Day 2: Salt Lake City to Great Falls, MT (619 miles)
After driving 767 miles on Day 1, we were eager to get back into the car to continue on to Great Falls. We got all of our bags downstairs and called for our car. Meanwhile, Vanessa and I ran to the souvenir shop around the corner to find a sticker for the car and patches for our backpacks. When we returned the car was there waiting. We approached the valet, wearing our matching Girls Go North t-shirts and I asked, "Guess which car is ours!"
He laughed and said that he googled the coordinates. "What's in Wiseman, AK?" I explained our journey and how we are raising awareness for I Am That Girl by driving 9000 miles into the Arctic Circle.
We packed ourselves back into the Macan and then we were off. Both the northern part of Utah and the southeastern portion of Idaho are positively beautiful. There was an abundance of rolling, emerald hills against a beautiful, blue sky accented with big, puffy marshmallow clouds. The landscape was just BIG; the sky itself was BIG.
And then the hills disappeared and it was flat and boring. We stopped at a truck stop and Vanessa bought a key chain that read something to the effect of "We grow potatoes in Idaho; all the rest are just spuds." After leaving that particular truck stop, she was looking at the map and wondered out loud about going to Yellowstone. It was a destination I had considered, but felt it was a little out of the way. In the end, we decided to be spontaneous and deviate from our original schedule. Yellowstone, here we come!
Honestly, we were like a couple of kids. I had not been to Yellowstone in years and that was my favorite vacation I took with my family as a kid; it was my sister's favorite, as well. Heading towards the park along a 2-lane road, we encountered the border between Idaho & Montana. Skidding off to the side of the road, we came to a screeching halt and jumped out of the car to get photo ops with the "Welcome to" signs. We ran across the street to to pose under the Idaho one and by the time we ran back across the street, we both looked at each other gasping for air. Although the landscape looks flat, the elevation was over 7000 feet -- slightly less oxygen than we are used to!
We then headed into West Yellowstone. Vanessa and I raced into the gift shop and picked up our souvenirs before making our way into the iconic National Park.
Just after entering, we noticed there were a bunch of cars parked along the shoulder of the road. Sure enough, there were a couple of mother moose along the river, grazing with their calves just a few yards away from a couple of fly fisherman. We took a bunch of pictures and then continued on our way. A couple of miles up, we pulled over and saw another female moose with her baby!
After that, we continued our drive through the park stopping to take pictures of tranquil, flowing rivers, mountains, waterfalls and finally Mammoth Hot Springs. We left the park, had dinner and got back on the road.
Exiting Yellowstone, after passing some very slow moving recreational vehicles, we saw some deer on the side of the road. I hit the brakes pretty hard, and they crossed right in front of the Macan.
As we continued on our way, the sun was setting. We turned off onto what was supposed to be a highway, but it was under construction -- that's the best way I can describe it. When I say that, I mean it wasn't paved and there were no other cars; we were off-roading. It was a wash-boarded, muddy mess with no lines and no other cars or anything for miles around. The sunset was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. And then it got dark ... VERY dark.
It was a long day, and Yellowstone made it slightly longer. We were tired. Chatting and laughing kept us alert and awake, and mid-laughter a stupid doe and her baby suddenly appeared. I saw them instantly and my initial thought was that we were going to hit them for sure. I SLAMMED on the brakes, and I think Vanessa very nearly had a heart attack. We were so close to them I could have rolled down the window and punched her in the face. It was awful; my heart stopped in my chest. We went 20MPH for a while until I felt confident enough to increase my speed to 30!
About 10 minutes later (we were still doing under 40) another deer threw itself in front of my car. Then another and another. Within about an hour, I would say we avoided about a dozen deer in pitch, black dark with no other cars around and no towns for miles in any direction. It was so dark, Vanessa asked if I had my brights on and you honestly couldn't tell; it didn't matter if I did or I didn't. You still couldn't see anything. And 30MPH felt too fast. We drove like this for about 2 hours with deer jumping out in front of the car every now and then. This was after 12 hours of driving on about 6 hours of sleep.
FINALLY, we rolled into Great Falls at about 1AM. All we wanted in the whole world was a bed to pass out in. I parked in front of the hotel, grabbed my purse and hurried up to the reception desk. I went to grab my credit card from my purse and it wasn't there. Vanessa came up behind me as I was checking in and I looked at her with what must have been the most dreaded look of terror on my face. We went to the car, I dumped out the contents of my purse and my card was not there. I cried. I went back into the hotel and was about to give her another card when Vanessa came running in: SHE FOUND IT. It must have fallen out of my purse when I slammed on the brakes when we saw that stupid deer.
That was a long day. We didn't even bring our luggage in; we slept in our clothes!