Day 8 - to and from the Tetons

It took some convincing but I finally was able to get Tim to agree that we should venture south to see the south entrance to Yellowstone and check out the Teton National Park.

Our first view of the Tetons

this place is famous, but we avoided it... instead opting for lunch at Bubba's BBQ

 Gas was 15 cents a gallon cheaper in Jackson, so we gassed up before heading to Teton Village / Jackson Hole. The price worked out to about 98 cents a litre. Cheap like borscht!

Jackson Hole is the name of the ski hill, Jackson is the city a few miles away.

of course we HAD to take the tram up the mountain.

here we go!

this lift is 2.4 miles long

a big ol' cliff on our way up

What is that white stuff???

view from the tram deck

View from the top of Rendezvous Mountain.

Looking down on Teton Village and in the distance by the hill is Jackson, WY

more mountains around us.

Tim on top!! 

 When we were up on Rendezvous, some storm clouds rolled in so we tried to descend before the storm fully blew in. Then we hopped in our truck and decided to try the Moose-Wilson Road, which is barely 2 vehicles wide and 2 miles of 9 are pretty rough hardtop with gravel interspersed. It was interesting anyhow, we were glad for the 4x4, although we did not have to employ it. We continued our journey by taking the less travelled road to the west via Jenny Lake. It was very scenic!

This storm blew in and followed us north towards Yellowstone

here comes the rain!

It was a long day of driving and I was very tired at the end so thankful for leftover cold pizza for supper! We then took it easy for the rest of the evening, reading a bit then hitting the hay. No energy to blog until the following day!!

Day 7 - Day in Town with Wolves and Bears

Last night was a brutal one for me. I had Tim put After Sun on my back for my sunburn and I had an allergic reaction to it, getting itchy and wanting to crawl out of my skin. I had to get out of bed, wash my back (no easy feat by myself), apply some Polysporin to hopefully calm it down and take another Reactine to hopefully get it to stop!! I also changed from a long sleeved sleep shirt to a tank top just to have nothing on my back. It was excrutiating! Half an hour later, I finally was able to go to sleep but what a nightmare to start!!!

Luckily, Connor was all out of shorts and Tim and I were getting less fashion options so it was necessary to do laundry today. Happily, we only had 3 loads, and at a laundromat, that takes only an hour... we stopped at the Woodside Bakery and grabbed some multigrain bread for sandwiches, some day old croissants for lunch today and of course, desserts! We had lunch back at the trailer and then headed out to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center. Their purpose is to educate the public on the lives of bears and wolves. As many are aware, in 1995, wolves were reintroduced south of the 49th parallel when 61 wolves were brought from southern Alberta and BC and released in Yellowstone. They had been hunted to extinction and the reintroduction was opposed by ranchers in the area. We watched a film about the research about the wolves since their reintroduction in the auditorium. Happily, both the wolves and the ranchers survived as now over 1600 wolves reside in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. The expected kill rates of cattle projected by ranchers were much lower than anticipated and the wolves are thriving.

The Grizzlies at the discovery centre were all "problem bears" or orphans that would have either been euthanized or failed to survive in the wild, so they have been rescued. The pictures I have are of an orphaned brother and sister from Alaska.

In order to enrich the animals, they hide their food so that they have to forage for it similarly to how they would in the wild. There are about 10 grizzlies in the center but they are only put on display for a couple of hours at a time so they don't get too used to people. They had a grizzly fur on display that we could touch. One lady said, "could use a little conditioner..." it was really coarse but very thick.

Across the way was the wolf enclosure and they had two displays of two different packs. These wolves were all born in captivity in situations where they could not be kept (overbreeding for movies, etc.) so they too were rescued from euthanasia. All contact with people directly is limited. Their food is in a room, they go in the room and the door is closed. Then the humans enrich their environment with bones, meat and other animal scents to change up their environment much like an animal wandering through their territory in the wild. Then the door is opened once the human has left the enclosure and the wolves do their thing, investigating, finding their treats and sharing the information with the pack about what had gone through their area. Fascinating stuff. Without further ado, here are the wolves...

Sleepy!!! in the shade of a tree. Lazy!!

hiding in the grass, trying to stay cool

in the shade of the building that is attached to the enclosure, takin' it easy!

This guy was my favourite as you will soon see

such a handsome fellow, don't you agree

Even his "fluffy side" looks good to me!

another wolf hiding in the grass... sneaky !!

can you see the white wolf lying on the grass to the left of the tree... you really need to look to find them!

 After that, we went to the shop and spent some money!!! Tim wanted the DVD about wolves that we watched in the auditorium when we arrived and Connor wanted a holographic wolf bookmark. He almost went for a wolf stuffy too but then decided he is maybe to old for stuffies. It is a sad day for me as his momma to hear that he is too old for stuffies. Sigh!

We went and Checked out the recommended Wild West Pizzeria here in town and OMG!! I had a Bill Cassidy pizza; bbq sauce, baked beans and pulled pork. It was so nummy and is a local favourite. Connor had a "Sitting Bull" meat pizza and Tim had his classic hawaiian. The boys ordered mediums so there was lots that came home of theirs, mine was a small so there was none of that left. It was, categorically, a great pie and a fun atmosphere. The mens' washroom is "Pistols" and ladies' is "Holsters". Ba ha ha ha ha!! They had great western decor, a rustic look and feel that was really fun to be in. While we were eating the local theatre group came in and sang inviting one and all to their show "Chaps". As we were planning on taking in the wolf feeding later in the evening, we opted not to take it in, although it did look raucously fun.

