I’ve learned that some of the best experiences we have while traveling are often the ones that we never really planned. For example: when I was in Hawaii for a wedding, I hadn’t planned on snorkeling. But once we were done with the wedding, my friend and I decided last-minute to book a half-day snorkeling adventure, and it turned into one of the best parts of the trip. Happily, the same thing happened while Ashley and I were in Wyoming. We had been flirting with the idea of heading to Yellowstone, but weren’t completely sold on the idea.
Wait, what? We were already so close to Yellowstone, why not commit and just go?
Bottom line: we were vacationing in the shoulder season. We weren’t too sure if Yellowstone was open, nor if the roads would be passable. In a perfect world, we’d be able to head straight north to the South Entrance, via Wyoming 191, passing through Teton National Park.
Plus, the forecast for the weekend wasn’t very promising: rain, snow, and wind. We figured there was no way we’d be able to do a lot of driving in that kind of weather, regardless of the vehicle that we were in. You don’t gamble with Wyoming weather.
Well, luck appeared to be with us after we arrived. The sky had cleared and promised us a full day of sunshine! What?? Yellowstone: here we come!
After talking with some locals, however, we realized that Wyoming 191 wasn’t going to be opened until the following weekend, even though the roads appeared clear and snow-free! Our hopes of getting to see Old Faithful were on the verge of collapse. After checking the maps provided by the hostel and consulting the sometimes-finicky Apple/Google maps, we determined that in order to get to Yellowstone, we were going to have to drive back over the Tetons, head north through Idaho, and enter the Park through West Yellowstone, Montana.
That’s right. We needed to go through 3 states in 4 hours. What is this, the East Coast? And honestly, we didn’t even realize at the time that we’d be going to Montana…a first for both of us!
Rising around 6am, we stumbled into the car and took off!
The weather forecasters didn’t lie: the sky was clear, the air was crisp, and we had a full tank of gas. Driving through the back roads of Idaho proved to be a spectacular sight…except for the kamikaze birds that kept dive-bombing in front of us. One wasn’t as quick as the others and suffered a broken neck, becoming lodged in the front of the Subaru (fast forward a couple of hours and I had to pull it out with a stick while in Yellowstone…ugh). Poor thing.
Our excitement mounted when we started to see the signs pointing the way to Yellowstone. We’re really doing this!
By the time we rolled up to the entrance, we realized that we needed to get some money out. Funny how we didn’t even think about that. Passing the entrance fee signs, we realized that the fee to get in was going to be $30. Ugh. We quickly got out our wallets as the line was moving quickly. We approached the ranger working the station, handed her our cards…when she waved them away and let us know that since it was opening weekend, entrance fees were waived!
SCORE!!
Onward to Old Faithful…
Have you ever traveled somewhere…and then wound up on a completely different adventure?
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