We have been struggling with our final big trip of the year and have decided on the West Coast.  It was hard to let go of the East and all of the history and beauty waiting for us there but the reasons are pretty compelling.  So as we look at the west coast with only 45 parks checked off it looks like we will have to squeeze pretty hard to get to a hundred by the end of the year.  We had planned to leave in October but instead of April getting less busy with work she got more busy.

But what it means is that we might need to gather a couple of parks from different places before and after the trip.  We had a day and knew we could leave in a hurry so we did.  We got to Pocatello Friday night and slept at The Hotel Mclanahan (April’s sisters house) and were on our way again early the next morning.

The approach to Yellowstone from the West is gradual but the signs are clear enough.  You climb steadily from St. Anthony on to the North and East.  the Tetons are clearly visible in the East and it gives you a sense of something lurking.  No apprehension can prepare you for what you get when you drive up Madison river from West Yellowstone and come for the first time out into the first Geyser basin.

We had stopped by the Firehole river swimming area and played a little on the rocks.  But it was clear in our minds that we had a tight schedule on this trip if we were going to get to the Tetons before dark.  We had also passed a couple of groups of American Buffaloes, the signature animal of Yellowstone.  They are one of my favorite animals.  They look so serious all the time but sometimes they act like two year old kids.

Coming into the string of valleys that leads to Old Faithful, we stopped a couple of times to look at some places we had never seen before.  We went a little ways down Fountain flats road and stopped at  a little spring.  I love the valleys and meadows of Yellowstone almost as much as the springs and geothermal features.  They have a unique quality to them that makes me feel like I am in a different world.

I can’t resist the Fountain Paint pots either.  So we stopped by.  I think if I went into Yellowstone by  myself without a clear objective I might just end up wandering around and never come out.

We also stopped at Grand Prismatic Spring.  I never get tired of Yellowstone.  Grand Prismatic is amazing.  The colors and the scale of it is hard to take in.  We met a guy with a prosthetic hand.  He had lost it in an electrical accident.  He let the kids play with the hand a little and showed us all the things it could do.

It is great to find people that are willing to share things like that with other people.  Pickel was a little scared at first but she warmed up and shook his hand.  One of the side benefits of war (it still is rarely worth it) is that the military and major industries spend more money on developing things like these.

Finally we made it to Old Faithful.  I know there are a lot of places that are prettier and purer and all that than Old Faithful.  It doesn’t really matter to me.  I love Old Faithful.  I have a lot of family history wrapped up in the place.  I remember once when we went there when I was very young.  This was before the boardwalks and the rules that are in place now, which I agree with incidently.  My dad leaned over to me and showed me a single batch box of laundry detergent he had stolen from the pile that my mom had brought.

“Watch this.”  He said and then ran off towards the Geyser.  He ran right up to the edge (as well as my juvenile memory serves me) of Old Faithful and pretended (I hope)  to dump the package into the geyser.  He ran back to us and he had not gotten back to our family before the geyser started to erupt.  I was convinced that my dad was magical.  We were driving late at night on a trip and he told me he had a remote control that turned on the light on the demarcation posts on the side of the road.  I realize now that he was just turning on the brights in the car.  Dad magic.  What are you going to do?

The big Old Friend had gone of only about a dozen minutes before.  So we had some time to do a little on the Jr Rangers.  April got started on them with the kids and I went to get a spot for the next eruption and fix some lunch.  I needn’t have worried.  There was plenty of space.

Old Faithful did not disappoint, surprising, right?  We left after it was over and began the trip home by way of The Parkway and Grand Teton.

We stopped at the Continental divide trail on the way out to see it again.  We had passed over it on our trip into new Mexico.  In a rather uninspiring and mellow pass that was almost a valley, the Continental divide had drawn that invisible and ever so important line.  Now here a thousand mile north in another volcanic area, we pass the Divide again.  Very few similarities between there and here.

There is a pond at the top and we played around it for a bit.  It was frozen.  While we were there a guy driving a small motor home almost drove off the road trying to get into the parking area.  He left skid marks.  It was funny.

A fire had passed through John D. Rockefeller Jr. Parkway, so really the only picture we got of the place was about that.  There isn’t really anything special or unique about the parkway itself.  Flagg ranch has some history but it was closed when we came through.  But the NPS had to pay tribute to Mr. Rockefeller.  The bad wrap the Rockefellers get is pretty well deserved.  But they did a few things very, very right.  What John Jr. did for Grand Teton National Park was as much a lifesaving action as you could ask for.

We pulled up into Grand Teton National Park as darkness was closing in.  We stopped at a few ponds and lakes.  It made for some spectacular sunsets.  I have never been to that area this late in the season.  We will be back.  It was amazing.  We got dinner in Jackson and made it home pretty late.

I have a few more pictures coming.  I will add them soon.