Grand Teton National Park

Yesterday we drove south out of Yellowstone passing through part of Grand Teton National Park on our way to our hotel in Jackson.

Part of the Teton Range - late afternoon

View from Ox Bow bend

Today the temperature ranged from 7-11C - freezing, and also drizzling.  But we had a great day - went hiking near Jenny Lake and saw a moose only a few metres away.  Then on our drive to Signal Mountain we were lucky enough to see a mother bear half climb a tree to signal to her cub who obediently descended the whole tree - all captured on my video camera.  We also ticked off pika and chipmunk from our list of must-see wildlife.

Dressed for the rain and cold

A moose munching on a shrub

 Baby black bear descending a tree

Jackson lake

Entrance to the park in Jackson - made from elk antlers all collected (by boy scouts) in 1960.  Every year the males shed their antlers.

Day 3 in Yellowstone - Mammoth Springs and Lamar Valley

We moved yesterday from a cabin in West Yellowstone to a motel in Gardiner, near the north entrance of the park.   Today  we saw the  travertine terraces at Mammoth Springs  (many  of which are rather disappointing),  had  a mid-day rest while the rain pelted down, and then at dusk drove to the Lamar Valley in the hope of seeing wildlife.  Maybe the rain scared off the wolves and coyotes because we only saw a herd of bison.  Plus a lot of pretty scenery.
I managed to get pulled over by the police for doing 48mph in a 35mph zone - I was out of Mammoth driving to Gardiner and thinking the limit was 45mph as it is in most of Yellowstone.  But on that section it´s only 35. I got let off with a warning but no doubt my details are now on file.  We have now put the GPS back in use even though we don´t need it for navigation in the park - it displays both the speed your are going AND the speed limit. Good stuff.

 View of Mammoth Springs from the terraces 

A mound built up from mineral-rich water flowing from the spring

In search of wildlife at dusk - Lamar Valley

Day 2 in Yellowstone - the geyser areas

 

 The photos speak for themselves - the large erupting geyser is old Faithful which we saw erupt 3 times.

Letter from America 2

So from Salt Lake City we drove north to Brigham City for the night. Home of mormon-founder Brigham Young. We even visited a Tabernacle and chatted to the pleasant Mormons. But did not convert (I dont believe in Archangel Moroni).
But one could easily live and enjoy life in Utah. It even claims to have the best snow (300-500 inches of it) in the world just near Salt Lake City.

Yellowstone National Park (home of Yogi Bear) is our first main destination. It is big – really big. The Grand Canyon (of Yellowstone) is a knockout but the geysers and mudpools have been a bit of a fizzer (literally). Maybe Old faithful or some of the other 10,000 geysers, spurts and plops will excite us tomorrow. But we have seen bison, elk, squirrels, ospreys and other wildlife. Something for everyone.

We are lashing out on night-time entertainment. 12 bucks each to see a (very) amateurish production of Calamity Jane in West Yellowstone town. The highlights were having the cast sell drinks etc at interval and also forming a double line of honour out in the street to thank the audience as they left. (They also strolled into our restaurant earlier that night to sing songs and advertise the show). A little different to home.

Letters from America – by the resurrected Alistair Cooke of Karma Avenue

Well we made it after a 14 hr trip with United who really were not too bad despite their old 747s and old entertainment technology. But we got almost no sleep. Kitty borrowed my noise-cancelling headphones for 5 minutes. An hour later she asked why the fiilm had music but no voices. She had knocked the channel change from Ch 1 to Ch 2 ! Not a good test of the headphones

First impressions of the US The folks in Utah seem pretty friendly, laid back, and fairly content. NO signs of guns. NEWSFLASH on radio. A man went to hospital due to a large growth on his neck. Doctors discovered he had a bullet in his neck. The guy recalled that 5 years earlier at a New Years Party he felt a sharp sting in his neck but was so drunk he forgot about it. He had been shot in the neck. And they call us yobbos.

Well Utah is a bit like say the outback and Flinders Ranges – only somewhat more populated but still peaceful. Nice pleasant sceenery. It is quite warm in the day and cold at night. TIP No. 1 for travelliing by car – beg, borrow or steal a GPS with US maps. We stole Jonathan's Tom-Tom. The GPS is the world´s best invention for travellers. Without it we would be totally lost and trying to find our way blindly in Divorce County. The Tom-Tom works brilliantly whether it is getting us to a hotel 8 blocks way (but who knows where or in which direction) or navigating dirt roads up some desolate mountain. A must.

Anyway the travelling has begun in earnest. Today we will cover 4 states – Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Only about 16 extra days to cover them all.