We crossed back into the U.S. in the Eastern Washington area. We didn’t see any roadside stands selling bing cherries. We knew then we should’ve turned around in Canada to purchase them, but it was too late. Oh, well!
After crossing the Idaho panhandle and clipping the southwestern corner of Montana, we entered Yellowstone National Park at West Yellowstone, Montana. It was such a beautiful place to visit. We walked the wooden sidewalks to the mud pots and some of the small geysers.
We went to the main part of the park where Old Faithful was located. It is a huge geyser that erupts approximately every 91 minutes. Bill checked the wind direction and we waited for the “show” upwind. It was a good plan he had. The people on the opposite side got very, very wet.
The performance Old Faithful put on was spectacular. The force of nature is awesome. The thing that baffled us then, and still does, is the timing...91 minutes. It happened on a fairly regular schedule, give or take a minute or two.
Our next stop was Thermopolis. There we enjoyed hot mineral baths...ah, so refreshing. Two large public swimming pools were in the area, also. We went to the Star Plunge, which had a tall water slide that went from outdoors to the indoor heated pool. Mostly, we sat in the hot tubs built around the pool.
We were driving on a back road when we pulled into a small gas station in a little “one horse town.” Neither one of us was aware that a large dog had laid down in front of the car. Bill got in after paying and away we went...kind of. We drove over a large “speed bump.” Oops, it was the dog. He got up, stretched, and walked away. So much for our little foreign car.
While in Thermopolis, we heard about another mineral bath location at Saratoga. Off we went, in pursuit of another adventure. And it turned into that. The campground in Saratoga was on the river across from the mineral pools.
We were told that we could walk across the abandoned train trestle for a shortcut. As we pitched our tent and tied it to the Porsche, we were hit by swarms of mosquitos. As soon as we could, we walked on the tracks to the pools. That was an experience because by then it was already dark.
After soaking, we crossed back over the bridge to our little tent. Not a single mosquitos bothered us that night. They must not like the mineral smell. That was just fine with us.
The night was very cool, and as we got out on the highway, we encountered hundreds of little animals. We weren’t exactly sure what they were, maybe ground squirrels, but they crunched as we drove by. Ugh! We stopped at the next car wash.
And then we headed for Colorado!
