Yellowstone/Oregon Road Trip 2021

May 28 – June 11, 2021

Day 1 – Flight into Salt Lake City – Hold on to your hats folks, we’re taking another epic Mathis roadtrip and bringing you along for the ride!
Peter and I flew into SLC around dinnertime. The only hiccup was they forgot to stock the plane with snacks, so the Captain took a “go/no go” vote after waiting about 30 mins. If we didn’t go, our Captain timed out and we wait for a new crew. Thumbs up from everyone – so we were a GO! Somehow they magically produced some Biscoff cookies mid-flight, so all was well. Highly entertaining though and I appreciated the transparency of the @delta crew.
We’ve got a snappy little Hyundai Venue rental for our journey. I’m slightly obsessed. It’s adorable, no?
We had some time to cruise over to see the Salt Lake and then head into downtown in search of a very late dinner (9PM – Mountain Time 😳). We tried Red Iguana, but the wait time was 1.5 hours (at 9PM!!!), so we ended up at Same Sushi which was excellent. We cruised through downtown before heading back to our hotel near the airport to get some zzzzz.

Day 2 – SLC to Lava Hot Springs, ID – Drove around Temple Square (currently under construction) and a quick stop at the Utah State Capital, building before meeting my nephew Cody for breakfast at Pig & a Jelly Jar in the Liberty Park area of Salt Lake. A funky little cafe in a really cool neighborhood.
After breakfast, we headed North to Hill Air Force Base to see where he is stationed. Took a drive through of the base to see the F-35 flight line and explored the museum, which is very impressive with lots of historic “planes on sticks”. Important snack stop at WinCo – a local grocery chain with an impressive bulk food section (less packaging waste). Stocked up on snacks, and headed north again.
Peter’s request was a stop in Preston, ID – where Napoleon Dynamite was filmed. It’s a tiny little farming town of ~5k, so not a lot going on. Tina was nowhere to be found. Snapped some photos and moved on.
We ended the day in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. The town is more “redneck riviera” than relaxing spa town 😂, but we’re rolling with it. They have mineral hot springs, a floating river through town, lots of entertaining people-watching, and apparently no noise ordinance (?).
Our little no frills motel is right on the downtown strip (our door literally opens to the sidewalk) – Home Hotel. Currently sitting outside and listening to “fight night” at the rooftop bar across the street and enjoying a session beer from Grand Teton Brewing.

Day 3 – Lava Hot Springs, ID to West Yellowstone, MT – Driving north again this AM. Coffee stop and cruise through Idaho State campus in Pocatello, ID – university home of Jeff Meldrum, notorious bigfoot professor. Peter has a strange affinity for bigfoot documentaries 😂.
Grabbed lunch at the popular Frostop Drive-In in Ashton, ID. Delicious little greasy spoon and we couldn’t pass up the root beer float!
Another hour north to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana. We finished early in the afternoon, so we went ahead and ventured into Yellowstone National Park to knock some stops off our list for tomorrow.
We drove through Firehole Canyon Drive – a pretty 2 mile drive next to Firehole River and then continued on to Old Faithful. Lots of traffic and buffalos (apparently actually Bison) on the way. We got to the Old Faithful area and it was PACKED. We had to wait a couple hours on Old Faithful to erupt, so we hit all the gift shops. Unfortunately the historic inn and the majority of the new visitors center was closed.
Backtracked a little to get to our hotel for the night – Sawtelle Mountain Resort in Island Park, ID. We met up with a fellow Dalton native for dinner at TroutHunter and enjoyed some fish tacos on the patio overlooking Henry’s Fork river.
**Trip state count is 4 – Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming**

