Montana Part VIII (The Last)

We woke up and packed quickly to head of Old Faithful. We got there in time to see it erupt a few minutes after 9! It wasn't too crowded, and thankfully, we didn't have to wait too long to watch it. June wanted to see a rainbow pool, so we opted to walk to Morning Glory. We saw Daisy Geyser erupt on our way back! We made our way to Grand Prismatic Spring, Lower Geyser Basin, and Norris Basin. We got to see 3 geysers erupt at once! June's favorite was Fountain. After checking into Canyon Village, we got some ice cream, then headed for Hayden Valley for critter creeping. We saw a coyote, bison, and lots of elk. No bears :(

The next day, we headed to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We were all exhausted... and when I checked my app, we had walked almost 10 miles the day before! Our timing was accidental, but perfect. We caught the sun at the correct angle making a rainbow on the falls! We did one short hike, but then mostly just drove around to see the scenery and to look for animals. In the Lamar Valley, we finally saw pronghorn! And a big herd of bison! When we got to Mammoth Hot Springs, it was starting to storm. We walked around a short boardwalk. then headed to Bozeman. When we got to the hotel, the kids showered and watched The Flintstones while J and I repacked all our of stuff and cleaned out the car.

At breakfast, we met a couple from Nashville- they actually live in the next town over. And they were on our same flights that day! Thankfully, our flight wasn't too early, so we enjoyed an unrushed morning and security screening. Our flight to Nashville was delayed some, but not too bad. We took an uber home and made it around 8:30 p.m. Then the fun of putting the house back in order after a long trip began......

Old Faithful

Castle Geyser

Morning Glory

Lower Geyser Basin

Fountain Geyser

herd of bison in the background

 

Montana Part VII

Tuesday morning, we finished packing up and headed for Idaho Falls. We made a detour to Craters of the Moon. The drive was so flat and so boring. We would guess how far away a landmark was from  a distance- usually it was 4 or 5 miles away. After checking in to our hotel, we went downtown to eat at The Snakebite. Yummy burgers were had by all of us.  We did a quick walk by the falls, then called it a night.

 

Wednesday we headed for Jackson and the Tetons. We had pizza with a view at Dornan's in Moose along the way. We didn't see any animals really, but did enjoy listening to our GuideAlong app as we drove. We had planned to do the whole loop, but then the kids got excited for Yellowstone. So we turned around to head there. We checked into Grant Village, then went to West Thumb to see some geothermal action. A picnic supper and critter creeping rounded out the night (only saw elk.)

Camp Fortunate (underwater)

lunch by lava rock

craters of the moon

wall of lava rock held back molten lava. we could see the wall while driving to the park.

she doesn't know how not to be messy. cookie from the hotel

Idaho Falls

lunch view

Moose Falls in Yellowstone