Wild, Wild West... Part II - Day 6

Day 6 - Bozeman, Montana to Twin Falls, Idaho

We began day 6 with a drive-thru tour of Montana State University. Not sure why we find looking at colleges intriguing but we do. We checked out University of Wyoming as well! Home of the Montana State Bobcats was a nice campus - cute historic area, some historical campus buildings, nice green areas. All of which, though, will probably be covered in two feet of snow by September!

M for Montana State University

We also like to scope out donut shops on our travels so my guy had done his research and found Granny's Gourmet Donuts near the campus. We were excited about trying new donuts but instead found a CLOSED sign in the window. Apparently, Granny doesn't like to make donuts on Mondays. :-(

Last view of Montana

We had little time in Bozeman but we liked it enough to return one day should the opportunity arise! Next we headed toward Idaho. We traveled south mostly skirting the edge of Yellowstone Park. The park actually is in three states! Our Montana views were very mountainous even though it is know as Big Sky country.  We went through the town of West Yellowstone and then headed into Idaho. 

First view of Idaho

For whatever reason Jac starting jumping to touch all the signs so the girls had to do it too but Jac ended up usually have to give them a lift!

Our first stop was to be Mesa Falls; however the natives were hungry. The only difficulty is most of civilization was behind us! We finally found the town of Last Chance, Idaho. Literally, that was the town's name. It had a "convenience" store with gas; a library (yay!) which was in their convenience store; a sit down restaurant; and a place called Grub Stake!

LIBRARY in Last Chance, Idaho!!

Library in the convenience store

Grub Stake was recommended by the convenience store clerk for a "grab and go" sandwich. When we went in to Grub Stake, we saw an old dinette set by the window with a laptop on it, cases of beer on the floor and everything from Campbell's soup to mascara. In the way back corner was a counter with two women working behind it and a chalkboard menu of breads, meats and assorted sandwich toppings and condiments. As we began to try and articulate our order, one of the kind ladies quickly said, "Have you all been here before?"

After a quick Grub Stake sandwich ordering lesson, we all ordered and each included Dionne's homemade mustard dressing on our sandwiches. We were told that EVERYONE ordered the mustard. So, when in Last Chance, Idaho... you do as the locals do (although, I have no idea who would be local here - there literally were no houses).  Y'ALL!!! Let me just say, Last Chance is hiding a sandwich superstar!!! Grub Stake is serious about their sandwiches and Dionne is a master as making this special mustard dressing! 

I got all the topping on my sandwich except banana peppers and jalapenos!

We were definitely well nourished and ready for our first stop - Mesa Falls, which happens to be the only remaining falls on the Snake River untouched by humans... as in it hasn't been dammed or turned into a source of electrical power. A short walk on a nicely paved path got us super close the Upper Falls.

The lower falls had to be viewed from afar. Mesa Falls is a bit off the beaten path but very worth the effort. AND it's near Grub Stake so it's really a two-for! (I'm still thinking about that sandwich!)

Lower Falls

We left Mesa Falls and headed toward Idaho Falls. It wasn't a stopping point for us due to time so from there we took a back road with our final destination to be the town of Twin Falls. The backroads scenery was a lot of low growing sagebrush. While we thought we were just driving through open, deserted plains, we soon realized there was a really large facility of some sort out there in the middle of no where. It happened to be Idaho National Laboratories and since 1949, more nuclear reactors have been built on that Idaho Plain than anywhere else in the world! We also passed through Arco, Idaho - the first town to be powered by atomic energy.

We got another view of our beautiful Tetons from the other side!

These GIANT dandelions were everywhere so Audrey was determined to blow the seed away and make wish. It took way more effort than we imagined!

GIANT seeds

The land quickly flattened to Idaho Plains

All of these riveting sites were on our trek to Craters of the Moon National Monument - our next site to visit. Again, out in the middle of nowhere are about 1000 square miles of lava fields, remaining volcano cone fragments, lava rock/dust and sagebrush. The last eruption of this volcano dates back 2000 years ago. And based on what I read, it could happen again??? While a field of lava rock doesn't sound especially spectacular, it was really, really cool! The patterns, colors, shapes, plant life... definitely glad it was one of our stops.

