Day 5

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

We really hated to leave Yellowstone, but it was time to press on.  And, frankly, that became the theme of the whole trip.  Everywhere we went, we would have loved to stay a week or more.  Planning the trip we had to make a choice: see a few places in-depth, or see as much as we reasonably could, and we went for the latter.

This trip, (though I joke that it felt kind of like drinking from a fire-hydrant!), was more of a smorgasbord.  Lots of things on the menu, but just a sample of each.  I know I'll want to come back to many of these places, and hope the boys will have the opportunity as well.

The fall colors were coming on, especially at the higher elevations.  Plain old, beautiful grass.

Goodbye, bison.

I lobbied for exploring one more place - Biscuit Basin - on our way south through Yellowstone.  The boys were still enthusiastically urging me to take pictures of everything that burbled and gurgled and bubbled up water :D

And the colors just took my breath away.

 

 

I had suggested Biscuit Basin because, after my disappointment at Morning Glory Pool, I spotted the name "Sapphire Pool" on the park map, and hoped to see, and show the boys the beautiful turquoise and blues I remembered.

Success!  In spite of steam, in the 43F temp, we feasted our eyes on this.  And nobody dove in ;D

Our route took us south through the Tetons, and what a glorious day to see them!  A perfect day for a picnic, on the shores of Jackson Lake.

Ahhh, the fall colors.  We were looking for moose, but I think what we saw was just a big... rock.

I really think I could love living here...

And I would go to this church - the Chapel of the Transfiguration.  Another of my childhood memories.

Unbelieveable.  The scenery, and - of course - those handsome boys ;D

The interior of the chapel is all hand-carved wood, with soft light.

Can you imagine worshiping with this view, every Sunday??

We drove south through Jackson, home of the (in?)famous Antler arches.  Some of today's pics are from Kerry's video cam - slight difference in quality/resolution.

Then we headed west, over Teton Pass.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.

Beautiful?  Definitely.  Steep?  Just a little!  10% grade, the sign said, but I think it was more.  Maybe that was an average.  Can you see the road, in the background, we had just come up?  We stopped a couple of times, to give the engine - and later, the brakes - a break.

Time for a "pit stop" - with a nice view of the Snake River... or an off-shoot of it, anyway.

When I was a kid and we were traveling through Idaho Falls, we had a reservation at a Motel 6.  And they gave it away.  We got there to find no room at the inn.  My mom had probably had her fill of a car full of kids and she gave the manager "the mom look" and said, "Well then, where are you going to put us?"  Or something to that effect.

And the happy result of that mix-up was a stay in the nicest hotel we kids had ever seen, and fun memories of playing in the large and unique pool.  It had an island, made of rocks.  Very cool.

So, I had to find it.

What it was called back then we have no idea, but we all remembered that it was tall and round.

Now it's a Red Lion.  They put us on the 8th floor, much to the boys' delight.  You can see the (little) Idaho Falls, just over Gunnar's arm.

Though the pool has been redone, and is just an ordinary rectangle, it was pretty good size for a hotel pool, and the boys were thrilled to swim and jump and blow off energy with Dad and Grandpa :D

But the highlight of Gunnar's day may have come in the gift shop, at the Tetons.  He finally found a Schleich bird of prey - an owl - in a flight pose.  Looks like it's about to fly off with his pencil, as he was writing his journal before bed :D

Day 5 Miles : 224          Total : 1354