Days 6-8: Yellowstone bear spotting, Old Faithful in action and Grand Teton Grandeur

Guess what I just got for my birthday. An hour of hard-to-find wi-fi for my iPhone. Hello civilization!

Here’s what’s happened since I last journaled. (More of a photo blog. A picture says a thousand words, right?)

Thursday 7/4: We checked in at the Old Faithful Inn, situated right next to Old Faithful and Castle Geyser at 4:30 pm and explored this historical and most renown national park lodge. Log beams and a 77′ vaulted ceiling greeted us in the lobby. No televisions or air conditioning. We entered room 3012 and watched the famous geyser erupt from our hotel room window, albeit obstructed by a pine tree. Still pretty surreal. Our dinner reservations weren’t until 9:15 pm, so we went downstairs for a snack before taking in another “showing.” Old Faithful erupts about every 90 minutes and shoots scalding hot water 100′ into the air. Video here. The crowd (and there was always a crowd) cheers loudly as she starts to bubble and spit water into the air before erupting. Pretty awesome sight. Our very late dinner in the Inn included bison and pheasant. More gourmet than my campsite cooking. Slept in a queen bed, made tea in the room’s Keurig and took two showers.

Friday, 7/5: Breakfast buffet, gift shop, (Trent imprinted on a stuffed bison. We have a new family member pictured below. Meet “Lumberjack.” Video of Trent talking about Lumberjack and Old Faithful.) geyser trail and one last showing of Old Faithful before checking out and heading to Grant Village campgrounds in the southern part of Yellowstone. On our way to Grant Village, we stopped at the Continental Divide, and WE SAW BEARS! Just off the main road was a mother grizzly and her two cubs along with dozens of onlookers. Ten rangers with bear spray also provided crowd control. Grizzly bears can be aggressive; especially a mom with her cubs. I can relate. Check out the pic below.

After setting up camp, doing laundry and making spaghetti for dinner, we headed out to explore. This yielded our first elk spotting! A group of about six female elk walked underneath the overpass on which we were standing. We’ve started a points system for any family member who spots an animal. Elk are worth seven points. Trent finished the day strong with 22 total points. (Whining can result in a deduction of points.)

Saturday, 7/6: Starting off my birthday back at the camp laundromat and shower facilities, which I have to say is pretty cool. You can buy a souvenir t-shirt, a cup of coffee or ice cream. You can also rent a towel for $1.06. Eclectic. Then I enjoyed a birthday breakfast consisting of Diet Mtn. Dew, honey buns, pop tarts and bananas. At breakfast, I received two very sweet cards (video here) and gifts. I’m impressed at the trip director’s master packing plan and his ability to hide birthday gifts in the vehicle!

Packed up camp and headed a short drive south to Grand Teton National Park. (There’s only 7.5 miles between the Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks.) We stopped at the park’s visitor center on our way out of the park to receive our Yellowstone Jr. Ranger badges and saw a male elk of about 11 years of age! Pics below. Video here. The approach to the Grand Tetons is amazing, with the snow-capped mountains reaching the clouds, the tallest of which is Grand Teton at 13,770′. From mountain hiking to whitewater rafting the Snake River, this place is an outdoorsman’s paradise! There are even more bear warnings than there were in Yellowstone; we have a bear box at our campsite in Colter Bay Village.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch on Jackson Lake nestled in front of the mountains and played in the water before the rain started. Jackson Lake video here. Because it rained much of the afternoon, we drove around some of the Grand Teton National Park’s 310,000 acres. We are now enjoying dinner and wi-fi. No campsite cooking for this birthday girl tonight. Video of boys singing happy birthday to me here-blessed. Mountain, elk, bear, lake and camp pics below!