The Great West Trip Part 5

When we left Yellowstone by the South Entrance, we immediately entered Grand Teton National Park. Except there wasn't a sign so I was a little confused as to where we actually were.  We were soon greeted by an amazing sight:

I was feeling pretty patriotic seeing this just as we left Yellowstone. I thought it was extremely exciting. And then, as we drove further into the Park, a bear ran across the road ahead of us and down the hill. And that was the extent of seeing wildlife in Grand Teton. 

As mentioned in the last post, we managed to snag the last spot in the Colter Bay Campground. A huge thank you to the person who canceled just before I booked it! When we rolled into the campground I had to show the employee that we had the reservation because his paperwork didn't have the updated reservation. I didn't take any pictures of the campsite; there was nothing spectacular about it. I think it may have actually been a tent site since we had to park on the side of the road. To the best of my recollection, there was a fire pit and picnic table. The public restrooms had a flushing toilet and sink but no shower. The next morning we went to the Colter Bay Visitor Center to shower and do laundry. The pay showers were amazing. I think we paid $5 each for lengthy showers. It helped that we were there fairly early and were one of the first ones there. There is also a store that has groceries, coffee and breakfast sandwiches, as well as a gift store. 

View of Jackson Lake

I was awestruck by the beauty

After we were showered and our clothes cleaned, we started driving out of the park. We came across a young couple carrying a bicycle wheel. We stopped and asked if they needed a ride somewhere. This couple was cycling the Continental Divide from just next to the Mexican Border up to Canada. They were walking to the post office (about a 10-mile hike from the campground) to pick up a part a friend of hers overnighted to her. They had both just graduated from college and were taking the summer to cycle before "becoming adults". Once we dropped them off at the post office, we decided to wait for them and offer them a ride back to the campground since we weren't on a timeline. I know they appreciated it, but we kept telling them that we would hope someone would do the same for one of our boys. 

View as we drove to/from the post office

We drove through Jackson and stopped for groceries. Honestly, I wasn't very impressed. It was so crowded; I wanted to get groceries and get out of there. It was too touristy for our taste.

At the last minute, we found a Harvest Host for the night. This was another dairy farm that had an ice cream/dairy shop. We weren't so thrilled with this spot. It was hot, there was absolutely no shade, and we were told to park right next to the cow pen. On top of that, this was our view:

Thanks, but no thank you. We ended up getting a hotel room for the night so we were cool and were able to take luxurious showers in Afton, Wyoming. This was a very cute little town whose claim to fame is the largest arch made out of elk antlers...over 3000 of them, in fact.

It would have been nice to have had a few more hours to look around. This one street is pretty much the whole town. There was a shortcut from the Oregon Trail that went through Afton (Lander Trail). "This shortcut saved emigrants as much as 7 days travel." If only we had known!

We made it to Utah!

Since we didn't get a picture when we originally crossed into Wyoming, after taking the picture in Utah we crossed the street & snapped this picture!

Finally...red rock! This was at a beautiful rest area in Utah

This was also taken at the rest area. So unique!

Moving on, we clipped Idaho and then made it to Utah. We discussed going to Craters of the Moon National Park. While it looks like a very cool place, we decided to keep moving on. Robert has a friend in Park City, UT that he attempted to see. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make that happen. Our oldest son lived in Park City for a while so it was cool to see a glimpse of where he lived, as well as the skatepark where he spent some of his time.

This is a pavilion right next to a skatepark

Again, Park City was very crowded and hot, so we traveled on to Salt Lake City and spent the next day there. We didn't see much...it was well over 100 degrees. I hear people joke all the time, "But it's a dry heat" and now I get it. Yes, it was hot. Hot is hot, but without the humidity, it certainly didn't feel like it was over 90 degrees. We managed to see the Great Salt Lake in the distance before driving down to Provo (another hotel) for the night. People in Utah love to put things on the side of the hill:

The "Y" is for "Young"...of Bringham & Young. We weren't far from the university.

Afton had a star in the hill behind our hotel since it is in the Star Valley. This "Y" is on "Y Mountain" and was built in 1906 out of lime and rock. It has been reinforced with concrete and paint. Believe it or not, this project was not a university project; the idea started because, in 1905 or 1906, the junior class of Bringham Young High School wanted to paint '07 on the mountain, which of course upset the senior class of '06. A compromise was reached with the university president and high school principal coming up with an idea. Originally, there was going to also be a "B" and "U" but after hours of hauling lime and rock up the mountain, the project was abandoned. So now there is just a "Y". There is a parking lot roughly a mile away and it is one of the most hiked trails in the Utah Valley. I had no idea you could actually go up there. I don't know that we would have done it, but it could have been a possibility!

So far, we have seen some pretty incredible sights. But what was coming the next day was the best yet!

The Great West Trip Part 4

We entered Yellowstone National Park through the East Entrance and began driving through what I would call the mountain area. I had no idea that each part of the park would look so different. Our first stop was at an overlook. We had to stop because the views were spectacular. The pictures don't do it justice.

The obligatory picture at the entrance.

As we made our way through the park, we started to see random buffalo in the fields. There weren't big packs of them in this section but it was a thrill to finally see some.

