Planes trains and automobiles - USA summer, are we mad?

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

Ten minutes in and the road was lined ether side with cars and trucks. We stopped, and stared up at the hill everyone was looking at. These people were serious. Huge lenses on cameras. Lots of single lens scopes and fancy binoculars. We got out our tiny pocket-sized binoculars and could see nothing but grass and trees. Nothing. Maybe whatever was there was about to emerge from the trees. Nope. Nothing came out of those trees. We gave up and drove a bit further down and saw two lone bison a kilometre or so apart. They were a long way from the road

and the light was fading. The sunset was nice

but there was no argument that our first Lamar experience was a tad disappointing.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

Thursday Roosevelt Lodge-Lake Lodge (Lake Yellowstone)

After a very comfy night in our rustic roughrider cabin we wee up at 5:30 to greet that sunrise. Roughrider - that name still makes me laugh. Just as much as that classic American family game - corn-holing. Roughrider? Corn-holing? Seriously?? Bwahahahahahaha.

We were on the road well before the sun came up

but still the crowds were looking up at that damn hill when we got there. Didn’t even bother stopping.

Just a bison here and a bison there for the first few kays

Hundreds of them across the valley in huge herds. They were a long, long way from the road though

So we drove on, and as we went around another corner they were all over and beside the bloody road a few hundred metres further on. It was fantastic.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

They are beautiful

And funny. I’m sure they’re taking the piss as they stroll amongst the cars all over the road trying to keep out of their way. We watched one stare down a veedub Golf

We drove on down the valley until we weren’t far from the edge of the park so we turned around and did it all again.

We watched them cross streams

and cross the road

Have play battles with each other. Feed their calves

It was brilliant

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

On the way back we saw some prong horn antelope (home, home on the range…)

and Al even managed to spot a marten on a rocky outcrop above us

as I took some pictures of a fly fisherman

Fishing – I thought it strange that you can fish the streams of the park but you can’t legally take a pebble out of it.

The crowds were still looking at that damn hill when we got back. In fact the crowd was building. Even one of the Yellowstone guided tour buses was there. AL stood and stared and I sat in the car, sure everyone else was mad. Al decided he had to know and asked a family on the other side of the road what it was they were looking at. They pointed, he looked, then bolted back to me and said bring camera and binoculars. It was the wolves!

I think there were seven, nearly all black or grey, and they weren’t eating a grizzly, they were eating a bison. Even with our tiny binoculars and camera with tiny sensor (but big zoom) we could clearly make out the different wolves

It was FANTASTIC! It was the best morning, better than either of us could have dreamed.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

One of the very cool, and varied, buses that are used around the park to take tours on (at Wolf hill)

leaving the Lamar Valley

Around and about Roosevelt Lodge

After breakfast

we headed out through the gates

and south towards Lake Yellowstone and Lake Lodge.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

The scenery was spectacular, again. Big waterfalls, big canyons, tiny squirrels.

zoom of the steam venting out of the cliffside and river

Al spotted a couple of elk and I stopped as quickly, and least dangerously, as I could. Everyone is looking for the same stuff but you can’t just stop without considering safety…

Two females, or a female and calf.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

At one point we got close enough to some snow to scramble across a hillside to get to it

We had a rare snatch of internet at the carpark and managed to read our mail. Nothing of any importance. I would have loved to it have been within the 24 hours of our flight back to SLC but we were two hours too early.

As we closed on Canyon Village the traffic started to bank up. We presumed it was roadworks as we’d seen there were some at Upper Falls. The crawling line of traffic disappeared down the road we intended to continue on so we pulled into the Village and had lunch.

The traffic hadn’t subsided by the time we’d finished so we joined the jam. No roadworks, just a huge elk on the side of the road. Rangers/police screaming at people not to stop but most people ignored them. Al did a great job of snapping three pictures from our moving car.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

We then made a rookie mistake and took the turn to lower falls. It was one way, the falls were falls

and it looped us straight back to Canyon Village, and that traffic jam. Luckily it had completely cleared when we got back to the main road. The elk had left the building...

We stopped at the next falls where there were steps down to the river but the steps were closed (300 down, 300 up!)

We drove down into the most beautiful river valley

tourists disobeying the 'do not go past the barriers' signs...

