In the morning, we got coffee in the reception tent and cinnamon rolls (excellent!) in town at a place called Woodside Bakery. We then headed into Yellowstone to visit the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. On the way, we encountered a number of buffalo including many that were strolling in the road (a scene that was repeated numerous times for us):

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone had a spectacular waterfall, but I was otherwise less excited by it when compared to Waimea Canyon in Kauai (because it’s majestic and on an island!) or the Grand Canyon in Arizona (because it’s the “Grand” canyon by which all others must be judged). 

Emerson was excited to spot an Osprey nest in the canyon near this spot: 

From the canyon, we drove up toward the park’s entrance at Mammoth Hot Springs. The drive was greatly slowed due to road construction, and we once again found visitor parking and facilities to be very crowded in this area. 

 Nonetheless, it was worth it. 

The climb up and down (or down and up, depending on where you park) looks more daunting than it is. Here’s a view from the top of Minerva terrace:

Here’s a view up from the bottom of Palatte Spring: 

And a view of Minerva Terrace:

We opted to drive home via Tower / Roosevelt country, which was longer in terms of distance but was a different route through another part of the park, seemingly less popular with the tourists, and overall just more enjoyable. Here’s a view in the area of the fossil forest as we climbed Mt. Washburn:

We ate dinner at Beartooth Barbacue (good) in West Yellowstone and then grabbed some excellent homemade ice cream at City Creamery (excellent) before heading back to Yellowstone Under Canvas to go to sleep. 

We departed the Jackson Lake Lodge around 9am this morning after a leisurely morning of coffee, breakfast, repacking for Yellowstone. I’m using a new system of keeping the large suitcase in the car and living out of a smaller suitcase to carry into hotels. Plus, we needed different clothes anyway due to the cooler mornings (in a tent)!

It’s a short and pleasant drive between Grand Teton and Yellowstone NPs up the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway. Even stopping for photos along the route, we reached the Yellowstone entrance in about half an hour. We started our explorations at the West Thumb Geyser Basin, which features a number of interesting geothermal features on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. 

Here we were introduced to Yellowstone’s pools, springs, cones, geysers, pots, and more. I must say, having never seen anything like this before, Libby and I were fairly smitten. I don’t know this to be true with certainty, but Yellowstone feels like one of those rare, few “singular places” on earth.

From West Thumb, we drove to the Upper Geyser Basin, which includes Old Faithful (and, as we learned, all it entails — for good and bad). In truth, it’s kind of a zoo with hordes of tourists. Parking is difficult. Everything is crowded And, ultimately, while Old Faithful is remarkable, it’s remarkable in the same way that the Pyramids at Giza or Acropolis in Athens are “remarkable” (or not) to me. Personally, I find the other geothermal features fat more beautiful and interesting… perhaps simply because they’re less familiar and thus unexpected to me.

Here’s a photo of Old Faithful pre-eruption (I used the SLR for the actual event shots): 

After Old Faithful, we headed up to the Midway Geyset Basin, which is home to Grand Prismatic Spring and Excelsior Geyser. Both of these are spectacular–if potentially deadly–geothermal features. Here’s a view of each:

When walking by these features on the boardwalk, we could feel the hot, moist stream blow against our faces. Once out of the steam, the wind and dry, hot weather caused the moisture on our skin to evaporate quickly. This made us feel surprisingly cool almost instantly. 

By this time, we were approaching five o’clock and thought it best to drive the 30-45 minutes to our accommodations in West Yellowstone, Montana, a “glamping” (glamorous camping) place called Yellowstone Under Canvas. I must confess: I had my doubts. But, it turns out that this place is awesome (especially if you get a deluxe tent with full en-suite bathroom like we did). Honestly, we prefer this to the Jackson Lake Lodge: it’s closer to a wider range of dining options and just feels more like a unique experience (whereas the lodge felt more like an unremarkable motel that was living off of its location). 

For dinner, we drove back into West Yellowstone and ate at an awesome place called Wild West Pizzeria. Admittedly, we were hungry after a busy day. But, we all thought that the meal was legitimately good — a pretty high compliment from this family. 

So, it’s nearly 8:00 and after dinner. What to do? Well, why not put the cherry on top of this sundae and visit Idaho? That’s exactly what we did… visiting the town of Island Park (which is about 500 ft wide and 33+ miles long, incorporated to circumvent Idaho liquor laws) to see Henry Lake just before sunset. 

After returning to Yellowstone Under Canvas, we got ready for bed, and I made a fire in our “stove/heater/fireplace thing” (I’m a native Floridian — what do I know?). The trick will be keeping us comfortable throughout the night as temperatures dip into the upper 40s. 

Today’s box score: +2 states (Montana, Idaho). 

Here’s a view from our hike:

And another:

After our morning hike, we drove down into the city of Jackson. It’s a charming town with a decent amount on offer. Also, given the breathtakingly pricey real estate around Jackson Hole, the town is far upscale than touristy, which suited us fine. 

We ate at the Merry Piglets, which provided some pretty decent Mexican food. We then walked around the town a little before heading back to Grand Teton NP. 

On the way back through the NP, we stopped at the Mormon settlement. The structures were kind of interesting, and Emerson was really enamored with the ground squirrels. But, ultimately the setting just couldn’t be topped:

In the late afternoon, we did the Lakeshore Trail around Colter Bay. This was another enjoyable, easy hike along the edge of the clear water. We all picked up stones and tried skipping them into the lake.

Views of the Tetons were on offer too:

We had dinner at the Pioneer Grill here at Jackson Lake Lodge. While last night’s meal was kind of forgettable, this was worse. For example, my pulled pork sandwich tasted mostly “gray.” Emerson was particularly funny with her running commentary on the lack of food quality. “If I could take or leave this food, I’d leave it.” She’s so my daughter. 

On balance, I don’t think we’d opt to stay here in the NP again, mostly for the lack dining options / quality. The location and beauty can’t be topped, but I don’t think it’s great (or good) value for money. We’d rather be in a nice hotel in Jackson with more dining options. 

Tomorrow, we off to Yellowstone NP. 

Rawlins, WY

After filling up the gas tank and grabbing a quick breakfast to go, we drove north from Rawlins on a route that was different than yesterday’s map, following US287/US26 thru Wind River Country:

New Route to Jackson Lake Lodge

I found the vistas to be surprisingly varied and rather scenic. On this route, we crossed the path of the Oregon Trail, as well as the Continental Divide at a few points. We stopped in Dubois for a picnic lunch along the Wind River and visited the National Bighorn Sheep Interpretive Center. 

Wind River

From Dubois, we drove through the Shoshone National Forrest and through Togwotee Pass at over 9,000 feet. It was actually high enough and still cold enough for Emerson to see and touch snow for the first time:

Togwotee Pass

From there, we had a short downhill drive to our first good glimpse of the Tetons:

The Tetons

View from Lunch Tree Hill

Colter Bay

Roadtrip!

From the airport, we headed to a nearby Wal-Mart for some road trip supplies that I didn’t want to lug from Tampa. After our brief shopping escapade, we pointed the car north on I-25 driving parallel to the Front Range. Traffic was a little heavy up to Ft. Collins.

We arrived in Wyoming around 3:30 and stopped at their fairly impressive visitor center:

Southeastern Wyoming Visitor’s Center

Dee, the Mammoth

Emerson enjoying Wyoming

All in all, a good if uneventful first day. 

Today’s box score: +2 states (Colorado, Wyoming)