Yellowstone

I spent the two days in Yellowstone doing the typical tourist program, visiting all the famous geysers and lookout points, driving over passes (I'm a pro even without a 4x4 - Viva la Grischa), and taking tons of photos. Here I only attached a fraction of them since I have to upload each photo individually. I was glad that I had planned two days for the park because the parking lots were always full. But since I had all the time in the world, the wait didn't bother me. It would be nice if I could continue this relaxed driving and lifestyle in Switzerland too. Here, it's much easier since everyone goes/drives/works slowly (the latter would drive us crazy in Switzerland if we had to stand in line and wait everywhere 🙈) But who knows. Maybe I'll have to listen to country music in the car in Switzerland for the true American feeling 😄😄 River Country FM - the station of trust (there were no other stations in the park😜).
On Wednesday evening, I watched another episode of Suits and ate the rest of the lasagna that I had packed on Tuesday. It's a common practice here, restaurants always have boxes ready for leftovers when you ask for them (probably because of the portion sizes 😊).
On Thursday, I spent another night in Jackson since my flight to San Francisco was scheduled for 7 am the next day. So at four o'clock, I returned the Kia to the car rental station. Although everything went smoothly: I was able to enjoy coffee in the heated waiting room at the car rental and was then shuttled back to the airport, it was still somewhat stressful: Will I hear the alarm at 3 o'clock? Will there be traffic on the road at this time? Can I check out of the motel so early? Is the shuttle really coming at 4:30? (Yes, the perfectionist is always skeptical.) What if it doesn't? Of course, I had precautionarily saved a thousand taxi services, but I was told that the 15-minute drive would cost around 70 dollars. Anyway, next time I won't book such early flights anymore, everything looks completely different in daylight 😄
But it was a great experience with the Kia - I hope I will also like the car in Boston since I will be covering even greater distances there. It feels strange not driving a car for almost two months now. And after today's flight, I will also stay on the ground until August 23 (not to be understood metaphorically, I will travel for 19 days only by bus 😜)

Other noteworthy things:
- Definitely not the food, every time I ordered something, it was bland or cold, so I stocked up at the supermarket for Thursday and Friday. The exception is the buffalo tartare, which tasted okay (the gourmet has demands 😄)
- At the hotel in West Yellowstone, I politely asked if I could leave the old suitcase and cardboard box for disposal there - no problem. Great service.
- Animals I saw: some elk, geese, a chipmunk, many bison right by the road, a huge bird - it reminded me of the bearded vulture (dark plumage, white head), but I'm not an ornithologist... (@Rahel: De Koni wüssti das sicher😄)
- In the park, I met Swiss people for the first time and Amish families that I had only seen in movies before (if you look closely, you'll notice a family in one of the photos).
- Another first was the first delicious apple I ate here. I got Pink Lady apples from the supermarket, which tasted like they do at home. All the apples that had been given for free in the hotels so far were bland.

- Speaking of free offers in hotels: as a bargain hunter, I'm always eager for them 😊 - except for Las Vegas, there has been free coffee in every hotel so far, either with a capsule or filter machine in the room or in the lobby or, in the best case, both. And sometimes all day long. Joy reigns! Since we never booked breakfast, the included offers were a pleasant surprise: at Hotel Orlando in LA, you can stock up on fruits and sweet rolls for breakfast, at Elan Hotel in LA, there was pretty much everything for breakfast (and as mentioned, two hours of free wine and cheese in the evening 😊😊), in Marina del Rey, there were apples and oranges, in Jackson 'only' coffee, and in West Yellowstone, delicious cookies and chocolate, just the right thing after such long hours of driving. I'm curious to see what else I'll encounter in this regard.