Trip - Day 3

July 15, 2017

We left early from Riverton, and drove on into the Grand Tetons National Park.   On the way, we stopped in Dubois http://duboiswyoming.org/ , and had an interesting visit in the Welty General Store https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welty%27s_General_Store.  The person working in the store was generous with her time, history, and information about the store and Dubois https://windriver.org/communities/dubois/.  There was an old mine opening in the hill across the street.  There was a National Big Horn Sheep Interpretive Center in Dubois  https://www.bighorn.org/, but when we learned there were no live Big Horn Sheep in the center, we opted out. 

When we drove through the Grand Tetons we did not stop often at overlooks or turnouts to read what could be learned.
 

We did stop at a visitor’s center https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/ctdvc.htm,  got some lunch, and made the drive up an alternate route, closer to the mountains themselves.  As we drove down toward Jackson, I told my traveling companion one turnout explained about the glaciers.  She questioned having glaciers in the mountains.  I also explained to her about taking an alternate route to get back on 287 to go to Yellowstone National Park.  It took talking to a park ranger who explained the same things for her to accept the information.  

As we drove north through the Grand Tetons, my traveling companion remarked that this was unlike the Rockies in Colorado because you could drive right into the mountains.  I reminded her, more than once, that the Grand Tetons are part of the Rockies, and I had told her before even planning the trip, that we would have to get out and walk around to see things, not just drive around. Well, we did take a couple of scenic routes in the Grand Tetons, including up to the summit of Signal Mountain, which was more of what she was looking for.

When we arrived at the Yellowstone, my traveling companion was more pleased because we were in the mountains with hills and forest around us.  And she did stop at overlooks and turnouts to get out and see what the attraction was.  We did see elk:  I saw two, a young one, and a large bull with a good rack of antlers.  She saw the latter.  We also saw lots of Bison, near where we were staying at Lake Village http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/lodging/summer-lodges/lake-lodge-cabins/, and along the road side as we drove to Canyon Village https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/canyonplan.htm.  At Fishing Bridge https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/fishingbridgecg.htm , we went to a visitor’s center, and the park ranger helped us to map out how to plan to do everything we wanted to do over the next few days.  That was really good.

Our cabin at Lake Lodge was small.  There is no TV, no air conditioning, no cell phone or internet service.   We moved all of our stuff in for the night, but will transfer some back to the car in the morning, especially the cooler, a light jacket or warm shirt, and our walking bags.

Today was a very long day, but a very productive and fulfilling one for me.  I know vacations are supposed to be restful, but I could have rested at home.