Day in West Yellowstone

Buffalo at the Historical Center

July 19 – We did not sleep in today as I had hoped.  After breakfast we drove into West Yellowstone.  Where we are is Idaho, and on the way (14 miles) to West Yellowstone we enter into Montana.  Then once you go through the town and enter Yellowstone National Park you are in Wyoming.  So we can easily go in and out of 3 states in a day.

We wanted to get there in time for the 10:00 Imax Theatre movie.  Well, we were there in plenty of time as they don’t sell tickets until 10 minutes before the show.  We got tickets for The Journey of Lewis and Clark and also Yellowstone.  They’re documentaries so less than an hour each and both were excellent.  While we waited we browsed the huge gift shop and mentally decided on a couple of items on the half price table.

Old Snaggletooth

We moved the car over to the Yellowstone Historical Center which originally was the train station built in 1909 by the Union Pacific Railroad.  The museum highlights the Yellowstone experience and tells the history of early tourism and the railroad.  The exhibits include early park stage coaches, a 1940’s snow plane and several movies.  There is also a stuffed bear, Old Snaggletooth, a legendary grizzly.  Out front is one of the painted buffalos that were done from 2007-2009 and auctioned off to raise money for improvements of the town.  The town is only 1,271 people year around and only about 42 blocks in a perfect rectangle.  Along side of the train station is the luggage building that is now the police station and then the Union Pacific Dining Hall which is huge but you can’t visit it. 

Another buffalo

We crossed the street to take photos of the 3 painted buffalo along the street and to visit some shops and the lobbies of The Stagecoach Inn and The Madison.  Both have a unique lobby.  The Stagecoach has the center stairs that spiral off to each side on the second level and the Madison is small and woodsy as it was the first hotel there.

Stairway in The Stagecoach Inn

It was time for lunch and The Gusher was recommended for its sandwiches so we walked the 2 blocks and just beat the crowd.  I had the special of a grilled turkey and provolone with a cup of chicken and dumpling soup.  Bill had a patty melt on rye with a side salad.  I will say we were both full and it was delicious.  From there we completed a circle of shops and headed back to the car.  We stopped at the local McDonald’s for a soft serve and senior coke

My new place

before the visitor center where Bill picked up an armful of brochures.  We left the car there and crossed to a couple more shops, you know you have to know exactly what everyone is selling and compare the pricing!  Bill went back to the car and was going back to a shop to get a t-shirt he liked and I walked over to the grocery store.  It was run by the same people as the other one we visited but was cleaner and had a large wine and liquor area.  I mostly wanted to get some produce to last until we go to Bozeman later in the week.  Bill met me there and once we checked out we headed back to Idaho!

We had some time to unload the car and relax a while before dinner.  I had checked out Café Sabor up the road a few miles and thought it would be good for a Mexican dinner tonight.  It looked like there was no one there but everyone was seated outside when we arrived.  By the time we left it was filling up.  The food was very good.  I tried a new dish for me which was a chicken dish with a wine and cream sauce.  Yum.  I still had some of my rice and my tamale to take home for lunch tomorrow.  Bill had some kind of chimichanga and had no leftovers. 

We watched some TV and I had some good WIFI service go I got some days caught up on the blog.