Everywhere is a place to dance for this girlie!

This tree along with many in the area suffered from a parasite that tricked the tree into sending nutrients to the areas that look spiky and thus neglecting the rest of the tree. It's called Witches Broom because that's what the limbs end up looking like.

Even wildflowers among the lava rock

We began our trip to Twin Falls and Chris discovered a low tire! We literally were in the middle of nowhere with no phone signal so we carefully made our way to a very small town about 30 miles away which wasn't much more than a 4-way stop. However, they did have air! He pumped the tire full and it got us to Twin Falls! Where... we found a Chick-fil-a for our very late dinner. We were also greeted with an AMAZING sunset! And if you know me, you know I love a sunset!

One of many Idaho farm fields

The Perrine Bridge going into Twin Falls

Snake River Canyon at Twin Falls

Next on our Wild, Wild West... Part II tour is exploring Twin Falls and heading to Utah via Bonneville Salt Flats!

Wild, Wild West... Part II - Day 5

Day 5 - Final day in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks

Grand Teton and Jackson Lake

We said goodbye to our majestic Tetons and spent our last day in Yellowstone. I'm not gonna lie; I was a little sad.

Not sure if these folks were saying hello or goodbye to the Tetons but I couldn't resist taking a pic of their vehicle! :-)

These GIANT dandelions are everywhere... not sure why they are so big and if they are even from what we know as dandelions???

We started the day's Yellowstone visit with a stop at Old Faithful. I mean it seems like a rite of Yellowstone passage, right?  We had a little time to kill before the dependable geyser was scheduled to do its thing so we explored the Old Faithful Inn built in 1904. So historic and sooooo many logs! Just beautiful! We meandered around until geyser spouting time and then found a spot to view. As expected, Old Faithful erupted right on time, give or take 10 minutes. I watched and snapped until I and my camera started to get sprayed with yucky geyser water! The eruption didn't last long and traffic getting out of the area was incredibly horrendous... I would opt for Steamboat over Old Faithful any day!

We headed to the northern part of the park next. We crossed over the middle and worked our way north from the east side. Such pretty and diverse scenery!

During one of our stops, we spied a Peregrine Falcon family! They were living on a ledge of a cliff - some kind of place to pick for a home - they really need a better real estate agent. We actually had no idea they were Peregrine Falcons. We just relied on the gentleman with the three foot camera lens that looked like looked like a telescope to tell us. Pretty cool!

If you look at the center of this pic at the very bottom, you can see the ledge where the falcons had their nest.

Our last official Yellowstone site was Mammoth Falls. These are springs that pop up through the ground with water that has super high levels of calcium. So over the years and years of flowing, the calcium creates these really interesting cliff-like structures. One of the springs, Jupiter Spring, popped up in the early 1900's and as the water flowed, the trees sucked up the calcium rich water. Unfortunately for the trees, the calcium basically clogged their veins and essentially turned the trees to "stone." They still stand today with their trunks buried in layers of calcium deposits.

Also in this area was what was originally Yellowstone Fort, created to protect the area from those that wanted to exploit the land instead of preserve it. Now the buildings are used for workers and such.

You can see the buildings in the middle of the pic - this is the old fort area.

We exited the park at the north entrance at the Roosevelt Arch - the original park entrance. Thanks, Teddy! The Pattersons are so glad you had the foresight to know how special these lands are and that they needed to be protected! We thank you!

After leaving Yellowstone, we drove through Montana to Bozeman for the night.  Super cute town - would definitely like to stay a little longer. We had dinner at the yummy Bozeman Ale Works. Audrey tried Bison for the first time! We ended the evening with a Bozeman sunset. As Audrey called it... A Rainbow Sky!

On Day 6, we make our way to Idaho!