We woke yesterday and went to eat some breakfast. I got
french toast which came with huckleberry syrup. Joes also ordered pancakes with
huckleberries in them. After breakfast, we looked at the gift shop where more
huckleberry products were featured. A few of the selections included
huckleberry jam, honey, ice cream topping, candy bars, and popcorn. The
residents in Wyoming must truly enjoy their huckleberries. I bought a simple
chocolate bar with huckleberries in it and we headed out to do some hiking.
We drove to String Lake and began the three mile hike around
it. I thought bears were going to be my main concern at Grand Teton National
Park. I was sorely mistaken. Throughout the majority of the entire hike, I was
bombarded by a never-ending fleet of flies. No matter where I was or how much I
swatted at them, there were at least two or three of these mini menaces buzzing
around me. After hiking (mostly uphill) about halfway, we decided it was not
worth it to complete the trail and headed back to the entrance. The lake and
the surrounding area were like the rest of Grand Teton – beautiful.
We drove to our last stop in the park which was Signal
Mountain. The view from the mountain was wonderful and provided a nice view of
all the green in Grand Teton. On our way out of the park, Mom was concerned we
hadn’t properly checked out of our room, so we stopped at the Jackson Lodge.
While ensuring we had checked out correctly, we ate some huckleberry ice cream
that the lodge was serving in celebration of Independence Day. I don’t think
there’s any dish these people won’t put huckleberry in. After finishing our ice
cream, we headed to Grand Teton’s neighbor, Yellowstone National Park.
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| String Lake |
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| View from Signal Mountain |
We arrived at Yellowstone around 3:30 pm and started driving to Old
Faithful geyser. The park itself is huge and most of its sites are spread out
by at least ten miles or so. We stopped at the visitor center right in front of
Old Faithful. There were some interesting exhibits which explained how geysers
worked and a short movie that seemed more like a safety video than a lesson
on the park. After watching the video, we walked outside to see Old Faithful
erupt. The geyser spews water out every one to two hours and the predicted time
is posted by a park ranger. Not even five minutes after we walked out, Old
Faithful shot off. It launched hot water and steam probably fifty feet in the
air. One aspect that surprised me was lack of loud noise. I expected a boom or
a whistle, but it was more of a hissing sound. After the geyser was finished, we
headed down the road to our next site.
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| Before |
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| And After |
On the way to our next stop, we saw a bison on the side of
the road, so Joe got out to take a picture. Later we also saw an elk crossing
the road. We arrived at Yellowstone’s
Grand Canyon and took in the view. I think the original Grand Canyon is more
impressive. We returned to Mom’s car and drove to Tower Waterfall which had
these cool little spires above the fall. Tired, we headed to our last stop in
Yellowstone – Mammoth Hot Springs. I was least impressed with this stop. It
smelled absolutely awful and was basically just a rock face with streams
flowing down it. Coming up at nine at night, we said farewell to Yellowstone
and drove to our hotel for the night in Bozeman, Montana.
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| Yellowstone's Grand Canyon |
After an hour and a half of driving we arrived in Bozeman
which was lit up with fireworks everywhere you turned. We checked into our
room, but had trouble entering our room since our key cards didn’t work. After
getting them rescanned by the hotel clerk, our door finally unlocked. Other
than the questionable wi-fi, the room is nice enough. Today, we will drive to
the third national park on our road trip – Glacier Park.
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