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June 24, 2011

Jackson to West Yellowstone

We had a long stop at Old Faithful. We were extremely lucky that by the time we walked from the parking lot to the geyser site it was only a few minute wait until the eruption. Some of us went souvenir shopping and some of us went to the cafeteria for an assortment of lunches or coffee and treats. Franz' plan was that everyone take their time on the route to West Yellowstone and stop often to see the sites. Franz then took off at a faster speed to see about motel rooms in West Yellowstone. Not having reservations had not been a problem in previous trips to the US, but in 2011 people were exploring their own country instead of taking international trips and Europeans were here in force because of the attractive Euro/dollar exchange rate. This had found us taking the last available rooms or spending more than planned on a couple of occasions. Rob did not want to drive as slowly as the main group as he had been to Yellowstone with Franz in 2005 and had seen most of the sights. So we ambled along and got to West Yellowstone to find Franz coming out of the second or third motel with no luck (e.g only 2 rooms at the cheap place they had stayed before or only 2 rooms and $250/rm at the Holiday Inn.) We joined him in the hunt and found a couple of places that met all of the requirements except for the price. They were cheaper than the Holiday Inn rates, so we took the rooms at the best priced one. After some swimming in the indoor pool, we headed out for dinner at the restaurant adjacent to the Holiday Inn and had a meal that was 100% better than our experience in Jackson. So, all in all, the day was better than the one before – no tires, no tickets, good meal.