We stopped at another couple of thermal hotspots – Sulphur Cauldron and Mud Volcano. As we were coming up to the carpark for Sulphur Cauldron a bison was just wandering down the main road up ahead of us

We parked and got out of the car. A couple of cars further up the carpark a tourist got out of their car and lit up a smoke, either unaware, or ignoring the fact the bison was just about to walk around the corner of the RV parked beside him. Al shouted at him to get back in his car. He looked back and then jumped in.

The bison just strolled along the path and down into the forest towards the river

I wasn’t two bus lengths away from it (the distance they tell you to keep), but I did have our car between us.

We did get occasional signal and someone let us know that a young girl had been thrown by a bison after getting too close. I don’t want to make an assumption but I would bet that her family was either Chinese or French. The park was packed with both and apart from both groups being loud, and rude, they both also seemed to think the signs saying don’t do this or that did not apply to them. Americans on the whole seemed to be very respectful of what they were instructed/asked to do.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

We decided to check out Fishing Bridge and realised our error as soon as we turned down the road and crossed the bridge

One lane (one way at a time), on what was only barely a road, more a single gravel track, that we had no way to turn around on. Into the village past the very long line of vehicles waiting to drive back out to the main road. We chucked a u-turn and joined the queue. Maybe 20 minutes later, might have been longer, the line started to move and we were freed from Fishing Bridge. The turn to Lake Village was literally a couple of minutes further down the road.

Lake Village has two places to stay – Lake Yellowstone Hotel (and cabins) and Lake Lodge. For some reason I had it in my mind we were staying in the cabins at Lake Hotel but we were actually at Lake Lodge, a couple of minutes further around the lakes edge, in a Frontier cabin. It was US$175.76.

Best of all, Lake Lodge had paid internet! On check-n I asked if they had internet and what the cost was and it was explained that it was actually free, but it had died that morning ☹ No check-in or seat selection would be happening for us for the flight to SLC

The cabin was excellent. It was huge. I’d imagine some would have two doubles/queens in the same space we had a single queen bed. A coffee machine even. Best of all a shower and loo!

the pillow chips from Grant Village

I had plans to go for a swim in the lake but wanted to test the waters first. We saw some young people who I presumed were staff coming back from the lake with towels so it must have been ok to swim. I walked out to less than knee deep and beat a hasty retreat.t was bloody freezing.

Lake Lodge from the lake

Instead we went back to the hotel, grabbed a rocking chair

and had some beers

Further down the road near the road I watched a bison casually ambling up the middle of it before turning into the forest.

Dinner at the Lake Hotel Dining Room was recommended. I even put long pants on (well, jeans).

The cabins at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel

back door for us

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

Dress up wasn’t required. Dress code was casual. We added our name to the wait list and went for a wander out to the lakeside

took a seat in the lounge area at about 7pm. First booking was again 9:30!

There was a string quartet playing. No chamber music for them. It was a very crazy mix of pop and soft rock. Best number was Take on Me by Aha. I recorded the whole song.

Our beeper finally went off at about 8:30pm. We could have just about worn flip flops and singlets to the beautiful art deco dining room

Gee I hate caps worn in a restaurant at night (or any time). Café, sure, proper restaurant no. Summer casual was taken way too far in so many places we visited. Does what people wear affect me in any way? No. Do I have to like it. No.

Nice bread selection

We shared a very nice beet salad

and were both convinced to have the elk chops. I should have gone with my original choice – bison ribeye. Al’s elk was cooked perfectly but one of mine was thin and over-cooked

the sun set before we left the restaurant

We declined the offer of dessert and in the pitch black wandered back along the road to Lake Lodge (we’d followed a path through the forest to go). I had bison, elk and bear on my mind as we walked back.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

Friday Lake Lodge-Jackson Hole-Salt Lake City-California Zephyr

Woke to another spectacular morning. We had plenty of time to get back to the airport to drop off the car by 1pm so weren’t in any rush. Lake Lodge has a cafeteria (beautiful restaurant space, but it’s a cafeteria) and breakfast is served cafeteria style, a bit like Ikea, or out of refrigerated cabinets. To be honest it was a bit weird but it was fine. We had fruit, cereal and yoghurt.

lobby of lodge

light detail

C Section!

Luckily we were on D, no c required

When we got back to the cabin the guy in the adjoining rooms said 10 minutes before we got back he’d walked outside his door to find two bison munching on the weeds at the steps in front of ours. Damn!!

