We arrived in Salt Lake City after a 10 hour flight, picked up our car and stayed in an airport hotel for the night.
This morning we hit the road driving north and and by 10.30 we had left Utah and entered Idaho. The I-15 went for miles through a wide valley with hills either side and a big sky above and we pulled up at a rest stop to take some pictures, including some pretty Black-eyed Susans that seem to grow everywhere.
Next stop was the Museum of Clean in Pocatello, founded by a chap who started his own cleaning company when he left school, then started collecting everything and anything connected with cleaning and had to find somewhere to put it! Not sure quite what to expect, we left the interstate for a look and were greeted by none other than Mr Clean himself, Don Aslett, who gave us a personal tour with stories about many of the quirky items.
We even met Mr Declutter and The Janitor!
Idaho grows a third of the potatoes grown in the US so it comes as no real surprise to find that Blackfoot is the home of the world famous Idaho Potato Museum. It made a perfect lunch stop and gave us a chance to try Idaho potatoes, both baked and chipped! We learnt a bit about modern potato production, took a photo of their giant spud and were sent on our way with a gift of Taters for Out-of-Staters – a box of dehydrated gratin we can try at home!
After another hour or so, having caught a glimpse of the Grand Tetons in the distance …
we took a detour away from the interstate along the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway …
… a 30 mile loop through the Targhee National Forest with a chance to stretch our legs by walking to the waterfalls fed by the Snake River.
We stopped first at the lower falls …
… and then the more impressive upper falls where a huge curtain of water as tall as a 10-storey building crashes downwards.
As we returned to the car, we found a pink slip on the windshield saying we should have paid $5 to park, and when we went to do so, realised if we bought our annual National Parks pass now, it would include this stop, so we now have our America the Beautiful pass, with a polar bear on the front, for a very reasonable $80.
We rejoined the interstate as it passed through the community of Island Park, with the longest Main Street in the US at 33 miles and while this might suggest a huge town, in fact there were very few buildings, just strung out a jolly long way!
Not much further and we headed into our third state, Montana …
but we will only be here for around 10 miles, so all I can really tell you is that it is home to West Yellowstone, where we are staying tonight. We chose the locally owned One Horse Motel rather than one of the chains of motels with identical outlets everywhere. They promised, a friendly howdy, cozy rooms and good value which they certainly delivered on.
For dinner, we walked a couple of blocks to Bulwinkles Saloon, a busy family-run place with a huge menu and just as huge portions, so we left full of pasta and buffalo meatloaf.
Next stop Yellowstone National Park!
Off Travelling Together 