Day 4 – Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks – We left the hotel around 7am and headed towards Yellowstone again. We packed snacks, water and TP (just in case 😂). Helpful hint – download any apps or music beforehand and bring a backup battery, because wifi & cell service is very limited.
We downloaded the GyPSyGuide app last night based on several recommendations. It’s $10 for GPS based driving tour of both Yellowstone and Teton. You just run the app and it knows where you are and plays commentary automatically. It makes it easy to know the stops to hit and those to skip. Highly recommend!
We headed east on the lower loop road since we knocked out the Old Faithful section yesterday. Today we hit some really cool stops – Norris Geyser Basin/Steamboat Geyser, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (from 3 overlooks, with one gorgeous rainbow 🌈), Hayden Valley, my favorite geyser – Mud Volcano, Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone Lake and West Thumb. We’re saving the northern part near Mammoth Hot Springs for a future Montana trip – a great excuse to come back (and visit @wink_eric 😂).
We headed south into Teton National Park in the early afternoon. Jackson Lake Lodge was a key stop for coffee, wifi and a beautiful view of the Tetons. Drove up a windy little road to the top of Signal Mountain. At the top was a very scenic vista of Jackson Hole (AKA the whole valley area, “Jackson” is the town itself). Then on to see Jenny Lake, Teton Glacier, and the T. A. Moulton Barn – “the most photographed barn in America”. Saw some wildlife today – more bison, a lady elk, pronghorn, chipmunks and a stuffed bear. 😂
Saying the night at the Lexington at Jackson Hole (in Jackson, WY). Nice little spot, about 6 mins from the square. We took the obligatory antler arch photo and had ice cream for dinner from Moo’s (we’re all adults here). A long but great day!

Day 5 – Grand Teton to Idaho Falls, ID – Back into Teton this AM to look for wildlife. On the drive north, we stopped at the Snake River scenic overlook where Ansel Adams took one of his iconic photos of the park. We saw a coyote, another lady elk, ground squirrel, geese, deer and loads of bison.
We made another stop at Jackson Lake Lodge for coffee and bathrooms. Pro tip – take advantage of every full service stop in the parks…unless you want to use a glorified park port-o-potty.
On the way back south, we got caught in a true “bear jam” on the road when someone spotted a mama grizzly + 2 cubs and people scrambled to pull over and take photos. Very cool to watch her for a few minutes (we stayed safely far enough away).
We headed towards the Teton Village exit from the park (an unpaved road in parts), and made one stop at the serene Laurence S. Rockefeller preserve. The last piece of Rockefeller land was donated to the park in 2007, and a beautiful visitors center was opened shortly after. It’s focused on mindfulness and connecting to nature – an enjoyable stop to quiet the mind for a minute.
Lunch stop at Teton Thai in Teton Village and then up the gondola for some gorgeous views of Jackson Hole. It’s a 12 minute ride up 2700 feet above the valley. Pro tip – buy tickets online to save $7 each, they’re still expensive at $33 per ticket but you save a little!
Driving out of Jackson Hole, we traded mountain vistas for Idaho farmland. Staying in Idaho Falls, ID for the night. After laundry and a nap, we went downtown to explore.
Idaho Falls has a beautiful riverwalk along the Snake River, with a natural-looking hydroelectric dam and a fun little Japanese-style friendship garden on a small island. People were hanging out in the garden and riding bikes and scooters along the greenway. Exciting to see the thriving community created around the greenway here (looking forward to seeing the one in Dalton get developed!). Grabbed a pint and dinner at The Celt, an Irish pub in downtown before turning in for the night.

Day 6 – Idaho Falls to Bellevue, ID – Spent a slow morning at the hotel catching up on emails before setting off for the day. Stopped by the Art Museum Of Eastern Idaho, a tiny little museum with an exhibit by Sayaka Ganz who builds impressive animal sculptures out of post-consumer plastic.
Continuing our journey across the Snake River Plain, the next stop was the Craters of the Moon National Monument near Arco, ID. A short but very steep hike to the top of Inferno Cone awarded us views of the Great Rift – a 52 mile long fissure in the earth – and the volcanic splatter cones from above. The most recent eruptions were around 2000 years ago, likely witnessed by the Shoshone tribe based on historic accounts. They think the “hot spot” that today exists under Yellowstone migrated from this area. Fun fact- In 1969, the crew of Apollo 14 practiced gathering rock specimens here before their mission (though the actual surface of the moon is very different).
Before we left GA, we ordered the annual National Park Pass for $80 which includes admission to a whole slew of parks, including Craters, Yellowstone & Grand Teton. We definitely got our money’s worth this trip!
Next stop was the Sun Valley area – home to the historic ski resort and celebrities like Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood and others. Also the site of Ernest Hemingway’s death. Checked Zillow and found us a 15k SF mansion for only $15M…💸Had a delicious dinner and beer flight at Sawtooth Brewery Public House in Ketchum. We’re spending the night on the south end of the valley at the Silver Creek Hotel in Bellevue, ID (AKA the less ritzy side 😂).