This is handed to everyone who enters Yellowstone. It is in multiple languages on the other side

map of Lake Lodge. As a big as a bison!

A final drive by of Lake Hotel

And with that our Yellowstone Lodge stays were over. I’d stay at all three again if we returned, but would book sooner so we got exactly what we wanted, especially at Roosevelt.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

The drive back along the western shore of Lake Yellowstone was glorious.

We stopped at West Thumb geyser basin and it was our favourite of all of the thermal hot spots we visited, even if rude French tourists did their best to ruin it for everyone. The location on the edge of the lake, with some vents in the lake itself, was amazingly beautiful.

an elk having morning tea

a bird, with feathers, and a beak

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

and a couple more from West Thumb, including one of a strapping park ranger with quite the head of hair

GyPSy pointed out a couple more stops and then at Grant Village we switched him off. The best $9.99 ever spent!

Heading south out of Yellowstone

The line of traffic at the south entrance to the park was crazy. It must have been at least two kilometres long. People were in for some very long waits over the weekend.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

Another humungous trailer. Look at the height of it. Maybe the owners are both 7'6"!

Instead of following the same road back to Jackson Hole we turned left along Inner Park Rd/Teton Park Rd. Just after turning off there were big signs advising not to stop along a section of road with markers along it was it was used by bears to cross! We made a quick call into Signal Mountain Lodge and Campground to check out the lake.

Then it was just mile after mile of wow. The Grand Tetons are just crazy spectacular.

Along a major part of the valley after we left the lake was a bikeway running along the side of the road. There were hundreds of cyclists on the bikeway including many families.

We’d hoped to get some internet at some stage after we left Yellowstone so we could at least check-in for the flight. Finally, just past the Moose turn off we got some so I pulled over. No seats together so I chose the two available window seats – 28F and 29A. I couldn’t purchase bags using the app. They’d cost whatever they’d cost.

The car had been super economical so I hadn’t needed to put any more fuel in since the original fill up. It was returned to the airport with just less than we’d picked it up with and the guy who checked the car back in

at the airport carpark already had it on file to accept return with empty tank. Apart from the unwanted upgrades Enterprise were great to deal with.

In hindsight I wish we’d returned it a bit late and gone into Jackson to have a look. Apparently a nice place to visit. Maybe next time. Instead we checked in and paid the $25 for each bag that I was worried would be more if not booked online (like it is here at home).

I checked the progress of the Zephyr on the Amtrak app. It was already running two hours late meaning our 11:05pm departure was already out past 1am. I contacted the Holiday Inn we’d stayed at looking for a contact for the downtown Holiday Inn. My intent was to ask if there was a way we could store our bags with them until we went to the station. I was ok with going and sitting in a bar with our bags from when we arrived to 11pm, but not to 1, or later. SLC had no storage at the airport, the station or at the Greyhound bus station where there had once been lockers.

We had a coffee and a snack before going through the very relaxed security.

Elk guarding the way

First time anyone had actually spoken nicely to us. Again Al had researched it could take a while to get through. We were the only people when we were checked.

The antler archway

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

Boarding our Delta A319 at the slightly picturesque Jackson Hole airport

a coupl'a private jets

Do not book row 29 on a Delta A319. It has no window. You can’t even get a glimpse out of the window in front. I found it very uncomfortable. After not hearing more than a single Aussie accent the whole time we were in Yellowstone it was weird t find myself sat in row 29 with a couple from Adelaide. They’d been visiting their son and his American girlfriend in Bozeman.

Departure time came and went and we sat there. Eventually the captain advised us they were having issues loading the navigation system. Suppose it was a tad necessary to get that fixed. We’d been delayed out on the taxi way in SLC coming to Jackson Hole. That delay was due to getting the weight distribution right.

and away we go

My bag was out first at SLC, and a minute or so Al’s was out second. No other bags came out and no-one else was expecting them to. We were the only people at the carousel. I suppose it’s what you get when there’s no weight limit on carry-on and people just carry on tow BIG bags. Most are very good at stuffing their huge backpacks, and Americans love a big backpack, under the seat in front.

Zephyr arrival time had slipped again and with no response to my email we decided to book a cheap hotel. Kayak showed the Motel 6 Salt Lake City Downtown for US$54 plus taxes and clicking the link took me to my Hotels.com app and $98 Aussie. Done. Lovely Uber driver was a young Mormon guy studying radiology at BYU. Really interesting conversation about study, work, family.

