We left the bed and breakfast at 0430 AM this morning to
head to the airport to catch our flights home. The flight home was horrible.
The flight from Jackson, WY to Salt Lake City, UT was fine; however the flight
from Salt Lake City, UT to Washington, DC was awful. We were delayed 30
minutes, then when we were about 45 minutes out we had to circle for an hour
due to a storm at Reagan, at which point we had to divert to Richmond, VA to
get gas. We were on the ground at Richmond International for about an hour then flew tower to
tower to Reagan National which meant we had to stay at 10,000 feet thus the flight was
very bumpy. We finally landed about 3 hours after we were supposed to. Discounting
the flights, it was a good vacation and I enjoyed spending some girl time with
my mom.
The Alpine House, was the bed and breakfast we stayed at in
Jackson, WY. It was a very nice bed and breakfast. The rooms were very clean,
the beds were comfy and the staff was friendly. The only minor complaint I
might have is they needed to start serving breakfast earlier then 0730 in the
morning for those headed out to the National Parks. However the breakfasts were excellent I
personally liked the asparagus and eggs (I know it sounds strange but it good)
and mom liked the peaches and cream French toast. I would stay there again if I was a skier or
just exploring the Grand Tetons.
I loved Yellowstone and am defiantly planning on going
back. However next time I plan on
staying inside the park. The drive to Yellowstone from Jackson, WY was an hour
and half each day and that was just to get to the park not to get to any of the
main visitor centers. On this trip we
were only able to explore the lower loop, which is where most of the geysers
are located. Although many of the animals only are in this area in the winter,
since it is warm, they migrate up to the upper loop and the Lamar Valley which
we did not have time to explore. When I
go back I also plan on spending longer than a couple days in Yellowstone, I
think more like 5 to 8 eight days inside the park itself would be good.
The Grand Tetons were nice; it is a place for mountain
climbers and avid hikers. The trails in the Tetons were more rugged and there
was a lot of up and down. The diversity
of habits was impressive from wetlands to grasslands to of course mountain
regions. I enjoyed this park, but enjoyed Yellowstone more.
Overall, I think it would be better to go in early fall or
early spring to the parks, because the wildlife is more active. The more active the wildlife the higher the
chances of you have of spotting it.
While, I did see buffalo, mule deer, ground squirrels, marmot,
pronghorn, chubby chipmunks and a beaver the moose, mountain goats and bear
(bear bell & repellent must have worked) were elusive. Although I believe I did get some good
pictures of it, I still have to go through little over 1000 frames to be
sure.
In conclusion, this was very good vacation that got me away from
civilization for a bit (no cell service in most areas) and let me commune with
nature. Now I get to review and edit a
little over a 1000 pictures, to determine which ones make the cut.
I will see a moose next time.
Absolutely right. A couple of days is not nearly enough for Yellowstone. That's true for many of our western National Parks. I don't think we have ever seen moose there and it wasn't until the second or third time through that we got glimpses of bear.
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