We slept in this morning. Until 5:30. Was on the road a little after 6am. The fog hung at the base of the mountains like a layer of cotton and it is mesmerizing to me. Within ten minutes down the road we were already pulling over. I mean, really, who can resist taking an image like this?

It completely changes the landscape and it’s irresistible to me. Our first real stop was Black Tail Ponds Overlook and for some reason we had not stopped there before. These two made the top of my list:

Since Schwabacher was completely fogged in yesterday and we just drove past we were hoping the clouds were parted just enough to get a decent shot in. Happily they did cooperate somewhat.

On the way to Jackson Lake Dam we were halted by a half dozen bison crossing the road right in front of us. We had heard about this. We had been waiting for this. We had seen them off in the distance but hadn’t found any up close and personal. It was very cool.

Not too much further down the road we spotted a heard of elk off in the distance doin’ their thing.

Finally we made it to Jackson Lake Dam. The clouds had been dumping on us on and off and we really didn’t know what it would look like by the time we got there. It wasn’t too bad but we didn’t spend too much time there because it started raining again.

It would be really nice to get a beautiful mirror image before we leave here on Saturday. Crossing our fingers. By now we had decided since we were this far north and Yellowstone was less than 30 miles away that we were going to get out of the Teton bubble and head up there. Honestly, with this weather, we’re kind of Tetoned out. Like I said before, this is just a different type of park than we’ve visited before (other than Joshua Tree and that was a drive through in a day, not a vacation). With the Tetons the views are all pretty similar, it’s just the foreground that changes. We have now seen them clouded in, clear with blue sky and shrouded in layers of clouds. Not much more we can do here, ya know? I guess we were just ready for a change of scenery, plus we’re really excited about Yellowstone! So we put the car in drive and the pedal to the metal!

Since we started at 6am we had done all the above and still made it to the entrance gate around 10am. Within minutes there were spots with snow on the ground and within another couple of minutes it was everywhere!! I couldn’t believe it! Some of it on the sides of the road was from the plowing but there was plenty of snow back in the trees that weren’t from that. I took some quick shots out the window while driving so these aren’t the greatest pictures but it gives you an idea of how much snow is still there waiting to melt.

It took another 45 minutes or so before we were at the West Geyser Basin, our first stop. It was an easy walk on a boardwalk around the hot, steamy and boiling springs. Some had beautiful colors and threw off enough steam to give you a facial and others just barely simmered, while a few actually boiled. It was pretty cool!

Walking back to the parking lot what do you imagine was strolling through … an elk! I guess these guys are so used to humans they really aren’t phased most of the time. The rangers stay pretty on top of this kind of stuff because people are simply idiots. But I was tickled to get my first shots close up.

Our next stop was Yellowstone Lake and since it was lunchtime we went into Yellowstone Lake Lodge. There were a ton of people in line to be seated. Large groups of people. I guess they travel in packs. Of course the dining room is used to this and it really didn’t take us long to be seated. The service was good, food was good and the view beautiful. That was about it though. Doesn’t seem to be too much to do there by the lodge. We expected more activities around the lake. On the way out we drove past a couple of bison just hanging out on a patch of grass minding their own business. We’d been waiting for a close up! And this guy was looking right at me. LOL

By this time we had put in a full day and had about 100 miles to get back “home.” We weren’t ten minutes down the road before we noticed a couple of cars pulled over – usually a sign there’s something to be seen. An elk was eating his way down the side of the road oblivious to all these nut cases trying to take a selfie with an elk in the background. SMH. There are just no words. It was pretty awesome, though I don’t mind saying.

Finally we made it back to Wilson for the afternoon and chilled a bit. Ordered a pizza from Calico, the restaurant we ate at last night and brought it back to the condo to eat. It’s supposed to be raining in the morning which is a wonderful excuse to really sleep in and have a lazy morning. I’m thoroughly looking forward to that. 🙂

Next day …