Yellowstone National Park: Part 2

We packed up our things from our shared rental with my family and hit the road north to see all the things in Yellowstone National Park! We started the day with a drive up to Old Faithful where we waited to view the geyser in all her glory. Then we walked around the area viewing the other geysers.

Then we were back on the road to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. I feel like I had a major travel fail here as I did not realize there was an overlook for this spring where you could have gotten a bird’s eye view of it and all its colors. Oh well, next time!

Next stop was the Fountain Paint Pot Trail, a small boardwalk trail to see more geysers, some that spew mud and make the most interesting sound!

This is where we said our goodbyes to my family as they headed back down to Jackson Hole (and eventually back home to Texas). And we continued through the park and into the town of West Yellowstone where we stayed for the night. Of course, we used our free hotel night at the Holiday Inn Express (thank you IHG cobranded credit card)! We had the best BBQ we had had in a long time at Firehole Bar-B-Que and we took our stuffed bellies for a walk down the main drag for some window shopping and ice cream…because there is always room for ice cream!

The next morning, we visited the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center. We tried to engage our then four-year old daughter, but she wasn’t really having any of it. Then we made a quick sashay west on the Targhee Pass highway to cross the Idaho/Montana state line so I could check Idaho off my bucket list. I know, I know, I do count airport stops and quick state line crossings like this as an official “been there” on my bucket list. And the only reason why I do is I’m never sure if I will ever make it back.

After that we made our way back to Bozeman, but not without making a few stops due to bison in the road! We checked into our hotel (another free night thanks to the co-branded Marriott card) and ordered pizza for dinner. Jack joined us one last time, we said our goodbyes early as we had to be at the airport at 4:30am for our flight home. 

Grand Teton Half Marathon - Day 3

The next morning Jack and I headed to the race, of course we had to stop for a moose! About 2 hours and 30 minutes after the race started, I crossed the finish line. I didn’t hit my goal time, but finishing is what is important. After a little altitude nausea and a bus ride back to the car we were able to freshen up, eat and relax for a minute. But not too long! We had things to see! We walked over to the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and took the Aerial Tram all the way to the top where took in the views and had some of Corbet’s famous waffles at Corbet’s Cabin Top of the World Waffles.

Once off the mountain we headed to the Snake River Overlook and the famous Mormon Row of farmhouses with the Tetons as the backdrop. We had dinner and explored the town of Jackson Hole. But after a morning of running and an afternoon of sightseeing, it was time to call it a night!

{Snake River Lookout | Jackson Hole famous antler arch | Barn on Mormon Row}

Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks

{Entering the park from the North Entrance | Roosevelt Arch and Mammoth Hot Springs}

It is no surprise that this little blog of mine has fallen to the wayside since life has gotten so busy. Even during the COVID-19 lockdown...quarantine...whatever it is...I continued to go into work and life didn’t really slow down a whole lot for us. But all that aside I want to catch up on past travels we took in 2019. In January of 2019 we visited Grand Cayman Island for a week and now I’m going to get into the details of our trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

We’ll start with days 1 and 2…

We had a late flight arriving into Bozeman, MT so we opted to stay the night at the Residence Inn by Marriott and use our annual free night that comes with our Marriott co-branded credit card. We checked-in, cleaned up and went to bed. The next morning, we woke up and headed to Yellowstone National Park where we met up with a longtime friend of mine, Jack.

{Lower Lookout Point at The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone}

After entering the park, we made stops at Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Falls and Lower Falls. And then, we were supposed to meet my family at the Canyon Village Visitor Center. We arrived here but it proved to be difficult to locate each other since there was ZERO cell service and no Wi-Fi. We started to comb the parking lot for my Dad’s truck when my mom spotted me! I had been wearing a neon green shirt that helped! After seeing the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, we continued on our way south and made one more stop at West Thumb Geyser Basin. NOTE: All the locations I listed above have minimal walking, we did have a 4-year-old with us after all.

{Grand Canyon of Yellowstone}

After West Thumb Geyser Basin, we continued south to Teton Village; where we would be staying for the next few nights. We dropped our things at the AirBnB we had rented and went to dinner at the Mangy Moose. This trip also happened to take place over our anniversary! We were celebrating 9 years of marriage!

The next day we focused on Grand Teton National Park. We took the first boat ride across Jenny Lake and hiked to Hidden Falls. We also made a short stop at String Lake. Then I had to head to the Grant Teton Half Marathon Race Expo! I needed to gather my race items for the 5K that night and the half the next morning. My 5K was not a personal record but it was good 5K and gave me a feeling for what was to come the next day.

{Jenny Lake | Hidden Falls}

What a great start to the first few days in some of our nation's most iconic national parks!