Quick Yellowstone Tour

Over the Labor Day weekend I was lucky enough to have some family visit the Yellowstone area.  My husband kidnapped our granddaughter from her parents and brought her to West Yellowstone to spend a night with just the grandparents.


Miss G is a joy to be around.  She had just been to a rodeo so she was rocking her new cowgirl hat at our favorite pizza place.


Afterwards we took her to meet the park service horses.  She was a little apprehensive about offering them a handful of hay.


We showed her the bison skull that's laying around.


The next morning I worked for a couple hours and then we headed into the park to meet her parents.  We got to see an elk cow/calf herd near Madison Junction.


We watched Old Faithful go off from the portico of the Old Faithful Inn.  Then we started our tour of the lower loop.


As a ranger I like to show my park off.  The first stop was Fountain Paint Pots.  Above is the Celestine Pool which if you've ever read Death in Yellowstone you know that horrible thing that happened here a few years ago.


Beautiful views across Fountain Flats.  Lots of bubbling and steaming going on there.


Next stop was Firehole Canyon Drive.  These falls are beautiful.  This drive is a short two miles so diss G's dad let her stand up through the sunroof.  The very next week in the park squad notes I see that a ticket had been issued to a family who let their kid do the same thing.  Oops!  (I'm a bad ranger)


Such a beautiful family!


And then there's Pappy who also encourages things like climbing rocks on the canyon rim.


Here we are in our matching shirts that I had printed in West Yellowstone.  I've seen this trend all summer while working in the booth so I thought our family should participate also.


From there we headed north and this is where I got the hint that these people aren't as crazy about the features of this park as I am.  Nobody wanted to stop at Gibbon Falls because they'd seen it before and then nobody wanted to stop at Norris Geyser Basin to see Steamboat.  Okay Ellen, rein it in.  Not everyone loves this place as much as you do.  

We headed north towards Mammoth Hot springs where we saw an amazing bull elk from a distance.


Miss G got signed up for the Junior Ranger program and she started the process of her earning her badge.  Unfortunately we didn't finish before we left the park and I still have her badge in my purse.  I'll have to swear her in the next time I see her.


We made a quick stop at the terraces in Mammoth.


The elk found refuge in the terraces away from the visitors who constantly annoy them.


Then we headed back down south and stopped at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to view the falls.  As you can see it was very smoky.


This is the direction opposite of the falls.  Everyone was getting tired by this time so I didn't even suggest a walk along Uncle Tom's Trail or a hike to the brink of the upper falls.


It was time to head back to Jackson Hole.  Along the way we were treated to a beautiful, albeit very smoky, sunset along the Teton Range.


While in Jackson we visited the National Wildlife Museum where I got to see one of my favorite paintings by Robert Bateman.  It reminded me that I purchased a print of this painting a couple years ago and I've never gotten it framed.


There was a small Andy Warhol exhibit also.  I'm sorry, but I'm not a big fan.  I don't understand the appeal of his work.


Miss G got to construct a spider and leave it on display at the museum.  Then we enjoyed a beautiful lunch on the museum's patio.


We also spent a morning having family portraits done.  I especially love this one.  It's so much fun having a granddaughter who loves us so much.  I know it won't last forever so we're enjoying it while we can.


I can't imagine a more perfect setting.


We had lots of good food and drink.  I especially enjoyed the Snake River Brewing Company.  This only thing missing was the rest of the family.  Hopefully one of these days Mary, Shiloh, Brian and Jillian will be able to join us.  Maybe for our 50th anniversary everyone would be willing to go on a family trip.

Hmmm.....looking for destination idea.




Comments

Yogi♪♪♪ said…
It looks like a great time was had by all. Georgie is always in it to win it and fully participates. May she never lose her enthusiasm for life.
September 30, 2021 at 12:05 PM
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