DAY 15 AND 16 - YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

We arrived in Yellowstone via the south entrance and worked our way northwest, going thru the park and seeing many elk and bison along the way. We stopped at Old Faithful to watch it for awhile, and then ventured into the Old Faithful Inn for a drink and appetizers in the bar. In Wyoming, kids can go into the bars with their parents so we pulled up a table in the "Bear Pit" bar and broke out the cards! It was a blast playing hucklebuck in this historical place, just like many many generations before us have done!

We then traveled west to our condo in West Yellowstone - thanks, Mom and Dad!

The next day we toured the park going north, stopping at Mud Volcanos and awesome waterfalls. In fact, as we were going back to our car, a giant bull buffalo was walking thru the parking lot!!! We kind of hurried into the car....

Then we went to Canyon, where we did a one hour horseback ride thru the wilderness, again passing a gian buffalo! We had lunch at the historic Lake Yellowstone Lodge at Lake Yellowstone, then had to come all the way back the same way as they have closed the road connecting the north to the west entrance. This takes about 2.5 hours one way!

Everyone has had an unbelievable time, but because we are very far from most of the attractions, we are going to head home today - one day early. We have a 10-12 hour drive ahead of us and the girls really miss their new puppy, Griffy. So we are on the road home!!!

DAY 14 - JACKSON HOLE, WY & GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK

Robb and Lisa at Grand Teton National Park.

We had a long, 8 hour drive from Zion to Jackson, WY - but we saw some beautiful countryside along the way and Robb was able to procure a few fireworks in Wyoming! Lisa had visited Jackson as a child, but it does not look the same - it is said that the "billionaires are squeezing out the millionaires" now. Lisa was supposed to paraglide here, but when we showed up at the tram, they told us the winds were going in the wrong direction so they canceled the flights!!! Bummer!!!

We took the new tram up to the top of the mountain, about 10,000 feet and an exilarating ride! There is a waffle house up there, so the girls enjoyed some hot brown sugar waffles while Robb and Lisa looked at the awesome Teton Mountains.

Then it was off to Grand Teton National Park and driving through there is the most gorgeous scenery yet! We definitely would like to come back here someday and ski and stay longer.

Then it was off to Yellowstone Park- our last stop!

Grand Teton National Park - where is Mr Bill???

Brooke and Shelby in front of the arch of elk antlers in downtown Jackson, WY.

Lisa visited this same Chapel of the Transfiguration as a kid on a road trip in the 1970's! It looks the same!

DAY 12 AND 13 - ZION NATIONAL PARK, UTAH

We arrived at Zion in the early afternoon and took the free shuttle around the park to give us an idea of how we wanted to spend our next day. We decided on two things: Angels Landing hike in the morning, and hiking up the Narrows Canyon in the afternoon.

The next morning, we forgot there was a time change here, so we left an hour later than we had hoped! It was still fine, as the temperatures here are about 10 degrees below normal, so the high was only going to be in the low 90's.

We think the girls had a fun time going up Angels Landing, as it was much shorter than Half Dome and the trail had 3 distinct difficulties: the first third was pretty flat, the middle third was 21 switchbacks and definite elevation gain, and the final third was hiking along the , at times, 3-6 foot wide trail with drop offs on one side of over 800 feet, and over 1200 feet on the other! Thankfully, there were chains in the rocks that you could hold on to! (in most places...). The views from the top were amazing and we spent some time up there enjoying it.

After lunch at beautiful Zion Lodge, we headed to the end of the road and the Zion Narrows hike. This starts with an easy one mile trail up the canyon and from there you are pretty much walking in a small river all the way up the canyon, as the canyon walls start to "narrow" - thus its name. We all had a blast, especially the girls who searched out the deep spots in the river, just so they could get cooled off . We hiked appox. 2.5 miles up, then turned around but you can go as much as 10 miles up. Brooke would like to come back and do the entire canyon next time!

Next stop - Jackson, Wyoming.

Miles traveled: 2800 and counting...

Angels Landing hike is a 5 mile round trip hike with an elevation gain of 1800 feet - not so bad after Half Dome!