Tetons, Yellowstone, and the Big Horn Mountains

Wrapping up the travelogue for our trip west in the spring of 2009...

We packed up and left Afton, Wyoming the next morning, going through Thayne, where we had breakfast at...of all places...a pizza place. But this pizza place also served a very traditional and very delicious breakfast. Our route then took us on through Etna and Alpine.

Outside of Alpine, we took U.S. 26 northeast to Swan Valley, Idaho. There were lots of Osprey in that area, many with nests on the tops of poles or in the cliffs along the highway. Since they are fishing hawks, the large Palisades Reservoir and the Snake River were certainly part of the attraction for them.

Osprey

At Swan Valley, we took Idaho 31 to Victor, Idaho and Idaho 22 to Wilson, Wyoming. Then we took 390 to Teton Village and on into Grand Teton National Park. We'd never seen that section of the park before, so that was interesting, in spite of the nasty weather.

Grand Tetons

We drove on through the Tetons and entered Yellowstone National Park through the south entrance. It was June 2, and we had never visited Yellowstone this early in the season. We were a little surprised to find deep snow still lining the sides of the road and ice still on Lewis Lake.

We drove on to West Yellowstone, Montana, where we got a room and spent the night.

It was pretty cold and dreary the next morning, so we decided not to linger in Yellowstone but to start for home, taking time to visit a few of our favorite sites on the way out of Yellowstone, including the Artist's Point overlook of Yellowstone Canyon and Lower Falls.

Yellowstone Canyon and Lower Falls

We left Yellowstone by way of the east exit, which is a beautiful drive. Much of the beauty was hidden by low clouds that day, but we did see some wildlife.

Duck

Big Horn Sheep

When we reached Cody, Doug stopped at the Cody Dam to stretch his legs and to get some pictures.

At Cody Dam

By the time we left Cody, the clouds were breaking up; and blue sky and sunshine were showing through. But that ended when we reached the Big Horn Mountains. The clouds and drizzle returned, making for a harried trip over and through the mountains. But the upside was that the foggy haze seemed to bring the wild animals out in abundance up there.

Moose in Big Horn Mountains

Elk in Big Horn Mountains

Our stop that night in Sheridan, Wyoming officially ended our vacation. For the next two days, we were "homing," with no stops for photographs.

It's been fun sharing this trip here on the blog. It was one of our best vacations to date, and it was fun reliving it as I posted about it here.