Cody and Morgan were pretty wiped out from the flight, so we agreed that while they slept in a little, Dad and I would head out early to pick up breakfast and coffee for everyone. Heading to downtown Twin Falls, we went to Twin Beans Coffee Company to pick up some coffees and bagel sandwiches.

We started our morning very early by leaving our condo in Wilson and driving north on Moose Wilson Road, typically a good place to see wildlife. We didn’t have much luck on that drive, though we could hear the elk bugling in the distance, and caught a few glimpses of them in the darkness. At the town of Moose, we cut over onto US-89, and backtracked south, then turned east on Gros Ventre Road (pronounced “groh-vahnt“, thanks to the nonsensical language that is French), which follows the Gros Ventre River northeast away from the Teton mountains.

Our day started with being uncomfortably close to a wolf. After loading up the car in the dark hours of the morning, I went into the Lake Lodge to drop off the room key and check us out. As I came back outside, I heard a wolf howl. It sounded like it was right on the other side of the Jeep. I’ve never gotten back in a car faster in my entire life! It might’ve been the same pack we saw from Lake Butte overlook; because we heard them in the distance the evening before too.

We started our day in the Airbnb by waking up early to finish doing the laundry. Then, we split a day-old microwave-warmed orange sticky bun leftover from Cattail Bakery in Red Lodge. After finishing our laundry and loading the Jeep in a sporadically torrential downpour, we headed over to The Station by Cody Coffee. This restaurant is an old filling station now converted into a breakfast and coffee shop. We filled our paper cups and travel mugs with their exceptionally hot coffee, each ordered an egg, cheese, and ham crêpe, and ate our breakfast while the rain pattered down on the building’s metal roof. A hearty pinch of salt made the coffee much better; the crêpes were surprisingly good and very filling. So, I’ll count this place as a pretty good option for the middle of Wyoming on a rainy morning.

We woke up well before sunrise, threw on some warm clothes, and drove west into the national park to do some early morning wildlife watching. As we passed through Yellowstone’s not-yet-manned NW entrance booth, we saw a very large black bear scurry across the road in the dark. It scared us half to death, but I think it also scared the bear just as badly. We didn’t have much luck seeing any more wildlife in the Lamar Valley (maybe just another black bear or two and the usual elk and bison), but it was a beautiful sunrise and nice to be out in the crisp morning air. After a final stop at Warm Creek Picnic Area, we decided to head back to the ranch for breakfast.

The sunrise was just starting to show some color as we headed east on the Grand Loop Road towards Blacktail Plateau, a one-way gravel loop that climbs the plateau and offers some true solitude. Our plan was to drive to the top and find a spot to watch the sunrise, and then enjoy some leftover pastries for breakfast.

Starting early as promised, we left our hotel around 06:00, and drove over to Treeline Coffee Roasters for some caffeine and a raspberry scone. The coffee was fantastic, and we actually picked up two bags to either brew on this trip or take back home with us. We each ate about a quarter of the scone, saving room for better things to come.

As you might have guessed, this story, like many great stories, starts with Appalachian State football. A couple years ago, we found out through a conversation with an administrator in the ASU Athletic Department that we’d be playing a two game series with the Boise State Broncos. Naturally, we immediately blocked off the surrounding weeks on our calendars.