Day 27 1/2 - Yellowstone and beyond

The second half of our day was taken up with what Yellowstone is really famous for... Geysers!

That's not strictly true actually, although there are several geyser basins, very few geysers erupt with any degree of regularity, Old Faithful of course being the one that's genuinely reliable. As it was we spent most of our time looking at more hot springs. Although these springs haven't built up large mounds as they have at Mammoth the mineral deposits are more varied, colouring the rock bright shades of red, green and blue. I took so many photos of them I almost ran the battery flat on my camera.

Of course the highlight of the afternoon was Old Faithful itself. Its eruptions occur roughly every ninety minutes, although that can vary by half an hour either way. From the length of each eruption the geyser experts can predict the next eruption to with a 20 minute window, so when we arrived we knew we'd only have to wait half an hour or so. In fact luck was on our side and we only had to wait 15 minutes before the geyser erupted, spouting boiling water 130 feet into the air. It was hard to appreciate the true scale of the eruption from the viewing area which is way back from the geyers - but I guess they can't let you wander right up to it.

So, with the camera battery exhausted and us not far behind we set off towards Idaho Falls, where we planned to find a motel. Of course we had to stop on the way out of the park to admire the scenery one last time and wave goodbye to the American wilderness (for this holiday at least).

The drive to Idaho Falls was a pretty dull one consisting mainly of long straight roads. Watching the villages go by, the signs Christianity get gradually stronger; road signs abound advertising Christian radio, television, church services and even Christian museums. It was 6.30pm when we arrived in Idaho Falls but we couldn't see any chain restaurants that took our fancy and didn't fancy finding our way into the city centre so we decided to carry on for a while. We were making good time (there seem to be state troopers round every corner but the speed limit is still a generous 75mph) and the next few towns didn't look far on the map.

Blackfoot and Fort Hall turned out to be pretty small so it was a while after 7pm when we arrived in Pocatello and pulled off the freeway. The first sight that greeted us was a small independence day celebration taking place on a green right by the freeway exit - interesting choice of venue for what looked a lot like an English country fair.

Anyway, just past there we found an Applebees which looked like a pleasant change from fast food. When we got inside too we found the place full of locals, usually a good sign. In fact our first impressions proved correct - it's basically TGI Fridays but with much bigger portions and friendlier staff.

Now Applebees was right next to a Best Western and on reflection perhaps we should have stayed there, but it was still before 9pm and we faced a long drive the next day so it seemed a good idea to get another hour's driving in before checking into a motel...

The problem with our plan was that once you leave Pocatello there isn't much else for quite a long way. Thirty minutes or so into the journey as the last of the dusk light faded, and civilisation along with it, it dawned on us that perhaps we'd made a mistake. The only motel we passed aws at a truck stop and with it's flickering red neon sign looked more like something from a horror movie. Curiously the only signs of any settlement through southern Idaho were the fireworks people were sending up to celebrate their independence. I guess it's only natural that regilious hillbilly fruit-loops living in the middle of nowhere should be patriotic with it.

Just as we conceded that we'd probably have to drive all the way to Salt Lake City we arrived in Ogden, the one place that's actually bigger than it appears on the map. A couple of junctions in (yes, it's big enough to have multiple freeway junctions) we spotted a Best Western so we pulled in and managed to get a room. No hot-tub this time but it was a lot cheaper than the last one we'd stayed at. That's Ogden for you.