We headed out on Friday morning and realized that we forgot our french press to make coffee. We stopped at a Marshall's about an hour away and bought a personal sized one so we could have our coffee in the mornings.
We stopped again in Pocatello, ID for lunch. TripAdvisors number one pick was closed, so we ended up at Cafe Rio. It was kind of a clown show and the staff didn't really know what they were doing. I ended up getting my salad for free because they overcharged me for it initially (all I wanted was for them to fix the price, but they just took it off completely).
We finally were almost to the park. On one of the final stretches of road before reaching West Yellowstone, we went over a small bridge and Ryan notices two moose in the water. We turned around and went back to get some pictures, a few other cars did the same thing. We werent even in the park yet and already saw two moose!
Can you spot the moose?
We drove into the park to our campsite. Yes you read that correctly. The lady at the check in desk said "Oh you're brave" when we said no RV, just a tent. There turned out to be lots of other tent campers, but ours looked like the smallest one.
We set up our tent and and some chili that I had made the night before. We cooked some vermicelli rice noodles in Ryan's jet boil to have with it. We ate at the picnic table by our tent. Ryan very considerately requested the site closest to the bathroom, it was also convenient for getting water for cooking.
Our tent
We had a little daylight left so we went to Artist's Paint Pots trail. Its a short loop through some really neat geysers, fumaroles, and a really neat mudpot. The whole area is steaming and smokey looking.
A mudpot
We came back, layered up, and got ready for bed. Here is something I learned: Do not being a memory foam pillow to camp when the forecast is 22 degrees. My pillow was like a block of wood. Luckily I had a small travel pillow in the car. Anyway, we got into the tent and Ryan helped me get zipped up into our mummy style sleeping bags.
I found the whole process of getting in and getting comfortable very cumbersome. It was like a scene out of a movie. Ryan is laying back all nestled in and reading a book. I am squirming around trying to get an arm free to reach my water, then being unable to get my arm back in through the tiny face hole, while wriggling and making plenty of annoyed noises.
A few minutes after we go to sleep I hear Ryan said "I think I'm losing air." I try to plug my nose, but can't get my elbow bent that far. Just kidding. He was losing air in his sleeping pad.
I laid in my sleeping bag half-trapped and half not wanting to go out in the cold while Ryan went tent-to-tent asking for duct tape. He found a piece that patched the hole and we went to bed. He later said the fix only lasted an hour or two before he was on the ground again.
Not our best night's sleep. We were up at 6 making breakfast and coffee as the sun came up. It was so cold that our mugs and the french press were freezing cold. We had to boil water in Ryan's jet-boil. Over. And Over. The thing barely makes a cup of water at a time and it takes a good 10 minutes to boil it. Eventually we had our coffee and oatmeal.
Still dark starting breakfast
We drove all around the park. The terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs were really colorful and steamy. We saw elk right near the parking lot. After that we headed into Lamar Valley. It had really pretty views especially since the leaves were changing. We saw a pronghorn, a marmot, and a bunch of bison.
Mammoth Hot Springs
Lamar Valley
We had lunch in the car in Lamar Valley. We made sandwiches and had some tortilla chips. On our way to "The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone" we saw a bunch of cars backed up. Usually this means a wildlife sighting. We asked a guy walking by what was up, and he said there was a grizzly ahead. We didn't see it front he road, but we parked down a ways and walked back to the crowd.
We got a great view of the bear when we walked back. It crossed the street right in front of us and up a hill past the "grizzly lake" sign.
Bear Crossing
Earlier in the day we saw an osprey in the trees near a river, and a black bear cub climbing up a hill near the road.
We stopped at Yellowstone's Grand Canyon for a look at the falls before heading out of the park to West Yellowstone.
We decided that we'd had enough of the tent situation. Since our internet service wasn't very good, we called my mom to book a hotel for us after finding on online. What a life saver! We had some bison burgers at a cafe across the street, then enjoyed a hot shower and great night's sleep at the Stagecoach Inn.
The lower falls
The next morning was rainy and cold. We headed back into the park and toured around some really neat hydrothermal features. The hot springs are really pretty shades of blue.
Hot spring
We had a really neat view of bison grazing in front of a large hot spring and around several steam vents. Afterwards we headed to Old Faithful. She wasn't due to erupt for another hour, so we had some tea and cookies in the lodge while we waited.
Ryan braved the cold and stood outside waiting, while I watched from the visitors center. It was really neat to see, and the predicted time was really close.
Old Faithful
After Old Faithful we headed out of Yellowstone and on to Grand Teton National Park. We didn't get a very good view of the Tetons due to the weather. Our cabin was in Driggs, Idaho. It was really cozy and we had a tiny kitchen area where we heated our frozen veggie burgers and boiled some potato.
The next morning was a little nicer and we headed back into the park. We walked around Jenny Lake for a while and the weather cleared a little more. We had a great view of a rainbow over the lake. On our way back to the parking lot some deer crossed our path.
On our way back to the cabin we stopped in Jackson Hole, WY for some ice cream. We also stopped in a thrift store and bought a pair of ski pants and a ski mask for me.
More veggie burgers and a "Breaking Bad" finale later, we were in bed.
The next morning we headed home just after hearing that the government shut down and all National Parks were closed. We just made it!
We had a really good time. I can see why Yellowstone is such a popular park. We didn't have the best weather for either one, but they are both really beautiful and we highly recommend them!
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