I have a tradition of going to Yellowstone/Jackson for my birthday in October. I haven't been able to go for the past 2 years so I begged Dan to take me this year. We invited my parents to come so I could have them all to myself for a few days, plus they are a hoot to travel with. We drove up to Idaho Thursday morning and made our traditional stop at Butterburr's in Pocatello. I always order the same thing and Dan always ventures out.
We always try to meet up with one of my old friends from Pocatello and this time we got to meet up with my old roommate/co-worker/ Vanessa. I can't way enough good things about Vanessa and I wish I would have taken a picture! We used to work at Mrs. Powell's together and I think I have laughed more laughs with Vanessa than anyone else in Pocatello. It was so good to catch up with her.
We also stopped at our favorite store in Poky called Westwood Discount. This place is one of a kind and really deserves a post all its own (I'll save that for another time) It's basically a closeout store that sells the most random crap you can imagine. I'm talking about stuff from your childhood that you didn't think existed anymore. Well my friends, it exists at Westwood Discount.
We made it up to West Yellowstone that night and checked into our fabulous hotel. The next morning we set off for Mammoth hot springs.
My favorite part of Mammoth hotsprings was watching a park ranger catch and ticket a man (who was not from the USA) for walking off of the boardwalk. The man's excuse was that he saw someone else go off the boardwalk, which got the ranger even more mad. The man had set his tripod off quite a ways off the boardwalk and he got in big trouble. SO. If you go to Yellowstone, follow the rules or PAY.
We also hit up the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which was spectacular as always! One of the nice things about having 2 days for the park was being able to stop at all the visitor's centers and watch movies and look at the exhibits. The sun was setting in all these pictures and made it almost impossible to get some good pictures, but this is what we got.
I forgot to add that Dan got after an idiot who had climbed over the railing and was scaling some rocks to take a picture. He started screaming at him (and yes, we saw him slip and if he would have slipped a few more feet we would have watched him fall to his death) and when the guy kept going down the rocks he screamed "You got 10 seconds to get back up or I'm calling the ranger on you man!" At that point the man got back up to where he belonged and I think he should have thanked Dan for saving his life.
We had a wonderful time the next day visiting all the hot pots and mudpots and even got to see Old Faithful go off! The trees were INSANELY gorgeous. I just drank it all in. Jackson Hole was spectacular and I wish we would have had more time to stop at all the lakes and hikes, but it was nice to drive through the beautiful mountains.
It was very nice to get away from life and work and just soak up all the beauty. We saw lots of animals and of course lots of beautiful scenery and I can't wait to go back!!!
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