Yellowstone National Park

6/16/2010
Left for Yellowstone at 8:30.  Stopped at Jackson Lake in the Grand Teton National Park.  Beautiful Lake and it might be the lake that is in so many pictures of the Grand Tetons instead of Jenny's lake.  Left thru the north exit of the Tetons on Us191 and arrived at the south entrance of Yellowstone.  They are only about 26 miles apart.  However, before leaving the Grand Tetons, we had to go over the top of a mountain whose road had eroded.  They were working on it, so only one lane was available.  Had to wait about 20 minutes so our lane could use the one lane remaining.  Got into Yellowstone around 10:30 and arrived at "Old Faithful" about noon.  It had just finished going off and that was good because everyone was leaving and we found a great parking space.  Found a seat on the front row of the observation area and ate the  picnic lunch Esther had made for us this morning.  Sat next to a British couple who had recently been to Mount Rushmore.  The clouds were so bad they weren't able to see the monument.  Another couple from Indiana was telling everyone that a group of students had been struck by lightning last week while watching the geyser erupt.  Of course this was when the clouds started dropping rain and rumbling with thunder.  I think they just wanted our seats.   It was to erupt at 1:17pm but really started about 1:22.

Old Faithful Erupting



We then went to the gift shop so Esther could buy three bears for Kenzee, Katie, and Jolee.  Bread was four dollars but Esther wouldn't buy it.  I couldn't because I had left my billfold in the car.  Otherwise, I would have spent the money.  As it turned out we stopped at a convenience store later on and bought the type of bread we like for $4.79.  Of course I had my billfold and could buy it then.

We took the grand loop at least the southern half from Old Faithful to the south entrance.  We stopped once at the Artist paint pots.  I drove all morning and to this point, but it was really overcast and beginning to drizzle, so Esther volunteered to drive us back to our campground.  Smart move on her part or we would still be coming back to camp.  After stopping at the convenience store for bread, we also picked up chips pretzels, and a diet coke for Esther and a coffee for me.  Guess which drink cost the most.  We then filled with diesel and came home to tv dinners, a salad and ice cream and cookies.  We then downloaded the pictures from today, picked the ones to be put into the blog and then wrote this journal together.  We will see if we can see Esther's bank account and then call it an evening.  Plan to go back to Yellowstone tomorrow.  Not sure what we want to see other than the Yellowstone waterfall.

6/17/2010
Slept in this morning.  We were both very tired.  Had to refill propane before we took off for Yellowstone.  Propane was very high - 4.35/gal.  But it was cold this morning and neither one of us wanted to chance running out of heat tonight.  Esther packed us lunch again, only more food and more junk food this time.  We left for Yellowstone at about 11:30am.  Our first stop was for coffee at a Colter Bay convenience store.  We stopped there for coffee last night and it is really good strong coffee.  We didn't have a 20 minute wait with the flagman this time as we did yesterday.  We drove up as our side got to go.  I drove again this morning.  Eyes must be getting better.  There was fresh snow on the top of the south entrance and we saw light snow flakes as we went over. The pickup registered an outside temperature of 36F.  Our next stop was to see the Lewis Falls.  It is only a 30 ft falls, but very pretty.  We ate our picnic lunch by the Yelllowstone river, but we ate it in the car as it was 40F by then and much to cold to eat by a roaring river out in the open.  The next stop was to view the lower Yellowstone river falls at Artist Point.  At first we went to a lookout point that is really a climb and very scary for someone like me.  We then went down to Artist Point where you have a great view of the lower falls.  The lower falls drop 308 ft, which is twice the height of Niagra Falls, but consists of much less water.

Yellowstone Lower Falls

We then drove to the upper falls.  There is a nice lookout point for these falls as well.  These only drop 109 feet, but were still impressive.  Our book said that not many visitors see the upper falls because it is so close to the lower falls and is only one third the height.  We then drove to Canyon Visitor center and turned around to take the same route back.  During the day, we saw a bull moose, bison, ducks,swans, elk, and deer.  No bears.  Esther thinks they are still sleeping because it is so cold.  On the way back we stopped at the South Entrance and took pictures of another couple and they returned the favor.

  We stopped at Colter Bay again for coffee.  The Grand Tetons were beautiful as we got to see them in sunlight again.  We got home around 7:30pm.  We then dumped, filled with fresh water, and put all water and sewer hoses away.  I connected the truck, and raised the legs.  We are ready to drive away tomorrow morning once the electric cord is put away and we get everything stowed away inside.  Our goal is to leave by 9am, but knowing Esther and me, we won't make it.  We have reservations at the Missoula KOA for the next three nights.  Esther hopes to visit with Randy, her oldest son both Saturday and Sunday.  We also plan catching up on laundry and going to church.