It's Time For....A Drive Through Yellowstone and Crack of Don Adventures! Days 3 and Day 4

 

Day 3...A Drive Through Yellowstone

On Day 3, we checked out of the Teton Mountain Lodge and began our Yellowstone adventure. We love the Tetons and always start our trip at the Teton Mountain Lodge. We also always add some kind of new adventure to the trip. For this much anticipated trip, we knew we all needed to just relax and spend time away from Virginia. We wanted to spend the bulk of our time in the Tetons and only have a short side adventure.

We had previously driven through Lamar Valley in Yellowstone and it was a haven for bison herds. Don wanted to spend some time there this trip, so I worked my magic and we found a hotel in Cooke City, Montana right outside the northeast entrance of Yellowstone. 

We left bright and early, hoping to be at our only desired stop inside Yellowstone before the crowds started. 

It was a beautiful sunrise as we headed into the Tetons. We have to drive about 1 1/2 hours through the Tetons to get to the south entrance to Yellowstone. As we started approaching Yellowstone, we started seeing some Bison.

We stopped at Oxbow Bend in the Tetons for some beautiful early morning sightseeing.

Katie quickly decided that it was too early for her and she knew we had a good 2 hours ahead of us on the road, so she decided to enjoy the journey...sleeping. :)

We headed onward and reached Yellowstone right on time (our hopeful time schedule) and headed straight to Grand Prismatic Spring. We wanted to beat the crowds because we know the parking lots will get full fast. 

We reached the lot at about 8:30 am and got one of the last parking spots at the Fairy Falls lot. We parked here to hike up to the overlook, hoping to see the spring and all of its rainbow colors from high up.  We hiked up and the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, and we couldn't see the colors - it was still neat to see it from above.

Not my picture! This is what it could look like if the wind wasn't blowing...

This is what we saw! Oh well....

My picture!

We made a few more stops on the lower loop of Yellowstone. We backtracked to Old Faithful for a bit. We actually spent the night in the Old Faithful Inn a few years ago, so it was a quick stop.

The girls quickly passed out as we continued our drive through Yellowstone. Our final destination was the northeast entrance and Cooke City. We were hoping to get some fun bison pictures in Lamar Valley.

Below is a map of Yellowstone and the green highlights our drive and trip with blue marking our various stops.

Our goal was to get to Mammoth and take a break and then exit the North Entrance into Gardiner for lunch. I love driving through Yellowstone because the landscape changes dramatically as you work your way around the figure eight.

Angel Terrace was one of my favorites in the Mammoth area. It looked like another land. Very surreal!

We then headed out the north entrance and had a great lunch at the Wonderland Cafe.

We had to stop at the Roosevelt Arch - the official entrance to Yellowstone from Gardiner and take some pictures.

We were now headed towards the Lamar Valley. Again a totally different type of landscape, lots of open space, sage bushes and grass for the Bison to eat.

We found them and continued our drive out the Northeast Entrance into Cooke City for our two night stay. We knew we had the whole next day to play with the bison, so we ventured forth.

We checked into our hotel room and found dinner. We ate at the Miners Saloon. It was definitely a locals hangout and had great food. 

huge pizza!!

After dinner we headed back to the room. It had been a long day and we were going to beat the sun to the bison in the morning, so it was an early to bed night.

Day 4..Crack of Don Adventures!

The Rahn Family has joked for many years about how we travel and we love to get up early for our travels. We always vacation very hard! We are constantly making memories and relax when we get home. The phrase "Crack of Don Adventures" surfaced as we began planning these early morning events. This day was no different!

We had our alarms set for 5:00 am and luckily the bakery/coffee shop right next to the hotel opened at 5:00. We got breakfast sandwiches and coffee and we were off!

We drove back into Yellowstone - about 5 minutes from our hotel and a few miles down the road was this guy, just waiting for us. You can see further ahead that there are a few more.

One of the joys of getting stuck in a Yellowstone traffic jam is that you can get up close and personal with the bison, without risking your life. You just have to hope that when they decide to move, it is away from your car and not into it.

After the "traffic" cleared, we drove further down and just sat and watched. Lamar Valley is basically a bison village. Lots of big guys and also many babies.  They just roam around, sometimes run and often move as a herd.

this guy was right outside my car window - no zooming in to get the pic. He was RIGHT there.

These guys were sparring a bit, in the middle of the road.

After spending a few hours in Lamar Valley, we headed a little further and decided to see what the Petrified Tree was all about.

Signs like this in Yellowstone and the surrounding area are no joke! We turned around and retraced our steps to get back to Cooke City and some lunch.

The first town outside the Northeast Entrance is Silver Gate. We decided to stop and wander for a few minutes. Literally a few minutes, the town is about 3 blocks long and the sign says population of 269.

This little store was fun!

Yes! WE bought a goat! :) And then we walked across the street and entered the Stop the Car Trading Post. We had a great conversation with the owner and got a milkshake. I love visiting these small towns and talking with the locals. The stories that they have to share are so fun to hear.

Silver Gate was no different! Katie and I pointed at a random bison hanging out by one of the stores and she explained to us that his name is Jackson. He is a wild bison that has been hanging out in Silver Gate for about 10 years now and the locals basically adopted him and gave him his name. He leaves for a few months during the cold season, and always comes back.

We thought it was cool that he meandered over to the sign and posed for us!

Then it was back to the hotel to relax before dinner. Carleigh and I had a little happy hour with some Hard Huckleberry Lemonade that we found in Silver Gate.

We had a nice dinner and then decided to venture back into the Lamar Valley for sunset. It was definitely worth it. We stayed and watched the herd "live" for quite a while. Carleigh and Katie loved watching the babies run and play in the fields.

As we turned around and were heading back to Cooke City, the sun started setting and it was beautiful!

Notice the "traffic jam"

Day 4 started with sunrise and a bison traffic jam and ended with sunset and another bison traffic jam. Crack of Don Adventures didn't disappoint! It was a great day and filled our bison bucket! 

Tomorrow will be a road trip day back to Jackson and the Teton Mountain Lodge. We are going to venture into more new territory and take the scenic route through Idaho to get back. By driving through Idaho and stopping at a few attractions, we can check another state off of our list!

Stay tuned as the Don and I celebrate 22 years with a road trip through Idaho! What better way to celebrate our wedding anniversary, than by visiting new places and making new memories!

After all, it's SELDOM A DULL MOMENT with the RAHNS!