Tuesday night was blessedly free of parking lot cleaners. I think I slept better that night than any other (not including naps, I had a few really good ones on this trip). Tuesday night Mom and I did some token shopping, while Wednesday morning Dad upgraded his Garmin GPS to get one that included such features as speed limits, traffic warnings, and Canadian maps (?).
I took one of my really good naps shortly after we left. It was so good, in fact, that I didn't wake up at all over the twisty, bumpy mountain roads. It wasn't until we stopped at a "Point of Interest" that I woke up at all, much to the surprise of my family, who were sure that there was no way anyone could have slept through such an unstable ride.
I am told that there were many "Points of Interest" along this particular stretch. There was no real rhyme or reason as to why we stopped at this particular one except that a few of us needed to stretch and move around a bit. I did enjoy the scenery at this one, and I'm a little sad to admit that I didn't even bother to read the posted sign apart from the title. Good thing I took a picture (though to be honest I still haven't read it).
(This is one of my favorite pictures of Mom from the whole trip)
We stopped in Cody, WY for lunch at Pizza Hut, where unfortunately they were out of garlic bread. Mom and Dad were, however, pleasantly surprised by the cheese sticks (having had them before, I was also happy with how much better they can be when fresh (yeah, I know, go figure)). We forged ahead towards Yellowstone, and passed the hours in our own fashions. Michael also slept pretty soundly:
After driving a few hours we came upon a line of cars, where a man in a construction vest was walking up and down to let the drivers know that it would be around fifteen or twenty minutes before we were allowed to pass.
Not to miss an opportunity, Michael and I ventured out of the RV. Michael proceeded almost immediately to climb the nearest rise:
We then walked up the line of cars, looking for license plates from states that we hadn't seen yet on our trip. Our family goal was to beat Laura and Chris's mark of having seen 41 of the 50 states on their own vacation. While we were unsuccessful at this particular stop, we were able ultimately to find all of the states but Hawaii. And yes, I still say that I did see New Mexico on our way to Sheridan from Mt Rushmore! :)
Our fellow travelers also found ways to pass the time. Made me almost wish that I had brought a football.
As promised we were on our way in around the projected time. Michael and I retreated into the bedroom and watched Rurouni Kenshin (my favorite anime show), while Dad, Bill and Mom were the first to enjoy the rich, scenic vistas of Yellowstone National Park. Our first stop there was at this little patch of gravel lining Yellowstone Lake:
(This picture is my own personal favorite picture of the entire trip)
We soon made it to Old Faithful, with the aid of the new GPS. One thing I continually found amusing, while also being grateful, was that it was virtually impossible to lose the RV in a parking lot:
While Dad was parking the RV, and after a brief stop near the geyser itself to see when the next projected eruption would be, Mom, Bill, Michael and I made our way over to the "General Store". Like at Mt Rushmore, it really struck me just how much logo merchandise Yellowstone had--our store doesn't feature nearly so much, though I think that will be likely to change in the relatively near future. I did love their selections, with the exception in that they didn't sell any rings at all (I'd been hoping to find one to go on the ring finger of my right hand). I did however see something that I had been considering selling at my store and took the opportunity to ask a cashier about how well they do.
About twenty minutes before the projected eruption, we made our way back to Old Faithful, where we joined Dad. I took a lot of pictures, of which here are some of my favorites:
One of the more humorous parts of our vacation occured here--right before the eruption, the wind changed direction and started blowing right toward us. After totally getting showered by Old Faithful's eruption, we jokingly renamed the geyser "Old Faceful".
Shortly after we left the geyser, Michael and I returned to Rurouni Kenshin. We were surprised at a hurried stop and calls of "Deborah, get your camera!". Mom and I rushed out of the RV so that she could get a picture of her with this bison:
As you technically are not allowed to stop at the side of the road, Mom had to hurry back over. My camera has a bit of a delay, and so I didn't actually get the picture until after she had started checking out traffic to cross back over to our side of the street.
There aren't many Walmarts on the West side of Yellowstone. Our options at that point were to either pay at an RV park, or forge ahead like we had the night before. The closest Walmart on our actual route, according to the GPS, was in Idaho Falls, ID. After a few more Gillette jokes, and a bit more searching on the GPS, we ended up stopping at Rexburg, ID instead. I'm rather glad we did, as we were all rather tired at that point. Twenty minutes extra driving in the morning was far less daunting than twenty minutes more after ten at night.
And thus ended day Four of the Family Vacation.
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