7th through the 9th

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Drove into the Fishing Bridge RV Park today, it's one of about 6 or 8 camping areas within Yellowstone.  There was deep snow everywhere; it looked like wintertime.  After we got set up in our new space, dad suggested we go out to eat at one of the more fancy restaurants, so we went to the office to make a reservation. Our reservation was at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel, the second oldest building in the park (and a massive one at that O_O), but wasn't until 6, so we went and fooled around for awhile, looking around in the Fishing Bridge's visitor center, and browsing in various shops. For dinner that night, i had what they called "Game Sliders" or basically, little burgers made of 3 different animals (one elk, one antelope and one buffalo) and dad had Bison Tenderloin, a steak made of buffalo. Dad also got the Pate' sampler, he liked it more than i did. Oh! i forgot to mention, when we pulled in today, there was another WV couple right beside us from New Martinsville, one a retired teacher, and one a retired principal. After dinner dad was going to invite them over to the RV for awhile, but ended up visiting them instead.

Norris to Canyon highway enroute to Fishing Bridge RV Park



Yellowstone Lake and beach at Fishing Bridge Visitors Center




Fishing Bridge Visitors Center -- 1931 Yellowstone architecture

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

 Today we got up really early (around 7 or 8ish AM) to see a few more sights before we pulled out, that being the Lower Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The views were a sight to see from the different points, but were obscured a lot by the fog.

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone in morning mist

View downstream below Lower Falls in Yellowstone Canyon

Lower Falls in mist at upper end of Yellowstone Canyon

Yellowstone Canyon from Inspiration Point Overlook

When we were finally done sightseeing, we headed back to the camper and got mostly ready to leave. I say mostly because dad said the couple wanted to see the inside of the RV before we left. They came over and dad and the two chatted for awhile, a little past the checkout time actually. After we got packed up and hooked the car on, we headed south out of Yellowstone (a looooong drive) heading for the Grand Tetons national park. After looking in the Woodalls book, we found a campground called the "Grand Tetons RV Resort" It was only about 6 miles away from the park and seemed to have all the amenities we were looking for. When we got there however, we turned right around, not only was the service unorganized, but almost all the sites were not level, soft, and a mess. So we opted for another of course, we finally decided on one called "The Virginian" down in Jackson, which is not too far from the south entrance of the park. Well, this one was much better, well organized, next to a hotel, and the views from around the place were much much better than the other one.  It rained most of Wednesday afternoon and night.

Entering Grand Tetons National Park

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Today it was raining and we were sick of seeing scenery, so we decided to have a day to just mess around in the town of Jackson. Dad wanted a haircut, so the first thing we did was find a barbershop, we went through about 3 that were fully booked before finding one, and at not too bad a price either. (in fact, it was about what we'd pay at home) after that we roamed the downtown area, looking in the various shops and photo galleries. You probably wouldn't believe how many professional galleries there are around here, we went in about 3 but we passed like 4 or 5 more. We ate out tonight at what I think has been the best place we've been to so far, the Cadillac Grill. The place itself looks like some gourmet restaurant, but most everyone was dressed casually. The food is a mixture of western, wild game, and higher class meals. We had probably the best seared Ahi dish ever for an appetizer, I had a pasta with artichokes and chicken in a pesto sauce, and dad had their flat iron steak special of the night. The only complaint we had was that the deserts we got were not really at the right temperature (a tiramisu and creme brulee)

Under the antler arch in downtown Jackson, WY