Grand Teton National Park to Helena
Was struggling this morning to figure out what I wanted to do. Thunderstorms and a 5 hour drive were on the horizon. I had originally planned to drive through Yellowstone, but didn’t want to add that much time to my drive and plus I had only swam in 2 of the 3 lakes on my list!
I made myself some yogurt with fruit, and coffee (I also managed to spill boiling water and super fine coffee grounds all over myself and the table in the process) and drove over to String Lake. I jogged around the lake for about 40 minutes to warm myself up and made my way into the lake. Thunder and lightning was coming up quick so I had to be fast to be safe. I walked out about 30 feet and the water was barely knee deep so I basically had to lay down to get all the way in. It looked ridiculous but it felt amazing. As soon as I got out it started to rain - perfect timing.
I hurried back to the ranch to pack up my bed right at check out time. I made a sandwich and enjoyed it in the kitchen area while watching the rain. I snapped a pic of the library before leaving because it was such a perfect, cozy spot.
Drive was about 5 hours today - listened to my book, an ep of Normal Gossip, a couple eps of the Handsome pod, and lots of Angel Olsen.
This particular route was not the most dazzling, but the rain made for some epic views. Lots of what I think was wheat fields, silos, old buildings, and the tiniest of tiny towns.
Made it to my spot in Helena - a large b&b with 12ish rooms, a big shared kitchen, and lots of little spots to hang out. A longer term guest named Gerald showed me around. I asked him if it was okay to keep anything in my car and he said he wouldn’t chance it. SO I proceeded to take every single thing out of my car up two flights of stairs in the rain. It was humid and brutal but I’m not trynna mess around! I got settled in, took a shower, did a load of laundry (which included my white chore coat that I had spilled coffee grounds all over) and made myself some dinner.
For dinner I made half a bag salad I bought a couple days ago and roasted some asparagus. In an oven! I can’t really describe how good it felt to use a real kitchen. Made me miss home.
