Will we see Old Faithful?

Today and tomorrow (and probably part of Tuesday, too) we’ll be in Yellowstone National Park, land of bubbling craters, rotten egg smells, rampant wildlife (and tourists) and of course the honor of being America’s first national park. I suspect we’ll have some wireless there and be able to post photos for you to see! Our Fourth of July was very quiet but it was nice to have a little vacation from vacation .. hope yours was great.

Fields of sunshine.

Nice one-way trail loop along the cross country ski course this morning ..

More spectacular in person.

Some campgrounds somehow manage to not be listed on any guide, map, book or other resource that we have for our travels. Tonight we are staying at one of those, Trail Creek just over the Teton Pass on the west side. It’s a beautiful spot with a rushing creek, wildflowers, and hardly any campers. It does look to be reserved for most of the weekend, though.

Bee on a wild rose.

Besides wild roses, there are sunflowers, Indian paintbrush, Queen Anne’s lace, buttercups and other wildflowers whose names I do not know here. It’s very pretty.

Indian paintbrush.

Hearing up the Teton Pass, elevation 8,431 feet, 18 miles from Jackson.

Trail Creek.

Retro rafting bus.

Happy 4th of July! We’re going to Idaho for the next 2 days. I finally found a great deal (half price) at a ski resort called Grand Targhee on the western side of the Grand Tetons. So, we’re temporarily departing Wyoming and then we’ll be back to see Yellowstone starting Sunday.

Here are the lost Wyoming shots.. since we didn’t have good internet here I didn’t get to post as much as I would like.

This dog at the Brooks Lake Lodge didn't like me.

One more Brooks Lake reflection shot.

A homestead in Dubois?

Similar thematics in Jackson. Rawhide!

Wind River Valley.

Sacajawea marker on Shoshone reservation land.

Roadside floral.

National Park Service Prius.Jackson gallery.

I had never seen a Park Service Prius before. Seems like a positive step!

I should be able to update again tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, but probably not before.

My dad has been making some mileage on the Michael Jackson demise with commentary about local zoning and potential (or total non-potential) for a Graceland-type memorial. Here are a few links.

Calbuzz.com

USA Today

Business Week

We didn’t have to paddle on this rafting trip, so it was a lot of fun. We were in a boat with retired school teachers from Alaska and current school teachers from Virginia (and their two daughters.) Our guide was a former firefighter/pre-law student/self described criminal sympathizer.

No big animals but we saw more than six bald eagles, a blue heron, ospreys, freshwater pelicans, and many hawks. And the BBQ afterwards was actually really good! Thanks to Annie and Carl (again) for recommending Barker-Ewing rafting.

Isiah, our guide, and the Virginia family behind him.

Bald eagle checking out the river.

Barn on the private ranch where we loaded in.

We heard some great Dick Cheney and Harrison Ford stories on this trip. They both live in Jackson. In fact, we even rafted right by Ford’s ranch. He’s used his private helicopter to participate in several back country rescues around here. Cheney is not so helpful. When he goes fishing helicopters buzz the river all day for “security,” even now that he’s out of office.

Mostly we drifted with the current, but there was some paddling involved.

Us.

Teton view. None of this trip was in the park.

Other boats from another trip going down the river after we had gotten out.

Fallen down structure, no longer out standing in its field.

This is a former settlement now within the confines of Grand Teton National Park. It was just down the road from our campground at Gros Ventre, where we stayed the last 2 nights. According to our rafting guide, Gros Ventre means big belly in French. When the local tribes made a hand sign to trappers to tell them where they were from, they ran their hand down their body has if describing “where the water falls.” But to the French, it looked like they were describing a fat guy.

Whichever way the wind blows..

Thanks to Annie and Carl for recommending this run!