Arrived at Motel 6 Downtown

and I had no booking. The receptionist kept refreshing her system but nothing. I checked my app and could see it then checked my email and realised that somehow it had changed from tonight (in Kayak) to next week with Hotels.com. I updated the booking in the app and we were all go. I’ll just say those receptionists must see some very interesting people at that motel. Two interesting people were at reception when I was there.

The room was big, clean, surprisingly quiet and even had fast and free wifi. You'll have to take my word. We both forgot to take any pictures.

The train’s arrival time kept slipping and instead of just getting a room to store bags it turned into a room to sleep in.

bPeteb · Aug 7, 2019

Street art just up from our lodgings

SLC/Utah has only allowed the sale of alcohol for a relatively short time but in that time it has established a craft beer and boutique spirit industry. We chose Red Rock Brewery downtown and had a great night

Draught beers can only be 4% but will soon be allowed up to 5. ‘Liquor’ and wine were served out of a weird shuttered box

as it can’t be served within a certain distance of people eating. America is such a strange place.

street art on the way back to our lodgings

I kept an eye on the app and the Zephyr’s arrival time got later and later (or earlier and earlier). Amtrak also emailed us a couple of times letting us know the train was delayed. When we got back to the motel at 11:30 it was 3:20am (from 11:05) so we showered and hit the pillows.

OZDUCK · Aug 7, 2019

Some fantastic photos of the scenery and wildlife.

bPeteb · Aug 8, 2019

Saturday Salt Lake City-California Zephyr-San Francisco

Despite the best efforts of the herd of wildebeest in the room above us we both managed a few hours sleep. We’d initially planned to walk to the station but the blocks in SLC were huge and neither of us really liked the idea of walking the couple of kays in a deserted city. Another late night/early morning SLC Uber ride got us to the very busy waiting room. Both west and eastbound Zephyrs were due to arrive within a short time of each other. Both many hours late. The conductor was checking everyone’s tickets and handed us a slip of paper letting us know we had been moved from compartment 2 to 9.

The train finally pulled into the station at 3:30am

Even this was wrong...

and after being met at the door of car 531 by the lovely Donna we dumped our big bags in the luggage racks, went up the stairs to compartment 9, and climbed into bed.

Either the carriage itself, or the location of the compartment (I think the latter), resulted in a much more noise as we got underway. I could hear the bogies and the connection between the carriages banging away. Much noisier than compartment 2. Nevertheless I nodded off.

At some time in the early morning we stopped and the train went completely silent. Not a sound. Even the ventilation went off. We’d stopped before so I just went back to sleep.

Very early in the morning I pulled back the curtains to find the train speeding through some beautiful mountain scenery

The next time I woke up we were crossing a seemingly endless salt pan, somewhere in the middle of Utah I’m guessing

We eventually left the salt plain behind and slowly climbed into some quite beautiful rolling valleys and flat grasslands

bPeteb · Aug 8, 2019

This carriage was different to the last. Older we think. No hanging cupboard. Instead a more usable open receptacle that we put our flip flops in and could sit the backpack and camera bag on.

Donna was lovely and greeted us when we emerged for a shower. Asked if we’d heard the train stop during the night and then explained that we’d hit a flock of sheep not far out of SLC and one had got drawn up into the second engine. It took 45 minutes for it to be ‘extracted’ and get the engine online again. We think she also told us there’d been another 45 minute delay due to a passenger medical emergency but now neither of us is sure about that.

At breakfast, (that was very good)

we found out why the train had been so late getting into SLC. There’d been a rockslide somewhere coming through the Colorado River canyon. A rock as big as a mini blocked the track. By the sounds of things people actually got off and watched while the crew tried to hack the rock up (with no success). Eventually they called in a crane to move it off the tracks, that were I’m guessing, undamaged. They were able to squeeze past the rest of the rockfall with centimetres to spare.

Then the train’s engineer had a medical episode and the train had to stop again. Possibly as a result of trying to move the boulder! It had taken nearly an hour to get a replacement engineer to the train and for them to resume their journey.

Poor westbound Zephyr was jinxed!

View from the dining car during breakfast

A lovely leisurely day staring out each side of the train. From Utah through Nevada then eventually California. No-one was in the compartment opposite us so we moved between the two taking in the view.