Day 6 - Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Idaho Falls

It is hard to comprehend seeing Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in one day. It's almost more than we can take in. We spent the morning in Yellowstone, then drove through the Grand Tetons - so very beautiful. Perfect weather - high 60's with blue skies - snow on the mountain tops. Yellowstone has changed a lot since Ken and I were here nine years ago. Lester says it has changed even more since he was here thirty one years ago! The picture is Yellowstone Lake.

We stopped in Jackson Hole for a couple of hours. Beautiful town. I love the town square with the antler arches on each corner. It has a lot of little shops and pricey places - doesn't cost to look. We happened upon a church thrift store and found some really neat things. There is a huge church right in the middle of town.

Our kind of shopping.

After leaving Jackson Hole we

drove on to Idaho Falls where Lester has friends from his army days. I am so excited - we actually got into our room about 4:30! After all those long days, it really feels good to have some down time to relax. Lester went to have dinner with his friends - I chose to just stay here, work on my pictures, read a little and be lazy.

A lady in the Yellowstone Gift Shop asked if I had been in a car accident. She kept saying, "Oh my, I know that hurts so much." She asked a lot of questions about how it happened - I think she was wondering whether or not I might need to be rescued. I assured her it was much better and I was fine.

If more people could see more of our country I think there would be a resurgence of pride and patriotism. There is so much good. We continue to meet such nice people.

We talked to Oldest Brother and his wife last night. They are in Colorado and plan to head home Sunday. Sounds like they're having a great trip.

Tomorrow: on to Glacier National Park - about 450 miles from here. We're looking forward to that since neither of us has been there.

Day 5 - Thursday, September 23, 2010

A long and busy day. We left Buffalo, WY about 7:15 this morning.

Drove through Badlands National Park - beautiful mountains and stone formations. A little fog and light rain - but only for about an hour. We saw many herds of deer grazing along the highway.

We spent a few hours in Cody, WY - did some shopping. Lester

found this "antique" store - more like a junk shop, but of course

he found a great buy. He always does.

Yellowstone National Park - We came in the East Gate and we were shocked at all the dead trees. We had heard about trees dying, but were shocked to see whole mountains of dead trees. Some kind of beetles are killing the trees. Some areas are completely devastated. Both of us have been to Yellowstone before but it is still amazing to see the earth steaming and boiling. The smell of sulphur almost takes your breath at some of the areas. They look like a witch's cauldron! I'll bet the buffalo love the steam in the winter. We saw hundreds of buffalo. Several times traffic had to stop for buffalo in the road. Herds along the highway caused traffic jams when people completely stopped to see them. We saw several Elk and a few mountain goats. The waterfalls are beautiful. We drove out the North Gate into Gardiner, MT. It is a neat little town that still feels like an old west town. No fast food - just lots of bars, cafes and shops. We spend a few hours there and had a good dinner. We spent some more time in Yellowstone and we're planning to spend part of tomorrow in there. Must see Old Faithful!

We came out the West Gate into the town of West Yellowstone. Beautiful little tourist town - crowded little town! We had a hard time finding a place to stay - they were all full. Don't know if there is something special going on or it's just this busy all the time. Finally got in a room about 8:30 and you won't believe this...no power in the room. After a couple of calls to the desk, they moved us to a larger, nicer room, but it's not much fun to be dragging all your stuff around at 9:00 when you're tired. Finally settled in.

A good day. Busy day. I feel so fortunate to be able to see this beautiful country.