Vacation Closing Thoughts

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.