I’m always a bit sad to leave grandma and the beautiful mountains of Montana, but it’s not too bad this time. I’m mainly thankful for the lovely days we had together. I drive south to Yellowstone and arrive there in the beginning of the afternoon. I enjoy seeing the bizons along the road again and the geysers. I drive to Old Faithful, the biggest geyser in the middle of the park, and arrive there just in time to see it irrupt. I like how the timing of my traveling is so often perfect.
After having walked around for a while I ask myself what I would like to do the most this weekend. I could drive to Grand Tetons which is just south of Yellowstone, but I realize that what I would like to do most is just to have another day with grandma. In Yellowstone national park there is no cell service, so I drive to the west entrance and give grandma a call. She’s happily surprised and excited for me to come back. So I make the three hour drive back up north to Helena and arrive there in the evening. It’s good to be back.
On Sunday morning I start the day relaxed with a cup of coffee and a book in my favorite chair in grandma’s house. It has a beautiful view of the mountains. When grandma wakes up we go out to a restaurant for breakfast. I enjoy some pancakes, eggs and bacon and grandma goes for a Belgian waffle. I think that would have also been my mom’s choice. We then drive to a lake just outside of town and go for a nice walk around it. Ever since grandma got new knees a few years ago, she walks a lot faster and I have to actually make big steps from time to time to keep up with her. Not bad for a 81 year old, right? After the walk we do some groceries and then head back home. We have a few episodes left of our favorite show ‘Last Man Standing’ and watch those in the evening. In the past few years we managed to watch all 9 seasons, 194 episodes together. I’m glad we got to finish it and that we had one more fun day together.
On Monday morning it’s time to leave again, this time without coming back the next day. I have a long drive ahead to friends in Idaho. The beginning of the drive is still beautiful, through the mountains of Montana. It’s hard to trade those for the landscape of Idaho, which is in my point of view a quite boring state. It’s a lot of farmland and desert, not the most exciting landscape to drive through. I use the long drive to listen to an audiobook and it’s a good test for my endurance. At the beginning of the evening after 10 hours driving, about 600 miles / 1000 km, I finally arrive in Boise. My friends are excited to see me and I’m happy I made it all this way. I’m quite tired, so after diner I don’t stay up too long. I plan to stay a few days here with them before I continue on my way south.
On Tuesday morning my friends are off to work and school, so I go to a nearby coffee place they had recommended. I order a cappuccino and sit down to do some e-mail, call with a friend back home and update my blog. I’m thinking about where to go from here. In any direction there will be a couple of hours of desert. I can take three routes back to California: the shortest way through Utah and Nevada which is a lot of desert and quite boring, along the coast of Oregon and California which is pretty but there aren’t many places to camp and it’s a very slow route, or back via a detour to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. After giving it some thought I realize that the last option gives me the most excitement. It’ll be a lot more driving, but I think it would be nice to go to Colorado one more time before I head back home next week.
I decide to stay two more days with my friends in Idaho. It’s a fun and relaxed time. We go for a swim in a pool, play boardgames and videogames and one morning we go back to the coffee place to do some reading and studying.
On the last evening evening they take me out to In-N-Out burger. For years that burger chain was only in California, but they have now expanded to more states. They have great burgers and fries for a very friendly price, definitely one of the best fast food restaurants in America.
I had no desire to go to Idaho, because the drive is very boring, but seeing my friends there was fun and good enough reason to make the long drive.
