First I must say that to add insult to injury,  the Comfort Inn, which was anything but, provided a gazillion ants that darted out from one crack in the bathroom floor just as soon as Cosmo began his dinner. So HIS dinner was substandard too.  And they installed an elephant above us who  proceeded to clomp back and forth, every footfall accented as in an Irish dance frenzy, and he must have been in practice mode, for he kept it up seemingly for hours.

But on to Day Four.  Not wanting to chance another culinary mishap, we decided to drive as quickly as possible for the Wyoming border and on to  Jackson, the Tetons, and Yellowstone and  that was fortunate because we did finally have an excellent breakfast in Alpine at the Yankee Doodle Cafe, which was decorated appropriately, as were it’s proprietors – she with a flag adorned jacket, he with similar tattoos.  It was here, however, that we discovered that all the signs pointing to the turnoff for Jackson, Wyoming were blatantly false, as a massive mudslide had closed the road a whole week before.  At this point, unless we veered to the south which would take us far out of the way of the final destination,  there was nothing to be done but turn around and drive back into Idaho, retracing our steps for about 30 miles , and then onto an “alternate route” over a steep and twisty snow-surrounded road which snaked OVER  the Grand Tetons.  Needless to say, the views were grand indeed and it did bring us down, 70 plus miles later, right into Jackson Hole.  Cosmo was not amused with this detour, however, and grand old sport that he had been so far, erupted into whiny, noxious protestations.

Yellowstone is a place that everyone should experience at least once. And it is so vast that there are most likely more places to explore than could be done in a lifetime.  It turns out that “almost June” in Yellowstone is more like the dead of winter in Big Bear California, and we did try to stick around for Old Faithful’s eruption with a small band of shivering diehards and I did so want to take that bubbling geyser loop where Noelle took so many photos in the early 70’s, but our California winter coats proved inadequate and even the properly winter-clad walkers returning to the Old Faithful Inn were muttering “brrr”.

“Brr?”  How does that particular exclamation happen to mean “I’m freezing?”  Shouldn’t it be “Frz”, or even “OMG”!  “Brr!”  We need to practice for Minnesota.  And definitely get proper winter coats.

But the Tetons and Yellowstone are most definitely worth further explorations.  And I have to announce that the buffalo are alive and well within the park.  In fact they stopped our car three times as they meandered in small herds down the roadway.  Once with a baby in tow.

Day Four ends at a classic 50’s motel, the kind you rarely see anymore, with a real key for the door and a Yellow Lab Greeter in Gardiner, Montana.  Onward.