Our introduction to the Tetons was at the end of our first day touring Yellowstone, and what a way to see them for the first time. Just about the time you think you’ve overloaded on nature and beauty, you see these truly majestic peaks rising up in front of you. Seeing them as the day was ending was magnificent. [I know, I need to consult a thesaurus soon — I keep repeating myself, saying everything is amazing, gorgeous, beautiful. But it really is!]

We drove towards the true middle of nowhere to find our cabin for the night. We had low expectations because this was pretty much all we could find available in the area, the obvious downsides of last-minute booking. We found what billed itself as a working dude ranch, and crossed our fingers. It turned out to be one of the best happy surprises of my life.

We arrived at the ranch right at sunset. It has about 100 horses, a few cabins, but accommodations are mostly tenting in teepees and covered wagons. Honestly, I’m glad we scored a cabin. It was rustic, very rustic, but the location was more than worth the lack of luxury. The sunset was in the top five most amazing views I’ve ever seen. Needless to say, we went to bed tired, but looking forward to a gorgeous day exploring the Tetons.

Sunrise at the ranch was almost as beautiful as sunset last night. We hurriedly packed the car because we were told we couldn’t be in front of the cabin during the morning move of the horses from the lower to the upper pastures. Turns out they weren’t lying. It was a hoot watching the cowboys herd the horses right in front of us.

We spent the day oohing and aahing over the landscapes and learning about the formation of the unique geological formations in the area. We attempted a longer hike, but the area was closed due to bear activity. Notice evidence of bear activity in the picture! After our close encounter with the bison herd, we were not inclined to add a bear meet-and-greet to the agenda today.

We had a quick lunch in downtown Jackson and drove by the requisite antler arch. We weren’t that impressed with Jackson. It was cute enough, but I guess when you’ve seen the sights we’ve seen the last week, you get a bit jaded about man-made attractions. We ended the day though at a lovely hotel where we could eat dinner outside overlooking the river. A perfect end to a perfect day. It’s impossible to say which we liked better, Yellowstone or the Tetons. They are both amazing. I am already looking forward to a return trip where I can take longer hikes and focus on photography and wildlife in both parks. The abundance of unique flora, fauna, and geography in this area is truly unbelievable.

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Hello, my mom is still too speechless to write. I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Also, we both got caught in a Buffalo Stampede soooo, yeah, that happened. Wait, wasn’t I supposed to introduce myself? Oh, riiiiiight. I’m Graham.

Our first stop in Yellowstone turned out to be much more exciting than we expected. We see a group of bison in the distance and pull over to watch and get some pictures. Lots of people were around, and we were at a safe distance. My parents kept telling us to stay at a safe distance from the wildlife. This was the first time we could get out of the car to see the bison. It was pretty cool. At first…

All of a sudden I heard F###! RUN! F###! F###! F###! There was a loud huffing noise and everyone started running and screaming. These were the photos that went off while we were running. My mom just kept screaming, and I kept running in loose boots because I hadn’t even finished tying my hiking boots yet.

See those people, that’s where we were when the bison started charging! Mom said she felt bad for leaving the old people, but she just grabbed me and ran. Yeah, she used some words we aren’t supposed to use. She used a LOT of no-no words. 🙁 It took about 30 minutes for my heart to go back to a normal pace. I was pretty horrified by the whole situation. I wanted to see the bison, but not quite THAT close.

The rest of the day was awesome – and less exciting in a good way – and we saw all the major things you are supposed to see on the southern part of the grand loop drive: the Grand Prismatic Spring, fumaroles, geysers, mud pots, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and Old Faithful.

Bob (that’s what we call the audio tour guide from Gypsy Guides) was very useful, educational, and entertaining during our drive. He made the drive a lot more interesting.

I’ve been dying to see Old Faithful but it was super anti-climactic for being the most famous thing in the park. The coolest part was that there was a bison just hanging out in front of Old Faithful. He was really close and didn’t appear to care at all about all the people around or the geyser when it went off. Rangers were there just in case, but the bison was just chomping away. Guess it was lunchtime. lol

[Mom here now.] Graham is right, I am still speechless over the beauty of Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Words can’t do them justice, but neither can pictures. I can’t believe it took me until I was 50 to visit this area. As a lifelong east-coaster (minus a short stint in Chicago), this was unlike anything I have ever seen. Nothing can prepare you for Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Just come. You won’t want to leave.

