West Yellowstone, Montana, United StatesWhite Buffalo Inn
| 236 Dunraven St, West Yellowstone, MT, US |
| +1 406-646-7681 |
I was feeling the pressure of the coming day when I woke up a little after 6 am.
I decided to "sleep" until 6:30, but then got up and started my day. I seemed to be very disorganized as I packed up, tryig to figure out what to pack and move to the car. Everything depended on something and had to wait, but I took some stuff out when I went to get coffee and breakfast. There was no breakfast - sorry though it might have been and needed to be apolgized for. I added the creamers because the coffeemate just didn't do it. I then tried to nuke yesterday's coffee and gave up since it tasted horrible when I tried it. I decided to wait to eat my breakfast until I went to the grocery store again and bought some yogurt. I mixed up the bananas, blueberries and muesli in the old yogurt container - just waiting for yogurt....or milk. Finally I managed to leave around 8 am, drove to the store and bought both milk and yogurt - Tillamook yogurt! Traffic was heavy so it took awhile to get in and out of the grocery store parking lot.
Then I headed for West Yellowstone via Grand Teton NP. I finished up most of the things to see - a few overlooks I may have missed as well as another visit to the Oxbow Bend Turnoff.
This time the colors were brighter I think, but no ducks. I visited the Mormon homestead which I really liked. What a view they had of the Tetons from their back yard. I also visited the Cunningham ranch and took an interesting shot of the Tetons from the center space between the two ends of the ranch house. At the Oxbow turnoff I followed a well-dressed woman with long black hair and a black tunic and leggings. She asked me where I was from and said that NY had beautiful places too, but we both agreed that the Tetons are special. She said she lives in Jackson and visits the Tetons every day. She was an exceptionally beautiful woman - perfect make-up and shiny long hair and perfect figure. I kind of wondered if I should have recognized her because she is famous, but I didn't. I also wondered what she did for a living. She was friendly and very pleasant. At the Mormon settlement, I asked a woman what she found so interesting in the ditch she seemed to be taking a photo of. She showed me her photo and said she was just looking for interesting foreground. She was from Montana and this is her third visit to the Tetons. She came with her sister from Minnesota. Nice people. She was helping her sister with her camera settings. Both had Nikons. I had my little Nikon bridger. She sympathized with my plight of not being able to deal with settings because of old eyes.
It was past one pm when I left Oxbow Bend. I had wanted to leave the Tetons by noon, but I loved them so much I couldn't help but linger.
There were a few stops on the John D Rockefeller Jr. Highway to the South Entrance of Yellowstone. Then I made my way to Grant Village, passed it, marveled at the beautiful rivers and the drop off as I climbed up to the Continental Divide 3 times I think. I don't know how that can be, but it was I think ... at least 2. Soon after the pass, I saw the sign for Old Faithful. This stretch of the Yellowstone loop is chock full of geysers and such. I knew I was pressed for time and could only choose to make a few stops - Old Faithful being one. I had meant to check for geyser gushing times, but hadn't. I drove into the side road, was a bit confused, saw lots of fancy buildings and parking lots. I managed to find a space to park. I saw people walking - they seemed to be walking in the same directions, then I saw a mass of people standing on a hillside in front of the buildings. I followed some people, then saw a ranger and asked about Old Faithful. He said it was scheduled to go any minute now. I hussled along and found a place to stand.
After a minute or two at most, Old Faithful gushed up spraying lots of steam. Some said that it did not last as long as other times and was not so forceful, but I was impressed. After the crowd dispersed, I saw some signs for a walking loop - most on a boardwalk that took in quite a few more bubbling geysers, steaming geysers, with lots of orange and yellow stains on the ground. There was a mild sulpher smell - not bad at all - actually a little sweet.
I thought the walk might take an hour or so and I would be satisfied with a range of geyser type phenomena as my stops on this section of the loop for today. If I spent this extra hour, I should get to the hotel in West Yellowstone at 6 pm - well before my curfew of 7 pm. As it turned out, I made a few more very quick photo stops and had the misfortune of getting in a traffic jam as all the cars were exiting the park, coming to a stop sign and not being able to make a left turn there. The traffic was stop and go for more than 5 miles. The last 14 miles into the village were not so bad except for the sun getting into my eyes and not being able to see. I really have to wash the windows with the windex I bought.
Oh, I forgot the latest episode of what have I lost - I lost the car in the Old Faithful parking lot. I thought I had parked on the edge closest to the geyser field. I checked all the cars in the first row and the ones in the 2nd row, both sides. The I walked farther down and checked a whole row of cars down there.
I was beginning to get panicky since I needed to find the car so I could leave in time to get to lodgings before dark. I started over and careflly looked at each car in the first row, then the 2nd, and then 3rd; then, when I went on to the next row, I found my car - but not where I thought I had parked it. All was well - I hopped in, took a drink of gatorade since it was hot out there in the geyser field, and my clothes were too warm.
I took a few wrong turns on my way to the hotel in West Yellowstone, but found it. I parked in what I thought was their parking lot, but it is a street. I asked about a place to walk to for food, like pizza, and was told that I should walk four blocks down the street. First I went to get another load of stuff and then I went out for food. I didn't find anything down on this street so I went over one to where there was a sort of main street. I saw a sign and found a restaurant with hopping business, put in my order for a small veggie pizza and asked about beer or wine. The pizza chef directed me to a liquor store across the street. He said I could use the 20 min it would take to make the pizza to get my drink. I bought 3 artisan type beers and the clerk said please to me. I said thank you. He said his family taught him to be polite and not to disillusion his younger sisters about Santa Claus. We politely said goodbye. I waited to be called that my pizza was done. Unfortunately, I hadn't checked the time when I left so didn't know when 20 min was up. I asked and found out it was done, so I collected it and came back to hotel. I meant to eat half, or maybe 3/4s but I ended up eating all of it. The pizza and IPA both well done.
I had to make an extra trip to bring in my food to be refrigerated. Too bad this refrigerator does not have a freezer, but at least the food will be kept cold . It might have been colder outside except that the food was insulated from the cold. It was 17C when I looked while waiting for the pizza.
Now I have to get going with photo uploading from 2 different cameras. I took a lot of photos with my cell phone again today.
2025-05-22