We were camped in between the Tetons and Yellowstone at Flagg Ranch which gave us great access to both parks. It also gave us great access to some hilarious people, including some new friends from Memphis.
The Tetons were amazing. Every view was spectacular and it took our breath away each time we'd round the bend for the first time of the day. The lakes, rivers, willow marshes, and prairies were all so amazing, we ran out of adjectives. We hiked to an aptly named "Inspiration Point" above Jenny Lake that only can be seen to be believed. We watched with envy, as a family scaled the mountain face. We even got to watch NPS workers building a bridge with felled trees and chainsaws. We took a 6:45AM Snake River wildlife float that did not yield much wildlife, but gave us a rich history lesson and great wildlife stories from our guide, Jake. We fell in love with Grizzly 399 and her cubs, even though we never saw them (she is quite the attraction at the Jackson Lake Lodge).
We travelled all the roads of Yellowstone like all the other tourists. It is really, really big. Too big for the time we had. The vastness and variety of landscapes and wildlife were bewildering. We went from lush river valley to Grand Canon to strange Martian landscapes and back to amazing prairies in a 2 hour drive. And that was just one small leg of Yellowstone and did not include the hundred or so stops for potential wildlife sightings. It became humorous when the kids were irritated because we would stop at a traffic jam and it "was just another elk." Not that we didn't still love the elk but after all we had already seen in Rocky Mountains, the kids thought them too common to stop. Our trip to the northeast section of the park finally yielded a view of the elusive wolf and grizzly. Huge bison herds were everywhere and one almost gored our Pilot. Coyotes, bald eagles, osprey, big horn sheep were all on deck for that trip as well. The Lamar Valley is where I want to be buried. I hope the Park Service will comply. We will definitely have to come back and spend more time here. Hmm, that's the exact opposite thought I had when I left Disney World.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we met another family from Midtown just 2 campsites down. We had dinner at the campground with them and just a great time. It was nice to have a little familiarity. The other campers were great also. I was leaving the showers when I heard, "Hey guy!" I turned to find a woman in a towel and flip flops shoving toiletries at me. "My son is in the second stall. His name's Christian." I, not accustomed to refusing women dressed only in towels, complied. I went back to the showers, knocked on the second stall, and gave Christian his stuff. They were a lot more comfortable there than we were. The employees were a real treat. Poor Robbie had to receive two packages and each attempt was a comedy in it's own right. I have never seen someone look as bored as the hostess in the lodge, and we drove through Wyoming with 2 kids and no videos. Eli was sent to the information desk to find out how far it was to Missoula. The girl at the desk replied, "Muh-what?" She had no clue. She asked Eli if he could tell her what was the nearest city to Missoula. He just shook his head and walked back to our table. And she had a computer. Priceless.
We are driving through Montana right now. Gonna spend two nights in the relative luxury of the Holiday Inn in downtown Missoula. Wow, internet and showers. I know why they call Montana "Big Sky" country. The cloud formations are so massive, only a big sky could hold them. We are being chased by an amazing weather system. Clouds shapes that Speilberg would have loved for Close Encounters and rain too thick to see the ground. But Freebird is on the ipod and we're all singing along and I think we'll beat this storm. And we are half way through this trip.
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