Sometimes the Snow Comes Down in June

There are basically two routes from Salt Lake City to Yellowstone:

• Through Idaho on I-15.
• Through Wyoming and the Tetons on various smaller highways.

I'd been planning for months to use the latter route (I mean, what's interesting in Idaho right?), but for whatever reason, we changed our minds at the last minute and went through Idaho, to the west entrance of the park.

This was possibly the best decision of the trip. First, we got to see a herd of buffalo on the road! With baby buffaloes too! The ranger had just given us a scary cartoon of a visitor being gored by a buffalo ("uh oh, that looks like Tommy!"), so we were too chicken to roll down the windows.

But the real advantage of choosing I-15 was that the snow started coming down hard. And all three of the other park entrances (south, east, and north) were completely closed. Chris and I were worried that we would (once again) get caught in the snow with a lousy two-wheel-drive car and no chains.

Mom, inexplicably, was worried that we didn't have a compass.

Best Music of the Drive:

• Vivaldi's Four Seasons. (Jenn: "Oh Winter is perfect for this weather; it sounds just like a snowstorm." Chris: "Um, this is Summer.")
• I'm on a Boat! (AWWW SHIT! My parents and my brother had apparently never heard this before.)

When we finally arrived at the Lake Lodge, after a couple tense hours of driving in the dark in with juusssst-almost-too-deep snow, we found that our peril wasn't over. Apparently Uncle and Ayi had endured hours of puppy-dog-eye treatment from the lodge staff and stranded visitors, who wanted to use our room for the night, since nobody believed we could enter the park.

It's crazy to be reminded how difficult it is to figure out simple things like meeting up without cell reception!

Best comment of the night: "You weren't expecting to see snow when you got dressed this morning, were you." --Stranger, chuckling about my shorts and flip flops.

Most depressing comment: "Who's Vanessa Williams?" --My cousins, who have never heard 'Save the Best for Last' before. 1991 wasn't THAT long ago, was it?