Today we got an early six o'clock start and drove the 4 blocks from our hotel to the Park. There was no line at the entrance gate, we showed our National Park Pass and went right in. There was no traffic and it was like we had the park to ourselves. We eventually did see some other cars, but they were far and few between. Along the way we saw some wildlife and had to stop a few times for bison. We stopped and watched a few bison swim across the river and they walked right in front of our car, totally ignoring us. In another incident a herd of 50 or more bison with many calves were walking down the road in front of us and we had to take a pull off road around them. It was a very easy 31 mile drive along the Madison river which was flowing very high and very fast. A fisherman in town had told us that the fishing was tough because the river was running too fast. However, we did see some hardy fly fishermen giving it a try.
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| After swimming the river he just ambled past us like we weren't there |
I was amazed as we drove through the upper geyser basin. I had no idea there were so many geysers and geothermal features. There was steam and smoke everywhere. I later learned that Yellowstone has the most geysers in the world. It's a pretty special place.
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| Geysers everywhere |
We arrived at Old Faithful, parked right in front of the visitor center, and walked over to the viewing area to see the Old Faithful do it's thing. When we got there about 20 people were already there and 30 minutes later, when the eruption occurred, there were over 100. There was a bison grazing next to the geyser, but the bison left about 5 minutes before it went off. I guess he sensed it coming. We then went to the cafeteria, gift shop, visitors center, and old hotel. The visitors center was really informative and the old hotel impressive, both need to be visited. I think a night or two in the old hotel would something worth doing. There's so much to see and do.
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| Sylvia, Bison and Old Faithful |
The drive out of the park was about 40 miles and beautiful. We pulled over to take pictures at least a half dozen times. I didn't take one picture that did the scenery any justice. Since the flooding of Yellowstone two weeks ago, the northern part of Yellowstone was closed so we could only drive less than half the park (90 miles). Yellowstone deserves at least 3 days.
After exiting the Park we continued on by the spectacular Tetons mountains. By then I had given up taking pictures, just Google it. We ended up at the Lexington Hotel in Jackson, or Jackson Hole, whatever they call it. It seems to have multiple names. Anyhow, it's a very upscale town with expensive restaurants and upscale art galleries. If you ever wanted a painting of a bison grazing in a field, this is the place to come. Thankfully, there aren't many souvenir and t-shirt shops. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the very walkable town and had lunch at Hatch, a taqueria, and later in the day pizza at Hand Fire Pizza, an old renovated movie theater. Both were fairly good. And I'm tired of writing now. Tomorrow's another day.
I did manage one photo of the Tetons
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| Tetons |
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