We went back to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, checked out the new bears and the wolves were very awake! No more sleepy puppies here! They only get fed every two days so they kind of knew, when people were congregating in the viewing room it was almost dinnertime! They were so beautiful with their long legs and silver, grey and white coats. Of course I forgot my camera in the truck... d'oh! Tim got some great video of them though so we have lots of great memories to take home.

We came back to the trailer and decided our next course of action for tomorrow is... wait for it...

We are going to Jackson, WY via the Teton National Park! It will be a full day of driving but I am hoping we see some spectacular scenery on the way. Might even take the tram up the mountain at Jackson Hole, we shall see... stay tuned for more details!

Day 6 - More Lower Loop -- the roads less travelled

Since Day 4 we did the West side of the Lower Loop, and Day 5 was the East side... this day was to capture as much of the in between that we didn't take time to see... some of the lesser known spots.

We started by heading south, towards Old Faithful but took a turn at Firehole Falls Drive. What a marvelous surprise! Not only were there beautiful waterfalls, but we saw an Osprey up in a tree. I failed to get a picture of the Osprey but we did witness him diving from his perch upon a tree at the top of the canyon and plummet into the Firehole River to catch 2 fish. He dropped one but was successful with the other. Mmm, sushi lunch for him and a great bit of natures wonder for us.

Firehole Falls. Pretty and fresh in the morning.

Next we took in Firehole Lake Drive, another fantastic find.

What we thought would be a single geothermal turned out to be where the Fountain Geyser actually was.

Fountain Geyser is a great Fan Geyser so the mineral deposits in a terrace formation whereas Dome Geysers are more like a jet, straight up in the air. White Dome Geyser is in the distance here.

 We were able to witness the White Dome Geyser do it's thing en route as well.

We even got sprayed a little bit with water. It was awesome!!!

Many of the pools had wee little geysers in them.

From there we proceeded further south to check out the Black Sand Basin. There were many springs there as well.

This was called Canyon Geyser, I guess because it created it's own canyon type wall in to the river.

This is Black Pool, after an eruption in 1959, it's temperature raised which killed the lower temperature loving black thermophiles and now only the white, orange and blue can live in the spring.

This is Sunset Pool for the colouring of the thermophiles along the edge.

Next we went to see our friend Old Faithful again. Because of my injured left heel, I was wearing flip flops all day so no strenuous hikes today!! We found out when the next eruption was to take place, then went and had lunch. We lingered through the gift shop, found some enormous marshmallows and chocolate bars to make smores later this evening then went to find somewhere to sit to view the main event. I remembered my camera this time!!

Sorry for the heads in the way. We did not have rock star seating. We hotfooted it over to the Visitor Centre to see a short movie called Symphony of Fire about the geothermal phenomenon in the park. After that we puttered around in the gift shops looking for a specific holographic bookmark of Old Faithful that I was looking for... finally Tim saw a lady with them and asked her where she got them. Of course they were a free item in the educational section that we had yet to visit of the Visitors Centre. We finally found them and were free to go on with our days journey.

There is a very pretty spot at the Continental Divide called Isa Lake. The surface is covered in lilypads and yellow flowers. So pretty and serene. It is, by far, my favourite!

Our next stop was the West Thumb Geyser Basin. This one is neat because it is along the shore of Yellowstone Lake. Scientists have found  that the West Thumb portion of Yellowstone Lake is actually it's own caldera crater from a separate eruption more recently. This is why there are a number of geothermal phenomenon along the shore.

Emerald Pool, for obvious reasons!

Fishing Pot was under water due to high snows and rains, the lake was high.

This photo shows the springs in an almost necklace circular line. Nature likes jewelry too!

The shadows were getting longer and we were getting hungry and Tim still wanted to get over to Fishing Bridge so we decided that we would eat there and complete the eastern loop to see if more wildlife would be in the Hayden Valley nearer the evening.

We ate at the food counter/cafeteria at the Fishing Bridge Village and what a supper we had. Connor had a bacon cheeseburger that he says was to die for, Tim had a pulled pork sandwich, also very good and I chose the BBQ Brisket Sandwich which was also sublime. Everything tasted fresh and delicious. We fed our faces then got some lattes to go... the real stuff too, none of this crappy coffee... it took the guy a long time to make and the espresso was so tasty!!

We made a quick stop for a photo op on a black obsidian sand bar. The winds had whipped up the waves on Yellowstone Lake and Connor wanted to check it out. Tim showed him how to skip rocks on the calm side and I enjoyed the views and gave myself a pumice spa treatment in the rough sand.

Father and son on the shoreline

Spa-ah!!! Wait a minute, what happened to my ankles??? Dang!

Back on the road, we were hopeful to see some serious wildlife.

We called this guy "Buffalo Bob", he seemed to be walking away from the Hayden Valley but not in a hurry. Playing hard to get with the ladies methinks.

A scenic shot of the Hayden Valley. No wildlife!!

More Hayden Valley, but still no wildlife.

Elk crossing the river, far far away!!!

So much for the wildlife adventure. No matter, we were fat and fed and enjoying our vacation!! We made our way back to our campsite, readied ourselves to make smores (no small feat with enormous marshmallows) and hung out with the stars for a bit. Now it is time for me to say good night until tomorrow. Stay tuned for "Laundry and adventures in town!!"