Jackson Hole and Yellowstone Getaway

For my 50th, yes I said 50th, birthday this year, Dave wanted to indulge me by taking me somewhere on a trip.  I told him that I love Yellowstone, know that the kids aren't that crazy about going there, and that was where I wanted to go.  I looked on-line and starting the weekend we could go, every place anywhere near the park was booked solid.  I then thought of Jackson Hole, someplace I have never been and have always wanted to go.  I was able to book two nights at The Rustic Inn in Jackson.  I was picturing Jackson Hole being just a hop, skip and a jump from Yellowstone, which it is not!  Yellowstone is at least an hour north of Jackson, but you drive through Grand Teton National Park, which was spectacular, so the drive was extremely scenic.  We spent Saturday afternoon checking out the area in Grand Teton and then had a wonderful dinner at the Rustic Inn in the bar.  We made friends with Shawn, the bar tender (and Katie, Kim and Carl the next night).  The cabins at the Rustic Inn were wonderful, very nice and very new - I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Jackson.  

Dave in front of hot springs in Mammoth.

The falls in the Grand Canyon of theYellowstone.

Baby bison.... cute!

Dave at Mammoth Hot Springs.

The view of the falls from Artist Point.

Sunday morning, we got up pretty early (for me!) and hit the road to Yellowstone.  Once we got to the south entrance of the park, it was snowing!  We traveled through snow showers and made it to Old Faithful, where it still lightly snowed off and on.  I wanted to see the very north loop of the park, since that's the part we missed the last time we were there.  We made it to Mammoth Hot Springs, hiked up the side of the mountain and back down, looking for Minerva Hot Springs, had lunch and then headed back down the east side of the park.  Although it wasn't the best weather, it was quite pleasant and we were glad it wasn't really hot.  We looked and looked for moose, but never did see any.  Saw tons of bison and bison babies, elk and also saw, through binoculars, a wolf eating another animal way far away on the other side of the Yellowstone River.  The park didn't seem overly crowded for the most part and after 11 hours of driving, we headed back to Jackson.  The most spectacular thing we saw was one of the falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from Artist Point- it was breathtaking!  Yellowstone and Grand Teton are so beautiful and amazing - we are so lucky to have these national treasures practically in our backyard.  There were people there from all over the world and it really made me appreciate these two parks.  I can't wait to go back!