After a day in the Tetons, we did a second half-day in Yellowstone in order to see the northern section of the Grand Loop Drive. We mostly wanted to look for animals in the Lamar Valley. We saw tons of bison and did get to see a large number of elk hanging out everywhere. Fall is elk rut season, and it was something to see. We finished the day driving to Bozeman, Montana where we look forward to having a full day off. Griff flies back to D.C. on Thursday afternoon.

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We started out this morning at the Old Town Trail, a collection of restored buildings from the 1800s that were moved to this site. The buildings housed a collection of unique artifacts and memorabilia as well. One of the cabins was used as a hideout by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid after a bank robbery by the Hole in the Wall Gang! There was a general store, post office, school, barn, and cemetery. Graham even tried his hand at roping a (fake) cow.

Our next stop was back to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. We finished up the Natural History Museum which focuses on the unique fauna and geography of Yellowstone. It was the perfect introduction as we will be touring Yellowstone tomorrow. We particularly enjoyed learning about the Golden Eagle’s place in Native American tradition and rituals. We read about how young warriors would demonstrate their bravery by attempting to grab an eagle by its legs and pull out three of its feathers. After looking at the huge Eagle talons, Graham gave a hard “Nope!”

Next, we visited the Plains Indian Museum and the Buffalo Bill Museum, both of which were excellent. I knew very little about Bill Cody (for whom the town is named) other than that he was a showman. Turns out that he was that, but so much more as well. I hadn’t realized how huge his traveling Wild West shows were, with up to 500 cast members, hundreds of horses, and 30 buffalo, all being transported on trains. The logistics of this traveling extravaganza are mind-boggling.

Griff and Graham visited the Firearms Museum while Mer and I saw the Whitney Western Art Museum. The art at the Whitney was so beautiful it was painful. It was almost unbelievable to be surrounded by so much stunning art. I loved seeing the inside of Frederic Remington’s studio. I have absolutely zero artistic talent, so I am continually amazed by artists and what they are able to create. The boys were shocked by the size and breadth of the Firearms Museum. We really could have used a few more hours to enjoy everything at these five museums, but eventually overload sets in and you just have to take a break.

We finished out the day by going boot shopping! Yes, we are all coming home with new boots, the perfect souvenir from Cody. I can’t wait to start wearing mine.

After dinner, we enjoyed feeding the local bunnies their dinner too!

We will be leaving early for Yellowstone tomorrow and are very excited to see the sights there. It looks like we will have great weather too!

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The first half of today was spent driving to Cody. Not having spent much time out west, I wasn’t prepared for how heart-stoppingly gorgeous the scenery would be. The word for the day was “Wow!” The four of us must have said that a million times. The kids watched Dances with Wolves on the drive for a while, and we continued listening to the Story of Us. We are on book 3 of 10 already. We also stopped to pick up the biggest slab of beef jerky we’d ever seen, because Wyoming.

Not knowing where we will end up each day means we look for hotel rooms the day of or the night before. I knew that would be a bit tricky once we hit the Yellowstone area but we managed to snag a small rustic cabin in Cody for two nights and another one in the Tetons for Monday night. The emphasis here is on “small” and “rustic.” It’s clean, but that’s about all I’ll give it. That’s the price you pay for the flexibility that we want on this trip. As I say often to the kids, “Life is all about constrained choices.” Oh well.

Cody is awesome. We stopped in briefly at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and that’s when we realized we wanted to stay another night here. The Center is a Smithsonian-affiliated collection of five different museums. We saw just a small bit yesterday of the Natural History museum and watched a raptor presentation about the golden eagle and peregrine falcon. Such beautiful and amazing creatures. I didn’t realize how huge the golden eagles are. And those talons! We realized that we would need most of tomorrow to see everything at the Center.

The best part of the day, other than the views, was the dinner and music show at the Cody Cattle Company. The chuckwagon style food was surprsingly good (brisket, beans, and cornbread). We lucked out that a table had cancelled at the last minute and we snagged front row seats. Turns out that they also needed a kid to volunteer on stage as a tambourine player and Mer volunteered. There were about 300 people there and she acted like she was an old stage pro. The musicians were fantastic and played a variety of country and western classics including The Devil Went Down to Georgia and Folsom Prison Blues. The guitar picking, banjo, and fiddle playing were the best I have heard in ages. This place is definitely a must-see when in Cody.

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