Yellowstone and Jackson Hole Adventures

 We were lucky enough to enjoy two full days of Yellowstone National Park for FREE this trip, thanks to Grandma and her senior pass! :) We headed out on Saturday morning to try something new- the upper loop up to Mammoth Hot Springs! We didn't see a whole lot of animals at first, but we did see a few good sturdy bison along the road.

 The views were vast and spectacular!

 When we started out that morning, the sky was completely blue. By the afternoon, clouds had taken over and the rain started falling. We took a break to eat lunch at the quaint little town at Mammoth, and there were dozens of elk just hanging out right by the road.

 We stopped at a few more places on the loop, names of which I don't remember, but most of them I opted to stay in the car and not deal with the wheelchair in the rain.

 This mountain was so interesting- it had that strip of vertical rock all along the side. No idea why, but it looked cool!

 At one point, we came to a slowing and then large crowds standing and peering at the hill, so we got out and discovered that there was a Mama bear and her cub romping around! It was so fun to watch through binoculars, from afar, and see the little cub following right behind his mama. Yellowstone success = bear sighting! Ahhh now we could go home. We headed back to West Yellowstone, completely starving, and ate at the cowboy pizza place. Poor Grandma- we sure wore her out that day! I got a gluten free pizza that was pretty tasty and hit the spot.

We gave Yellowstone one more day on Monday, with all of us in our van which meant Grandpa got to ride in the way back! He was a trooper, and the girls were thrilled. :)

 Big, burly, hairy bison.

 This time, we took the lower loop down to Old Faithful, and stopped at our favorite places along the way. Paint pots- love this orange!

 Colorful sister shot.

 Can you stand this gorgeous blue?? It's hard to believe it's scalding hot- it looks so inviting and refreshing!

Oh look, there I am. I felt bad for Jake and everyone else having to push me all around, but I'm sure grateful for all their help! I got to do so many things- I wasn't cabin bound at all! (I love Lexi's hat)

 Mud pots

 We made it to Old Faithful, ate a picnic lunch outside the hotel, and waited for Old Faithful to erupt. Super exciting stuff for these two.

 There she blows!!

Umm yes please. An ice cream/sorbet break is always welcome while we're there.

 From there, we headed out the South entrance, and drove down to Jackson Hole! Crazy road trip day. We had a date with the Bar J Wranglers, you see, so it was a must. Jenny Lake and the Tetons were breathtaking, as always.

 Wyoming wonder.

 Jackson Hole welcomed us with open arms. Jake is holding onto this poor animal's mouth, for some reason.

 Ohh, just hangin out with friends.

 My Daddio! I loved how we matched- had to get a selfie.

 After a short visit, we headed to the Bar J Wrangler ranch for a fun evening dinner and show.

 They assigned us our table, and we waited patiently to go get our grub.

 Mmmm ribs, beans, cornbread, potatoes, applesauce...that's a lotta food!

 Once the show started and the twangy singing and storytelling commenced, Lexi got pretty antsy, so we headed outside in the much cooler fresh air. I loved watching her dance and dance on the grass, and run around to her heart's content.

 Humidity brought out her cute blonde curls, and we spent the night trying to catch the floating cotton dancing around in the air.

It was a long day, and a late night, but I'm glad we did it! We wore Grandma out again (it's sad to realize that she's slowing down and not as spry as she once was), but I'm glad we made these fun memories!