Yellowstone Part2 - SLC to West Yellowstone

It is 4th of September today, we are back home and I have a lot of backlog. We had booked an SUV and were really looking forward for a Jeep Grand Cherokee but the only options we had was a Dodge and a Hyundai Sentafe. We took the Hyundai. Lots of space even after the stroller, it gets a little cramped in our full size sedan. We headed for hotel Airport inn, a few minutes from the airport(Rishi still asleep). Once at the hotel's reception desk and after a small conversation with the lady there I realized what a blunder I had done! I had booked the hotel for the following night and they did not have any rooms for that night...gripped by panic I frantically started browsing Priceline for nearby hotels. The receptionist here too started calling other hotels in the area to see if they had a room for that night. Every place she called was full! Long weekend! Finally we confirmed a room in Confirm  suites hardly 2 minutes from this place. So within 30 minutes of arriving at Airport inn we were checking in at Comfort suites at double the price of the former. I was kind of waiting for Vivek to explode for this blunder but he didn't :D although he keeps saying to this day that I have a pending one :p

We decided to call it in early as we had a long day ahead of us. Rishi only woke up the next morning much to our relief(except for feeds in between).

We checked out of the hotel, headed to Walmart to stock up on water and groceries. We were pretty sure either we wont find all that we needed or the prices would be sky high. Plus we were staying in a cabin. Now was the time to decide which route to take. We decided to go through the Logan-Bear lake national scenic byway then into the Grand Teton national park, entering Yellowstone through south entrance and exiting from the west entrance as our cabins were near the west entrance. We knew it was going to be an 8-9 hours drive.

Leaving from SLC around 10:30 and Rishi asleep 40 minutes into the drive we headed for route 89. The route moves away completely from civilization after Logan, UT and runs through endless valleys and mountains, lovely streams, lakes and rivers adding to its beauty. The perfect summer bright blue sky with tiny white clouds made the views picture perfect.

As we were nearing Bear lake and we had the first glimpses of the Lake we were mesmerized by its beauty. the mountains on the other side seemed to be going on and on. I wish I had taken out my camera for these pictures. Cell phone is not doing any justice to it!

                                       

We reached Bear lake around 2 pm and as we stopped for directions towards the Bear lake beach, Rishi was awake again. While Vivek drove to the beach Rishi had his formula and was a happy baby by the time we reached the beach. The original plan was to stop at the beach for 20 minutes just to have lunch, but the water looked so amazing and the weather was nice and warm that even though we were not prepared for water, I couldn't resist going in! and the 20 minutes stretched into over an hour and half. So finally when we left Bear Lake after a lunch at Subway, it was past 4 pm.

 While driving along the lake, Vivek offered me to drive :D. I got my DL only a couple of weeks ago, so I was excited and nervous because we had Rishi in the back. I drove for about 30 miles and Vivek was back at wheel just before entering a construction zone. Again the scenery around us kept us involved.

It was getting dark, almost by the time we entered the Grand Tetons National Park and were hit by an unpaved road with too much uneven ground and we decided not to go further. We moved out of the park and started towards West Yellowstone. We were suppose to meet 2 other parties at Tetons visitor center but there was no network and no communication was made.

We halted for almost an hour at a town called Driggs to give Rishi a break from the car seat and picked up some Mexican food for dinner. By this time we were able to contact one of the other parties. As we headed for West Yellowstone through an alternate route to what we had planned it got almost pitch dark as there was hardly any civilization around. Suddenly the weather started to change, lightening and thunderstorms all around us and we could only make out the terrain every time lightening struck. We seemed to be travelling on a flat land with mountains all around us. We also got caught in the rain storm during the last 40 minutes of our drive.

We were actually staying in a cabin in Island Park, Idaho and while driving to the cabin it seemed like we were going to be staying in the middle of nowhere! The other 2 parties seemed to have reached only a few minutes before us. Introductions, sleeping arrangements, meeting friends after a long long time, chatting, gossiping and it was 3 am before we knew it.