Day 7 – Bellevue to Twin Falls/Buhl, ID – Headed south toward Twin Falls, ID. Stopped at Minidoka National Historic Site near Jerome, ID – where 13,000 Japanese American citizens were held in an internment camp during WW2, one of 10 camps in the US.
In Twin Falls our first stop was the Perrine Bridge, a steel truss bridge that is 486 feet above the Snake River below. It’s the 8th highest bridge in the US and a popular spot for BASE jumpers – (AKA people who like to jump off things🤷‍♀️). It’s 96+ degrees with no clouds in sight in Twin Falls, so we found a shady spot and hung out for a while, waiting on a group of jumpers to pack their parachutes and take the leap.
They’re not the only daredevils around here, visible from the bridge is the dirt ramp used by Evil Knievel when he unsuccessfully tried to jump the canyon in his rocket skycycle in 1974.
We stopped at the new 2nd South Market Food Hall for a poke bowl + pizza 😂. Then on to Shoshone Falls – nicknamed “Niagara of the West”, the falls are 212 feet tall (45 higher than Niagara Falls).Arrived at Miracle Hot Springs for the evening. We’ll be “glamping” in a dome next to the springs tonight. No water access in the dome (but they do have an AC unit thank goodness) and no wifi/cell service in the area…this should be interesting.
Took a brief soak in the blazing sun and then went into town in search of wifi. Ended up at Magic Valley Brewing for a couple of flights and big pretzel. Fun beer fact – Idaho is the 2nd largest hop producer in the US (next to Washington, Oregon is 3rd).

Day 8 – Miracle Hot Springs to Boise, ID – Well, we survived glamping with no wifi! 🏆
Started the morning with another soak in Miracle Hot Springs before heading to nearby Hagerman, ID for coffee at Bullets ‘N Brew – a full service coffee bar, gun store and gift shop. 😂
Took an Oregon Trail scenic byway starting in Glenns Ferry. The coolest part of the detour was a drive though a wind power farm. The large while turbines spinning were impressive to see up close, they’re huge!
Arrived in Boise around lunch. Our hotel room wasn’t ready yet, but the hotel had loaner bikes, so we took a spin on the greenway trail. First stop was Payette Brewing, they’ve been around 10 years and are pumping out excellent beers on a 60bbl system (1 barrel = 31 gallons). For reference, DBC is on a 3bbl system 😳.Then we rolled on to see the blue turf at the Boise State University. They don’t have a great overlook spot, but we got a peek through the fence. Next stop was JUMP – a creative community center of sorts. We played around with the interactive art exhibits and got to climb up a really cool adult jungle gym.
Our final stop before biking back to check-in was Barbarian Brewing. My favorite brewery so far! The beers remind me of Southern Grist in Nashville. 🔥🔥🔥
Finally got checked into our hotel – the Modern Hotel located in the Linen District of downtown Boise – it’s a former Travelodge, remodeled in a mid-century modern style. We love the vibe and are thankful to have our own (very nice) bathroom at this stop! 😂
Popped over to the Basque district for some pintxos (tapas) at The Basque Market for dinner, paired with red wine from the region. Boise has the largest population of Basque people in the US, with their ancestors originally coming here for mining and sheepherding opportunities in the late 1800’s. Basque is a region on the border between Spain and France, including the city of Guernica – of Pablo Picasso fame.
It’s blazing hot again today and being in the sun all day really wore us out – so we went back to the hotel to rest and relax. Crossing over into Oregon tomorrow!

Day 9 – Boise, ID to Prairie City, OR – Woke up and had a delicious light breakfast in the hotel courtyard. Got to visit with a big Great Dane named Lincoln for a few minutes – Made my morning. I miss our fur babies!
Checked out of the hotel and made a brief stop at the Freak Alley Gallery – an impressive street art gallery in downtown Boise, and did a cruise-by of the Idaho state capitol building.
Headed over to Garden City – a small city/suburb of Boise – for the 34th street farmers market and a view of the whitewater park. Garden City is only a little over 2 miles from downtown Boise, and the greenbelt trail runs down the Boise River to there – easily bikable (though we drive). The area is full of breweries and wineries too! The whitewater park has adjustable wave shapers on the river that allow people to surf and/or kayak, depending on the adjustment that day. We walked the farmers market and grabbed a huge lemon braid and coffee to share in a shady spot by the greenbelt.
Hit the road again for a ~3 hour drive to Prairie City, OR. We crossed over the Snake River into Oregon around noon and left both the river and Idaho behind. We moved into the Pacific time zone later in the drive. Shortly before we hit Prairie City, we stopped at an overlook with a great view of the Strawberry Mountain Range.
Stayed at the Historic Hotel Prairie – a tiny 9 room historic hotel built in 1910 and restored in 2008. Not a lot to do in town, so we had time to rest and grab dinner at Oxbow Restaurant & Saloon before turning in for the night.

