Hello Yellowstone!

After leaving the Craters of the Moon National Monument, Debbie and I resumed our northeasterly drive through Idaho. We came across Arco, a tiny town with large numbers written on a nearby mountain.  I correctly deduced that the 2 digits represented years.  High school graduation classes, as it turned out.

We seemed to be steadily increasing in elevation as we skirted the front range of mountains (the Pioneer Mountains, according to the information at Craters of the Moon.)

We rolled into West Yellowstone and decided to make our supper stop there. Debbie scanned some reviews and we opted for The Buffalo Bar. 

Debbie ordered the huckleberry quesadilla and I had the huckleberry BBQ chicken wings.  They were good, but I think eating that much that late caused some insomnia for me later on!

The western entrance of Yellowstone was quickly upon us.  No employee was manning the ticket booth to check our pass.  We picked up a copy of the park newsletter, but it turned out to not be as helpful as such newspapers typically are.  The map in particular left a lot to be desired.  Still, on we rolled, trying to make it to our destination of the Old Faithful Inn before dark.

On the way to Madison, we saw several cars pulled over.  We knew that was a sign to look for wildlife.  Sure enough, there were bison and elk in the vicinity.  Debbie also heard that there was a wolf, but him we did not see.  As we neared the Old Faithful area, bison were even more numerous (and closer!)

We arrived at the Old faithful Inn around 9 pm.  We checked in and were given one of the original rooms from when the Inn opened in 1903 - and you could tell, too!  Rustic would be a good word to describe the ambiance.  Still, we weren’t complaining, even if we only had a sink in our room and no commode or shower!  Those were down the hall.

A violinist was entertaining guests on our floor (the second.)  I caught an Old Faithful eruption as I was unloading our car.  It’s quite something to be able to see it go off from your hotel!

We knew that we were in for a big day on Friday, so we hit the hay. I wish I could have fallen asleep quickly, but it would be 4 am until I was truly lights out.

Moonwalking

"Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve." Sounds exotic, no?

Knowing in advance that this area would be very remote, Debbie and I picked up a couple of Subways in Twin Falls for a picnic lunch.  Later that morning, we arrived at the visitor center, got our passport stamp, and checked out the exhibits. One interesting fact we learned was that the geothermal activity at Craters of the Moon seems linked to Yellowstone. There is a chain of locations stretching in a line across the northwestern United States that could be explained by plate tectonics. The continent is slowly moving over a hot spot that creates volcanic features.

We drove to a picnic area and enjoyed our subs. This was also a good day for our Seek apps when it came to wildflowers.  We drove the loop road which took us to different formations such as cinder cones and spatter cones.  A highlight was being able to gaze down into the core of a cone - like a mini-volcano.  For those who like lava and cinders, this was a great place to visit!

Rock On!

Wednesday, May 27, was our day to leave Vernal and head northwest to Twin Falls, Idaho. This would require 7+ hours of driving over 400 miles.

Our morning took us through desert and mountain landscapes (including Heber City which seemed to be entirely under construction) and into Salt Lake City. With this foray into civilization, we made it a point to find a restaurant we were hungry for: Shake Shack! We stopped at a food court in the downtown area. After lunch, we took a stroll in the shopping district, and made a brief detour to see some sites of Mormon interest. 

Then it was back on the road to head for a destination Jon had seen on Google Maps: City of Rocks National Reserve. This part of the trip was one of the most remote. At one point we passed a sign which said - no joke - "No Services for the Next 103 Miles." It's a good thing we had a full tank and empty bladders! At least we could go 80 mph...

There was a whole lot of nothing along the Utah/Idaho border area, and eventually Apple Maps sent us down some gravel roads. Debbie began worrying just where I was taking her!

Our patience was rewarded, however, when we finally arrived at the City of Rocks Visitor Center. They were closing in six minutes! We hurriedly stamped our passport, picked up a map, and asked for tips on our visit.

