Aren't they precious!
Day 10 part B, Monday afternoon - evening
A
fter we left the coffee shop where we sent our last post, we drove back through Mammoth Hot Springs and toward Lamar Valley. On the way, we happened upon a crowd of people looking down a hillside at two bull moose in the canyon. We sat and enjoyed watching them because it is very rare to see bull moose. 
Then we went on to the supposedly wildlife-rich Lamar valley. Apparently, we came on a bad day, and there wasn’t much wildlife to see, except for buffalo, which we had already seen plenty of. Then we raced back to where our RV was so that we could get to our campsite on time. This was the evening when we had a wonderful “God experience”. Ask us in person to explain, because it is too complicated to write in a blog, except to say, God “turned our sorrow into laughter”.
Was sooooo cool to see these two bulls locking antlers. They had about 10 or so cows in a herd. Hard to tell if they were actually trying to establish dominance or were just playing around w/ one male clearly already having established the alpha role. Nevertheless, it was something you never get to see in Cary.
Check this guy out...just hangin' out by himself off the side of the road. Interesting how sometimes you'd find a herd of 20, 30 or more and then you'd find those loners seemingly miles from any other.
Was sooooo cool to see these two bulls locking antlers. They had about 10 or so cows in a herd. Hard to tell if they were actually trying to establish dominance or were just playing around w/ one male clearly already having established the alpha role. Nevertheless, it was something you never get to see in Cary.
Check this guy out...just hangin' out by himself off the side of the road. Interesting how sometimes you'd find a herd of 20, 30 or more and then you'd find those loners seemingly miles from any other.
Their big heads make it seem like they should just topple over forwards.
RANDOM IMPRESSIONS:
1) Abby-“More Hot Springs?”
2) Teresa-enjoyed huckleberry ice cream.
3) Katie- We saw a lot of “Buffalo rocks”
4) Teresa- that would be rocks that from a distance look like buffalo.
5) Mitchell- We kept seeing this because we kept expecting to see so much wildlife in Lamar valley, but our eyes played tricks on us with these rocks instead. (mirages)
Day 11, Tuesday
We had our usual breakfast in the RV of oatmeal and cereal with hot chocolate and coffee then drove north to the canyon, so called the “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone”. We hiked to the lower falls down 328 stairs (the harder part was hiking up) plus trail hiking.
Then we had a picnic lunch near there. We went to the most photographed part of Yellowstone, Artist Point, where you can see the waterfall, river, and canyon.
It would have been nicer without all the people. You could barely take a picture without someone getting in your way or you getting in someone else’s way.
Then we drove to Yellowstone Lake Hotel to buy a sweatshirt for Abby. We ended up getting ice cream too. That night Daddy taught us girls how to play hearts.
RANDOM IMPRESSIONS:
1) Teresa – Surprisingly there are fewer internationals in Yellowstone. At Bryce and Zion, we were clearly in the minority as Americans. We heard many languages spoken every day. At Yellowstone, the demographic is mostly retired Americans.
2) Karen- We liked playing hearts. We even played it by ourselves in the RV while Daddy was driving.
1) Teresa – Surprisingly there are fewer internationals in Yellowstone. At Bryce and Zion, we were clearly in the minority as Americans. We heard many languages spoken every day. At Yellowstone, the demographic is mostly retired Americans.
2) Karen- We liked playing hearts. We even played it by ourselves in the RV while Daddy was driving.
3) Mitchell- Who’s Karen you wonder? It’s James Cornell’s abbreviation /nickname for the the conglomeration “Katie, Abby, Lauren”
Day 12, Wednesday
We ate breakfast at the Fishing Bridge General Store Fountain. Then we headed toward Grand Teton National Park. We did some last minute Yellowstone shopping on the way. We found a campsite at Coulter Bay. We ate a quick lunch then took a 3 mile hike exploring the Coulter Bay woods and lakes.
We drove around and stopped at some view points in the Grand Teton Mtns.
Then we went back to the campsite.
RANDOM IMPRESSIONS:
1) Mitchell-“I finally found my zipper hooded sweatshirt that I’ve been looking for since the first day in Yellowstone. All the other stores only had larges.”
