Yay! We're off and running on a pleasant drive up to Soda Springs, Idaho then over the border to Alpine, Wyoming and a night’s stay at the Nordic Inn. After a rough evening (for Michael)– apparently my bedcover thievery got way out of hand, we joined four other adults, two children and a Mad River outfitter to run (that’s river rafting for you city kids) 8 ½ miles of the Snake River. Michael was a lead paddler – right up front on the right-hand side. I’m thinking our guide, Jim, took a special liking to Mike because he got all the fun and the water! We ran Class I, II and III rapids - it was so amazing…and a little chilly. Michael also was the first to play Wheel of Fortune on the raft. He stood up and tried to balance on the bow of the boat while every one paddled as fast as they could to make the raft spin. He made me proud!
After we dried off and ate a picnic lunch, it was time to head up to Jackson Hole and the Grand Teton National Park. We had a leisurely stroll by Jenny Lake then drove past the magnificent Jackson Lake and on to our cabin at Lake Village at Yellowstone Park. When we pulled into the parking area of our destination, there were about 25 buffalo grazing and grumbling through the cabins and cars. I guess I never realized that buffalo are great grumblers. They just graze and grumble all over the place.
I knew we were in trouble when Michael took our luggage into the cabin and came out and said with a laugh, “It’s really primitive.” And truthfully, it was. However, I didn’t mind the really, really old room and furnishings or the fact that there isn’t a phone, television or air conditioning to be found. Or even that the bathroom sink is next to the bed. I did struggle with the bed itself. I mean seriously, it’s not much bigger than a twin and it certainly isn’t a full size – we’ll just call it a fwin.
After surveying our little piece of cabin heaven we walked up to Lake Lodge and sat on two log rocking chairs on the grand porch overlooking Yellowstone Lake and played UNO until about 9:30 at night. Then it was back to the cabin to watch a movie on my laptop. It’s probably important here to insert that I have paranoia with bears and when Michael insisted that it was okay to leave our food in our cabin with us instead of putting it back in the car I was rather…hesitant. At this point I tried to go to my happy place and to sleep but it was tough, I was cold and cramped on the fwin and I knew a bear was going to break in at any moment. I finally slept – fitfully – and awoke to a brand new bearless day. It seems as if all the smart bears were in another campground last night because a smart bear could have just turned the key that Michael left in the front door last night and walked right in!
Today we headed up through the Park. We walked along Fishing Bridge, hiked around Upper and Lower Falls, and saw more bad-smelling, rainbow colored mud pots and springs than the senses can hold in one day. We also drove to the Tower Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin before heading back to fwin sweet fwin. Along the way we started to write down all the states represented by car’s license plates. Right now we have 41 states. Crazy!
So there you have it - a travelogue of the first 2 ½ days of our road trip. There’s been goofing off, grumbling, paranoia and smells. Sounds like a perfect vacation to me!
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