8-18 (Wed)

Our supervisor let us go at 1:30 on Wed so we could make tracks to Jackson Hole before it got too late. We stopped at a Visitor’s Center in the Tetons with interesting exhibits and a wonderful film. We drove through Teton Village and then on to Jackson.


8-19 (Thurs)
Our goal in going to Jackson was to see moose. We went back to the Tetons today and there was a bull moose in the river right down from the Visitor's Center. It actually turned out that there were three bulls. We parked our car and walked along the river bank with everyone else taking pictures. Then we drove along the narrow road toward Teton Village. We hadn’t even gone a mile when Nancy spotted a female. We were the first ones to spot it - a first for us. She had a calf with her. We took lots of pictures and then drove on to a pond where we heard there was another one. Sure enough in the water was another female who also had a calf.

From there we drove on to Jenny Lake. We took the boat across the lake and hiked to Hidden Falls and then on to Inspiration Point. From Inspiration Point you could look down on the entire valley. We walked, 3 miles around the lake and back to Jenny Lake parking lot.

We drove back to the Jackson town square and started looking for a place to have dinner. Everything was so expensive. Some woman was at the register in front of me in one of the stores. I saw her pull out a FL driver’s license. She had on a giant diamond. I asked her where she was from and she said Orlando. I told her I was too. She said they have a place in JH. Nancy said I should have told her we have a place in Montana and that we have a cook and yard man!


8-20 (Fri)
We got up at 6:30 so we could try to hunt down more moose. At the Tetons a ranger told us that the moose charged a couple of people yesterday when they got too close.

We drove to Teton Village where we saw some people paragliding. I asked one of the pilots how much it cost. I remembered in Peru I paid $50. I was thinking I would do it if I could get it for $75. He told me it cost $240. Needless to say I didn't go for it. We took a tram to the top of the mountain.
We stopped at a grocery store in Dillon on our way home. That is the place all the millionaires have moved to since the billionaires chased them out of Jackson. We didn't see any huge houses but did see row after row of big hangers with Lear Jets on the runway. I guess they fly in and then go to their homes in the hills.

We stopped at Mesa Falls (both the upper and lower) on our way back to Mammoth. We hiked to each one.

28 people lost their lives when an earthquake brought the side of a mountain down on top of them, Aug 17th 1959

This is on the side of the bolder

Where the mountain slid down. Trees are just now starting to regrow on it

I saw this bird in Ennis, on our way to Virginia City

Virginia City

Looking into a country store

Where the "road agents" (outlaws) were buried after they were hanged, Jan 14th 1864

The outlaw graves on Boot Hill

Looking down on Virginia City from Boot Hill

Nevada City

8-12 (Thurs)
Left Mammoth at 7:30 to go to Virginia City, Montana. We drove through West Yellowstone and on to Earthquake Lake (Habgen Lk) where we stopped at the Visitors Center. We saw a film and read about what happened in 1959. It was so interesting. We walked up on the hill to a big bolder where there was a plaque with all the names of the people who were killed. It happened at midnight on Aug 17th. There was an earthquake and the entire side of the mountain slid down. Some people said they thought they were being bombed. Most of them didn’t have a chance. Many of them are still under the rubble where they were buried near the bolder with their names.
We drove on to Virginia City. This was a cute little town that has been preserved as it would have been in the 1800’s. The “sidewalks” were board walks and the store fronts were wood and looked like they did at that time. You could look into the store and see how they had been used - old carriages, the general store with all it’s merchandise, clothing stores with corsets, hats, shoes, long socks, and the Hangman’s Building where the vigilantes hung “road agents” (outlaws) on January 14, 1864. You could still see the “burn” marks where they hung by the ropes. Later the Virginia City Water Co run by Sarah Bickford moved into the building. She was a black slave who after the Civil War made her way to the West and became very successful.
The five hanged “road agents” were buried on the Boot Hill Cemetery. No one else wanted to be buried near them so they dug everyone else up and put them in a new cemetery a stone’s throw away.
We had lunch at the Virginia City Cafe. After walking around town and going into Cousins Candy Shop we headed down the road to Nevada City. There wasn’t much to it. Actually they brought in really, really old cabins that were left standing around Montana and assembled them into a village. It was a tourist trap because you had to pay to walk through them. We spent our money on ice cream instead.
On our way home we took a back way to Bozeman. It was a beautiful drive through some deep canyons. Naturally we stopped at Walmart in Bozeman for a little shopping. We ate dinner in Livingston and then made it back home by 8:30


