Day 4: Bison!!! Finally! And the rest of Yellowstone

Blogging from Sundance, Wyoming

Day #3 in Wyoming! The girls stayed at the Mammoth Hot Springs cabin. Some jerkface Focus-driving Californian decided to show off his/her fantastic parking skills by blocking our car:


Who does that?! Seriously.

Walking around town:


Maybe you get one of these postcards. Maybe you don't.




Public service announcement:


First stop of the day is the Mammoth Hot Springs:




A look back at the hotel and cabin:


Gas at Yellowstone is $2.25 per gallon?!


You Wish!


Elk sighting! They're just chilling on the grass:


Pulled over for moose sighting. Sorry, no picture of said moose.


3D model of Yellowstone National Park at the Canyon Village Visitor Center. I'm a sucker for these things:


Lower Falls:



I was really there!


Bison!!!!!!!!!! Lots of them!


Bison getting closer!


Cute kid counting bison.


This one was ~ 20 yards from us!


Animal sightings in Yellowstone:

• Elk
  
• Bear
  
• Moose
  
• Bison
  

We didn't see any bears, but 3 of 4 ain't bad.

Picnic lunch at Yellowstone Lake:


Writing more postcards by the lake:


I'm hardcore. I eat dogs for lunch:


That's Yellowstone. Mt. Rushmore, here we come!

Day 3: Bison: It's What's For Dinner

Blogging from: Mammoth Hot Springs; Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

We traveled from Grand Teton National Park to northern end of Yellowstone National Park today.

Our day started off with some wildlife (sighting) hunting. Our first attempt is the Jackson Lodge Wildlife Reserve. Result: failed, but we did get a group shot:


The next stop is Signal Mountain Summit, 800 ft above the Teton Valley. At this point, I'm still pretty optimistic about seeing some wildlife:


The view from the summit was spectacular! (but still no animals)


This is all we can see of the mountain ranges - they are almost all over 10,000 feet. Imagine the peaks are at the top of the photo somewhere in the clouds:


From there, we left Grand Teton NP and headed north to Yellowstone. This is somewhere between the two national parks:


Oblivious slow car in front of us is creating a traffic jam...


We crossed the Continental Divide three times:


Old Faithful was our first stop in Yellowstone. I can see why people prefer Grand Teton over Yellowstone. Look at all these tourists:


More tourists on our right waiting for the Old Faithful eruption. We got front row seats:


We were pretty surprised how close we were - we're no more than 50 yards away. Found out why in about half an hour:


Pretty underwhelming - the eruption was more steam than water. Why is this thing so overhyped? In case you need a little help, this is the direction of the underwater eruption:


On the other hand, the geyser basins are pretty amazing. Biscuit Basin:



Followed by Middle Geyser Basin's Excelsior Geyser Crater:


and Sapphire Pool:


The two geyser basins more than made up for the lame Old Faithful.

Weather was unpredictable all day - rained a little here, cloudy there... then HAIL! I endured hail to bring these photos to you, and I have photos to prove it. Yes, it blew in my face. Yes, it hurt.


This is no-no:


We FINALLY came across some wildlife! Deers by the road on our way north to Mammoth Hot Springs. You can always spot animal sightings by all the cars pulled over on the side of the road.


More steam from hot springs by the road:


We're spending the night at the northern end of Yellowstone, just 2 miles from Montana. The Mammoth Hot Springs look absolutely amazing, but that will have to wait until tomorrow when it's supposed to be sunny.

Oh yes, I had bison for dinner tonight - sausage and sirloin steak. It tastes a lot like beef.

Maximum elevation: 8,391 feet, Continental Divide (#3)
Miles covered today: 107
Road trip mileage count: 1,199
States visited: Wyoming, Montana
Miles to Columbus, OH: 1,731

Day 2: God Pours Cold Water on Man's Plans

Blogging from: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Or rain, in this case, with a little bit of lighting in the mix. Much to our dismay, it's pouring in Wyoming (I can hear the rain on the roof of our cabin as I type). Raining? In August? Seriously?

Major disaster avoided! I lost my left contact lens while taking out my contacts in a parking garage. Losing your contact in a packed car = very bad. Found it in about ten minutes after we left the garage. No spares and no glasses is kind of risky. Adding that to my to-do list as soon as I get to Columbus.

The entire state of Utah is closed on Sundays. We left Salt Lake City and their crappy octane 85 gas behind not soon enough:


Utah and Wyoming offer a much more diverse and interesting view than Nevada:




Taking a quick break to admire the view just before leaving Utah. The GTi is so leng jai:


Heather and Wendy:


I did not forget the obligatory jumping in the middle of the road in the middle of nowhere photo:


We hit a tumbleweed on the freeway today - still got some of it stuck to my roof rack. I'm keeping it as my "I survived Utah" trophy:


Briefly crossed into Idaho...


...before coming back into Wyoming for the third time today - freeways like to snake in and out of state lines here


This is Jackson, Wyoming, the last "large" town before the National Parks. It's very different from what I thought a Wyoming town would look like - they even have traffic lights!!! It's a nice looking town.



We were cold, wet and miserable... until dinner! Pork tortilla soup at the cabin restaurant was delicious.


On deck: Yellowstone National Park. Praying for clear skies tomorrow. Staying indoors in one of the most beautiful parks in the world would be a shame.

I hear a bear outside... or someone snoring really loud in the next cabin. Not to be dramatic, but my bet is on bear. Either way, I'm going to play dead and calling it a night.

Major disasters avoided: 1
Temperature overnight in Grand Teton National Park: 30s

Miles covered today: 300
Road trip mileage count: 1,092
States visited: Utah, Wyoming, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Wyoming
Miles to Columbus, OH: 1,862