Well, we arrived at Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone. The drive through the park was interesting while towing the fifth wheel! I am glad to say I handled it like a champ. The campground certainly isn’t what I was expecting. The site is a mess. I had to lay mats down just to smash the ‘grass’ enough so that we could walk from the truck to the camper without scratching the heck out of our legs. For the cost, I am really disappointed in how poorly maintained this campground is. The roads and the site pad/patio is nice. It just would take a small amount of effort to make this a much better place to relax. Oh well, as Ed said, we are not planning on staying in the campground for much other than sleeping.
Our first full day in the park, we drove to the south entrance and had lunch at Snake River Picnic Area. We drove around and just kinda surveyed the area and what we might like to do.
Our second day in the park, we decided to drive the Beartooth Mountain Scenic Drive from Yellowstone to Red Lodge then onto Cody. It was a beautiful drive and we really enjoyed it!
Day 3, we just chilled most of the day and then went to Haden Valley at sunset, hoping to see some wildlife. We saw a buffalo and a few elk, but the sunset was the star!
Day 4, we drove to Jackson Hole, drove to the summit of Teton Pass, found the driveway arch that Mama took her photo at, went to see the Thomas Dambo troll, Mama Mimi and we stopped at an Art-O-Mat. On the way back to Yellowstone, we saw a pair of moose in a creek!
Day 5, we drove to Cody. We saw a fun Ghostbuster Mobile that was for sale! Even had Slimer as the passenger! We took a trolley tour, walked around downtown, went to The Cody Cattle Company dinner show. We enjoyed the day and the show was fun. On the way back to Yellowstone, we saw a bear on the road! It was late and really dark, Ed said “Bear!” and I said “Oh My Gawd!” LOL You can betcha I slowed down after that scare!
It isn’t easy to see the bear, but we did catch him briefly on the dash cam
Day 6 & 7, I was feeling ill with what I am pretty sure was a kidney stone. It was the weekend and we usually try to stay out of the public on weekends.
Day 8, we drove the perimeter of the entire park. We went up on a diversion drive that we had read often bears are seen, but we didn’t see any bears. We stopped in West Yellowstone, walked around downtown, had lunch and went to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center.
We enjoyed our day and on the way back to the campground, we saw a black bear! This is the best photo I got of it…it is right above and a tiny bit to the left of the large rock. We pulled over a bit down the river from it and there were rangers making sure no one got too close.
Ed was helping me find a letterbox here 😉
Day 9, we went to the Canyon Area all afternoon and evening…this has been the best day so far! We really enjoyed all of our adventures this day!
Day 10, we went to the Teddy Roosevelt Lodge for breakfast. It was quite good! The lodge and cabins are nice. We then drove through Lamar Valley. We drove up to Slough Creek and saw eagles nesting. There were lots of bison. We ended the day at Mammoth where we had supper.
Day 11, I was feeling very ill, so I stayed at the camper all day. Ed was a sweetheart and picked up supper at the little campground store grill. The food was excellent, however VERY pricey!
Day 12, We got up early and drove to Cody. We went to the Buffalo Bill Museum, which is an amazing museum! We then drove the Beartooth Highway the opposite way, from Red Lodge and it had much nicer views! When we got back into Yellowstone we saw a grizzly! We also got stuck in several bison jams.
This photo is Ed helping me search for a letterbox again. I love this man more than I can ever express.
The view is stunning!
Day 13, We stayed at the camper, packed, cleaned and prepared to move. We had a great time at Yellowstone. Looking back, I realize some folks would probably think we didn’t do much IN the park, but we did. We have been here before and will be returning, so we tried to take it easy and enjoy our time. We avoided the crowded areas and were not interested in seeing things we saw last time which tended to be the most crowded areas. We also figured out that we want to invest in a scope and a better camera lens to get the far away wildlife shots! LOL
Next stop, Riverton, WY…