Snow in July.....Yellowstone National Park & Grand Tetons National Park

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We arrived Monday in the late afternoon to Yellowstone; the high was 59 and the low 37 in JULY! So after setting up and changing into warmer clothing we headed straight to the park which was truly in walking distance. The visitor center was on the same property of our campground. The drive in provided a view of the Madison River which is a beauty in its own, I loved watching the way that the sun hits the water and the flowing cascades. We were fortunate enough to see mule deer, bison, and geese along the river. The highlight today was an 84 feet tall water that cascaded over rocks, Gibbon Falls. Nate thought it would be fun to give me a heart attack by climbing over the ledge to retrieve a pair of sunglasses that a previous tourist dropped. Once he retrieved them he gave them to Daisy (see pictures of Daisy with them on). The waterfall did not require any hiking there was a tall observation deck right off the parking lot. At this point it was getting dark and we had to head home.



The first full day and we got a late start since we stayed up past 3:30 am, but we still killed it, we spent 10 hours in the park. We saw black bear, bison, mule deer, big horn sheep, chipmunks, ground squirrels, elk, deer, beaver and birds. Matter of fact we got to eat our lunch at a picnic table less than 30 feet from the elk today. We were able to see three waterfalls today my favorite was Undine Falls. Two of the falls required no hiking while the third and less impressive required a short hike. The hike was nice since there were wild flowers all around the path. The parking at the paint pods was crazy full so we hit it late on the way back and I have to say that is was not as interesting as I thought it would be nor were the hot spring geysers.



Second full day at Yellowstone, we spent the day on the lower loop. We saw two amazing waterfalls the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon they were enormous, powerful and breathtaking. We hiked a steep trail that led to the top of the lower fall that gave an awesome view over the drop off. Next we stopped off at smelly, cool, but gross mud volcano, it bubbled like a cauldron of rotten eggs. On this trail we approached a huge male bison that was less than 10 feet from where everyone was walking. Nate seemed to be captivated by him; we could not get him to continue the path, so Daisy took his keys to the truck and continued the path. Once at the truck she locked him out and nearby tourist got a good laugh. We drove down to Yellowstone Lake which was large with a rocky edge and choppy waters. At last we were able to see Old Faithful in all its glory, of course it was late and the battery on the camcorder went out, but we made due. After this we headed back to spend the evening with some newly retired friends from Florida on an adventure of their own.



Today we headed out to Grand Tetons within the first 30 minutes the traffic came to a complete stop for about an hour. The drive into Grand Tetons from Yellowstone was a nice treat since you got to slowly watch the mountains appear from behind the trees until it opened up over a large crystal clear lake. The mountains were very different than what we have been seeing with many high peaks and snow. The park was a little bit of a letdown because it did not contain many overlooks like Yellowstone. One of the highlights of the drive was technically still in Yellowstone, Lewis Falls. The falls were not tall but were still a sight to see. During our drive we saw a huge heard of buffalo and a moose and her baby. Nate and Daisy particular liked the crystal clear water at Jackson Lake. They spent time skipping rocks and enjoying the view. We were exited to get home a little earlier than the past few days, but this did not work out. Again we hit traffic, but this time for well over an hour and we were hungry since we only had peanut butter and jelly for lunch (oh and we are so tired of sandwiches). It was hard to be upset when we finally got past the hold up and realized it was two cars that hit head on, instead you had to pause and say a prayer for them. The cool part for us was that a couple huge bison came walking up beside the cars while we were waiting, well maybe not so cool for the people on the motorcycle since one of them decided to cross the road right behind them, they had to move out of the way for the buffalo. We finally got home close to 11:00.



Well after yesterday we decided to take a day off from the park. We cleaned up the trailer, did wash, and cooked. Then we decided to attend an IMAX movie that is located on the grounds of our campground, we all went to see the IMAX National Park Movie and it was excellent. Then we went into town for dinner at Canyon Street Grill with the friends we visited two days ago. Nate and I tried the bison burger and were impressed; the fries were also very good. Later in the day Nate went to see the new Tarzan movie at the IMAX, while Daisy and I stayed in the trailer to watch Over the Hedge.



This was our last day in the park so we had to make it count, making it another 9-12 hour day. We decided to go back to Lower Geyser Basin to see the Paint Pot and to Midway Geyser Basin to see the grand prismatic spring during full sun. We were so glad we did because the colors came alive and what we thought was a boring stop earlier in the week became a highlight of the visit. We also went back to Old Faithful to watch it erupt once more. We than ate lunch at the cafeteria in the lodge, the food was very good and responsibly priced. We then took the long drive to Lamar Valley where we saw the largest amount of bison yet, they roamed freely coming across the road at any given moment. I almost forgot to mention our favorite part of the day; we stopped off to use the restroom at Tower Falls and were lucky enough to see a white tail doe and two of her fawn cross the road. We also saw an elk in the woods, a beaver along the road and possibly two prairie dogs in the hills.



I have to say that this is the best part of the trip. I am glad that I was fortunate enough to come back as an adult and hope to come back again.



We have attached almost 60 photos you will have to go to the bottom and click on each of the 3 pages of photos to see all. Keep in mind our camera broke back at White Sands so all these pics are with our cell phones that only have 4x optical zoom.



Cost: Yellowstone & Grand Teton $30 each per car load for 7 days but if you buy both it is only $50 to see both parks for 7 days (Free to anyone with National Park Pass)

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