God Bless the USA and Home Sweet Home

THE MAGIC THING

ABOUT HOME IS

THAT IT FEELS

GOOD TO LEAVE,

AND IT FEELS EVEN

BETTER TO COME

BACK.

We left Wyoming on Saturday heading to stop overnight in Nebraska.  On Sunday, up and out heading home with a stop over in St. Louis to go up in the Gateway Arch.  This broke up a long day of driving.  However, this made getting in last night after midnight.  Then we got up this morning and went to play pickle ball.  We took it easy, only a couple of games.  Then rushed to pick up Clyde's mom and spend time at lunch with her and ran her errands.  After stopping back home to run in our groceries, off to pick up our mail (on hold) and to see my mommy.  Whew.  Good to be home but our trip was pretty great.

 So many trains!  Clyde drove on and the road was boring, but thankful for trains to watch!

 We stopped on Sunday in St. Louis to go up in the Gateway Arch. It is 630 feet tall, 630 feet wide.  

 These were taken from up high in the arch.  It is designed to withstand earthquakes and lightning strikes and to sway up to 18 inch in 150 mile per hour winds.  Those facts were interesting to me now that I am concerned about "mile per hour winds" due to hurricanes!  

Monday morning, after getting in late last night, we were out the door for pickle ball.  Then to pick up granny for lunch and Kroger's!  We have missed one of our faves...City Barbecue!  

So, that's it for this trip.  Not sure when I'll blog again, maybe tomorrow, most likely not.  It's good to reread this the next time we travel, so we can relive a very good trip.  Thankful that "little red" made another safe trip without any issues!  It sure is a sound car!  We did lose one thing, the BMW emblem off the front!  We see it in pics up to a point, so it came off without us realizing it.  

Happy Trails to you, until we meet again!  

Jackson Hole

Today, Friday, we started off by driving back out to Wilson Road.  This is where the wildlife is suppose to be.  As we drove into Teton National Park, while on this road, we were told the road was closed due to "bear activity".  She said we could go about four miles then turn back.  Well, we only drove maybe 1/2 mile and the road was so bumpy (as we found it to be on the other end, coming from Yellowstone to the Tetons, yesterday).  Another bust for Wilson Road and the Bakers.  So, trying to find moose, bear, and even a herd of elk (although we have seen a few herds) my man drove up and down a few side roads.  Pretty drive but we are tired of driving at this point, so we headed back to Jackson for the afternoon.

Here we walked around town, ate lunch at the Bunnery Bakery & Restaurant, another place our friends told us to try.  It was a delight away from heavy foods, I ordered tuna & veggie soup.  The flowers in boxes were a bonus.  Good choice.

Today are a few photos from town and mountains as we left Jackson Hole.  A very fun town to check out!

 We were happy to find this motel at Jackson Hole.  The Jackson Hole Lodge.  Nice ammenities we didn't use...pool was very nice, a fire pit and hot tub.  Outside looked new, inside rooms were not, but clean and a good find.

 These arches made of antlers are on a couple of corners in the town square of Jackson.  Very cool, a nice photo op!

 We wanted to eat at the place below, The Bunnery, so didn't have a mealtime to eat at the place above.  But we wanted to go inside and see he saddle barstools and cool cowboy up interior.

 This was the patio at The Bunnery.  Cute restaurant.

 The mountains below are taken on the drive out of Jackson.  I was afraid we may drive out of them and not sure when I would see them again, so I kept snapping.  Lovely day, top down.

 I wanted to take one pic "of" the road....long and winding.

Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole, Wy

I wanted to remember the motel we stayed in while visiting Yellowstone.  As mentioned in earlier post, it is in Cody, Wyoming.  We drove about 50 miles to get into Yellowstone at the East entrance and the ride is through tunnels and along the water, beautiful drive.  The motel is Green Gables Inn and it was so clean, had everything you needed and more.  Price was right for that area. Very convenient to everything.

Today we left Cody for the Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole.  Everywhere you go, there is a beautiful lake.  Yellowstone Lake is huge, then we rode along Lewis Lake and stopped at a nice waterfall.  Then you arrive at the Tetons and there is no mistake you have arrived.  Really pretty mountain range.  No camera we own captured the beauty.  A bonus, today was a nice fall weather day so we had our top down, which made the view much nicer.

Here are some photos of today. We took a one way wildlife drive that was on our way to Jackson.  We saw a bear close to the road, in the thicket/brush.  So, video didn't turn out so well, but we got excited!  Tomorrow we will stay around Jackson Hole and see the town.

 You drive into Yellowstone to get to the Grand Tetons then Jackson, Wy.  So the above photos are the last of Yellowstone. Clyde wanted me to see this active hot spring geyser today, as yesterday was rainy when we stopped at West Thumb Geyser Basin.

The motel we are in tonight is in Jackson Hole.  The photos below are up at Teton Village.  It was about a 12 mile drive from Jackson. It is a big ski resort and more.  We ate at the Mangy Moose and rode the Gondola to the top of the resort, at 9,095'.

 More of the Grand Tetons (camera shots)

Yellowstone

This is Wednesday and our first full day in Cody, Wyoming.  We stayed there and drove to Yellowstone.  We left around 7:30 a.m. and got in to the motel late.  Our motel was priced right and is so nice.  We have been very impressed.  Green Gables Motel (Cody).  However, it is a drive to get there!  

My priorities today was to see Old Faithful (of course) and see animals!  Especially a herd of buffalo and BIG elk.  We walked up to the geyser just before it erupted, so that was nice....no wait. It was a cloudy day, and mostly we saw what looked like clouds.  Against a blue sky, it would have been remarkable.  After we ate lunch, we went back and stood at another "side" of the geyser.  MUCH better!  I could see "water" rising up with the steam this time.  Not just steam.  It rises so high!  

We saw many elk, pronghorn and bulls (they separate from the buffalo herd after mating:) but after traveling all over Yellowstone, NO herds!!  Both of us were surprised as all our friends shared pics of them being all over the roads.  As we were heading out of Yellowstone back to Cody, into Lemar Valley, we started seeing huge herds, far off in the fields.  As we kept driving, yay, there close by the road was a herd.  I felt my day was complete.  

 This was neat, Mammoth Hot Springs, this was where the elk (below) were, a great visitors center/museum, a church, grill...Mammoth, a good place to stop.

This is the famous Roosevelt Arch leaving Yellowstone at the north exit (or entrance, depending if you're going or coming).  On the other side it says "FOR THE BENEFIT AND ENJOYMENT OF THE PEOPLE".

I hopped out and got Clyde driving through.

And that's a wrap on Yellowstone!  Close up, but not too close!

On Chief Joseph Highway heading back to Cody, there was snow on the mountains.  Pretty, this drive was amazing.  Had it been sunny and warm, even late in the day, I would have enjoyed it more!  At this point, it was getting dark, so foggy at one point I was getting concerned, but it lifted (my prayers were being lifted as well!)

 Turns, twists and what a view!  Chief Joseph Highway.