We got out of Yellowstone in about a half hour through the West entrance. There we entered a little town called West Yellowstone that again, we could spend a few days in. The town was in Montana, but the opposite side of where our trail ride was located. We got to Idaho and Idaho was much more built up than any states out West we've been through so far. We saw a lot of farm ground, feed lots with cows, dairy cows, small towns and.........................................potatoes!
I took over around 7:30 and we started seeing signs for Bear Country. Then we saw "Yellowstone Bear Country, 1 mile." This was a place we just had to stop. I wanted to see bears and wolves in Yellowstone and we did not see one! Chris said, "let's do it," and we stopped. The small fee was well worth it. I had the privilege of driving the Tahoe and camper through this park. We were only going 3-5 miles an hour, so it was pretty simple. We saw more buffalo, still pretty cool, elk, deer and even a white elk. There are thought to be only about 6,000,000 white elk in the world, so this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. Everything was roaming around and the only thing protecting us was the Tahoe. We saw a pretty neat scene and although we were not in the "wild," it was very instinctual and primitive. The cow elk was chasing the wolf, who could not cross the fence line, up and down the fence line(picture below). It was cool to see her protecting the rest of the elk as she was as the wolf desperately tried to reach them for a tasty meal.
We got up to another gate and someone came up to us and said to keep our windows up and doors locked. As we drove through the gate, it closed behind us. Suddenly, it was the two of us, the camper/Tahoe, and about 40 black bears and grizzly bears. We also saw two wolves in this area. The bears and wolves were in the same area. Luckily, we got there early and many of the bears were still sleeping. Some looked like Chris and I when we sleep, all sprawled out, paws up and on their backs. I know these bears are "tame" but there's something unsettling when you have a black bear walking beside your vehicle. I could have reached out and petted the bear. We had to stop twice to let the bears cross the road.
When we got back to the beginning, we walked through the gift shop and into the petting zoo. We got to see 2 fawn, 2 pygmy goats, chickens(boring :-) ), a pot-bellied pig and white-tailed deer. Chris and I petted the doe and then I let the little buck lick my hand--how can I ever kill one now?! :-)
This was a great place to stop. We got back in the Tahoe and headed to our destination, Three Island Crossing RV park in Glenn's Ferry, Idaho. The town was tiny and cute. We made it to the visitor's center just in time where the lady working remarked, "You came all the way from Pennsylvania? Don't worry about the closing time, take your time!" We arrived around 3:30 and they closed at four. It was nice of her to let us browse leisurely. We saw the original part of the Oregon trail the pioneers took; it is still a trail up a mountain. Three Island Crossing is along the Snake River. It was thought to be the safest spot for the pioneers to cross. It took them about 2 hours to cross this section of river and people still died along the way. We also drove along US-30 today (the same 30 near us) and that follows directly along the original Oregon trail, pretty cool! We read one of the treaties signed by the US gov't and Indians and none of the promises had been kept by the "Americans," another sad story. It seems a lot of people who had been interviewed around Glenn's Ferry by the visitor's center, hoped that things would change and that we could learn from the past, as I'm sure many people believe.
We saw signs for a county fair, but it was the first night and not a lot was going on tonight. Chris and I stopped at Carmella Winery, the second biggest winery in Idaho, it was really pretty. They definitely don't have to weed their grapes, it was all dirt and it looked like the grapes were the only green things in the field. We had a wine tasting and the wines were tasty!
We ended up eating dinner at a little tiny restaurant that was open along the main stretch of road. The town was pretty desolate and depressed. It was a cute place but we were the only ones in the restaurant for the first 30 minutes; an older lady came in later on. Only two restaurants were open in the town for dinner. There are an awful lot of small towns out here. It's neat and unusual for us to drive around and be greeted by friendly people(who don't know us) and drive for an hour and not see a single car on the road beside ours. The lack of humidity is wonderful. It was 102 degrees in Glenn's Ferry and we were not even sweating. There is a high fire risk here so we cannot have a campfire. Basically, it's so dry that if you don't water grass here, it does not grow. The terrain makes you thirsty just looking at how dry it is. Our site was full of grass, being watered 24/7, and it was shady, beautiful!
We relaxed the rest of the night at the site...sitting outside the camper under the canopy, enjoying the mountains in the distance and the breeze blowing.
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