Yellowstone National Park - June 2008

Yellowstone to Jackson Hole - June 10

We slept later than usual and woke up to rain. We finished packing for the return trip and headed to the Snow Lodge for breakfast. We packed up the car and said goodbye to this beautiful park for the last time. We stopped at Colter Bay Village and a last look at the fox family. A human family of four were there, with the parents watching as the kids poked around the new, clearly marked stay-out area. No sign of the fox family though. Maybe they had enough of us gawking humans. 

Because of the earlier fiasco with the rental car, we had decided to spend our last night in Jackson Hole rather than Colter Bay Village. As we drove toward Jackson, the Grand Tetons were spectacular, with some cloud cover. Much picture taking. We decided to stop at Jackson Lake Lodge for lunch since we had missed that stop on our trip to Yellowstone and enjoy the beautiful view from the window wall at the lodge. We took the Jenny Lake Road again and headed to our final destination, Jackson Hole.

We stopped frequently to soak in the landscape and snap more pictures. Our home for the night was the Antler. We were on the second floor, and it was raining ,with NO elevators. First thing was to call Thrifty Rental Car to ask, "Where are you located now?" Got directions from the hotel and decided we would drive out and make sure we knew how to get there. Piece of cake ! So we could relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

We wandered around Jackson but got the impression it is an expensive shopping mecca. We walked down to the Town Square, which we had also been observing on the webcam before we departed from home. Jim stumbled and fell at a low curb, but no damage done this time. We stopped in to look at the Million Dollar Bar, checked out the Cat Ballou dinner theater, and scouted some restaurants. Our good friends had recommended the Sweetwater restaurant, which was a bit pricey for dinner. But we decided it was our last night, so made a reservation. We headed back to our room to begin packing, have drinks, and then off to the Sweetwater for a delicious dinner of salmon'

So ended our wonderful, snowy, miserable, beautiful trip to two old friends, except for the arduous flight back to Richmond. We arrived at our airport motel room about 3 a.m. We drove home late that day after visiting family.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul. ~ John Muir ~

 

Our final view of the Old Faithful Inn.

View from back of Jackson Lake Lodge.

Stormy skies

The grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls. ~ John Muir ~