Day 26 - Yellowstone to Grand Teton NP, Wyoming
Adjusted Adventure in an Accord
I've tried my daily blog regarding this epic and adjusted trip by hook or crook. Gaining a good signal has been my biggest nemeses in the National Parks; trying to load photos is still more challenging. I hope to add more photos/videos once I am back home. It's always a good thing to do post adventure - to process it all - reflect.
As I write this in Rock Springs, Wyoming, tonight is our last night of the epic trip. Tomorrow morning we will drive about five hours to Linda's house in Colorado - less than 300 miles to go! I'll start my solo trek back to the East Coast on Sunday.
At 8:30 am this morning, we broke camp and got on the road (not the usual 5:30 am over the past few days) toward Grand Teton National Park. Do you know what Linda and I noticed while driving in another part of Yellowstone to Grand Teton directly South of YNP? The various topography changes and majestic scenes unfolded before our eyes at every turn of the road. We understand now how the 2.2 million acres comprising YNP is the #1 National Park in the United States. But let me add that it is not only Americans visiting this Park, but many from around the globe. This year Yellowstone is celebrating its 150th Anniversary! Happy Birthday!
In addition to the magic of Yellowstone in any direction we looked and drove to was how we timed our entrances to the Park. We never experienced huge crowds for anything we wanted to see up close and personal, including geysers/wildflowers/camp/lakes/rivers/hikes, and American Safari. Speaking of American Safari on the Hayden River Valley that we drove today to get to the Tetons, it was the first time since we've been on this trip that we saw several animals in a long stretch of road sans that grizzly bear with her three cubs.
The animals sighted today: Herd of Elk in the distance; several lone Bison; ducks; Trumpet Swans; a pair of deer (doe and young buck), and many, many loud mouth ravens. American Safari animals not seen (though, according to some of the books/pamphlets/google, they are common): grizzly, brown bear, coyote, wolf, and eagles. Fat chance they are all that common, but many people we talked to on this trip have indeed sighted at least one bear; unfortunately, not us…this time.
Ah, but those wildflowers waving in the wind caught my attention to capture via photographs on all our hikes. For our almost 5-mile hike today around Taggett Lake in Grand Teton National Park, I took many photos: Wildflowers of the West! Once home, I plan to cull through them and select my favorites to turn them into note cards.
So what do two budget travelers who stayed with friends, camped, and stayed in hostels do on their last night? They have dinner in a hole-in-the-wall joint on Highway 191 in Boulder, Wyoming, and got a budget hotel with two queen beds. Plus, the best shower they've had since the beginning of the trip! Apparently, we also get a "free" breakfast in the morning, which the reviews on google say is "delicious." We shall see.
It's late, I'm bushed, and a bit sad the trip is almost screeching to a halt. However, I am/we are blessed to have been able to do, see, and experience more than we thought after the Alaskan trip had to be canceled. Who knows, maybe this trip turned out it even better?!
Thanks for reading along. I will share other stories about the people/characters we've met along the journey that made the trip memorable in itself later.
Covering almost 6000 miles so far, I can say this: Let's take care of our lands and our great Earth. But even better, let's take care of the people that inhabit every corner of it! Now that would be the best serendipity of all.
Please forgive me for not posting photos. I can tell this road stop motel does not have enough capacity to support even one photo, let alone what I usually post. I'm thrilled I was able to post this amount of copy! (I am going to try and post one photo right now!)
bSoleile!
Terri
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