On The Road to Jackson Hole, WY

There was weather coming the day we planned to leave Lander, Wy for Jackson so we were up early and off to the dump station.  While Kirby did his thing, Jake and I looked around and found this nice view of Lander and the walk/bikeway they have. 

After dumping our tanks we headed out pretty much north and then west, up over the pass and then dropped down into Grand Teton National Park.  The drive was, like so many of them, very varied.  I think our drives (or roadtrips) are just about the best part of our travels.  My camera is busy clicking out the windshield so the photos are not the best but it sure is fun.  On this trip someone needed to tie my hands down because I just kept clicking away as each turn brought more beauty.  Are we lucky to live in such a beautiful country or what?!!

 It may be barren but it is still gorgeous!

This was the best part of the trip for Jake.  We stopped on the pass to let some folks pass us and took the opportunity to look around and stretch our legs.  This deer carcass was not that old but it was clean except for the feet and lower legs.  Jake found it extremely interesting!

 And then we spotted the Grand Teton and it just kept getting better and better as we got closer.

Custer State Park - Wildlife Loop

Our last day at the park.  We will move north just a little bit today and I am trying to figure out why we are going north when it is mid July and 47 degrees outside.  We are experiencing a cold spell!!  I guess so!  Way too cold for summer!  We need to go south!

Anyway our day on the Wildlife Loop was also incredible and I took too many pictures again.  So, I use little collages to try to give you some of everything,  Now come along with us -

Wildlife Loop - we didn't see that much but we did get up close and personal with this Bison.  Shot from the car window!

Pronghorn Sheep

Prairie Dog

The Pronghorn Sheep photo was out the windshield and the Prairie Dogs just kept popping back into their holes as I got closer so the photos aren't very good.

This is what a lot of our trip looked like.  I loved it!  But I sure wouldn't want to be there in the cold!

A roadside stop

Then we saw the sign for the Lookout and both agreed that we wanted to go.  How stupid could I have been.  I can NOT handle heights!  By the time we wound our way up the cliffhanger narrow road I was almost in tears with my eyes shut.  I was on the outside the whole way up which was one mile and the longest mile in my life!  Thankfully we didn't meet a car coming the other direction or I know we would have gone off the cliff and died.

This is the lookout tower that I did not climb.

After our picnic lunch we followed a little trail that we thought might take us to the Badger Clark Home.  It wound around this little lake and did indeed take us where we wanted to go.

Badger Clark was the Poet Laureate for the state South Dakota in 1937.  He is the author of the famous "Cowboy's Prayer".  His home in the mountains is still there just the way he left it.  I thought it was beautiful!  I could live there.  No indoor plumbing, no running water, no electricity.  It would so peaceful - for a bit of time and then I would want all my modern conveniences again! After touring the house we took his trail around the property and enjoyed the same mountain views that he enjoyed for over 20 years of his life.

This is my normal view when we take walks!

Custer State Park - Bison and Sheep

Today our timing was absolute perfection and it was a total accident but look what we got to see!  The Bison were abundant and fantastic!  I was so excited that I took way too many photos and enjoyed myself so much.  At one point I had that guys at the bottom of this collage right out my car window walking right next to me.  Jake, our dog, seemed to get a bit worked up because I was having so much fun talking to this big guy.  And the babies!  There were so many babies following their mothers closely.  It all was just extremely wonderful!

 We were fortunate to get to see some of the sheep up close also. This guy below looks like he needs a good brushing doesn't he?