Review and report of the ABD Wyoming trip, August 17, 2025

[Eastridge]

Visitor Center

After the bike ride, the bus continued north and stopped at a nice visitor center for a rest and bathroom break.

 

[Eastridge]

Lunch at Jackson Lake Lodge (Mural Room)

We had lunch in the historic Mural Room at Jackson Lake Lodge. I think this is a relatively new addition to the ABD Wyoming itinerary and a very welcome one. The views from the hotel and dining room are stunning.













The food was ok but the views are amazing. The Mural Room is named for several murals hanging in the restaurant.



This hotel hosted an annual meeting of the Federal Reserve later in the week. There was a major speech by the head of the Fed on Friday, but we were at Brooks Lake Lodge by that point.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 3 pin

During lunch, they handed out the Day 3 pins:







I never did see a Jackalope during the trip, though.

 

[Eastridge]

Yellowstone

We then headed north into Yellowstone. We got our only bear sighting during this drive. A small black bear crossed the road right in front of us, then disappeared into the trees. Lili and Eileen said it was their first bear sighting of the entire season. None of us were fast enough to take a photo while it was on the road, but we did get photos of its backside...



There was a photo stop with the Yellowstone sign

The leaning tree of Yellowstone​

 

[Eastridge]

West Thumb Geyser Basin

This afternoon and tomorrow were spent in Yellowstone. We drove most of the main loop in the park. The first major stop was at West Thumb Geyser Basin, a collection of thermal features adjacent to the West Thumb of Lake Yellowstone.



The first rule of Yellowstone is: Don't step off the boardwalk.
The second rule of Yellowstone is: Don't step off the boardwalk.

Every site had a large sign warning about this, in six languages.



The local guide mentioned more stories than I cared to hear about a bison cooking itself in a hot spring (becoming bison hot pot), and a dog, and people...

ABD provided binoculars (that didn't work well) and thermometers that could measure the temperature of the hot springs. Other people not in our group got curious and asked about those.

Abyss pool is deep. The uniform blue color means it is hot.​

 

[Eastridge]

Old Faithful Inn

Our hotel this evening was the historic Old Faithful Inn. Not all ABD Wyoming groups get to stay here. Many others stay at different hotels in the area. It has a stunning lobby and is adjacent to the Old Faithful geyser and many others.

So the hotel staff doesn't have to answer your question about when the geyser is erupting​

The feature at the top of the lobby is the "Crow's Nest." But since the support beams were damaged in an earthquake, they block guests from climbing all the way to the top.

If you have visited the Wilderness Lodge in Disney World, this may look familiar. The Wilderness Lodge was inspired by this and other historic National Park lodges.

 

[Eastridge]

Old Faithful Inn (room)

The original rooms in this inn have communal bathrooms. Fortunately, ABD provided us rooms in a newer wing.







And you could see the Old Faithful geyser from the room!

View of the geyser from our hotel room, in the morning when no tourists were around. Somebody forgot to turn off the geyser overnight.​

This hotel was a mix of pros and cons:

Pros

• Can't ask for a better location or to be closer to the geyser and visitor center. We saw the geyser erupting multiple times.
• Historic hotel

Cons

• No TV (but hey, we have tablets)
• No WiFi (ok, the tablets don't help so much)
• Poor cell reception with Verizon. The bandwidth improved in the morning when the thousands of day tourists were gone but it was still slow
• The plumbing seemed to have a mind of its own. I had to constantly twiddle with the water temperature.
• No AC. The room got hot and stuffy. We did have a fan. I should have left the window open. I had a tough time sleeping.

While it was an interesting experience, I'm glad we were there only one night.

Old Faithful, right on time​

There are many other geysers in the area besides Old Faithful, but we didn't have time to explore.

 

[Eastridge]

Old Faithful Inn (dinner)

For dinner, the ABD guides made individual reservations for each family group in the main restaurant. You could either choose the buffet or order a la carte. We heard that the food was better if you ordered a la carte. So that's what we did. Since I could pick any entree, I picked the $60 rib eye.

Then we waited an hour for the food to arrive. The ribeye was huge, but lacked flavor. I only ate half. Pick the buffet instead.

 

[georgiagirl2]

Lunch in the Mural Room is a really nice addition to the itinerary! Our ABD group had a picnic beside String Lake. We didn't go to Jackson Lake Lodge at all.

Our family went back to the Tetons and Yellowstone when the kids were teenagers and stopped there to eat at the Pioneer Grill lunch counter. The views from the Mural Room and the porch out back were stunning!

That's great that you got to stay at the Old Faithful Inn and what an incredible view from your room! Our group stayed at the Snow Lodge, also not air-conditioned, although it was pretty cool the night we were there.

 

[toesmom]

Old Faithful Inn

Our hotel this evening was the historic Old Faithful Inn. Not all ABD Wyoming groups get to stay here. Many others stay at different hotels in the area. It has a stunning lobby and is adjacent to the Old Faithful geyser and many others.

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So the hotel staff doesn't have to answer your question about when the geyser is erupting​

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The feature at the top of the lobby is the "Crow's Nest." But since the support beams were damaged in an earthquake, they block guests from climbing all the way to the top.

If you have visited the Wilderness Lodge in Disney World, this may look familiar. The Wilderness Lodge was inspired by this and other historic National Park lodges.

Thank you for posting these photos. Old Faithful Inn looks exactly like Wilderness Lodge. Sounds like it was a great trip

 

[sayhello]

• If you aren't willing or able to do the activities (whitewater rafting, hike a couple of miles at high elevation with significant climbing, horseback riding, fishing, bike 8 miles) then I don't think it is worth the expense.

Well, that pretty much answers that. Maybe. I don't mind whitewater rafting (and this looks pretty mild with such a huge raft) or the hike, but the horseback riding would probably be out (unless it's mostly a horse walk), I'm not really into fishing (although I could try it, I guess) and I don't think an 8 mile bike ride I *have* to finish would be happening.

I was actually thinking of *maybe* doing this trip next year as I'd like to stay domestic, but I'm thinking probably not at this point. I keep hoping they'll introduce another domestic trip next year...

I had considered arriving a day early to spend a day here, but decided against it because a prenight at the Wort would have been over $1600 and Snow King wanted over $200 per person for a day pass. Hm, at those prices I can go to Disneyland instead...

YIKES!! I don't think so!!

Staying at the Old Faithful Lodge does sound cool, but I agree -- it's a one night thing!

Sayhello