We have been home for almost 2 weeks now and I thought I would give you a summary of the last week of the trip.
We had 3 of my wife's (and my) friends join us on Tuesday. I had the day to myself as my wife waited at camp for the our friends to arrive. I was able to watch elk in a frost covered meadow for a couple of hours in the morning. I then went to the Upper Geyser Basin where I watched some of my favorite geysers erupt.
Wednesday was very wet and cold. We toured a few of the smaller geyser basins and spent several hours inside the magnificent Old Faithful Inn. We returned to camp and spent time in the trailer.
Thursday we took the long drive to the Lamar Valley. We saw amazing wildlife, including pronghorn, buffalo, black tail deer, elk, coyote, and a moose. We also saw a great horned owl on the way back to camp in the evening. That was only the third one I have seen in all my trips to Yellowstone. The moose was a really exciting find. I have read reliable reports about him over the last few years, but had not seen him until this trip. It is great to see moose finally starting to recover from the fires of 1988.
Friday was spent at the Upper Geyser Basin. We were able to share watching Castle, Lion, Old Faithful, and Grand geysers eruptions with our friends.
Our friends, departed on Saturday, driving through the Tetons. We drove down with them and had a wonderful lunch together at the String Lake picnic area. We split up after lunch with some going for a hike on the String Lake trail and two of us taking a wheelchair/hike to the Lake Jenny overlook. We all enjoyed our time in the tetons. After our friends departed for home, I took a short ride along the bike path at the base of the Tetons. It was the first mostly sunny day we had had in long time, though was quite cold.
On Sunday, Lori stayed at the trailer and packed for our trip home while I drove to Mammoth hot springs and then to the Lamar Valley. It was a wonderful day of wildlife watching and I again saw the bull moose we had seen earlier.
We drove home Monday and Tuesday. It was a long drive and I was pretty well drained when we got home. I slept quite a bit for a week once we got home!
I am so grateful that I was able to do this trip. It could be the last, as it was very difficult. I can still drive, but everything just takes so much out of me. I am sure I will change my mind by the time our spring trip comes around next year. In fact, we have already booked reservations for the end of May into June
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Steve
