a few more...and a buffalo!

We could not get enough of the landscape around Old Faithful so we went a little crazy with the pictures. Then as we were driving out of the park we saw a buffalo! just walking on the side of the road. I could of sworn he was wearing a bell around his neck.

Old Faithful and Geyser Valley

We waited 30 minutes to watch Old Faithful blow - it was less of a sudden explosion and more of a slow leak. We went for a walk around Geyser Valley and checked out all of the other types of geysers - cones, fountains, mud pots, fumaroles....

Yellowstone

I think it all burned down 5 years ago. When was that fire? Holy guacamole. Matchsticks everywhere. We made a quick trip to Old Faithful which reminded us of being in Iceland. Gorgeous and surreal.

Morning Hike in Jackson

The public square in Jackson is very cool. These antler arches adorn each corner. We stayed at the wagon wheel where every animal seemed to end up mounted on the wall. A Buffalo and a bison are the same creature by the way....we went for a nice hike the next morning with Rachel's dog Otter. He is so cute! and stinky! we realized how much we miss our dogs.

Destination Jackson Wyo

It is a beautiful drive from Idaho to Jackson on Rt 26. We rolled into town just in time to see Rachel for a few minutes before she raced away to her music gigs. For those of you who don't know Rachel she is a very talented trumpetiste and all around great gal. Rachel and I became best buddies back in 8th grade when she moved to Clifton from Mountain View CA. The rest is history. An incredibly funny history...and the fun continued during a short visit in Jackson.

Blow Out

I was getting a little more comfortable with driving the truck and everything was so flat in eastern Idaho. So i was tooling along at 75 mph, passing an 18 wheeler, when BOOM! I thought the truck clipped me, but Anthony reassured me that one of us had blown a tire. I was in control of the truck so i thought it was the truck, but NO - it was us! luckily we called the 1800 24 hour emergency number and a nice young man from the local service station came and changed the tire. Within 1 hour we were back on the road! Hertz rocks!

Scenes from the road

Columbia Gorge into Eastern Oregon

The Columbia Gorge is stunning and as you leave the Gorge and enter the drylands of Eastern Oregon you go through a town called Alexandria where I think Portland dumps all of its trash, or used to. Our goal was to make it to Boise, 6 hours away, so we put the pedal to the metal and didn't stop to sight see. I really wanted to go through Pendleton, but alas we are on a tight schedule.

Off we go!