What do you see in this picture ?
We headed out on our overnight trip this morning, leaving a little after 8 am. Our first stop was Peter’s Coffee in downtown Cody for coffee and a breakfast roll, then a quick stop on the way out of town for gas.
Very quickly we were back in the same beautiful vistas we saw last Friday when we did Yellowstone with our friends Al and Adrienne. But it’s hard to get too much of these views.
Although we were heading for Jackson, WY and Grand Teton National Park, we decided to backtrack up past Old Faithful to see the Paint Pots and some of the other geysers.
As we came back by the same place we saw the grizzly last week we slowed down to check things out. Unfortunately, no grizzly, but right down the road we did see this female elk out in the brush.
Our first stop in Yellowstone was the Fountain Paint Pot area. There is a boardwalk that makes a 1/2 loop out and back so it’s an easy walk.
It’s really hard to describe the Paint Pots. Some of it looks like the surface of the moon.
Some of it looks like the bowels of Hades.
Some of it is very beautiful.
And some of it looks like all three.
But however you want to describe it, it’s not to be missed.
Our next stop was right down the road at the Midway Geyser Basin. A bridge from the parking lot takes you across the Firehole River ( apt name, don’t you think.) and out into the Basin.
The runoff from the geysers flows into the river and keeps it warm. In fact warm enough to be comfortable for swimming when there’s snow on the ground in the dead of winter.
I’ll let the rest of the photos tell the story.
By this time it was about 1 pm and we were getting hungry. So heading back to Old Faithful Village we decided to have lunch at the Old Faithful Inn where we ate last Friday. We didn’t have the buffet this time, but we definitely wanted some more of the bison chili. In fact we split a BLT (Well, Jan had a BT because she doesn’t like lettuce on sandwiches. Salads yes, sandwiches, no.) so we would have room for the chili.
Leaving Old Faithful and heading south once again we came across another female elk. So we’re two for two on elk today.
Down the road a ways we stopped to check out Lewis Falls, a very pretty sight.
As we finally got into Grand Teton National Park we started paralleling Jackson Lake that runs for about 20 miles along the roadway.
What do you see in the middle of this picture? I’ll bet you don’t see two large bull moose.
But they’re there.
Jan’s Holy Grail!
What she’s been looking for since we hit the road for this year this past February.
What we made a special trip down to Grand Teton National Park for when she heard there might be some down here.
We were able to get as close as about 50 feet since they were in heavy brush. There was a Ranger there keeping everyone from getting too close. Otherwise SOME people would have been trying to pet them.
We watched them for about 20 minutes before they disappeared deeper into the brush and we lost sight of them.
Jan said this made the whole trip worthwhile.
Hey, if she’s happy, I’m happy.
Getting closer to Jackson we came across this group of bison who had knocked down the fence and were almost out into the highway.
There was a Ranger there too, keeping people back.
Man, these Rangers are real party-poopers.
Arriving in Jackson a little after 6 pm and getting safely ensconced in our Motel 6 room, (very nice, by the way) we heading out to get some dinner.
We had noticed a place called Bubba’a BBQ on the way in and decided to give a try.
It was easy to see why we had to wait 20 minutes for a table. Boy, was it good.
So good, in fact, we’re going back for breakfast.
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Thought for the Day:
Actually, I was pretty thoughtless today. So there.
awe
