Shelly and I returned this week from a whirlwind trip that took us from St. Louis to Yellowstone to Idaho Falls to Boise to Riggins to Portland to Olympia to Seattle to the San Juan Islands to Spokane and back again. It took 16 days and we drove 5665 miles. And it could not have been better. We left St. Louis with dogs Eli and Oliver in tow at s:00pm central time on Friday July 10th, and returned at 11:30 PM on Sunday July, 26th. All things considered, the trip could not have gone smoother. We throw a futon in the back of our trailblazer, one of us sleeps, the other one drives...Shelly even makes it up with sheets and blankets and pillows.

Honestly I was a bit nervous about going out west and staying and visiting with family, some of whom I barely knew. Every single person we met treated us like royalty. Also, not having every single detail planned out worried Shelly a bit (and me too), but I thought plans would be best left to the locals, and I was right.

We drove staight through to Yellwostone and go there around noon on Saturday. We saw most of the major sites and checked into our cabin which was in Mammoth Hot Springs. Elk sauntered outside our cabin like we were not even there. Eli and Oliver didn't even acknowledge they existed. We grabbed dinner in the town of Gardiner and then came back to the cabin for a long much needed night of rest.

While the cabins are canine friendly at Yellowstone Park, the rest of the park, not so much. No dogs on any trails, which at first I thought might be a detriment. However, there are lots of things there that could hurt them so it was probably a good thing. Right outside our door was the beginning of Old Gardiner Road, an old stage coach road about five miles long that took you from Mammoth to Gardiner and they could hike with us on that. On Sunday we went about 3 miles on the road and then back before doing some more sight seeing. It was beautiful. We then went on a ride to Yellwostone Lake. We started out at 89 degrees. But a thunderstorm was blowing in. By the time we got close to Yellowstone lake, it was 52 degrees and storming hard. We turned around. By the time we got back to our cabin, it had rebounded to 65. We saw herds of bison, elk, and even a black bear with two cubs on the way. We saw a magnificent double rainbow that ended right in front of us. However, there was no pot of gold. We ate dinner again that night in Gardiner, this time at an Italian place called Pedalinos. Shelly knew it had to be good because it was name after shoes. She was right. We went back to the cabin, crawled into bed, and had another sound night of sleep. We were on the road to Idaho Falls the following day....and my 40th birthday...more on that on my next post.

Ding