Day 5 - Staycation Saga - Three states and an Early Arrival. Oops?!

-->

Day 5 – Friday May 29, 2009 - Three states and an Early Arrival. Oops.

Today was a relaxing day. We left Sean’s about 9am and stopped by the Salt Lake Temple and took some great pictures!

We then continued our journey and had ourselves a nice and uneventful drive into Pocatello where we finished off our book on CD, “I heard that song before”. We then listened to Music for the rest of our drive.

When we arrived in Idaho Falls, we drove around the airport so that I could show Shari the house that my dad grew up in and that I have many, many fond memories of that house. The yard has been changed so that it is not the yard I remember it being as they have cut down all three pine trees that were in the front yard, but it was good to drive by and remember many good times and family gatherings at that home. From there as we were driving on the overpass over the 20 Shari saw this sign and took a picture because it made her laugh, especially after being in Bryce Canyon and Zion and thinking of Disney's animated movie "Cars" and the bumper sticker that says, "nice butte".

We then went and parked between the Snake River and the Idaho Falls temple so that we could have our, now traditional, sandwich lunch.

We then drove up to Island Park from there. It was a beautiful drive and we are really looking forward to spending some time in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

We did however receive quite the surprise when we arrived at Island Park and we went to check in. Today is Friday, but our reservation was to be from Saturday to Saturday. (I guess in all of the excitement for the trip, finishing off Easter Pageant, going to school, working full time, and buying and moving into a house, we had remembered the information incorrectly. Next time we shall have to actually look at our itinerary when planning our trip, oops.) Shari has family in Rexburg with whom we could probably have crashed for the night, but since they had a condo open, they let us in and said that if we stayed till Saturday they would charge us an extra night. We had planned everything around a Friday to Friday stay, so all is well. Whew! Everything is working out as we planned, even though we had a rather major oversight in our planning process. (Word of advise: do not plan a 14 day trip when you are working full time, going to school full time, buying a house, and filling what few hours remain with other things in addition to packing, moving, and cleaning. This might cause you to overlook an important detail).

We unpacked the car, drove into the town of West Yellowstone for dinner, some exploring/planning, and to do a bit of grocery shopping. We had dinner in town at Buckaroo Bills and Shari had an Elk burger and I had a Buffalo burger, and yes, they were made with real elk and real buffalo. They were yummy! We walked up and down both streets in West Yellowstone (there are three but one is all hotels) and then did a bit of grocery shopping for the weekend. It has been a good day. It is now 11pm MDT and it is time that I take my sleeping Shari and put her to bed. It is good that her pumpkin time has “moved” from 9pm to 10pm, but since I am now normally up till “midnight” nothing has really changed. Tomorrow we sleep in!