We saw our first geyser/ hot spring of the day

First buffalo sighting!

We noticed this rather large crow sitting on the roof of the bathroom. It was pretty loud and Robert was able to get rather close to it.

We stopped at Calcite Springs and I walked the path to the overlook. The water was a stunning color.

The steam coming from the side of the river was pretty cool.

See what I mean about the color of the water?

These formations were made by volcanic activity

We were surprised that we hadn't seen as many buffalo as we were expecting. A quick talk with a ranger gave us the information we needed. We drove through what I would call the "plains section" and managed to see a lot of them. Babies, mamas, daddies, and even some pronghorns in the mix.

Buffalo mamas and babies

Pronghorns in the background mixing in with the buffalo

Having our fill of buffalo, we continued on. We stopped at the Albright station at the North Entrance and saw some elk as well as some interesting rock.

We were amazed that these elk were just hanging out in the midst of the visitor's center with a lot of people around

This rock looks like snow cascading down a mountain

In the afternoon we made it to the geyser section (as I call it) which is in the west side of the park. We opted to skip Old Faithful which I think turned out to be a good choice. We aren't crazy about getting in with the crowds and by the look of the line of cars, it was going to be pretty crowded. We stopped at Beryl Springs and got a pretty good idea of what a geyser looks like on a smaller scale and without a lot of people.

Beryl Spring is one of the hottest springs in Yellowstone.

It was named "Beryl" because of the blue-green color of the water reminiscent of the gem beryl.

We stopped at Flood Geyser just as it was finishing its performance. This is one of several geysers in the "flood area" of the park.

I couldn't find this so I'm going on the assumption that it's possible that this area floods since there is a stream/river flowing through this section.

Or maybe it's because it looks like it's flooded. If you know, let me know!

As we made our way to the South exit, we saw a few more geysers/hot springs which were just fantastic to drive through:

Our next mission was to find a place to stay for the night. I had the coordinates of a place to boondock but, surprisingly, Robert wanted to find a campground instead. We stopped at one place and were pretty much told, "Good luck". I checked a campground in the Tetons and, as luck would have it, they had one spot left. We snatched it up right away. It wasn't the best campsite we've ever had, but it gave us a place to park the van.  More on that next time!

I realize how much we missed by doing Yellowstone in one day. This will be one place I want to return to and spend more time. There is so much to see!

The Great West Trip Part 3

Decision time: Do we go north to Banff, northwest to Glacier, or south to Yellowstone? When I looked at how many miles it was to Banff, it looked like we would spend 6 days just getting there and back to Billings. So, we decided against it. We also decided against Glacier. Cody was of some interest to us, so we made the choice to drive there. The views were well worth it:

This house on top of the butte interested me. It seemed like it was the only house around for miles.

The different colors of the mountains/hills were beautiful.

Again, this sight struck me as interesting!

2 tunnels on the road: it kind of reminded me of Ireland.

After we arrived in Cody, we went by the visitor's center to get information on the town, as well as a recommendation on where to eat lunch. The young lady was most helpful and suggested Irma's. The official name is Buffalo Bill's Irma Hotel. Buffalo Bill Cody built the hotel in 1902 and named it after his daughter. The building is a working hotel; the rates are actually quite reasonable. Some of the rooms are historical while some were added on as late as the 1970's. 

The grill was recommended to us for lunch. We split a sandwich and had potato salad for a side. I'm super picky about my potato salad so I try to steer clear of ordering it at a restaurant, but theirs was just like my mom's! Quite a pleasant surprise!

This cherrywood bar was presented to Buffalo Bill by Queen Victoria. She shipped it to the hotel after his performance for her in London.

The fireplace is in the hotel section of the building. It is made from rocks, fossils, ores, and minerals from the Big Horn Basin.

After we ate we visited the Cody Historical Society and learned more about the town. I asked the ladies who were working if any of Buffalo Bill's family still lived in the area. He had 2 descendants (from Irma) who were in the area. One of them steers clear of the Cody name; the other one used it to make his fortune. Sadly, he was killed in an airplane crash. I wasn't able to confirm this by researching on the internet; there isn't much published about the family.

From Cody we headed to Yellowstone. There are several campgrounds along the way. We chose Rex Hale because it is the closest to the park gate that has a bathroom. Although we have a bathroom in the van, it's nice to have one close by so we can empty the cassette toilet before leaving. 

We almost turned around and went back to the Wapiti Campground since it looked like it was better shaded but there was a spot here. The camp host was extremely nice. He is a retired archeologist and was very interesting to talk with. Plus, the vault toilet was the best-smelling vault toilet I've ever been in! He kept it immaculate!

There are no showers, electricity, or other amenities here. But the views are worth it! Maeve looked great in that setting:

It was very quiet and peaceful; exactly what we wanted and needed. The host said there were little to no worries about bears. The North Fork Shoshone River runs behind the campground and if there are any bears to be seen, they would be fishing in the river. We chose not to chance it and stayed away.

That was our big day in Cody. We discussed going back into town before we headed to Yellowstone but then chose to keep going. Yellowstone has to have a post all on its own!