8-13 (Fri)
We left Mammoth at 8:00 and drove to Midway Geyser Basin where we had planned to climb a mountain and take pictures looking down on the Grand Prismatic Spring. When we got out of the car the wind was blowing like crazy, it was freezing cold and spitting rain. We nixed that idea and drove on to Old Faithful where we shopped to stay out of the wind and then ate lunch at their EDR. We ate with some really nice women who told us the forecast is for snow at Old Faithful tonight. Of course they added that the forecast is never right.
We got the brilliant idea to drive down to Jackson Hole for the afternoon. About half way there we decided it was going to take us too long and we wouldn’t get back to Mammoth until real late. Since we have to work in the morning we went to West Thumb Geyser Basin. By this time the sun was shinning so we walked around there and took pictures.
We thought since the sun was shinning there we’d go back to Midway and try to see Grand Prismatic Spring. We got over there and it was still freezing cold. Nancy got out and went to take a look. I slept in the car while she was gone.
When we got back home we cranked up our heater then called and made reservations to go to Jackson Hole next weekend.

The Gardiner River on our Sheep Eater's Cliff hike

I saw this critter along the way

He kept posing for me

Nancy coming out of the thick canopy we walked through

Buddy and the boys

Nancy with family

8-6 (Fri)
This morning Nancy and I went on a hike to Sheep Eater's Cliff. We were walking along the Gardiner River which was lovely. There was one section where we had to hunched over and walk through some really thick bushes that formed a canopy over us.

Nancy's son, Buddy, from Orlando and his two boys arrived early this afternoon. We took them touring to some parts of the park. We had dinner at Roosevelt Lodge and then took them out to the Lamar Valley where they were able to see lots of buffalo. They also saw a grizzly and two cubs. It's always exciting when we can show our guest some of the animals.

Bill with bear slobber on his pants!

Celebrating the end of a great hike.

Taking a break on the trail.

At the top of Golden Gate.

The cowboys who told us about the bear.

Getting ready to start the hike.

Our friends, Patty and Marilyn arrived at Mammoth last Thursday. Bill and MA arrived shortly after that. They had been in Glacier. We all ate lunch in the EDR. The food was awful.
All of us minus MA went on the Golden Gate hike. Bill and I took his car over to Bunsen Peak and left if. We drove everyone to the top of the Terraces in my car and began the hike there. A group of 4 (one wrangler, mom and dad, and a young girl) passed us on horseback. They had a pack mule with them. They had been camping for two nights and riding for three days. When we got near the hoodoos they called back to us, “Bear on the left.” We weren’t sure what to do so we pressed on. Marilyn finally spotted it. It was a brown grizzly. It was eating some berries and didn’t pay any attention to us. We scooted on by. The hike took us three hours.
When we got back everyone went to their hotels to recover and shower. We all went to Raven’s in Gardiner for dinner.

On Friday we all went to Chico’s for lunch. It's a resort about 45 minutes from the park. Bill and MA left from there for Bozeman so they could fly home the next morning.
We took Patty and Marilyn through the Lamar Valley that night and to Cook City for dinner. Coming home we saw lots and lots of buffalo, they were in rut.

Hiking Beaver Ponds

Beaver Ponds

Beaver Ponds

Old Faithful Area

Old Faithful area

7-26 (Mon)
Bill and Mary Ann, my brother and sister in law, arrived Sunday night a week ago. We all went out to dinner that night. They toured around the park on Mon and Tues left for Cody to spend the night.

Thurs we took them down to Old Faithful. On the way down we saw a couple of bull elk with huge racks. Bill and I walked the boardwalks by the geysers while Nancy and Mary Ann shopped. When we got back we all sat out on the porch of the Lodge and watched Old Faithful go off.

On Friday Nancy, Bill and I hiked Beaver Ponds. That evening we all went horseback riding. What a bummer that was. It was nose to tail riding which the girl said it wouldn't be. The equipment was terrible. My reins were tied together and Nancy and a rope for reins! They didn't even adjust the stirrups on my saddle! Unfortunately it was a two hour ride. We could hardly walk when we got back to the stable. Then to top it off I couldn't find the keys to the car. We looked everywhere. One of the girl wranglers gave us a lift back to Bill's hotel. He and I took off to Gardiner for an extra set of keys while Nancy and Mary Ann drank wine. By the time we got the keys, picked up my car and got back to Mammoth it was past 9:00. As I was getting undressed that night, I said, "oh Nancy, I know where the keys are." They were in the glass case I always have hanging on my belt. I had put them in there for save keeping because it zips!

Bill and MA took off for Glacier the next day. They will be back late Wed night and fly home Sunday.