the Bonneville Salt Flats to our agenda.  However logistically it just won’t work out.

Since the Aspen reservations are set in stone we just don’t have flexibility to add a day to our travels leading up to it.  Oh well, I’ll see the flats next time.

Tomorrow we should be seeing the Craters of the Moon national park and a couple other places recommended to us from one of our running club buddies that just happened to live in Idaho for a long time.  Our stopping point will be Salt Lake City.

Oh yea here is the Yellowstone, in the snow, on a boulder, with mountains in the background L sit picture.