Ok, so I’m channeling Love in the time of Cholera, but here goes.

Gotta Get Outa Town

We hit the road on Thursday, 8/20 headed to Grand Teton & Yellowstone.  This is our first time leaving Navi for two weeks without us.  While still in Texas, most but not all people were wearing masks.  We have a bag full of sanitizing stuff & are using our own pillows.  Also staying at major chain hotels and so far all are observing proper pandemic protocols.  No breakfast buffets – just pick up a few items (yogurt, biscuit, etc) & take back to the room.  Likewise we’ve been getting curbside carry out & eating in our rooms.  The exception was lunch today.

Ah yes, lunch.  We pulled off for gas at Chugwater, WY and saw a billboard advertising their famous Chugwater Chili.  We discovered that it’s a company that makes chili seasoning in various forms, so we looked up the restaurants in town, ending up at the Stampede Saloon.  Once we sat down at a table far from any others, our waitress told  us we didn’t need to wear masks🤨.  The chili was excellent.

Our drive through Colorado was ..hmm a description might be best.  This was the first time we’ve driven the length of the Front Range and been unable to see the mountains.  Smoke from California and also numerous fires in Colorado have severely reduced visibility and created dangerous air quality.  It was even a little choking in the car.  Wyoming is also murky, so Dan isn’t happy about how it will affect his photography. We’ll find out tomorrow at our first NPS visit – Devils Tower.

First Hike

About time.  After all the driving our legs really needed the work.  I hit the quadrifecta for breathing problems going uphill (never been good at that) at altitude (same) with a mask on and poor air quality.  Just took my time and made it around Devils Tower. Beautiful, peaceful, back to nature.  Dan took some great pictures and I enjoyed the outdoors.  We got there by 9 am and were headed out as it started to get crowded.  Had a picnic lunch with a view of the tower, man it’s tough to take☺️. Now we’re relaxing at our hotel in Casper enjoying a Nice wine.

Ahh, Nature

We made it to our home for the week -a lovely and quite comfortable cabin above the Snake River.  A doe Mule Deer walked among the cabins our first evening.  At the recommendation of friends we’ve been using an app called Gypsy Guide and it has ensured we missed none of the interesting sights plus we get history, geography and nature lessons.  On our first early morning drive south through Grand Teton NP we saw a herd of doe and young elk, then further down the road a majestic bull.  Mostly it’s been fantastic scenery.  We’re no longer into lengthy, strenuous hikes, but shorter walks to view a specific sight works out just fine (as long as there’s not too much “up”).  We drove the length of the park down to Jackson, where we lunched at one of the local breweries – elk burger.  Jackson is typically tourist western and quite crowded so we didn’t spend too much time there.

For the past two days we’ve followed the Gypsy through Yellowstone, or at least as much as we could get to.  Each of the major roads had a stretch closed, so to get anywhere took at least twice as long as usual.  The Grand Loop (both Upper & Lower) are not currently loops, just in and then backtrack.  For the most part we were able to see Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring  and Mammoth Hot Springs without having to fight for parking.  Thanks to the Gypsy again for recommending some of the lesser known sights, like several beautiful waterfalls and Firehole Falls and The Hoodoos.  A few years ago in Bryce we saw hoodoos and just thought it was a funny name.  Thanks to Gypsy, we learned it’s an actual geological name.  The one area we were hoping to get to, Lamar Valley, was just too remote considering the road closures.  Supposedly that’s the best place to see a variety of wildlife. So, after two very long days in Yellowstone, we saw everything we wanted to. 

Two days left.  We’ll do a few more things in Grand Teton and actually take a break.  Today we both slept in, then took a fairly short drive to Colter Bay and did a 3 mile “easy” hike from there.  After beer and some snacks we picked up a pizza to take back to the cabin and we are now enjoying a glass of wine on the back porch.  Oh, on the way back we saw a number of cars pulled over – sign of wildlife spotting.  Far away of the hillside were 3 bears (don’t know where Goldilocks was) visible through binoculars & Dan’s long lens.

Wildlife spotted thus far: elk, bear, bison, eagles, cormorants, a coot, ducks and geese, a couple of squirrels and chipmunks, butterflies and dragon flies, Sand hill cranes, and a deer. Tomorrow we’ll do an early morning trying to find moose.

Observations:  Teton is much less crowded and has Park Rangers available.  Visitors here mostly wear masks & observe social distancing.  Yellowstone is the exact opposite.  We are without cell phone service, internet or tv.  I find this very peaceful.  We also have no traffic or people noise for the most part.  It is pure relaxation sitting in the rocker on the back porch with no one around.  Strangely, at Old Faithful we were sitting next to a lady from Tomball and our cabin neighbors for 2 nights were from Fulshear.  Oh, yeah, I also found I’m still allergic to sagebrush just like when we lived in CO.

Weather:  The entire Front Range of the Rockies was so murky with smoke from wildfires (CA and CO) that we couldn’t even see the mountains when we were in Colorado Springs.  It was also hazy and quite hot for the first 3 days.  A front blew through on Thursday so the skies today were glorious.

My friends in Houston will hate me for this, but I froze this morning.  We got up at o’dark 30 to drive to a spot known for wildlife.  Gotta catch ‘em at dawn. The temp was 39 and I had all of the warm clothes I packed on, but standing outside for several hours (ok, I cheated some and sat in the car,but without the heater on) I just soaked up that cold. We did see an eagle, some sand hill cranes and a beaver.  There was a bear with 4 cubs in the area but we never saw her.  It took hours for me to thaw out once we got back to the cabin.

Last Day

Now, I’ve started the sorting, packing routine, which included taking out the trash.  Who knew that could be hazardous?  My foot hit the edge of the path at a drop off and now I sit with my foot elevated and an ice pack wrapped around my ankle. At least I won’t have to do much walking for the next 3 days as we make our way home.