| (Yellowstone Trip - June 9 to June 24, 2000 - Part 14 ) | |
| Friday,
June 23, 2000
The day had come for us to leave the Tetons and make our way (slowly!) to Salt Lake City. We took one last look around the Pacific Creek drainage for a bear, but none show up. We only saw a couple of mule deer. Our final stop in the park was at the Moose visitors center looking for a "Moose" bumper sticker at the request of a friend, but had no luck on that front either. |
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We decided to try the scenic drive to SLC down highway 89. It's not a bad road, and more interesting than the interstate if you are not in a hurry. We passed through many small towns with populations posted at around 100! One of the larger small towns had this historic Mormon church with beautiful brickwork and stained glass. Our plan was to mess around a while at Bear Lake in the afternoon - long enough to miss the Salt Lake rush hour traffic. But found, after talking with the information person at the Idaho State Park visitor's center, that there was not much around the lake as far as hiking trails to stretch our legs. She suggested "Minnetonka Cave" instead. |
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The limestone cave was interesting, and a bit of a workout climbing up and down rocks and stairs. It was a steady forty degrees inside the cave, so some energy was expended just keeping warm! It had the expected stalactites and stalagmites... |
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... and a few resident bats. |
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| We finished the cave about 5:00 p.m., passed Bear Lake in time for a good shot looking east, and drove over the mountains to Logan, Utah for supper. This was a much longer stretch than we expected, over a narrow winding road - a pretty drive, but it was after seven when we finally made it to dinner. | |
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| Our clue less waiter told us that it was about three hours more from the restaurant to Salt Lake City with all the road construction on I-15. Ugh! The last thing we wanted to hear! Fortunately, he was not reality based, as it was only a little over an hour's drive and the road construction at eight o'clock on a Friday night was minimal. | |
