Trip report: MI to Montana and Yellowstone, Pt. 2

[TheVBs]

After seeing Devil’s Tower we drove up to visit my sister in Montana. We stopped at Custer’s Trading Center, had a good lunch there and looked around the store. My sister & b.i.l. live in Darby which is a really great town. Made famous on the Tonight Show because the local Marshall pulled over Dave Letterman and wasn’t pleasant about it. I get the impression the Marshall isn’t pleasant to anyone. We also did day trips to other really cool towns, Phillipsburg, which has a huge candy store. To get there from Darby we drove over the Skalkaho Pass and got to see a really beautiful waterfall. We also stopped at a place to “mine” for sapphires. It’s the usual buy a bucket of dirt/rocks and sift through it, but we had fun. We also went to a market in Hamilton and a great French restaurant called A Taste of Paris. All of those towns had fun shops and restaurants, but I thought Darby was the most scenic.

After our visit in Montana we headed down to Yellowstone. There were two cool towns on the way down (by the north entrance), Nevada City and Virginia City. Both were very scenic, had historic buildings to see and there was a train you could ride between them. Yellowstone was amazing! We stayed at The Old Faithful Inn, which wouldn’t have been possible without the great advice here at Intercot (NJGirl, I think you’re the one who gave me the heads up?). It was really beautiful and, as advised, we made sure we got a room in the “new” wing so that we had a bathroom in our room. We did notice that some of the other rooms in our hallway were a little larger than ours with a table and two chairs in them. It would be worth it to request one of those on a future trip.

As expected, we weren’t able to fit everything in we would have liked to while in Yellowstone. We didn’t appreciate the scope of the loops and how long it would take to check things out. We were able to hit pretty much everything on the west side of the south loop, all of the geyser basins, Gibbon Falls and the paintpots. We made it up to Mammoth Hot Springs to see the terraces. We were totally surprised by the fact that there were little towns at Mammoth and the Canyon! Places to eat, shops, visitor centers. We knew those things were there, we just didn’t expect them to be so extensive. We did the hike down into the Yellowstone River Canyon. The view of the falls there was one of my favorites! Although there were about 9 million steps, it was worth it.

We did book a dinner at Old Faithful Inn when we booked our room (over a year in advance!). Dinner was very good, not fabulous, fairly pricey, beautiful setting. I wouldn’t consider this a must-do in the future, although it was nice to eat dinner there. We were able to eat breakfast there every morning. They had a good buffet, or you could order from the menu. When we ordered from the menu it took a pretty long time to get our food. After a couple of mornings waiting, we opted to go with the buffet after that. It was more expensive but much quicker.
We saw elk, a pine martin, ravens and bison. People were getting waaayyy too close to the bison! Didn’t see any moose or bears unfortunately. We did hear a coyote one night. The last couple days we were there we had a really fun surprise. The hotels were decorating for Christmas and the staff were wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! We got a picture of the girls in front of the tree at the Inn. And we loved walking out to watch Old Faithful go off!

[NJGIRL]

Oh your report is bringing back such good memories!

We saw wolves but not any moose or bears either.

I know, the loops are huge and take a lot of time! The funny thing with us, even though we stayed at the Old Faithful for 5 days, we only partially walked the boardwalk there. We were so busy getting to other parts of the park and kept saying we would do them after driving back that day, but never did!

I think my favorite part was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The waterfalls were wonderful! So many in the park, I could just sit and look at them all day!

[TheVBs]

We would have LOVED to see wolves! I have to admit, I was both disappointed and a little relieved that we didn't see a bear.

So funny! We were there for 4 days and never did the full boardwalk trail either, only the shorter loop.

A couple of other things I forgot to mention about the Inn. There was no air conditioning, but it was so cool at night that we never even had to turn the fan on. Unusual for DH because he likes the white noise if nothing else. I think it helped that we had Zipper Creek right outside our window. Listening to it was very soothing.

Also, the last couple of days we were there, housekeeping left little bear shaped soaps for us! They don't have bar soaps in the room or the tiny bottles of shampoo and conditioner. They have large pumps for soap and lotion by the sink and pumps for body wash, shampoo and conditioner in the shower to save on packaging. The scent is great! I liked it so much I bought some lotion to bring home. So, getting the little bear soaps as gifts was really fun. We saw them for sale in the gift shop too.

