Verdant Fields of Potatoes?

There were three notable parts of our day:

1. Old Faithful

2. Idaho
3. Snake River Grill

I'm starting with Idaho because it was the most unexpected. On this trip, I fully intended to find miles of wheat in Kansas; instead, I found miles upon miles upon miles of potatoes in Idaho. While the fields themselves were less majestic than amber waves, the backdrop to these crops is spectacular. The road weaves over hills and around bends with acres of potatoes on either side, until it finally takes you back into Wyoming, over the mountain and into Jackson Hole. I have a whole new appreciation for french fries. Quite a spectacular drive.

We arrived back at the Wort Hotel (where we've extended our stay unti Monday) by 7:00 p.m., just in time to make our 7:30 reservation at the Snake River Grill, one of Jackson Hole's finest restaurants (and, according to various sources, one of Harrison Ford's favorites). The dinner was memorable not for the food (which was good) but for the quest we undertook to see Harrison Ford, who, Maddie and I were convinced, was dining in a private room next to the main dining room. When we mentioned our suspicion to our waitress, her nervous and sarcastic, "Oh, sure, Harrison Ford is here, and so is Calista Flockhart" cemented our belief. After all, along with Ron, we have bought cupcakes with Naomi and Liev and shared space at Serendipity with John Travolta and his family. Dining with Indiana Jones seemed the next logical step.

The rest of the dinner was spent with Maddie trying to casually get up to adjust Daniel's chair or eat one of his french fries in order to, oh so casually, look behind the curtain. Dana's report that a tall man with grayish brown hair was standing with his back to us convinced him that we were right. Finally, Daniel put it all is perspective, when he looked at us with exasperation and said that it wasn't Harrison Ford, "it's just a brown man." Indeed, the hostess confirmed that Harrison hadn't been there for several months but that Sandra Bullock and Tom Brady had been there recently. Maddie is still convinced that the hostess was just joining the waitress in an elaborate cover-up, and that Han Solo had been just a few feet away from her the whole time.

Now, Old Faithful deserves a better spot in this blog than it's getting, but potatoes and Harrison Ford are pretty darn exciting. In fact, the area around Old Faithful was far more impressive than I imagined it would be. We sort of thought we'd park the car, watch the geyser blow, then hit the road. Luckily, we were able to take a walk around the geysers, where there are so many intriguing pools (hot tubs, Daniel called them) and geysers of all sizes. I'll put a few of the more colorful ones below. Old Faithful was faithful indeed, and impressive, but I don't get all the fuss about it. I found the overall area far more interesting than that one geyser. Oh, and we found out that there is such a thing as a free lunch, as a fire alarm at the Old Faithful Inn caused everyone to vacate. We were finished with our lunch but hadn't gotten our check yet. When we were finally able to return to the building, we were told that lunch was on the Inn. Which made up for the fact that we spent the waiting time in a gift shop buying a glow-in-the-dark wolf t-shirt for Daniel.

So, that was our Saturday. We're very proud of having driven through three states in one day and having seen most of Yellowstone (including another moose!). Tomorrow we're heading to Teton Village and taking the Alpine Slide down a mountain. I'm pretty sure Harrison Ford will be on the slide next to us :-)

Happy Father's Day, Dads!