Yellowstone Vacation Day 5

DAY 5:

 Tuesday we packed up and left Mammoth Hot Springs.  We had a lot to see along the way but we would end up in Jackson Hole at the end of the day.  Tuesday's agenda was to visit Old Faithful and some of the other geysers at that area, see Grand Prismatic Springs, and a lot of other stops along the road.  Again the Gypsy app was so nice to have because it tells you so much information about the sights your seeing and tells you what is ahead so you know where to stop.  It was pretty chilly and windy on this day so we had to pull over at a picnic spot right away to add some layers!  We did see some pretty swans while we were stopped.

 

This was a little volcano on the side of the mountain.  It was a road side stop while we drove

This was a view of the road as we left Mammoth.  Hard to believe them building this road on the side of a mountain.

Our next stop was at Firehole Falls.  Its a pretty waterfall.  I remember seeing this in the winter all covered in snow.  Either way its definitely a pretty one.  In the summer there is an area where you can swim here.  

We made another quick stop at the Fountain Paint Pot.  We saw the paint pot and more geysers.  

Red Spouter is the one that is all 4 of the geo thermal features-Hot Spring, Mud pot, Fumerole, and geyser

Next stop was the big one-Old Faithful!  The kids were so excited for this one and we got there just in time to see Old Faithful go off.  

Kate wanted to be sure she had her iPad to take pics with

We had actually timed our visit to Old Faithful out just right because we were there in time to see Grand Geyser erupt as well.  This geyser actually is the tallest predictable geyser known and goes much higher than Old Faithful.  It only erupts every 6 hours.  We had to speed walk down to it (with Bryce having to detour in the trees for a bathroom break) and then we waited.  It is predictable but give or take 20+ mins and this time it was on the late side.  Just when we thought this thing may not be going off it just blew!  Where Old Faithful starts a little then gets higher and higher, this one just blows and starts out high.  It was fun to watch and it went off for a while.  

there was a traffic jam on the board walk walking back up, a bison had decided to take its time eating right at the walkway.  A park ranger made us all stop and after a while of watching it was clear this bison wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.  We had to turn around and go back another way.  It timed out that we got to see Old Faithful erupt again!

Next up was a stop at Grand Prismatic Springs.  I had been pretty excited about this one.  This particular spring was so colorful and there was now a walkway built that gave a good look from higher up.  It was a little bit of a hike but it was worth it to be able to see the colors. 

As we were walking back to the car I was going to get a picture of the kids on this bridge when all of the sudden Bryce looks down in the water and shouts, "trout!".  Sure enough he had somehow spotted a trout in the water.  This of course thrilled him to death.  They love trout fishing!

Trout!

It was about time for us to wrap up our time in Yellowstone and head to Jackson Hole.  We had walked a lot and were getting pretty tired.  We made 2 stops heading out of the park, one last geyser basin and one waterfall.   I think Kelly and I were the only ones who jumped out to see the waterfall.  Cohen may have but they were pretty tired.  

Cohen was enjoying a little steam facial!

Kepler Cascades

After leaving the park we did cross the Continental Divide and made a quick photo stop.  

After leaving Yellowstone National Park we were headed to Grand Teton National Park.  This park is absolutely beautiful!  The Teton Mountains are just gorgeous and no photo can ever do them justice even when the photo itself is pretty.  They are just the best back drop.  We were coming in around sunset and it was so pretty.  Our first sunset definitely didn't disappoint!   God is such an artist!

The sun shining out from behind that mountain was pretty breathtaking

Once the sun set we headed into the town of Jackson and got checked in to our final hotel-The Lexington.  We ate at the best mexican restaurant, The Merry Piglets.  All of us loved it and almost went back there the next night.  The kids loved our hotel in Jackson Hole.  I think they loved that it had more space for them to spread out and it was also our first hotel that had t.v.'s in the room.  You didn't have T.V. in the park.  We were all glad to have good internet service!  Day 5 was complete and lots of fun memories made!  Now we were ready to explore the Tetons.