2) Teresa-“The Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) is so striking because you’re driving on a flat road next to a flat lake, and on the other side of the lake there are tall, alpine mountains up to 13,000 feet” see pics.
Then we went back to the campsite.RANDOM IMPRESSIONS:
1) Mitchell-“I finally found my zipper hooded sweatshirt that I’ve been looking for since the first day in Yellowstone. All the other stores only had larges.”
2) Teresa-“The Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) is so striking because you’re driving on a flat road next to a flat lake, and on the other side of the lake there are tall, alpine mountains up to 13,000 feet” see pics.
Day 13, Thursday
After organizing suitcases to prepare for the trip home, we headed south on the main road trough GTNP and came across a group of cars stopped on the side of the road. We have learned that this means that there is wildlife to be seen. There we saw a couple of cow moose grazing by a creek. Then we turned the corner to see another group of cars. This group was looking at a… GRIZZLY BEAR!
It was about 150 yards away in the willows and short trees. Once It left the view from that road, Daddy sprinted to the RV with Abby keeping pace not far behind. They sped up the road, circling to the other side of the willows along a river where they got out to try to see the bear as it was heading in that direction. Later, a ‘real’ photographer showed up, then some others. They sat and waited for the bear for 20-30 minutes, to no avail. But there was much excitement with simple anticipation that the grizzly would pop its head out from the willows to provide a closer look. After we left the bear, we continued down the road and beheld another magnificent view, the calm, glass-like surface of Jackson Lake reflecting the image of the Grand Tetons from the rays of the morning sun.
We ate lunch at Jackson Lake Lodge Pioneer Grill. It was like eating at Ashworth’s (in Cary), but 10 times bigger. Our waiter, from NC, served Lauren and Katie their first buffalo burger.
Our next activity was a 1.1 mile hike up one of the mountains to see Hidden Falls and then catch a view across Jenny Lake from Inspiration Point. You never get tired of so many breathtaking views.
We experienced one of our few unfortunate events on the way down when Katie twisted her ankle. Daddy ran down the mountain to hold the last ferry that was supposed to depart at 4:00pm. The driver of that ferry across Jenny Lake was kind enough to wait a few extra minutes for Katie.
We took it easy after that and enjoyed some final sights of the Tetons before going to the Gros Ventre Campground on the south side of the park.
RANDOM IMPRESSIONS:
1) Mitchell-“in some kind of ‘sick sense’, we’ve enjoyed watching the girls learn to live in close quarters together for two weeks as they nag and squabble with each other…then they love each other”
2) Teresa-yes, I know the girls will appreciate being able to sleep in their own rooms again.
Day 14, Friday
We woke up to 2 moose that were visible from our RV window . Pretty cool sight for our last morning in a National Park. Our goal for the morning was to get ALL of our stuff packed back into the van from the RV and to clean the RV. Amazingly, we accomplished this task and began our 725 mile journey back to Las Vegas.
RANDOM IMPRESSIONS
1) Mitchell-“ …I was just thinking ‘I never in my life thought I would ever be in Idaho’”
2) Teresa- kind of sad that the trip is over, but lots of good memories!
We took it easy after that and enjoyed some final sights of the Tetons before going to the Gros Ventre Campground on the south side of the park.
RANDOM IMPRESSIONS:
1) Mitchell-“in some kind of ‘sick sense’, we’ve enjoyed watching the girls learn to live in close quarters together for two weeks as they nag and squabble with each other…then they love each other”
2) Teresa-yes, I know the girls will appreciate being able to sleep in their own rooms again.
Day 14, Friday
We woke up to 2 moose that were visible from our RV window . Pretty cool sight for our last morning in a National Park. Our goal for the morning was to get ALL of our stuff packed back into the van from the RV and to clean the RV. Amazingly, we accomplished this task and began our 725 mile journey back to Las Vegas.
RANDOM IMPRESSIONS
1) Mitchell-“ …I was just thinking ‘I never in my life thought I would ever be in Idaho’”
2) Teresa- kind of sad that the trip is over, but lots of good memories!
1 comment:
WOW. An amazing trip! Thanks for blogging it so all of us could vicariously enjoy it too. :-)
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