Jackson Hole & Yellowstone
Days 3–7
From Park City to Jackson Hole.
Driving out here is definitely part of the experience. The scenery is incredible! We keep pinching ourselves.
Here’s Shannon talking a little about it.
Once we got into Jackson we went right to my friend Stan’s house. The windows in his house look out to the Tetons. It’s really incredible. I’ve known Stan for about 20 years as we were both traders at the CBOE. My brother Joe is super close with him and Stan has taught us his 2 passions. The art of wine tasting and fly fishing. Stan is a world class fisherman and moved to Jackson Hole 3 years ago after visiting for 30+ years. We didn’t have enough time to go fishing with him, but before we left, Lauren and Shannon each tied a Wooly Bugger fly. They LOVED it. Stan gave us the insiders tour of some of the best spots to see the Tetons and wildlife. One spot to see Bison seemed as though there we none until Lauren got out her new drone. We got up close to about 20 of them even thought we were 800 meters away! I found out later that we weren’t supposed to do that. lol oops!
Yellowstone!
With a reservation at the Old Faithful Inn we stocked up on groceries and headed to the oldest and largest National Park. It’s 150 years old this year. Taking time to pull over when there’s an animal or sight to see it a big part of the experience.
Going to the Inn is an incredible experience. This giant timber building has a lobby area you could stare at for days.
We stayed in this room. It was awesome. Just one bed though. See that space between the bed and the window? That’s where I slept. :)
There is this outstanding 2nd floor deck to hang and watch Old Faithful. We hung out there, wrote in our journals and watched the old geyser erupt.
Bike Ride to see more Geysers
All of the staff at Yellowstone has been incredible. The employee culture they have here is clearly outstanding. Our waiter for dinner at the Old Faithful Restaurant was Greg. He’d been all over the world but his goal is to retire in New Zealand. Lauren wanted to give him $20 to help him to fly to New Zealand. He was certainly moved and was tearing up. He said he had to go to the kitchen before he really started crying. :)
Hiking to Mystic Falls
I asked as many people as I could this question:
What was something that we should do that might be a bit our of our comfort zone but had a wow factor that was worth it?
It was a lot of fun seeing people take this question seriously and come up with their favorite things to do. Easily the most popular answer was to hike to Mystic Falls. One of our most memorable parts of Yellowstone was this hike. It started with a hike up a 600ft mountain with spectacular views and ended with these incredible falls. Here’s some pictures.. Including some bear scat!
Lake Yellowstone Lodge is very nice. This bison agreed and wanted to come in.
Day 6
Yellowstone Canyon
We got up and headed to check out the “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone”. With 2 huge waterfalls and 1200ft cliffs. It is hard to describe. I didn’t remember this part when I was here 34 years ago so I was especially excited to see it on this trip. We started with breakfast while looking at the falls. There are 2 falls one if ~100ft and one ~300 ft. Just incredible. This might be the best place in the world to just sit and meditate. It’s called Artist Point. :)
Adventure + Scrapes = FUN! (right?)
Grand Prismatic
This is a giant hot spring pool just above Old Faithful. It stunning. Our goal was to snap a photo to blow up and put on the wall. What do you think?
Animals!
The wildlife did not disappoint. We saw about 50 elk and a couple of them had racks like this. Enormous! We also saw about 1,000 Bison. We had 30+ minute traffic jams because the Bison were in the road. I of course sang the Bills shout song to them and they loved me!
Feeling Grateful
Honestly…the beauty of this park whether it’s the land, the mountains, the volcanic activity, the water, and the wildlife, was something to reflect on. There’s a reason that people dream about Yellowstone. It just doesn’t disappoint. This is nature in its true beauty and the animals are an incredible part. In addition… the lodges are iconic.
How lucky are we are to be able to see this? To be here? All of the people who came before us (as well as those currently) woworked to make this a place for generations to come. It really makes you think of what can we do to ensure that our future generations can have amazing experiences.
Who wore it better?
The Journals
Next up… Days 7–11 at Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Lake Lodge.
