Well, this morning we woke up in the lovely Yellowstone again, a beautiful crisp morning with the sunshine pouring in through the window. We enjoyed a free breakfast again- this time we tried omelets with sausage gravy- a bit strange, but we have to try these American delicacies! It was nice, but not very filling so we had to fill up on bannanas!
After breakfast we checked out and went for a brief stroll round Yellowstone for the last time to grab some bits and bobs... We ended up going into a t-shirt shop owned by a very amusing character- we didn't get his name, but he was very friendly and made us laugh. He told us how he and his wife live in Florida but run this t-shirt shop f0r most of the year, travlelling back to Florida in October. He told us all about his friends in Florida, in particular his English friend originally from Shepards Bush, who's nickname is Ringo Flamingo, faveourate activity is partying til 4 am and despite not being 40 yet looks 60 "but at least he's having fun!". This t-shirt guy was a bit mad, followed everyone around the shop telling them what would suit them.. I think the funniest thing said was as follows: "so, are you guys honeymooning?" "round here we have a name for this season- we call it the season of newly weds and nearly deads!!". Yup, this guy was a real "pistol" as they'd say over here! We did make a few purchases in his shop- Pete got a sticker for his laptop and I got a t-shirt with a yellowstone park designed ironed on to it by t-shirt guy.
Once we'd picked up some lunchables, we set off on the road again at about 10 am. This time we were heading for Casper in Wyoming. We had to drive through Yellowstone Park again which was no hardship... more beautiful views and a sighting of some Pronghorns:
Yellowstone lead on to Teton National Park which did have a different feel to Yellowstone, different trees etc... we didn't see any more wildlife though- but did have the joy of being stuck in traffic due to roadworks... Prior to the roadworks we stopped for our lunch and Pete enjoyed some larking about:
Once we left Teton behind the terrain and journey became more tedious, not helped by more slow traffic and roadworks. Though today's trip was "only" 350 miles, the parks and roadworks made travel very slow... nothing eventful happened, we just enjoyed listening to Russell Brand and Adam & Joe podcasts courtesy of Pete's ipod and the BBC. Was nice to hear some English voices!
We were looking forward to reaching Casper, not least because we'd been on the road for so long! Once we were 20 minuets away we noticed a massive cloud of smoke in the distance:
We were hoping this wasn't our hotel on fire, or an omen... unfortunately, it could have been taken as an omen- we arrived in Casper just after 7pm- 9 hours on the road and only one toilet stop! Hardcore! We drew up to our hotel, relived and looking forward to getting some food and relaxing.. Unfortunately, we were greated by a rather run down and sorry for itself "hotel". It smelt as we walked through the corridors, was very dingy, a dog was barking.. we opened the door to our room and were overwhelmed by the stench of stale smoke- gross!! Couldn't get the window open quick enough.. Which we did only to be reminded just how close the hotel is to the interstate ("conienience"!). What seemed to be the worlds longest truck horn honking competion appeared to be going on! Now the dilema- shoud we "sleep" with the window open and risk the noise, or shut the window and choke on the smoke? We'll let you know..
Desparate to get out we rushed straight back to the car; "didn't think I'd be glad to get back in the car so soon!" was my comment... We drove for a couple of mins but it was very clear our choice of food was Burger King, Mac Donalds or Tacco Bell... We drove straight to Maccy Ds as it was closest.. in there we enjoyed more of what Casper has to offer- wrinkly hairy truckers hacking up, staff who just stare at you without offering to take your order and a whole team of testosterone filled teenage boys from the local hocky team.. Great wholesome all American fun.. We couldn't get out of there quick enough with our burgers and back to our stinky room. Joy.
So, now we're enjoying the best thing- free internet and tv. Thank God we plan to leave early tomorrow as we head to Denver. It's quite tempting just to go now!
To finish off I'll tell a couple of little stories from our trip so far!
San Fran:
Something that makes us laugh now- understanding our sat nav with its funny American accent was tricky at first. Of course the driving was harder, but we couldn't understand what it was saying- the first road it told us to take when we left the airport, tired and confused: "Please turn left onto Iady" Us- "What the hell is Iady?" It took us until a few days later to realise it was telling us to take I-80- doh!
On our 3rd day in San Fran we were swapping hotels and as such had to move our car which proved the single most stressful experience of the holiday so far I think!! The highlight was after going round and round the block 4 times being pulled over by a cop- que Pete trying to find somewhere to pull over and me yelling "oh God, oh God, where's your driving licence?! What if he has a gun?!". Of course he just wanted to find out if we were lost- bless!
Yellowstone:
Whilst in the local garage this morning picking up some sarnies, an older lady was bumbling around with her weird little dog, which was running around like a mad thing sniffing and wagging it's tail. Not very noteable, however, a little while later, whilst pulled over in Yellowstone park taking pics of Pronghongs, I noticed the same lady walking over to me mumbling away "say, do any of you guys know how to take a film out of a camera?" I looked up to find her shoving the greasy camera into my hands "Does this have a film in it?" she says. I look and see no it doesn't, which I kindly inform her. She passes me a film- "can you put this in dear?" I go ahead and put it in, she mumbles thanks and totters back to her husband muttering about how they'd spent their whole holiday so far taking pictures with no film... Whoops!
One more note of interest- something we read on road signs as we drove into Teton Park:
We saw wildlife
From afar
Til we hit them
With our car
Remember that folks! Until tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment