Yellowstone!

[Hidden_Mickey]

Tuesday
We treated ourselves to the breakfast buffet in the dining room, since we were getting sick of cereal and yogurt. It was good and we stuffed ourselves, lol! Then we hiked to Narrow Gauge Terrace. There was a nice view of the terraces from there, and the way down was via the boardwalk, so it was not as intense as the way up. We walked all around the lower area of the hot springs, then headed to the cabin to relax. We had sandwiches and salads from the general store for a light lunch. The kids liked playing with the “whistle pups” (ground squirrels) that were everywhere. We took lots of pictures and fed them rose petals from a nearby bush. They must be used to people feeding them because when my husband sat down on the porch to eat his sandwich, 8 of them climbed right up the steps to sit right in front of him on their hind legs! Then after we relaxed, we headed to Roosevelt for the chuckwagon dinner. We saw some elk on the patch of grass in the center of town and on the road out. It seemed like checking in and loading the wagons took forever. The ride out to the campsite was dusty but pretty. There was a guy singing mellow country music. The campsite was beautiful, and the food was great – steaks, beans, corn, cobbler – YUM! We got the recipe for the Roosevelt baked beans. I intend to try it on Saturday! We drove back to Mammoth just as it was getting dark. My husband didn’t want to drive in the dark because of the car issues we had the day before and because we didn’t want to hit an animal, but we made it safely.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Wednesday
Ate breakfast in the room, then checked out and drove around the upper terraces at the hot springs before heading out. We didn’t do that the day before because there was a lot of traffic. Then we headed toward Roosevelt. We stopped at Undine Falls and Wraith Falls, then we stopped at Tower and hiked down the trail to the bottom, then got sandwiches at the general store for lunch. Then we headed to Canyon. We drove the North Rim Drive, hiked a little bit between vantage points, and hiked down to the Brink of the Lower Falls. OMG! That was one of the highlights of the trip! Took lots of pictures. Of course, then we had to hike back UP to the road. Again, it was a scary vertical hike, with lots of switchbacks. And again, we saw a lot of people with small kids. I saw one guy with 1 year old in a backpack on his back. If he ever lost his balance… I shudder to think what would have happened. We were all DONE for the day after that and drove to the Lake Yellowstone Hotel and checked in. We had dinner in the dining room, and had a fantastic beef tenderloin. Then we pretty much passed out!

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Thursday
We had the breakfast buffet in the dining room before heading back to the Canyon to explore the South Rim. We drove to Artist Point and took LOTS of pictures! That was another highlight. Then we drove to Uncle Tom’s trailhead and hiked to the top of the stairs down to the bottom of the Lower Falls. After what we did the day before on the switchbacks, the stairs were a piece of cake! The view at the bottom, across from where we had hiked the day before, was incredible. We saw the falls in all their glory and a rainbow in the spray! We are going to Niagara Falls in September, and I think we will be underwhelmed by it after seeing these falls! And then we had to go back UP the stairs – yikes! We took our time and stopped frequently, so it wasn’t that bad. After that we headed back to the hotel. We hung out in the common area on our floor and had snacks and relaxed. Then we had an early dinner in the dining room – tenderloin again because it was so good the day before! Laundry time again! My husband drove me to the Lodge and dropped me off. He and my daughter walked around the lake and took some pictures of the hotel. Again I was shocked that there were only a handful of people doing laundry, and that there was no laundry area in the Lake hotel. This time I only did enough to get us home. We saw some elk on the way back to the hotel. Then we hung out in the room until bed time.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Friday
Had breakfast in the room before checking out. Drove all the way back down through Yellowstone and through the south entrance. Now, I should say that we saw several bison near the road at several times during our time in Yellowstone, and once we got stuck driving behind one. We had seen a moose traffic jam at West Thumb, and an elk traffic jam in Mammoth. So far we had not see a bear yet though. So we were driving between Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons and I see a dark shape on the other side of the road and I say “oh, another bison guys”… then it picks its head up and it’s a bear!!! So my husband passes it, does a u turn (it was early, so no traffic!) and we pull up about 30 feet from it. By that time cars going both ways were stopping to create a bear jam! It looked like a black bear, because it didn’t have a hump on its back. My husband got out to take a few quick shots with the zoom lens, then we pulled away and did another u turn, so others could stop and see him. By then there was a lot more traffic and fuss, and the bear was walking off into the woods again. Our trip was complete!

