So we bid farewell to the Grand Tetons! It was the prettiest park we have seen on this trip. On to Yellowstone!
We left about 8:00 am to avoid traffic in the park. We’ve been told traffic can be terrible in Yellowstone.
The drive was short – only 112 miles. We drove directly through Grand Teton National Park, through the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, and on into Yellowstone National Park…
Yellowstone National Park is located in the in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with some areas extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful geyser.
We loved the Grand Tetons NP. In comparison, Grand Tetons covers 485 square miles, while Yellowstone covers 3,500 square miles. However, Grand Tetons is much more scenic, while Yellowstone features geothermal natural wonders and much more wildlife…
The views along the road are nice…
We soon stopped to see Old Faithful. First we hassled the very busy and crowded parking area. We only needed to jack-knife the Villa into 6 parking stalls, and we were set!
We entered the Old Faithful Lodge. Interiors were nice…
But the exterior was less than impressive…
We walked out to the viewing area where people were already waiting to see Old Faithful; they will wait another 45 minutes…
We wandered over to the Old Faithful Inn. It is much more impressive…!
The lobby is this giant 3-4 story high space, all done up in National Park architecture…
The dining room is also very grand… Unfortunately, it is closed…
We ignored the sign and walked up the stairs.
Very nice upper level lounge areas…
Near the top is what they call “the Crow’s Nest”. It is a room at the top of these stairs where orchestras would play in the evening. The top is 76′ tall! Unfortunately, in 1959 an earthquake damaged the structural integrity of the Crow’s Nest, so it is no longer habitable.
These writing desks are all over these upper floors… Beautiful!
Unfortunately, there are no dining or lounge areas that are open. Only fast food is available, and only for take-out… Gift shops have such a restricted capacity that there lines hundreds of people long just to get inside. Yellowstone is much more shut down for Covid than Grand Tetons was…
So we moved on to a modern Visitors Center. Again, capacity is restricted… But the views are grand…
We returned to the Old Faithful viewing are. The crowd has tripled…
Old Faithful is a cone geyser. It was named in 1870 during the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition and was the first geyser in the park to be named. It is a highly predictable geothermal feature and has erupted every 44 minutes to two hours since 2000. The geyser and the nearby Old Faithful Inn are part of the Old Faithful Historic District.
So thousands of people are standing around looking at this for the past hour. The next scheduled eruption is due at 11:06 am.
About ten minutes before the scheduled time the geyser spouts briefly…
Finally, at 11:07 am Old Faithful earns her name…
And it goes on and on…!
Finally the eruptions start to fade…
Eruptions can shoot 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of boiling water to a height of 106 to 185 feet, lasting from 11⁄2 to 5 minutes.
We continued to drive north. We found some Bison…
We found some Fumaroles at Roaring Mountain: (Fumaroles are similar to geysers, except that they do not have enough pressure to erupt; they just emit steam…)
We had some fine views
The traffic is bad and the roads are rough, slow, narrow, and curvy…
More green valleys…
We saw this female elk hanging out along the side of the road…
More Pronghorn Antelope… But they are far away…
We continued out of the park and into Gardiner, Montana…
The town of Gardiner is just outside the park; it was the original entrance to the park, and at the time all guests would arrive by train, so there was a large train station here…
Today Gardiner has mostly tour companies, gift shops, lodges, motels, and RV parks. We met with the club for dinner at this recently-constructed dining terrace… (Construction workers were still working when we arrived…)
Airstreamers started arriving (early, as usual)
We enjoyed a very good fried chicken dinner buffet…
After dinner, we returned to the RV park and walked around. We are right next to the Yellowstone River, but only tent sites are adjacent to the river.
The park is dry and dusty, but there is a small grill for dinner and other amenities…
There are extensive hot spring pools…
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 