Wednesday Sept 18 - Yellowstone
We got up at 6am and had coffee in the room - we went over to the food court to get some breakfast where there was a very slow moving line - cafeteria style - by 8am we elected to go over to the general store where their diner opens at 8am - at least it’s sit-down / counter service. We shared an OJ and a serving of bacon and eggs - all quite good and cheap ($15 with tip).
We set out for the day's touring - the South Rim area - we had several walks planned and the day cooperated by being sunny and warmer (-2C at 8am rising to 12C) - but good weather for hiking/walking.
We parked at Uncle Tom’s Point and walked along the rim with many spectacular outlooks of the canyon and the falls - from Artist’s point we continued towards Sublime Point but turned off and passed Lily Pad Lake and Clear Lake then back to where we parked - about 2 hours all up but not too difficult. We had a packed lunch then continued in the afternoon to the North Rim - stopping and walking to various view points: Brink of Lower Falls, Red Rock Point, Lookout Point, Grand view and Inspiration point.
We returned to our hotel for showers then did a late afternoon game drive but did not see much of anything.
We had dinner in the bar of the eating area - it was a “fail” - our bar snacks arrived totally cold.
Thursday Sept 19 - Yellowstone
We had breakfast in or room - yoghurt, a banana and coffee. We set out at 8am for a day of touring around - first up was a drive along the Lamar Valley in lovely sunny weather. We saw 1000’s of bisons up very close - in several places we had to stop as a herd ‘migrated’ across the highway then we saw a black bear very close to the edge of the road. We drove over to Mammoth Springs for lunch at the hotel which was excellent then we walking around the thermal springs etc - very impressive.
Back at our hotel after 4pm for showers and happy hour in our room - then dinner at the lodge bar again - another total fail - we ordered a cheese plate and some humous and pita - just snacks but served cold so we did not need to suffer hot food served cold again.
Friday Sept 20 - Yellowstone
We got up at 6:30am (which had become our usual time) for another in-room breakfast - then we packed up and checked-out for our move to Yellowstone Lake Hotel - about a 40 minute drive away.
We had a couple of stops on the way - then the cloudy skies turned to light rain then to heavy rain and finally to snow - never got over 5C.
At our hotel we checked-in around 10:30am but of course our room was not ready; however, unlike the Canyon Lodge they would let you in when your room was ready. The hotel itself is a grand old “dame” remodelled in 2014 with lovely common areas overlooking the lake.
We did a bit of a drive around stopping at a visitor centre - the rain continued to bucket down. We returned to our hotel around mid-day to find that our room was ready so we settled in then went to the bar for a light lunch - very light as the only food they served was a meat and cheese plate (most unimpressive) - there was a 35 minute wait to get into the restaurant so we gave that a miss.
We spent a lazy afternoon resting and updating my blog - no WiFi and no phone reception was a bummer - I had also hoped to do some laundry but alas no guest laundry either - what do you expect for $USD563 p.n. (not even breakfast is included).
To our surprise the dinner in the restaurant was excellent - elk chops for Dieter and lobster ravioli for me - salads for entree.
Off to bed really early - 8:30pm which turned out to be a bad idea.
Saturday Sept 21 - Yellowstone
We got up early as usual to find some snow on the ground and cars. We had an a la carte breakfast which was also pretty good. It was a very overcast sky and cold (1C) - we drove to Thumb’s Corner and walked around the boardwalks of the thermal area then did 3 hikes - 2 of which were deserted so we had to be pretty wary of stumbling into bears.
We had an in-room lunch then drove towards the east entrance - where we planned to go to Storm Point but as we drove over the pass there were blizzard conditions - quite amazing scenery.
Back at the hotel we had fives’es in the bar then dinner.
Sunday Sept 22 - Yellowstone
We set off for Old Faithful in the morning arriving around noon - the whole area was a zoo - busses and cars everywhere - clearly the most popular area in the park. We could not check-in to our hotel the Snow Lodge but were told by a very friendly front desk agent that even though “check-in is at 4:30pm” we could check back after lunch to see if our room was be available. Since Old Faithful was only about 10 minutes away from erupting we rushed over there and were not disappointed. We then went to the huge visitors center where we were advised that the Grand geyser was scheduled to blow at 1:15pm +/- 45 minutes so we bought a couple of bananas and a cookie for our packed lunch and headed over to the viewing area for the Grand Geyser (the highest predictable geyser in the world) - we waited from 12:30 until about 2:10pm and WOW did it blow - a real treat probably missed by the majority of visitors as it only blows every 6 hours or so.
On the way back we checked out the famous Old Faithful Inn - built in the late 1800’s - an impressive log structure - we stopped at their Bear Pit Bar for a refreshment then went back to our hotel where we could check-in (around 3:45pm by then) - we decided to make use of the guest laundry before dinner.
We had dinner booked at the Old Faithful Inn and in spite of it’s reputation the restaurant was quite disappointing - nothing like the Lake Hotel.
Monday Sept 23 - Yellowstone
We had another full day of touring / walking around the geysers and thermal areas - one of the highlights was the eruption of the Lakeside geyser.
We had dinner at our lodge - it was another so so affair - my chicken was inedible so I shared some of Dieter’s prime rib
Tuesday Sept 24 - Yellowstone to Grand Teton NP
We left Old Faithful and drove about an hour to the Jackson Lake Lodge in Teton - it was one of the best lodges - we could not check-in when we arrived so we did a bit of drive around stopping at many scenic spots - one of the best was the drive up Signal Hill for an amazing outlook. It was a wonderful sunny day - high of 17C. Back at the lodge we had lunch at the bar to find that the lodge was hosting an annual National Geographic movie / photos fest and the public areas were a zoo.
Our room was ready right after lunch - so we dropped our luggage and drove to Jenny Lake for a short walk before showers and dinner at the lodge. We had reservations and had a nice meal.