What I did on my vacation

I went out west to Wyoming and visited Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.

Friday I drove up to the Twin Cities, spent the night at the Park Plaza Hotel in Bloomington and took advantage of their Park and Ride to I could get to the airport.  Flew out of Minneapolis to Cody, changed planes in Salt Lake City.

Spent the night at the Ponderosa Campground.  Also went and had supper and watched a country music show at The Cody Cattle Company.




Sunday drove into Yellowstone Park, did some hiking on the Pelican Trail near Yellowstone Lake, took in a Scenicruise on the lake, visited the West Thumb Geyser Basin and set up camp at Grant Village.



Monday headed west drove to West Yellowstone Montana, had breakfast at the Running Bear restaurant, drove down into Idaho crossed back into Wyoming and stopped in Jackson for lunch.  Spent rest of day hiking and poking around Teton National Park.



Tuesday drove down to the Tetons again, this time through the Yellowstone South Entrance, hiked a few trails and did a lot of picture taking.



Wednesday went and explored the Old Faithful area, saw the big Faithful Geyser and several smaller ones. Drove to the Norris Area.  Had dinner in the Old Faithful Inn Dining Room.



Thursday pulled up stakes and left Grant Village.  Drove up to Mammoth to see the geyers and explore that area.  on the way stopped and took a short hike to the Lower and Upper Falls, lunch at the Mammoth Dining Room, then saw the Geyers and then drove up to Gardiner MT and back to the Canyon Campground and set up camp.





Friday hiked up Mount Washburn, had lunch at the Roosevelt lodge then another hike to Lost Lake, then a wagon ride at the Roosevelt Lodge. Took part in a cookout. On the way back to my campground I saw a grizzly bear, saw three bears total on my trip




Mount Washburn
Saturday left the park had breakfast at Roosevelt Lodge then drove the Beartooth Scenic Bi-way to Red Lodge MT, stayed at Ponderosa again in Cody and watched the nightly cowboy shootout at the Irma Hotel.


Dead Indian Pass, Chief Joseph Highway



Sunday-flew home



During my vacation I saw alot of wildlife:

Elk

Coyote
Buffalo

Pronghorn

I also saw two bald eagles, and osprey, deer, and a moose I was unable to get a picture of. I'll post the bird and deer pictures on another thread.

I dedicate my vacation to Piper Palin. The poor girl had her vacation ruined thanks to her overzealous mother. I'm sure Piper would have enjoyed hiking, boat rides, seeing nature at it's finest.