Then we entered the Grand Tetons, and stopped at Jenny Lake to see it again and take more pictures. My husband had wanted to go back ever since we had to rush out of there a week earlier. Then we headed to the National Museum of Wildlife Art. My 12 year old daughter is an artist and wanted to see it, so she and I want in while my husband and 10 year old son waited at the car and took pictures of the elk refuge. We did a whirlwind tour of the museum in about 45 minutes because we didn’t want to make them wait and we were all hungry. It was nice and I wish we had more time there. Then we headed into Jackson. We stopped at the visitor center, and I picked up a dining guide, and asked where we could get a good burger. We headed up to Billy’s Giant Burgers. A friend had told me to make sure we got a burger in Jackson, and it lived up to the hype. Of course we were hungry enough to eat buffalo chips, lol, but it was good! We had seen a Pizza Hut when we went grocery shopping the week before, and my son begged us for Pizza Hut ever day, so we went there and got him a personal pie. By that time it was 4:00 so we could check in to our hotel, the Lexington, on N. Cache. We were happy to re-enter civilization – it had A/C and TV!!! Also, the Lake did not have cell service (it was the only visitor/hotel area we stayed in that didn’t) but Jackson did, so we felt like we were coming back to normalcy. We relaxed a little and walked around town before we had to head out to the Bar T 5 chuckwagon dinner show. The corral was a 5 minute drive from the hotel, on the outskirts of town. This time the loading time seemed shorter, and there was entertainment on the way out to the campground! It was nothing crazy, but was cute and entertaining. I won’t give any spoilers, in case anyone wants to go. It was a 20 minute ride to the camp site. This time dinner was barbecue chicken (it was OK), roast beef (edible, but not great), beans, corn on the cob and blondies for dessert. The food was not as good as the Roosevelt one, but the entertainment was better. There were skits and jokes, and more upbeat songs. This trip was not dusty, but we sat at the front of the wagon, and one of our horses had some serious gas, OMG. Ah, the risks of being around animals, lol! We watched TV a little before going to bed.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Saturday
My daughter and I headed out to the Bunnery, two blocks away, for breakfast, as the boys were not in the mood. I wanted to eat a good meal before heading to the airport. We sat outside and I had a phenomenal garden benedict sandwich. The reviews were right! Then we walked to a t-shirt shop we had been to the day before to buy shirts. I got my son one that said “May the Forest Be With You” that had a bear, moose and coyote holding light sabers – cute! I got my daughter a “bear hug” night gown, and myself a cute Jackson Hole shirt. Then we went back to the hotel, and since the kids had been dying to go into the pool, we let them go in for about a half hour before taking a shower, packing up and checking out. We headed back to the airport to drop off the car and check in. Flew to Denver, then to Newark. Got home at 1:00 am Sunday.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Sunday
Slept in!

 

[minkydog]

YOu're just making me want to go back out to Yellowstone. My favorite place in the world. Sounds like you had an awesome time.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

YOu're just making me want to go back out to Yellowstone. My favorite place in the world. Sounds like you had an awesome time.

We did! Although the kids whined about the hiking, even though what we did were easy hikes. If I went back I would spend more time in the Tetons & Jackson, and would attempt to hike Mt. Washburn. I forgot to say, we did drive up it as far as you can, and the view from there was incredible, but it is another 3 mile hike up to the top, and the view is supposed to be insane. We just could not even entertain a 6 mile hike, lol! We also drove to the overlook on Signal Mountain, and that view was phenomenal as well.

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

Ah, you have brought back some fond memories and made me want to go back NOW. It is a very unique and beautiful area of the country. Our family has done several of the National Park vacations and Yellowstone and the Tetons is the one that keeps calling me back!

I'm so glad you did the White Water Rafting, it is a blast! Sounds like you got to see and do a lot without getting overwhelmed with it all. Thanks for such a nice report!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Friday
My husband woke up OK, but then got a killer headache & felt dizzy. I told him he probably had some altitude sickness. The rest of us were fine. We waited for him to perk up, then headed to Jenny Lake to do the hike to Hidden Falls & Inspiration Point. Because of our late start, when we got to the parking lot it was full and had to drive around looking for a spot. I was prepared to walk to the trailhead, but since we got a late start, we took the boat. We hiked up to Hidden Falls – wow!!! Whoever said to go there, thank you! I have to say though, we saw a LOT of people with really little kids there. I mean toddlers, walking up that trail, and women with infants in slings. We were freaked out that there were no railings, and surprised that there were no signs to watch your step. It was so pretty, but if you slipped and went over the edge of the cliff, you were DONE. I was telling my kids (10 & 12) to stay close to the wall. We made it about half way to Inspiration Point when we had to turn back because we had booked a float trip out of Colter Bay Marina at 3:00, we weren’t sure how long it would take to get there, and we had to be there early to check in, etc. So, we hiked down, drove to Colter Bay, had a quick lunch from the grocery store and boarded the boat. The views from the boat were beautiful and the guides were friendly and gave us a lot of information. Then we went to the Pioneer Grill at Jackson Lake Lodge for dinner – I had to get one of those “Teton Treats” for dessert!! My husband and both kids got cowboy hats in the gift shop. I got a hoodie. We headed back to the cabin. I did some laundry, then we sat on the porch looking at the stars in our PJ’s.

Now you can say you've been to, or at least seen, Inspiration Point-

DH took this picture while I stayed down at the Hidden Falls. I have an incredible fear of heights, so even the hike up-

would have been too much for me.

How was the Bunnery's breakfast? We ate lunch there and loved it.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Now you can say you've been to, or at least seen, Inspiration Point-

DH took this picture while I stayed down at the Hidden Falls. I have an incredible fear of heights, so even the hike up-

would have been too much for me.

How was the Bunnery's breakfast? We ate lunch there and loved it.

OK, after seeing that picture, I might not have made it up there either, lol!

The breakfast was amazing!