Day 10 – Prairie City to Bend, OR – Early morning breakfast at Chuck’s Little Diner, surrounded by local ranchers (the only place in town open besides the Mini Mart), before hitting the road.
Next stop was John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Fun Fact – John Day was a guy that got robbed & left naked next to a river in 1812 – the story got re-told a lot – so the river and local town was named after him – and the park was eventually named after river. 🤷‍♀️We started at the Thomas Condon Paleontology & Visitors Center (named for the man who first realized the significance of the area in the 1860s). They have an excellent exhibit on the various periods from which the fossils have been found, and what the habit was like at the time. Fossils found here range from 7-55 million years old, so these are early mammals NOT dinosaurs. Humans only came onto the scene about 2 million years ago for reference.
A short drive north led us to Cathedral Rock, an example of the colorful striations the park is known for.
We drove roughly another hour on to Painted Hills Overlook. The red bands you see formed in a warmer, wetter climate than the yellow and tan bands. John Day park is huge – 14k acres – so we hit 2 of the 3 park units that were close to our route – Sheep Rock & Painted Hills. Fossil beds cover over 1/5th of the state, but only a portion is part of the park.
We’re staying 2 nights a little north of Bend in Redmond, OR, a smaller city (similar to Dalton at ~30k) with a cute downtown and public art. Our hotel is SCP Redmond Hotel – a chic & affordable eco-boutique hotel (with free beer or kombucha at check in!🍻)
My parents met up with us today after a trek from Las Vegas via SLC to see my nephew. We grabbed dinner at the new & delicious Xalisco Latin Cuisine before heading to try some small batch beers at Kobold Brewing.
**Trip state count is 5 – Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon**

Day 11 – Bend, OR (area) – Met up with my parents at their hotel and drove into Sisters, OR. A cute little town with local shops, named after the 3 sisters mountains nearby on the Cascade range. They are the 3rd, 4th, and 5th tallest mountains in the state. They were known to the pioneers as Faith (North Sister), Hope (Middle Sister) and Charity (South Sister). Dad’s favorite store in town was a combo liquor and general store 😂.
We drove ~30 mins back into Bend to hit the Deschutes Brewery Tasting Room – located at the production facility. No tours due to Covid, but they did give us a sweet industry discount on merch!
Headed to Northside Bar & Tavern for some delicious fish and chips, and meet our friend Melissa’s Dad (who owns the joint). Then to Downtown Bend to see Mirror Pond and hit some shops. Last stop was Old Mill District, a newer shopping complex, right on the river. Headed back to the hotel to rest and catch up on work.

Day 12 – Redmond, OR to Roseburg, OR – Got up early (for Pacific time) and knocked out some work before packing up and heading out. Passed back though Sisters on the way to Roseburg, with a brief stop at Sisters Coffee Company for some caffeine.
Shortly into the drive, the Oregon high desert landscape turned into lush evergreen forests – what you would typically think of in Oregon. Gives bigfoot more places to hide per Peter 😂.We took 126 – West Cascades Scenic Byway – through the Willamette National Forest. We saw lots of damage from the McKenzie wildfire that burned over 173k acres of the national forest and hundreds of homes in September 2020. We saw homesites where the only thing left standing is the fireplace, people living in campers at their old homesites, and several new houses under construction. Cleanup is still underway with damaged trees being cut and cleared, which caused some additional traffic.
Took a brief stop in Eugene at Fiddlers Green golf store – a favorite of our crew before turning south toward Roseburg. Lunch stop at Doug’s Place Restaurant, a little burger joint in a gas station near Eugene (with an impossible burger for me). The fries are served with a delicious western phenomenon called “fry sauce” – a ketchup and mayo combo with some extra add-ins like relish and cayenne to taste.
Rolled into Roseburg mid-afternoon. My sister and family live in Roseburg, so we have done several different driving approaches when we come out to visit – Portland to Astoria and down the Oregon coastline, San Francisco north though all the Redwoods, now SLC over via Yellowstone. Hit our favorite brewery in town (and one of my inspirations for DBC) – Two-Shy Brewing before heading to see the fam.

