We expect that tomorrow will be wintry. Whether this is better than sweltering in 95F heat and humidity in Washington is debatable. We expect a service man soon to fix the pilot light. Of course, the cabin is 1930s primitive, but the bed appears to be OK and the towels are only cold because there is no heat. The plumbing works just fine.
We had a fine drive from Salt Lake to Jackson Hole, Wyoming Monday. We crossed the Tetons through a 9000' pass that ended us up in Jackson where the BnB, the Alpine Lodge, was friendly and comfortable. We walked about the town, which is very touristy but in its own way cute. We had dinner at Blu, a sashimi-sushi-tapas type of place, with many of the dishes raw. A glass of white each, pinot grigio Washington state and sauvignon blanc from Argentina and a fine light Oregon Erath pinot noir. They went well with the food: starters were a tuna sashimi for Ben and thinly sliced octopus for me. The other small plates that made up the meal were red deer with macerated dried cherries, bison sausage, toro albacore and green lipped mussels. All outstanding, but the venison was the best.
This morning a huge breakfast. Omelettes aux herbes fines, croissants. Because the Grand Teton mountains were invisible behind a veil of clouds we did the washing. Laundromats are scary places. To get around carrying quarters and dimes, you buy value cards that you insert in the machines. The cost of the load is deducted from the card. Everything is totally mechanized. Oh, what a brave new world that we aren't part of. Some other tourists gave us their card with some value left; we gave ours to a couple of students.
And then through the Tetons, magnificent as they broke through the clouds in their snow- covered glory. We lunched beside Jackson Lake, a man-made reservoir with a small dam. And into Yellowstone.
We spent at least an hour exploring the geyser basin at West Thumb on the shore of Lake Yellowstone. The colors of the fumaroles and hot springs varied from black to deep blue to ochre to rust to copper. Many of the colors are caused by thermophiles, microorganisms that live in the hot waters. Just incredibly beautiful. And the moose welcomed Ben, antler-less, though.
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The maintenance man arrived, we are a slow-warming cabin and we look forward to a good dinner at the Lake Yellowstone hotel.
Wednesday, June 11
We arose to four inches of snow on the ground, covering the top of the car. Hope I can find a scraper in the trunk. I know I took out the winter brush, thinking I wouldn't need it. The snow looks gorgeous and I am looking forward to Mammoth Springs in the snow today.
Dinner last night was excellent. We started with crab and asparagus soup, then Ben moved on to lobster ravioli. I had a small prime rib of bison with Yorkshire pudding. Very good, but I couldn't finish it all. Too much. Bison is a bit stronger taste than beef, but less fatty and very good. Not as gamy as venison.
We got snow off the car, got down to the cafeteria for breakfast and discovered that several of the mountain passes in the park were closed. Too much snow for travel. We also realized that if we did all the things we specifically wanted to do today, which could be done despite the weather, we wouldn't have to deal with bad weather tomorrow because we would be on our way north. So we cancelled Thursday night's reservation at Old Faithful, and headed off to Mammoth Springs and Old Faithful in fairly miserable driving conditions...let's say like Washington when it snows.
The mountains were invisible, the roads slush covered, but we did manage to get a good view of Yellowstone Falls at Artist's Point, magnificent;
Mammoth Springs, disappointing; and Old Faithful, a must-do if there ever was one. 
All in the cold, the wet and the snow. But still a change for us...the mountains are not snow capped peaks in the bright sun, they are fog-shrouded, covered with pines that look like they are weeping wth their white snow covering, and give you a totally different view of the Rockies. The weather changes very quickly as you drive. When we got close to Mammoth Springs on the northern edge of the Park, it was dry and 45 degrees F.We dine tonight at the Yellowstone Hotel again and then head off in the morning for Helena, a new stop in the itinerary.
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