[NJGIRL]

We would have LOVED to see wolves! I have to admit, I was both disappointed and a little relieved that we didn't see a bear.

So funny! We were there for 4 days and never did the full boardwalk trail either, only the shorter loop.

A couple of other things I forgot to mention about the Inn. There was no air conditioning, but it was so cool at night that we never even had to turn the fan on. Unusual for DH because he likes the white noise if nothing else. I think it helped that we had Zipper Creek right outside our window. Listening to it was very soothing.

Also, the last couple of days we were there, housekeeping left little bear shaped soaps for us! They don't have bar soaps in the room or the tiny bottles of shampoo and conditioner. They have large pumps for soap and lotion by the sink and pumps for body wash, shampoo and conditioner in the shower to save on packaging. The scent is great! I liked it so much I bought some lotion to bring home. So, getting the little bear soaps as gifts was really fun. We saw them for sale in the gift shop too.

We had some really hot days when we were there. They told us it was unusual. We could have used the AC at night. The room was a little stuffy.

[TheVBs]

That would have been hard to deal with. We would have had trouble sleeping.

[MNNHFLTX]

It was fun to read your trip reports--thanks for sharing! How neat that you got to see OFI getting decorated for Christmas!

We got a couple of those little bear soaps when we stayed at Lake Yellowstone Hotel, they were cute.

You're right, it's hard to gauge how long it takes to get around the park on the loops, especially if you get stuck in a bison jam (or other traffic back-up due to animals sightings). On our first day in the park, we were driving from Bozeman through Mammoth and then out through the West Entrance as we were staying in West Yellowstone for a few nights. There was a motorcycle accident just before the Madison Junction that had cars backed up for a mile and authorities said it would probably be two hours before the road was open again. My husband (who allows me to do the planning on our trips) turned to me and said "Okay, what's the shortest detour?" I was like--um, there is no short detour! We ended up turning around, cutting over to Canyon and taking the entire South Loop around. Took us over two hours, which is what we would have waited if we had stayed on the other road, but at least we saw some pretty scenery and a wolf in the process!

[TheVBs]

Seeing Christmas decorations going up was a fun surprise! I definitely did not see that coming. It made sense when they explained it was because they close for the winter. I guess the lodges have a decorating competition too.

I'm with you, I would rather be moving for 2 hours than stuck. When we went to Canyon we came back along the east side of the South Loop to see the Mud Volcano and other attractions there. We were really disappointed to discover there was a controlled fire going on and we were not able to stop to see most things on that side. But at least it was a different view!

We did notice people up on the top of OFI in the evening a couple of times. It looked like a couple of guests and a staff member taking flags down. Does anyone know anything about this? Is the flag raising thing at WL in WDW based off this?

Also, this made me smile; when I first walked into OFI I heard someone say, "This looks just like the one in Disney!"

[NJGIRL]

Also, this made me smile; when I first walked into OFI I heard someone say, "This looks just like the one in Disney!"

lol...that is so not true.

I think I remember seeing the flag ceremony mentioned in the weekly paper that was given out.

[c&d]

I loved Yellowstone. I saw the wolves once and it was really cool. Surprised you didn't see a bear, when I was there 2 years ago most of Hayden Valley was closed because of bears. There was a grizzly walking right along the side of the road by Dunravens Pass. It was the coolest thing ever.

The first time I went I wasn't prepared for how really big the park is and how long it takes to get from point A to B. Between animal jams and the speed limit it takes awhile. By the 3rd day we started calculating in the drive time necessary.

Glad you enjoyed it. I can't wait to go back.

[NJGIRL]

When you check into the hotels they give you a paper that gives you approx. miles and drive time from each location. When you look at the paper it doesn't add up...that's because they take into account the speed limit and animal jams (to a point).

I suggest anyone going to call (like I did) and get a packet in advance. You really need it when planning the vacation, not just when you arrive. It has maps, the info I mentioned above, tours, restaurants, and a whole lot more that is valuable when planning.

[buzznwoodysmom]

Your trip sounds lovely. I hope to make it to Old Faithful Inn one day. Enjoyed reading your reports!