On Thursday, we drove back to the East Entrance of Yellowstone, our fourth trip on this road. We only stopped once in the park on this day, at LeHardys Rapids on the Yellowstone River. I saw on eBird that Harlequin Ducks are seen there regularly, but on this morning, I could only find a single female. Still … I also finally saw a Dipper.
We drove south out of the park on the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway and into Grand Teton National Park. We never planned on staying long. Our goal was to see the mountains. Here are some of the places (north to south) from where we did just that. They are beautiful, of course, but we still can’t see what the French dudes who names the place imagined they saw.
We stopped at Colter Bay Village, walked around a bit, bought some souvenirs, and, rather spontaneously, decided to eat lunch at the John Colter Ranch House restaurant. We split a burger, a order of nachos, and a piece of huckleberry cheesecake. It was ridiculously expensive, as all food in National Parks is. It was also very tasty, as all food (that I’ve had anyway) in National Parks generally is.
As we drove south through the park, we saw some Bison and a few of the famous Jackson Hole Elk. We also stopped at an overlook above the Snake River, where Ansel Adams took his famous photo. There was a sign board telling exactly where he stood.
Here’s his photo.
Here’s mine.
Naturally, I took it in color. The clouds added a dramatic element.
My wife wanted to see Jackson, so we drove through town without stopping. I know there’s more to Grand Teton than that, but we’d seen what we came to see. Our route south through Wyoming was amazing at first, and we figured we’d lucked on another drive as pretty as our destination, but things soon flattened out. Before we got to our hotel in Rock Springs, the world was flat and brown and dull. We bought McDonald’s and ate it in our room. I wandered around Rock Springs in search of birds, but saw nothing worth the walk.