Jackson & Yellowstone ~ October 2010

JACKSON HOLE ~ October 9, 2010

Bear eating berries on the side of the road. I was right across the street taking this picture (I know it looks like I am further away than that). This bear was so busy he didn't notice all the photographers taking his picture.

Here is the 2nd bear that we saw, only within a mile down the road from the first. He was a BIG bear but he was pretty far away and my little point and shoot wouldn't let me get a great shot.  I LOVE the road between Teton village and Moose, we seem to always see wildlife along the road. 

We went to the new Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve is BEAUTIFUL, but the visitor center was closed for the season. We still enjoyed the hike to Phelps Lake. I have never seen a sign for Hybrid parking right next to the handicap parking, so I took a picture (and yes we did park there).

 This cute little waterfall was along a beautiful trail from the Preserve to the actual hiking trail. They also had a few benches along the river, it was very peaceful there.

My dad stayed back by the waterfall and the car, he didn't think he could handle the hike.

It was breathtakingly beautiful there at Phelps Lake and the hike was easy.

There are 2 trails to get to Phelps lake so we just did one big loop and this bridge was on our way back. My mom was deep in thought, it was a great place to sit and relax.

YELLOWSTONE

Lewis Falls (Check a previous blog post for a different angle of this falls)

My cute mom!

West Thumb Geyser Basin ~ Dave and I have NEVER stopped here so we thought it would be interesting. 

It was really cool to see the geysers running into Yellowstone lake.

More West Thumb Geysers, this one was REALLY blue and steamy, but not stinky. It was my favorite just for that reason.

Mud Volcanos at the side of the road.

I LOVE this picture. You get to see my 2 best boys and my parents. I love how my mom is holding onto my dad's arm to make sure he doesn't stumble down the stairs.

The calm before the fall. I like how there were a couple small drops before the major fall in the river.

Upper Falls

You can get RIGHT up next to the waterfall.

. It was making me nervous to have my baby that close looking over the edge.

This buffalo was right near our car in the parking lot. He was HUGE!

We started down the road and missed the turn off for Lower falls (totally my fault and it is a one way road so no turning around) so Dave and I hiked the trail back to the Lower falls lookout. Along the way the scenery was beautiful and I was glad that we made the error (my parents didn't want to trek it with us, so I felt bad about that)

 Getting closer to the lookout 

We made it to the Lower Falls look out.

BREATH TAKING FALLS.

After that quick trip into Yellowstone we stayed the night in West Yellowstone. My parents have a Worldmark timeshare and the whole condo was SO nice. We all got a great nights sleep and woke up and made French toast and headed back to our home in Idaho. We stayed there for a few hours for Ryker to go to a friends Birthday party and then headed back to Utah. It was a fun little get-a-way and we had a fun time with my parents. I love Jackson and Yellowstone and can't wait to make it family tradition to go there each year. I guess you could say that we love the outdoors. In June my family is going to Lake Tahoe and hopefully we will make the journey to Yosemite National Park, I would really like to visit that National Park, I heard it is also very beautiful. Stay tuned for pictures of that... OK that will be a while.