Day 12 - July 13, 2020

Amber DeBono
Jul 14, 2020
3 min read

We woke up in Bozeman at the Best Western Plus. It had a casino which we stuck our head in last night, but didn't play anything - nothing will compete with Jackpot, NV!

We headed to Yellowstone, but I was a bit hungry since we skipped dinner last night, so we stopped at Crust and Crumb for some spinach and feta quiche in Livingston, MT. It was very good, but it was in an odd location - in the back of an Ace Hardware.

As soon as we entered Yellowstone, we saw elk..or something deer-like in Mammoth. They were in the middle of a bustling shopping village and acted like everything was normal. We pressed on and saw some pretty waterfalls and Sheepeater Cliff. Our next pit stop included a geyser and some bison in the distance. After that, we saw more waterfalls and a canyon. I took some pictures of random groups of people so that you can get an idea of how many people are wearing masks. I also was sure to include a typical sign we saw at most points throughout Yellowstone - you can see they are trying to do the right thing.

While I was driving to our next stop, I saw a bunch of cars stopped. Everyone was stopped for a bison crossing the road. He/She got real close to the car - I had to put it in reverse to give it some space. It seemed that the bison simply thought the grass was greener on the other side and munched on grass over there. What a treat to see that!

Our next stop was the mud volcano. It's basically a big hole with bubbling mud in it - really amazing what nature does! I'm not sure if I mentioned this yesterday, but every time we saw any holes with bubbles, it was incredibly stinky - like sulphur or rotten eggs.

Afterwards, we drove to Old Faithful. On the way, we passed Yellowstone Lake which was gorgeous and huge - it seemed to go on forever! I told Ian that if we got there with a half hour or less until Faithful erupted, I'd consider it a win (it erupts every 90 minutes). It turns out that we arrived 20 minutes before the next eruption - woo hoo! It erupted for a good minute and a half. It was awesome...I included a video so you can see what it looks like.

At this point, we were so close to Jackson Hole that we couldn't resist taking a look. It was so cute - just as I had hoped. We ate at a Polish/Italian restaurant called Miazca's and ordered cheese/potato pierogies and pasta primavera - both were excellent!

Now, we weren't sure what to do. We didn't have a hotel yet and the cheapest good hotel cost over $300. We did some serious searching and with my state government rate (thanks WSSU!), we got a Super 8 motel 20 miles away for $100. Usually, I would avoid Super 8s, but this one is really nice. Ironically, we did have to travel a bit west again - it's located in Driggs, ID.

Generally, it was a very cool day with a high of 65. We had the heat on while we drove with the top down!

So, we don't know what we will do tomorrow. Possibly Billings, MT...maybe Casper, WY...or maybe another spot we didn't consider! Stay Tuned!