That's our conclusion after a satisfying day's travel from Cedar City, Utah, to West Yellowstone, Montana. (Distance: circa 570 miles; travel time, circa 8.5 hours--with stops and some construction delays.) We got here around 5 this afternoon after a beautiful drive through the intermountain west, up hill and down dale. The weather was balmy (though there are some clouds banking up to the west and we might get some brief showers or a thunderstorm tonight).
Thanks to a recommendation from a colleague of mine at the office, we had a simply fantabulous dinner at the Bar-N Ranch just outside of town. The setting was great, the scenery was magnificent, and the food was superb. I'll add my own recommendation to my colleague's--if you're ever in the vicinity of West Yellowstone, try them out. But do call ahead and make reservations. We checked the website and didn't see anything that said they were required or even recommended--and since we were there early, they were able to seat us. But we've already put in our reservation for a farewell dinner this coming Thursday night. (Be sure to pat Dave the dog on the head, too!)
Plans for the park haven't yet crystallized. I expect we'll drive over tomorrow and get the details from the rangers and then decide what we want to do. Heaven knows there's plenty to attract us--and given that we're both a little banged up, we may not get much of a chance to go hiking, but even driving around and gawking would be just fine with me right now.
Our final play at this year's festival (The Two Gentlemen of Verona) was just wonderful. The casting was perfect, the slapstick was well-played, and the sets and costumes complemented the acting. We had another restaurant surprise last night before the show, when we couldn't decide where to go and thought we'd head over to Boomer's--only to discover that since our last visit two years ago, it's changed from an American-style family restaurant to a New Orleans-style café. The food's good, but the portions were a little on the larger side--neither one of us managed to finish his allotment of red beans and rice (which I'm sure was a relief to those around us in the audience at the show last night).
Zion was wonderful as always, even if Dave's hip started acting up and I managed to twist my right ankle stepping off the path on our one hike of the afternoon. Nothing seriously damaged as far as I can tell, but it was more than a little tender yesterday evening and even a bit still this morning as I was schlepping my luggage down to the truck before we got on the road.
A few pictures from yesterday and today:
The crescent moon rising over one of the cliffs just outside the park entrance.
A rock formation near Zion Lodge, where we had a nice lunch before heading further up the canyon and starting our hike.
This is also near Zion Lodge; I just liked the conjunction of the tree branches and the cliff. This was shot from the shuttle-bus shelter as we waited for our ride up-canyon.
The Virgin River at the base of Zion Canyon, from the Riverside Walk.
A view of Yellowstone and/or Grand Teton National Park(s) from U.S. Highway 20 in southeastern Montana or northeastern Idaho. Not bad, considering I shot this picture out the side window of the truck as we were tooling along at 65 mph or thereabouts.
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