The City of Rocks was a spot along the California Trail in the 1800s when people were heading out west in droves. This is an area of prominent rock formations. At one such site, pioneers from yesteryear left their names. Other rocks were named things like Elephant and Arch for self-explanatory reasons. Debbie and I did a little light rock climbing and scrambled around on some boulders.  

It was a fun place, but we still had miles to go so it was soon time to hit the road again. We stopped for a supper at a Panda Express and then continued on to the Snake River area where we saw a canyon and Shoshone Falls. This was a bit of a surprise for Debbie, who loves waterfalls. (A tip of the hat goes to brother-in-law Ron Secrist who recommended this place to me when we were talking about the trip on Easter!)

By now it was getting pretty late, so we headed to our hotel - we stayed in Building B which was not as good as staying in Building A - and I gassed up for the next leg of our journey. It was a long day, so we were asleep very quickly that night!

The REAL Jurassic Park!

Yes, Dinosaur National Monument is a thing. In fact, it is two things, because the monument is in two locations. Even two states, actually: Colorado and Utah. There is a Canyon Area and a Fossil Bone Quarry. We spent generous quality time at both, so be prepared for A LOT of pictures in this post!

On Monday, May 24, which happened to be Memorial Day, we arrived in the late afternoon in Dinosaur, Colorado. (Yes, that is the town's real name. It used to be called Artesia, but changed its name back in 1966 - which happened to be the year that Debbie's Dad Ken came through Route 40 and the newly rechristened town of Dinosaur wasn't on any of his maps!) I think they must have changed the name of the roads at that time, too...

Debbie and I stopped at the Canyon Visitor Center, got our National Parks passport stamped, watched the movie "River Reflections" and checked out the table top map of the grounds. We decided our best course of action would be to take the Harpers Corner Road up to the canyon overlook to have a picnic supper of the various snacks we had with us. (The restaurants in Dinosaur, such as they are, were closed for the holiday.)

Along the drive, we spotted some wildlife (mule deer and possibly a prairie dog) and had a lot of fun finding new species of plant life on our Seek apps. 

The picnic at the top was very nice - and timely, too, as a storm was blowing in just as we were finishing up. 

After taking some more photos of the beautiful canyon landscape, we headed back to the monument's entrance and then on to our hotel in Vernal, Utah, where we would be staying for two nights.

Tuesday was the day for the Utah side of the monument, known as the Fossil Bone Quarry. We made it to the visitor center near Jensen and got our passport book stamped.  The movie was the same as the one we saw in Colorado, so no need to watch that twice.  After buying a Christmas ornament for us and a stuffed dinosaur for David, we hopped on the shuttle to the Quarry, which is the highlight of the monument.  The excavators of the last century took many dinosaur fossils out of the Jurassic period for skeletons re-assembled in various cities around the country. But at their source site in Utah, they left a layer of fossils in situ so that future visitors (us!) would be able to see what a fossil bed looked like.

The area around the Quarry is called Split Mountain. The tilted rocks are as if the horizontal layers laid down in deposition have been turned vertical. You can see this effect in the picture below, which is just off the Quarry parking lot. The dinosaur fossils all came from within the same layer - the Morrison Formation - which represents the Jurassic period.

After the Quarry, Debbie and I caught a talk from Ranger Kiera(?) about the geological history of the area.  Then we took the Fossil Discovery Trail back down to the visitor center. The trail passes through various epochs of history and includes some exposed fossils along the way. 

Back at the visitor center we enjoyed another picnic lunch of snacks.  Then it was time for the driving loop which includes many points of interest such as ancient pictographs, yellow rocks, "Turtle Rock," and the Green River.  

We ended up going back to the hotel for a nice supper at the Redemption Steakhouse which was located in our hotel. In the evening, we looked for souvenirs, made a Walmart run, gassed up the CR-V, and grabbed some ice cream concoctions from a local Cold Stone Creamery. All in all, a great way to spend the day!