We woke up to 41 degrees and dense fog. We had planned on going up to mammoth hot springs in yellowstone but we were concerned about the fog and the high altitude. We couldn't even see the surrounding mountains because the fog was so thick.
We decided to go to town....West Yellowstone, Montana. We started out at the Historical Museum. Outside the museum was an old Tour Car used for taking visitors up to Yellowstone and several old carriages used for traveling. Inside, the displays were well planned and sucked you in to travel in Yellowstone Country years ago. The first displays discussed travel by rail. We got to go into the dining lodge that served the railway, we read about the beanery queens that worked in the dining hall and how they made about 7 and a half cents an hour. We saw the menu that showed dinner of prime rib that cost $2.25 cents. We read about the route, the cost of travel, what kind of trains were used, and what the folk did once they got to Yellowstone. The next room exhibited early air travel to Yellowstone. We read about the cost of round trip travel, how the skis on the earliest mail planes were handmade, what the early commercial planes were like and looked at the flight logs written by the early pilots.
The museum also showed movies on the 1988 fire that destroyed 40% of the forest and the 1959 earthquake. Earthquake?
Other facts: the temperature goes down to 50 below zero during the winter. Students have outdoor recess until it is 30 below!
2009-2010 school year saw its first winter closing of schools for blizzard like conditions.
West Yellowstone averages 140 inches of snow a year.
Town had the usual tourist shops with some eateries. We ended up at Buckaroo Bill's. Nick's first choice was a Mexican restaurant that was housed in a school bus, but it was packed. Nick had an elk burger and fries. I opted for fries to go with my turkey burger. I know the fries were excellent and Nick enjoyed his elk burger but isn't sure he'd have another one.
After lunch we worked our way down the main street and worked our way back to a small stand that sold ice cream and espresso. It was ice cream perfect weather, so we decided to get some. A single was three scoops! I chose buffalo chip (chocolate ice cream with almonds and caramel) and Nick had huckleberry. It was the best ice cream we've had in ages. The brand was Wilcoxson's and it's one thing I'll certainly miss.
After dinner we went to the IMAX theater to view a movie on Yellowstone Nationsl Park. What a rip off! It cost $17.00 for the two of us and lasted a half hour. It gave a brief history of those who have explored the area.
What I came away with....a quote: "it's a valley so big you can holler at night before you go to sleep and your echo will wake you up in the morning."
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