Montana

After leaving the canyon area on the east side of the park, we drove west until we hit the Montana border. The scenery was spectacular:

Traffic was a nightmare, though!


This little one was smart enough to stay out of the road.


His older relatives decided it was their road and they'd cross it when they pleased. Really, it's hard to argue with something that big.



Twice during this part of the drive we stopped on the side of the road because crowds had gathered reporting a bear sighting. Sadly, we didn't see any bears. Not, that is, until we were driving back to the hotel. At dusk in Grand Tetons park we rounded a bend in the road shaded by pines and this little fellow was loping along:

This is a juvenile black bear. Notice that we were intelligent tourists and did not get out of the car to see the bear that was was five, or fewer, feet away.

After taking this shot I looked up and realized just HOW close the bear was outside my car window. He was skittish and as soon as an RV pulled up, the bear ran off into the trees.

Now having been to Estes Park countless times since we moved to Colorado, we're sort of jaded when it comes to elk and we saw a lot of elk on our trip to Yellowstone. These guys were so pretty, though, we had to stop to take a few shots.

Lakes, canyons, waterfalls!

Our second full day in Yellowstone National Park was so busy that I'm going to have to use two posts to cover it all. We started out with another pancake-less breakfast, but much better prepared for the weather conditions. The first stop was to get the obligatory family picture:

Then it was north-east on the Lower Loop road to Yellowstone Lake. The wind off the lake was cold, but we were bundled up in fleece and hoodies.

We stopped at the Lake Lodge for lunch. Ian enjoyed exploring:


We had intended to go on a short hike to the natural bridge rock formation near Yellowstone Lake, but the trail was closed due to bear activity:

So, we abandoned that hike for longer walks through the "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone". The Yellowstone River flows through this deep gorge with layers of colorful rock down each side.


Ian needed "just a wittle west" (a little rest).

The incredibly photogenic Lower Falls of the Yellowstone river captivated us for over an hour.

Mark hates heights, so the gorge and falls were his least favorite part of the trip. He was a trooper, though, and posed for a billion pictures.


Ethan took this lovely photo of the canyon.

The sides are extremely steep in places. Even I got vertigo, looking down this decline.


Most of the trees were stubby pines. This one, though, stuck in my head as "Tenedor del Diablo" (the Devil's Fork):

More to come!

Yellowstone - Geyser day

Thursday June 16^th

Mark came home from San Francisco on Wednesday. After everything that has gone on with the house, we knew we both needed a vacation. We set things up with the realtor so folks could come in and see the house while we were gone, mowed the lawn, cleaned, and packed.

Thursday morning we headed out. Google maps told me it would be a nine hour drive from our house in Superior to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We stopped several times for food, gas, and bathroom breaks. We also hit nasty storms outside of Laramie and Rawlins, Wyoming.

This picture is of the clouds rolling past us in Laramie.

We also hit snow once we entered the mountain passes just south of Jackson. It was 84 degrees when we left Superior and at 6pm we were braving a snowstorm!

We stayed at the Best Western “The Lodge” in Jackson. The hotel has a whimsical exterior with bears and raccoons climbing the balconies and posts both inside and out. Our room wasn’t anything spectacular, but definitely comfortable enough for the four of us.

We ate dinner at "The Gun Barrel Steak and Game House". This was by far the best meal we had on our vacation. It was expensive, but the bison was incredibly tender, the kids loved their food, and the service was extremely attentive. If you are ever in Jackson Hole, I highly recommend a stop here for dinner!

Friday June 17^th

The best feature of our hotel, in Ethan’s opinion, was that it had a breakfast buffet. Sadly, though, there weren’t any pancakes. Ethan considers any breakfast not including pancakes to be sacrilegious! We filled up as best we could with cereal, fruit, eggs and bacon and then piled in the car.

On highway 191 north out of Jackson we first encountered the “National Elk Refugee”. This is a wide open floodplain. The high country snow pack was abnormally deep this year, and late to melt. The grasslands of the refuge were mostly marsh from the overflowing rivers.

Once we left the elk refuge we entered Grand Teton National Park. Just around the frist bend we had to stop because the road was blocked by cars and pedestrians. A park ranger was directing traffic. We got out of the car to see what everyone was looking at. Look what we found!

This fellow was the first of many bison we would see on our trip.

The Tetons peeked in and out of the clouds all day long.

Sixty miles north of Jackson we entered Yellowstone National Park. The southern part of the park is comprised of mountains at 7,000 – 9,000 feet above sea level. There was a deep gorge on our right side with pine trees and snow on the left. The road crosses the Continental Divide three or four times on this stretch. This is also part of the park that burned during the 1988 wildfires. There are still a few tall, dead, pines but most of the trees are four to five feet tall. We found out, later, that lodgepole pines actually re-seed better in high heat conditions. The wildfires help new trees grow by releasing seedpods and by taking out older trees that would otherwise block out the sunlight.

I designated Friday as “geyser” day. We drove straight to the Old Faithful Lodge and parked. We had to make a stop at the gift shop to pick up fleece sweatshirts and hats- it was only about 48 degrees Fahrenheit. We ate lunch at the cafeteria while we waited for the next scheduled eruption of Old Faithful.

Steam rises out of the geyser pretty regularly. Ian and Ethan both kept asking it if was erupting yet. We finally assured them that they would KNOW when Old Faithful erupted. Boy, did they ever! Their little mouths fell open in awe.

After Old Faithful was done giving us a show we walked along the paths between the different hot springs and geysers in the area. Ethan liked picking out animal tracks in the mud and bacterial mats beside the path. He also enjoyed using the binoculars to look at the bison herd across the valley.

Ian ran around giggling and trying to avoid the clouds of steam. The steam warmed us up but it reeked of sulfur! We passed pools that were brilliant blue, disgusting yellow trails of minerals and bacteria snaking down the hill, and puddles that boiled.

The Lion Geyser Group gave us a surprise show, erupting right as we walked by.

These bison were right beside the road.

After our walk we piled back in the van and drove up to the Grand Prismatic Spring area. The spring itself was a disappointment because the steam and fog cloud covered its beautiful colors. Nearby, though, is the Excelsior geyser. When active, this geyser is the largest in the world. It last erupted in 1987 but before that it was very active in the 1880’s. The eruptions were so violent that they dug out a massive crater and damaged the “plumbing” so that the geyser is more of a hot spring, now. 4,000 gallons of water per MINUTE boil out of the springs and flow into the Firehole River. The boys were VERY impressed with the Excelsior Geyser.

By the time we drove back to Jackson it was 8pm. We were all starving and tired. The guidebook recommended “The Million Dollar Cowboy Steakhouse”. I have to say, this meal was horrible. The food was tasteless and over-cooked, the service atrocious, the restaurant crowded, and the price outrageous. Save your money, don’t go here for dinner.

It was too late to visit the pool, so we all collapsed in our beds.