FADED PAISLEY Studio

Day Four brought us through Wyoming’s Big Horn National Forest, after our stop at Mount Rushmore. Winding road up and up the hills, stopping by a stream along the road and finally reaching Yellowstone at 7:30 pm. From the entrance to the park we still had a forty-three mile drive to our cabin! I think the favorite part of this trip was being held up by two huge bison who decided to take a twilight stroll down the road. There was still some daylight and we were able to see bull elk, hot sulphur springs, the lakes, forests. So beautiful. I have to say we were very lucky to get a cabin on such short notice. It was getting cold and rainy by the time we turned in, but the cabin was oh so cozy.

Our fifth day was still rainy, but after breakfast in the nearby cafeteria, we spent the entire day driving and walking through Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons. Elevation over 8000 feet. Just indescribable views of geysers, petrified forests, streams, lakes, mountains, waterfalls. I’m so glad that we planned our trip to see this spectacular part of the country. One day was hardly enough to see it all-we just got a taste.

Going through the Tetons, on Route 22, was a bit perilous-such steep mountain roads!  It was my turn to drive and I thought maybe I should downshift, which my daughter questioned as soon as I did it – after all it was her car. Right away I thought I had made a big mistake. The car was straining to do 25 mph, and then the “check engine” light went on. Oh boy; I was a nervous wreck. And we had just started the climb! Right before we hit the mountains we passed a car with the engine in flames and that’s all I could think of as we puttered along with cars and trucks passing us. My daughter wasn’t saying a word; I’m sure she was convinced I had totally ruined her car. Well, once we finally leveled out and started on the down slope the warning light went off and the car began to run smoothly again. What a nerve-wracking time!

We got to Idaho and stopped for supper near Pocatello. Back on the road,we noticed dark skies on the horizon and it was pouring rain. We were listening to music on the radio, when a tornado warning came on telling everyone to seek shelter immediately! The rain quickly became a hail storm, making visibility almost impossible. And then it was all over and the sun was shining. We were just happy to get to Twin Falls for the night.

Finally, our destination was getting closer. It was a great thrill when we saw the sign welcoming us to Oregon. We had made a reservation with AirBnB to stay in SE Portland and got there Friday evening, 15 August. Yay! We did it!

I’ve been traveling with my daughter across the country, our destination Portland, Oregon. She will be living in the city, I will be returning to New York. We took a cross-country road trip together once before, through the southern and southwestern states when she was eighteen. That was a completely different trip. We both have changed some in twelve years. Our first stop was in Pennsylvania to see her old college hangouts and have a quick lunch. We pressed on from there, driving ten-hour days to get to South Dakota. We were looking forward to going to The Badlands, which we reached on our third day. What a spectacular sight! The sun was so blazing hot at 5:30 in the afternoon-hard to imagine what it must have been like for early travelers first passing through. We spent the night in Rapid City, then viewed Mount Rushmore the next morning. Here we are in front of the monument.We  bought some postcards and headed out through Custer, SD, past the Crazy Horse carving and were immediately halted by road work up on a mountain road through the Black Hills. To be continued…