Day Three: Mountains, Pizza, $100 t-shirts, Geysers, #DontGetEatenByABear2017, Don't Look Down, AirBnB, Rain
WYOMING
1. Olivia Benson is Awesome
I forced myself not to get out of bed until 6am. Did you know Law and Order SVU is on at 5am? Nothing like lying in bed watching Benson and Stabler do their thing first thing in the morning.
MONTANA
1. Holy Toledo Southern Montana
Ok, so, I-90 is a gorgeous drive. The entire way from Buffalo to Bozeman I was entranced. I drove through some awesome scenery and did take a photo driving toward Crazy Mountain going 85 miles per hour. Which I know you should NEVER DO. But I'm still alive.
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| Don't do what I did. |
2. Red Tractor Pizza
The reason I went through Montana instead of driving through Wyoming to get to Yellowstone was because of Red Tractor Pizza in Bozeman. I have this sweet app on my phone that can look up gluten free restaurants wherever you are, so during my planning I plugged in several towns because and Red Tractor Pizza came up with rave reviews. I could get a gluten free pizza with vegan cheese? Are you kidding me!? So, Montana route it was. So good. So worth it. Bozeman seemed a lot like Iowa City to me. It's a college town (Montana State), and it had funky shops, organic restaurants, and just seemed cool. Note to Ames: get cooler! More funky shops, more cool restaurants. Stop forcing me to spend my money in Des Moines :)
I hated it obviously :)
3. Gallatin River
I drove down Highway 191 from Bozeman and almost the entire way we drive along the Gallatin River. I did NOT stop to take pictures because traffic was heavier, but I did see people white water rafting down it. So cool! You're also driving through Gallatin National Forest on this route. Again...beautiful.
4. West Yellowstone and The Race That Could Not Be
West Yellowstone is super cute and I want to explore a little more when it's not pouring. I checked in to the Half Marathon that I'm not able to run and planned my entire vacation around so that I could pick up my sweet $100 race t-shirt. It's a pretty cool shirt, actually, so I guess I shouldn't be too upset that I may not be able to run again. Both my doctor and the orthopedic surgeon have told me I have super tight hips. I'm taking it as a compliment. Nobody wants loose hips, right? Loose hips sink ships? Now I feel like I'm a WW2 STD poster. This post got off track. Translation: My left hip has some serious issues, I'm not allowed to run until they figure out what's wrong, it's not arthritis, but the pain is in a weird spot, where I also happen to be super ticklish so when they were giving me my shot of cortisone (yeah steroids!), I couldn't lie still and kept giggling and they must have thought I was a moron. But now I have a cool new shirt. And a reason to come to Yellowstone, which was the point all along. And I've started swimming, which means eventually I'll look like Michael Phelps probably.
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| Check out my new shirt! |
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| The finish line... :( |
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
1. National Park Non-Virgin
You guys, this is my second national park, and I always say Go Big or Go Home. I got the year pass since I'm also going to the Grand Tetons on this trip.
2. Geysers
I didn't make it to Old Faithful because I plan on going on Sunday, but I wanted to drive around and get my bearings and check out part of the park this afternoon since I, once again, was ahead of my made up schedule due to leaving so early in the morning. I walked the boardwalks at two of the geyser areas and they are super cool. They also make boiling sounds, which I wasn't expecting, and smell a little bit like yeasty dough rising matched with dead fish. I can't explain it any different than that.
3. My First Hike at Yellowstone
Ok, so I've been planning this trip for a while. Researched the trails, where I should hike, what I should see, where I should go so I don't get eaten by a bear, etc. At my second geyser spot, there was a sign for Mystic Falls one mile away. I thought 'I love waterfalls! Let's check it out!'. So I started hiking and hit a sign that said 'Mystic Falls .7 miles one way, Overlook 1 miles, and Mystic Falls 1.7 miles the other way. I assumed (and you know what happens...) that the overlook was to see the Mystic Falls and that if I walked the Overlook/1.7 Mystic trail, I would get to see it from two vantage points. So I went the Overlook direction. Which resulted in me hiking almost straight vertical for a mile. Gave that hip steroid shot a run for it's money!
Now...I have also been planning by packing a backpack full of stuff I might need while hiking, including bear spray, travel guide, water, food, etc. I did not have this backpack with me. I had changed out of my sandals before I entered the park, and threw on a sweatshirt, but the only other thing I had was my cross the shoulder bag.
Everything I read said that you shouldn't hike alone in Yellowstone, and that is exactly what I'm doing, so I had already decided to play podcasts on my phone while hiking so it sounds like people are talking, to avoid being bear food. So I took off (vertically) with nothing on my but my bag, my cell phone, and my spunky spirit. The podcasts were Nerdist interviewing the cast of Orange is the New Black and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me with Guy Ritchie, so educational! After I was done, I found out that I had hiked to the Biscuit Basin overlook (elevation change of 800 feet). I don't know if that's a hard elevation change or not, but I am from flat as a pancake land, and my biggest hill is 13th street, so I was super proud of myself. There were also several spots on the trail where I did not look down because there was a pretty steep drop off directly to my right (sorry Mom!). But I made it to the top, and then continued on to see Mystic Falls. It ended up being a 3 mile hike, which felt good after sitting in a car so much the past several days. First Hike: Success.
I did not see any bears. But I did see what I think was a woodchuck.
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| View from the Overlook |
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| Coming back down, don't look down! |
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| I finally found Mystic Falls |
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| Hey look, clearly says Bear Territory. Should be read BEFORE hike, not after... |
IDAHO
1. Rain
It was sprinkling or raining almost the entire time I was in Yellowstone, and by the time I finished my hike, it was raining really hard, so I decided to call it a day and head to my home away from home for the next two days. I rented an AirBnB cabin outside of Island Park, Idaho and holy cow.
2. My Cabin is on a Lake, Y'all!
And you know how much I hate when people who are not Southern say 'y'all'...so this is a big deal. The cabin is amazing, it's on Lake Henry, the view is spectacular, and I can't wait to take pictures of the view once the rain stops.
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