Day 13 – Roseburg, OR – Laundry and email catch-up to start out the day. Then a trip to my absolute favorite coffee chain – Dutch Bros! The chain started in Oregon is now as far east as Texas. Seriously if you have a chance to go to one – do it! Really cool company and culture. My niece Cait manages one of the locations nearby, so we swung by for a visit (and caffeine). She’s only 21, but handles the responsibility like a BOSS! 🙌Gathered up the fam and headed to the Bubble Tea House for some delicious boba. Then we hit the food truck park with my nephew Cean and his girlfriend Brie for Thai food at the Dragon Wagon. We never pass up Thai food!
After lunch we all headed out to the Wildlife Safari – a non-profit zoo with over 600 acres and hundreds of unique and endangered animals, some we had never seen before. Capped the day off with dinner with the fam before we had to say our goodbyes. Flying back to SLC tomorrow.
This is our big trip of the year, so we took 10 days (😳) off work to be able to take our time and explore. We used travel points that we earn through “travel hacking” for most of the hotels – AKA signing up for travel credit cards for the initial bonus. We don’t travel for work, so we’ve earned these points on our own. We used a Delta companion pass for the SLC roundtrip flights, and then added a Eugene to SLC leg to get us back to our starting point for the flight (hence flying back a day early into SLC). We found a decent price for the rental car – but the repositioning fee if you don’t do a roundtrip is still $$$.If you want to learn more about travel hacking – thepointsguy.com is a great starting point. The trick is to pay off the cards every month (really high APR) and use your normal spend to meet the bonus vs. spending extra. It definitely pays for itself, but it requires some organization to keep it all straight.

Day 14 – Flight back to SLC – We swung by Dutch Bros one last time on the way to the Eugene. Turned the rental car in at the airport…2091 miles driven on the trip 😳.The flight back into SLC was turbulent due to some high winds around the lake, but the scenery was a nice distraction (that & white-knuckling the armrest).We weren’t planning on renting another car, but a few Lyft rides would have been more expensive than a rental…so we have a snazzy little red Mazda for the night. Cost analysis and Avis reservation made on the fly 😂.When we couldn’t get into the Red Iguana on Day 1 of the trip (almost 2 weeks ago), we went made ahead and made reservations for tonight. There were a ton of people waiting outside, but we got taken straight back as soon as we arrived. We had guacamole, rajas con chile, chile relleno and a side of mole negro just to try it. The mole was really unique and yummy.
What’s the verdict? Overall it was….good. This is going to be a bold statement considering how popular this place is, but we have as good (or better) Mexican food in Dalton. We’re really spoiled y’all!
Switching gears…Y’all know I love organization (almost as much as I love travel), so how do we plan our trips you may wonder? Well, it all starts with a spreadsheet…cue no one being surprised. 🤓For this trip, I used an app called Roadtrippers to plan the route ($30 annual fee for the premium version). It came in really handy for mapping out a complicated driving route. I still prefer the “points of interest” info in Tripadvisor or Google maps though.
We typically plan out our hotels and a few points of interest along the way based on recommendations & research. We keep a pretty open schedule though, so we can explore or rest depending on what we feel like doing that day. We talk to locals or do some light research when we get to a town to see what’s around. We try to strike a balance between traveling (seeing new things) & vacation (relaxing).
It’s been a great trip, but we can’t wait to get home to see our pups and enjoy some Low County Boil this weekend! Flying home late tomorrow. ♥️

Day 15 – Homeward bound! – Alright crew, with our epic Mathis roadtrip of 2021 coming to a close, this will officially be our last post of the trip. Hope you enjoyed following along on our travels.
We worked from our SLC hotel all all morning and the grabbed lunch at Curry Pizza – a pizza joint with Indian flavors featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
Got to the SLC airport early and hung out in the main atrium (with enormous windows to watch the construction). Part of the completely new airport opened in September 2020 and the last of the old facility was torn down by March 2021. They’re currently adding more gates to the A terminal and a central tunnel to run between A & B. Everything is shiny and new, with lots of light, open space and public art.
It amazes me that they were able to build a brand new airport on pretty much the same site as the old one, without impacting travel (though the pandemic probably helped slow air traffic). It’s a logistical marvel!
Found a spot to take a nap while waiting on my parent’s flight from Eugene (and while Peter worked). Note the eyewear.
My parents joined us for the SLC to ATL leg, but they’re fancy first class folk (Dad needs the legroom), while we were in the cheap seats. Peter is driving us all home now – at almost midnight eastern time.
Hope you all enjoyed the ride!