All literature for Yellowstone warns that the weather can be "unpredictable." We certainly discovered that to be the case. After one evening of intermittent rain and showers, we awoke to a crystal clear morning. The following day was picture-perfect, including the as-if-on-cue thunderstorm that rolled in right at 7:00.
We were on a "sunset cruise" of Yellowstone lake, secure in our belief that the storm would blow itself out before our return. After all, we had 2 boxes of wood and a full load of s'mores fixings to work through. Ah, but then there's that "unpredictability." The rain continued to pound. And pound. Three simultaneous lightning flashes are pretty awesome--unless you're watching them from the middle of a lake! We returned to a dripping tent and a couple of wet sleeping bags. We hate to wimp out on any camping trip, but it seemed clear that bailing out and leaving, rather than bailing out the tent all night, was the best option.
Team Dresen swung into high gear. Mom handled the tent; Joe handled the van; Julia stayed calm in the van and allowed us to carry on; and the boys showed their true mettle by jumping into the storm and helping to pack up in record time, and to document the process for the blog.
Dripping and muddy, we loaded into the van at 9:30 pm and made a run for the park border. Driving through hours of nighttime rain that was yet to visit Yellowstone helped to confirm that we had chosen wisely.
Three-and-a-half hours later, we rolled into the Sleep Inn in Idaho Falls. We love these motels. The rooms are really reasonable (especially if you don't reserve/check in until midnight!), beds very comfortable, and the substantial breakfast had several choices for every member of the family. Oh, yes...and the kids loved jumping in the pool the next morning and getting wet on purpose.
Three kids in one bed, two adults in another, and black-out shades. It may not sound like much, but compared to sleeping in a chilly tent-puddle? Aaahhh...
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