Monday, September 13, 2010

Grand Tetons and a Yellowstone Adventure







Sunday September 12. After meeting all those wonderful people, I drove north again, through Jackson to the Grand Teton National Park. The temperature was about 45F when I started out. The mountains are stunning, with a long string of snow capped peaks. Along the east base of the mountains are a number of beautiful lakes. I hiked a three mile path to view of one them.

After exploring the roads and paths of the Tetons, I continued north to the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The park is enormous and it takes a while to get to the various sites. But I chose to head directly to Old Faithful and see if I could get a room, to avoid last night's problems. I figured that since it was Sunday, most people would be heading home and the hotel crunch would ease up. I figured wrong. The desk at the Old Faithful Inn told me there were no available room at any of the hotels in the park. But she told me to keep checking in case a room became available. One young desk person, told me that if I couldn't find a room, she'd give me a blanket and I could find a dark corner of the massive old inn to sleep!

I decided to ride the the west entrance, West Yellowstone and get a room at one of the miriade of motels there. On the ride out I stopped and explored two of the thermal sites and watched the bubbling and boiling water and mud. I rode the thirty miles to the gate and discovered that the whole town was booked! We're talking hundreds, if not thousands of rooms in a very touristy town. I thought that things would slow down by mid September. I was wrong. So, now what? I decided to ride back the thirty miles to the Old Faithful Inn and see if maybe they had a cancellation or if I could take that young girl up on her offer. I presented myself to the desk again and was told there were no rooms. I said that I wasn't prepared to ride in the dark and cold, again with wildlife on the roads. She told me that was wise because you can't see buffalo at night, because their eyes don't even light up. So, she said let me talk to my manager. He came back and told me they had a room that they only used for "emergencies". It was a small room with three bunkbeds in it. I got it for about half of the regular room rate. It was located in the oldest part of the wonderful old inn. I must be doing something right!

So, I brought my stuff into the room, laughing to myself all the way! I spent the rest of the evening exploring this huge log cabin inn, walking around outside and looking at the very bright stars and watching Old Faithful in the dark! At nine, I had dinner in the restaurant. I had a yummy bowl of red pepper soup and a delicious spinach salad. Then I sat in the huge lobby, reading and soaking up the atmosphere of this amazing hotel before turning in in my emergency room.

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