Full Circle
After a wonderful trip we reluctantly returned to Idaho Falls for our flight home. We had a little extra time so we visited the Japanese Serenity Garden down town near Idaho Falls (the waterfall). It is also the site of the first wagon bridge over the snake river. As a last reminder of how things ar...
Yellowstone Encore
We didn't want to leave Goldbug Hot Springs but we had to make it back to West Yellowstone to return our bear spray. Just outside of Salmon we found a neat little spot by a trout pond for a picnic Most of the drive was in the desolate high desert between two fingers of a mountain range. We passed a...
Hot Springs in the High Desert
Our trip was almost over but on the way from Salmon back to Idaho Falls there is an amazing natural wonder called Goldbug Hot Springs that we could not pass up. It's in the high desert; sage brush land; my favorite. The trail starts with a series of switchbacks on the side of hill that is all covere...
Rafting the Salmon River
Wednesday we just drove all day. We stayed on a cattle ranch in Salmon. Thursday we got up and rafted the Salmon!
Gunsight Pass Trail
Next we went a little way past Logan Pass to the Gunsight Pass trailhead. This was a totally different kind of trail. Much of it is through tall undergrowth that encroaches on the foot path. It starts off going steeply down for about a mile. At that point is a beautiful spot atop a rock outcropping...
The High Line
Elizabeth got us up early and we started out first thing in the morning for Logan pass at the top of Glacier. It was a good thing we started early because the parking lot was already full by that time. We got a spot just down the road. I must have said "wow!" a thousand times on this trip but this p...
Going to the Sun
After cycling in Missoula we made the drive to Columbia Falls, which is right outside of Glacier. The place we stayed had the most peaceful aura; probably the Alpacas had something to do with it! After unpacking we decided to drive in to Glacier. No sooner had we entered the park when we saw our fir...
Biking in Missoula
The distance from Yellowstone to Glacier was more than we wanted to drive in one day so Elizabeth planned a stopover in Lolo, right outside of Missoula. We had a nice dinner on the patio at "Lolo Peak Brewery and Grill." Monday morning we got up and went to "Spotted Dog Cycles" in Missoula. There is...
Butte
Our drive to Lolo outside of Missoula took us through Bozeman and Butte; two very different places that might have been similar. In Bozeman we stopped for lunch. We ended up at Ted's Montana Grill. The Ted's in Atlanta was a favorite of ours before it closed so it was a little nostalgic (and the bur...
Wonderland in the Evening
After seeing the Grand Prismatic Spring we headed North to the lovely little town of Gardiner which guards the North entrance to Yellowstone. We stayed in the "Park Hotel", a historic inn. After getting cleaned up we set out on foot to explore and to find some dinner. In the first shop we set foot i...
Grand Prismatic in the Afternoon
After our adventures on horseback we went back in to Yellow Stone to see the "Grand Prismatic Hot Spring." It is a circular hot spring the diameter of a football field. The water in the center is over 160 degrees (Fahrenheit) and there is almost nothing living in it. The water around the edges is co...
Corned Beef and Horses in the Morning
Our dining options had been a bit limited (thanks again Covid) so when we set out on Saturday morning we were really hoping to find a place that would serve us breakfast out of doors. Thank goodness for the Pahaska Tepee This is a great stop on the way to the East entrance of Yellowstone. It claims...
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
We finished our first full day in Yellowstone at the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone" before driving back to the Double R.
Norris Geyser Basin
The first Europeans to discover Yellowstone were not believed. I see why! This is Steamboat. It is bigger than Old Faithful when it erupts but not as predictable.
Buffalos in the Lamar Valley
We entered Yellowstone via the Lamar Valley and had a classic Yellowstone experience: the Buffalo Jam!
Yellow Bellied Marmot
We hiked for a couple of miles on the Yellowstone River Overlook Trail that took us through a beautiful meadow of sagebrush and wild flowers and then up along the rim of the Yellowstone Canyon. At certain spots we could smell sulphur coming from fumaroles down near the river. The high point was defi...
Coolest Little Town in Montana
Friday was our first real day in Yellowstone. We got up early and took a different route in so that we could see the Northeast entrance. Just outside is a cool little town called "Cook City" where we stopped for coffee and supplies before heading in to the park. One of the stores sold "recreational...
The Double R Ranch
Finally, after all day on the road we arrived at the Double R Ranch after a brief stop in Cody for some shopping. Cody is a lively town full of shops and restaurants. It features daily gun battles , free open-air concerts and such attractions as the "Dug Up Guns Museum." It was too crowded for my ta...
Drive to Cody
After getting unstuck we started on the long drive to Cody. After passing through flaming gorge the landscape opened up. It was all sagebrush, high planes and buttes. The pictures can't capture the space. I find this landscape so beautiful it makes my heart ache.
Stuck at Moonshine Arches
Our first activity of the day was Moonshine Arches Trail just out of Vernal. It's main feature is a wind-carved sandstone arch. We saw this really unusual bug on the way in. It looked like a bulked up, candy coated grasshopper. I later identified this critter as some variety of "Jerusalem Cricket" (...
Sound of Silence Trail and Dinosaur National Monument
We walked the "Sound of Silence" trail Wednesday morning. This is the "High Desert". It's the land of Sage Brush. Sometimes the the air is sweet with it. In the afternoon we went to Dinosaur National Monument and saw some real dinosaur bones.
To Utah
We left "American Fossil Quarry" with out fossils and headed for Utah. The drive was through some stunning landscape. On our way in to Vernal we passed through the red rocks of Flaming Gorge, which is truly fantastic.
Goodbye Kittens, Hello Fossils
On Monday we said goodbye to the 3 kittens and headed out for parts unknown. Well, actually it was a quarry outside of Kemmerer Wyoming. By the way, Kemmerer is the home of the original JC Penney store. We stopped by to inquire about a hat but they were out of stock. It took some doing and a lot of...
Biking Teton National Park
We got up and drove to Jackson again. On our way we went by Palisades Reservoir where we saw kite surfers. That is going on my "to do" list! In Jackson we rented bikes from a place in Jackson and headed out for Jenny Lake along the bike path into Teton National Park. We biked all the way up to Jenny...
Yellowstone Preview
After our hike we took a long and scenic drive up to the West Thumb Geyser Basin in Yellowstone. On the way back in to Jackson we stopped to catch a picture of the sun going down behind the Tetons.
Hiking in Teton National Park
We picked up our bear spray in Jackson then headed in to Teton National Park where we hiked the Bradlee Lake and Taggart Lake Loop. The Tetons were breathtaking.
The Best AirBnB, Snake River and Kittens!
We arrived at out first Air B and B in Irwin Idaho at dusk. It's a beautiful little spot between 26 and the Snake River. As soon as we got out of the car we were greeted by 3 very playful orange kittens. Between the kittens and the river I thought it couldn't get better; then we opened the front doo...
Travel Day
Saturday we traveled by plan from Atlanta to Salt Lake City where we had a tight connection then a 1 hour hop to Idaho Falls where we got our rental car and headed to Albertsons for groceries before setting out.