Since we were on Mountain Time everyone was up early. Mel and Jerry did the coffee for us after Mel came downstairs to ask me if you used 1 or 2 packets of coffee in the coffeepot. These coffee guys did a great job!
Enjoying good company and good coffee
Waiting to load in the car
A beautiful sunrise
Eager and ready to go
Breakfast was at the Teton Springs Lodge. They had a delicious buffet!
The restaurant
After eating breakfast we loaded up and drove to Teton National Park and then on to Yellowstone.
Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park was established in 1929 and at present contains 310,000 acres. This mountain ringed valley offerer spectacular views of the Teton range, with the majestic peaks of Grand Teton ( 13, 770 feet) and Mount Moran (12,605 feet). The Snake River meanders through the valley and has banks covered in willows and cottonwoods which provides great wildlife habitat.
Jackson Lake with the Teton Mountains in the background
Mel climbing out of the very back of the car
The whole Group
The Teton Mountains and Jackson Lake are in the background. A sweet lady from Florida took our picture and then we reciprocated for them.
Yellowstone National Park
We entered Yellowstone National Park after going through Teton National Park.
Yellowstone was established as the world's first national park on March 1, 1872, The natural wonders and the beauty of this magnificent park are unsurpassed. Yellowstone covers 3,472 square miles and has over 10,000 thermal features which include world famous Old Faithful Geyser. Every day over 70 million gallons of water are expelled by all of Yellowstone's geysers.
The park ranger explained that we could get a combination pass for both national parks for a senior rate of $10; then one could get a lifetime pass to all national parks. Joe was the one selected to get that pass.
A glimpse of our tour guide
Lewis Falls looked as though there were 3 waterfalls going into one. Beautiful!
Donny, Cathy, Margaret, Joe and Jerry with Lewis Falls to the side
Time for a picture at the Continental Divide
Mel posing at the sign
Don't you just love the pose!
Don't you just love the pose!
Kepler Cascades were gorgeous!
Old Faithful erupts at approximately 1hr. 30 minute intervals, (while we were there) give or take 10 minutes on either side. The eruption time for each day is posted at the visitor center.
This was what it looked like while we were waiting for it to erupt.
Old Faithful is working toward the eruption
There is goes!
At it's peak
Now it's starting to slow down
At the end of the eruption
We went to visit Old Faithful Inn located close to Old Faithful.
Quite a sight to see!
A smaller geyser was erupting as we came out of the lodge.
It provided "as good a show" as Old Faithful did - just smaller.
Donny, Cathy, Jerry, Margaret and Joe in front of the smaller geyser
After leaving Old Faithful and the Inn we drove through more of Yellowstone. We saw some wildlife along the road - elk, buffalo and Canadian Geese. I was hoping to see a bear.
The only glitch we encountered and a reminder of how life can change in an instant was a family of 4 who had a car wreck just a few seconds before we got there. The car came to rest off the road against trees and very close to a river. The mom, dad, and son were not hurt seriously. A different story for the daughter. She had released her seat belt, opened the door, then rolled out of the car. She was only about 6 inches from the river. We stopped to offer assistance. The first car who had stopped was a nurse. Mel, Jerry and Joe checked on the daughter. Donny provided information to OnStar which had activated after the wreck. Thank goodness it had because there was no cell phone service available! Later an EMT and 2 doctors stopped to help. God definitely was in control of the situation.
After the scary incident was taken over by the park rangers and ambulance crew we continued on with our trip.
After touring that part of Yellowstone we came out at Old Yellowstone Town. Dinner or supper (whichever one chooses to call it) was at the Montana Outpost Restaurant.
Deciding what to order
The trip to the salad bar was $4.25 per trip - expensive! Our joke for this day became how high can you pile a salad plate on the one trip! Jerry did a great job of piling. We teased him that his construction knowledge helped.
He was able to put all these crackers packages in his pockets while he piled the salad on the plate.
Mel and Joe enjoyed a bison burger.
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