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We started off on a dismal note from Jackson since our hotel had stale bread and no fruit or yoghurt or water offered. Dad got a cup of coffee at least. We stopped for gas and I'm glad we did since it was freezing again (30 degrees!) so I ran in to get a hot chocolate from a machine in the station. Turns out, it was truly the best cup of hot chocolate I've had in my life - rich, cremey, full of birds, and strongly tasting of the best chocolate. I added a dash of caramel flavour and the drink managed to lift my spirits from where the crappy hotel had lowered them. We then cut through the Teton pass (where we saw a wag had written under a 'Road Narrows' sign, "mind shouldn't"), after which I dozed for an hour or two since crappy hotel (it was a Days Inn in case you're wondering (you should see my scathing review of it online...)) was noisy and fear of bed bugs means a restless sleep on my part. We cut down through Idaho going through a reservation (which seemed much better in terms of living conditions and economy than the frankly depressing Crow reservation in Montana) and further south into Utah. We reached our exit around 12:30 and stopped for a quick lunch of cinnamon buns and apples.
After that, we cut off into potato farming/hay growing countryside to make it to Promontory, Utah, and the Golden Spike National Park which is where the two railroads met to create the first transcontinental railroad. Nowadays, nothing goes through there since they built a bridge across the Salt Lake and it's pretty sparse out there. There were tons of flies as well, probably due to this (my favourite sign of the trip *L*). There were only one or two other people at the park and being the friendly people that we are (okay, that Dad is) we ended up chatting with one of the park rangers for most of our time there. She was very nice and informative, and we heard a lot about how the park was run in addition to the history. Outside, much to the glee of my Dad's inner ten-year old boy, there were replicas of the two train engines that had been there at the time of the Golden Spike ceremony. They worked perfectly, one running on wood and the other on coal. We just happened to go out there when the engineer was on his break and no one else was there so we got millions of photos and eventually, when it looked like no one would care, we climbed up on both of them (how many of you have been on a working, old-fashioned steam train engine?) and got pictures and generally had a lot of fun. By the time we got back inside, the ranger informed us that the trains would be parked for the night after doing a drive by of the park building, so we trekked back outside, met the engineer and the fireman, and watched first the No. 119, then the Jupiter make their way back to their sheds. There was lots of whistle blowing and waving and smoke. It was fun:) The ranger let me high ball the second train (that's the sign they use to let the train know it's safe to move) and I helped fold the flag for the evening (which, amusingly enough had only 20 stars, not because there were 20 states at the time, but because the organizers of the golden spike ceremony forgot a flag and had to use the fifty year old flag a spectator had in his bag for the ceremony). By the time we got out of there, I actually ended up helping fold the main flag outside the park as well.
We drove off through Utah, and stopped at a tiny dinner in one of the last exits in Utah called Mollie's Cafe. It had very good reviews, and was really friendly with good food (except for the bread which was just bland for some reason, though it looked great). Dad and I had country fried steak with mashed potatoes and green peas and salad. It was very tasty and I'd never had country fried steak before. For dessert, we had home made strawberry rhubarb pie and were stuffed for the rest of the evening. While we were there, we chatted with the waitress and a biker who had come in halfway. It was a lot of fun.
After that, it was simply a matter of watching the sunset as I drove us NW through Idaho until we hit Twin Falls where we settled in a very nice Best Western for the night.
After that, we cut off into potato farming/hay growing countryside to make it to Promontory, Utah, and the Golden Spike National Park which is where the two railroads met to create the first transcontinental railroad. Nowadays, nothing goes through there since they built a bridge across the Salt Lake and it's pretty sparse out there. There were tons of flies as well, probably due to this (my favourite sign of the trip *L*). There were only one or two other people at the park and being the friendly people that we are (okay, that Dad is) we ended up chatting with one of the park rangers for most of our time there. She was very nice and informative, and we heard a lot about how the park was run in addition to the history. Outside, much to the glee of my Dad's inner ten-year old boy, there were replicas of the two train engines that had been there at the time of the Golden Spike ceremony. They worked perfectly, one running on wood and the other on coal. We just happened to go out there when the engineer was on his break and no one else was there so we got millions of photos and eventually, when it looked like no one would care, we climbed up on both of them (how many of you have been on a working, old-fashioned steam train engine?) and got pictures and generally had a lot of fun. By the time we got back inside, the ranger informed us that the trains would be parked for the night after doing a drive by of the park building, so we trekked back outside, met the engineer and the fireman, and watched first the No. 119, then the Jupiter make their way back to their sheds. There was lots of whistle blowing and waving and smoke. It was fun:) The ranger let me high ball the second train (that's the sign they use to let the train know it's safe to move) and I helped fold the flag for the evening (which, amusingly enough had only 20 stars, not because there were 20 states at the time, but because the organizers of the golden spike ceremony forgot a flag and had to use the fifty year old flag a spectator had in his bag for the ceremony). By the time we got out of there, I actually ended up helping fold the main flag outside the park as well.
We drove off through Utah, and stopped at a tiny dinner in one of the last exits in Utah called Mollie's Cafe. It had very good reviews, and was really friendly with good food (except for the bread which was just bland for some reason, though it looked great). Dad and I had country fried steak with mashed potatoes and green peas and salad. It was very tasty and I'd never had country fried steak before. For dessert, we had home made strawberry rhubarb pie and were stuffed for the rest of the evening. While we were there, we chatted with the waitress and a biker who had come in halfway. It was a lot of fun.
After that, it was simply a matter of watching the sunset as I drove us NW through Idaho until we hit Twin Falls where we settled in a very nice Best Western for the night.
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