Yellowstone !

   We left Buffalo, Wyoming and continued west on I-90. Near Sheridan we turned onto scenic Route 14 and headed up into the mountains. I was a little nervous at first, but there were lots of other cars & trucks going up with us, even a couple of old folks driving campers, so with our car I figured we’d be fine. We snaked our way up to the top of a pass and crossed over at 8,400 ft.

   On the hills along the road, there were layers of exposed rock, and road signs pointed to spots where rocks were millions of years old. In the picture above, the sign is pointing at rock deposits, not Mary.  The views were great especially on the other side where we paralleled a river and another mountain range all the way into Cody, home of Buffalo Bill.

   Cody was a tourist town but a good place to stop (the only place) for lunch and we ate at a hotel restaurant built in the 1800’s. It had an outdoor patio featuring a cowboy band. We still had lots of distance to cover so we ate inside where the meal was quicker and got out of town faster than the cowboy band could ask for tips.

   We entered Yellowstone National Park at the east gate and found out the nearest places to stay would be all the way on the other side in West Yellowstone, Montana.  Our original destination, Jackson Hole was an hour and a half longer through the south gate, so we decided to take the shorter trip since I wanted to be checked in before dark. There were a couple of hotels inside the park, but reservations for those are needed over a year in advance so we drove through.

   Yellowstone is a big park, larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware put together, so the drive through took us a couple of hours. The park roads were busy and there were regular traffic jams with animal sightings, but the waits were worth it as we saw bison and elk grazing nearby in the wild. We finally made it through and found a Best Western Inn. The room and breakfast was fine but the internet connection didn’t work so I had to consolidate a couple of days worth of travel blog posts for later. We decided to stay for two nights and take an all day tour through the park on Monday.

   The 8 hour tour was terrific and took us through great scenery including more bison and elk sightings. I also got a chance to be a passenger in the van with a picture window. When we got back to our room, we had smiles on our faces, but we were really tired out. We turned in early and both got great nights's sleep. On Tuesday we’ll leave West Yellowstone and head south for Jackson Hole and the Grand Teton Mountains.  We left Buffalo, Wyoming and continued west on I-90. Near Sheridan we turned onto scenic Route 14 and headed up into the mountains. I was a little nervous at first, but there were lots of other cars & trucks going up with us, even a couple of old folks driving campers, so with our car I figured we’d be fine. We snaked our way up to the top of a pass and crossed over at 8,400 ft.

    On the hills along the road, there were layers of exposed rock, and road signs pointed to spots where rocks were millions of years old. In the picture above, the sign is pointing at rock deposits, not Mary. The views were great especially on the other side where we paralleled a river and another mountain range all the way into Cody, home of Buffalo Bill.

    Cody was a tourist town but a good place to stop (the only place) for lunch and we ate at a hotel restaurant built in the 1800’s. It had an outdoor patio featuring a cowboy band. We still had lots of distance to cover so we ate inside where the meal was quicker and got out of town faster than the cowboy band could ask for tips.  

   We entered Yellowstone National Park at the east gate and found out the nearest places to stay would be through the park in West Yellowstone, Montana. Jackson Hole was another hour and a half longer through the south gate, so we decided to put that on hold till later since I wanted to be checked in before dark. There were a couple of hotels inside the park, but reservations were needed more than a year in advance so we decided to drive through.

   Yelloestone is a big park, larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware put together so the drive through took us a couple of hours. The park roads were busy and there were regular traffic jams with animal sightings, but the waits were worth it as we saw bison and elk grazing nearby in the wild. We finally made it through and found a Best Western Inn. The room and breakfast was fine but the internet connection didn’t work so I had to consolidate a couple of days travel blog posts for later. We decided to stay for two nights and take an all day tour through the park on Monday.

   The 8 hour tour took us through some great scenery with more bison and elk sightings, and I got a chance to be a passenger. On Tuesday we’ll leave West Yellowstoneand head south for Jackson Hole and the Grand Teton Mountains.