Vacation to Yellowstone National Park (June 5-13, 2021) - Day 1-2

 

Where do I even start..... What a fabulous week! I was really amazed at the beauty!  If you have ever wondered about God's beauty... go see Yellowstone!  We spent 8 nights out west and it was AMAZING! 

Day 1 -  LONG travel day! Thankfully we started from our local airport in Hattiesburg.  Just 25 minutes from our home.  That was so worth it! and they have FREE parking!  When we've flown out of NOLA we've paid like $30 a night on parking unless we parked off site and got a taxi into the airport!  Free parking for a 8 nights was awesome! However, we had 2 layovers before arriving in Jackson Hole, WY.  We flew from Hattiesburg to Houston.  Had a 3 hour layover and then flew from Houston to Denver where we had almost a 4 hour layover before flying from Denver to Jackson Hole.  We left Saturday morning at 6am and arrived in Jackson Hole finally at 10pm that night! I was wore out from sitting all day and having to wear a mask all day was a KILLER!  It's still a federal regulation that you must wear a mask inside the airport and on the airplanes at all times.  😓  We were the last plane in and Gary was so worried about us missing our rental car! The rental car guy laughed and told me that they won't close until the last plane has arrived because they know people need the rental cars.   Jackson Hole is a small airport so that makes it very nice.  Rental cars are right there on the premises.  💚  Our hotel was like 10 minutes away right smack in the middle of the town.   Jackson hole is a cute little city.  The hotels are not big high rises.  Most all are only 2 levels and of course we were on the 2nd floor and there were no elevators! We had huge heavy luggage due to traveling for 8 nights so Gary was not too happy about that... As for me I was just happy to be getting in a bed! and the bed was really comfy! 😁 

airport travel pics... 

 

Day 2 - Jackson Hole, WY - After a good nights rest we were ready to hit the ground sightseeing, but first we needed FOOD.  The first place we went had a long wait.  The guy at the door told us there was another place down the street that was real good.  We just lucked up and didn't have to wait long there and it was FABULOUS.  Highly recommend this place:

with our tummies full, we were ready ....  Off to Teton village to ride the lift up to the top and see the view of the Grand Tetons! But first a quick pick in town square showing we made it:

 and OH WHAT A VIEW!!! There was still snow on top of the mountains!  

That's a ski lift at the top.  

This is a nice restaurant at the top of the mountain.  I'm sure during the ski season this place is packed!  They were not open when we were there that morning, but they were serving coffee and hot chocolate. 

Gary sitting enjoying the view.  It was pretty cool that morning... like around 42! 

I see no "green" slopes!  Guess I would have been in trouble... ha ha ha ha

After we left here we decided to drive on through the Grand Tetons National Park and on to Jenny Lake.  Jenny Lake was probably one of my favorite places!! It was breathtaking!  I wish Gary had been in shape so we could have done all the hiking trails!  maybe next time... 

We spent the afternoon driving around and was really just in AWE of God's beauty!  We looked for a moose all day, but didn't see one.  Gary was determined that he wanted to see a moose!  We headed back to town square for supper and rest up before leaving the next day heading to the South Entrance of Yellowstone.  We ended up at the Cowboy Bar for drinks and then a quaint restaurant for a late dinner.  Gary was having a duck.  Every place we went had a 1-2 hour wait if you had no reservation!! The town was packed.  Lots of travelers.  We ended up after Gary fussed and fussed with the lady at the front deck at table outside on the sidewalk.  It was prefect, but we made a few people mad that had been sitting waiting longer than us and I felt bad for them.  Our table however only sat 2 and most of them were groups of 4-5.   I will also say that every place was short staffed.  Thanks to the pandemic and FREE government money.. no one wants to work anymore so restaurants are really SUFFERING with having enough help to serve all the people!   

The Cowboy bar was a place that several friends told us we needed to go in and see because at the bar the barstools had saddles on them!! So of course we had to go!  We got us 2 seats up at the bar, but after a few minutes of sitting, Gary said the saddle was the most uncomfortable thing he had ever sat on... 😂

Oh did I mention that before the drinks and supper Gary had to find ICE CREAM...

We also drove to the state line of Wyoming and Idaho for a quick photo before we returned to town square.  

This was on our way back from the state line... 😀

and we ended the night with our dinner outside.. the temps were PERFECT 

It was a FABULOUS DAY!  We weren't sure if we would see most everything in Jackson Hole in one day or not, but we hit most all the high spots so decided we would head out the next morning to Yellowstone instead of waiting till later in the afternoon.  

Next post coming on Yellowstone...