Since we had a late night, we didn't rush to leave Silver Gate. We waited until the Log Cabin Restaurant opened for breakfast and had a nice breakfast before heading back into the park towards the West Entrance. We had no sooner got inside the park and we saw a big black bear real close to the road! Gary was so happy. We stopped and watched the bear until cars started piling up behind us and we moved on so they could also see the bear.
We took our time driving through Lamar valley again looking for animals. The valley really is so pretty! Again we saw tons and tons of Bison! We were literally about to be out of the valley I believe. I can't remember now if we saw the Grizzly and 2 cubs before we got to the Roosevelt lodge which is where you turn back onto the main loop around Yellowstone. Anyway, the cars were backed up for days barely moving. Gary and I had our yes peeled trying to see what they were looking for. Gary was hoping it was a Moose. Finally we made up beside some young adults standing out on the side of the road. I rolled down my window and asked what they were looking at and in the distance she pointed out there was a momma grizzly and 2 cubs heading our way!! Now the other 2 grizzlies we saw were up on the mountain. This one was heading right our way!! So I pulled over and hopped out with my camera. By this time more and more people were figuring out it was a grizzly and people were stopped all over the road. Some people were not happy and were telling us to all move. I did pull my vehicle way off the road, but I was not leaving. Soon the momma and 2 cubs literally crossed the road right in front of 3 cars down from me!! It was pretty cool to watch! Here are some pictures I captured.
How cool is that!? We left there and saw Roosevelt Lodge and on to Mammoth. I wanted to spend some time in mammoth since the day before we really didn't stop much there, but by the time we got there it was getting close to lunch and the town was packed!! It was the most people I had seen all week in the park!! There was no where to really park so we decided to just drive on to the West Entrance. We did make the 1 mile loop there at mammoth where I saw some more hot springs and we went down one small road to another pretty cool water fall!
Mammoth is where you can exit the park at the famous Roosevelt entrance but since we had done that we went on to the West Entrance.
When we exited the park at the West Entrance, we had officially been around the whole grand loop of Yellowstone and we had exited or entered out each entrance to the park. It was AMAZING.
Once outside the park at the West Entrance it's like you are back in Hattiesburg again. A real town as Gary said. We checked into our hotel, drove to where I had to pick up my race packet and found a nice restaurant for a late lunch / early supper. Oh and Gary had a TV in the room! He was like a little kid! I went to packet pickup for the race and he never left the room. He watched TV the entire time I raced the next morning also! We had originally planned to spend 2 nights at the West entrance, but we received a notification that our 2pm flight on Sunday was changed to 7am! So we ended up only spending one night at the West Entrance for me to do the half marathon and found a room at a Super 8 back close to Jackson Hole Airport so we wouldn't have to drive at 2am to get there on Sunday in time.
Gary decided after my half marathon the next day that he didn't want to drive back through the park to Jackson Hole so we drove through Idaho. It was also beautiful. Lots and Lots of farm land! The drive was on a well paved road and I enjoyed it. AND guess what??? He had not been to far on our drive and a big group of people were all stopped at a bridge. We stopped to see what they were looking at and guess what??? A MOOSE!! Gary found his moose! He literally jumped out of the car before I had time to get it put in park!!! I've never seen him move so fast. ha The dang moose was ugly to me. LOL But you know they say you are lucky if you see one!! I was so GLAD Gary finally got to see his moose! He said his trip was made!! The moose was not in the Grand Tetons, Not in Yellowstone, but in IDAHO!
We arrived back in Jackson hole to see the Saturday night shoot out. It was pretty cool seeing a wild west show acted out in the streets. We had an early supper and headed to bed. Long Travel day on Sunday back home!
We had the BEST time! It was hard to get on that plane the next morning to head back to real life for me! I enjoyed the slow pace and not having to go into the office.
I will say if you plan to go .. 2 things... 1. Get the GyPsy app! 2. Get in shape and do all the hikes! or at least several of the hikes. If I get the chance to go back I want to do so much more hiking and Gary has promised that if he goes back he'll get in shape. However, I will also say that we were only home 1 day from our vacation and on the 2nd day our neighbor found Gary passed out in the yard!!! He was in ICU and then a regular room a couple of days. They said he did not have a heat stroke or any time of stroke. No heart attack. They finally said he had a reaction to a chemical he was spraying in the yard. HOWEVER, 1 days after he comes home from the hospital he is still running fever and not feeling good. He tested positive for COVID a few days later... I say all this because now in hindsight we feel he got sick when we were on vacation or maybe he was already sick because he admits he really didn't feel 100% while on our trip... ... all the naps in the car and stuff. I thought he was just being grumpy and not wanting to do all the walking... but maybe it was more that he was sick..... It's been a rough month at the Clayton house with him first having a GI bleed that sent him in the hospital for 5 nights, then he passes out and spends 3 nights in hospital, then he tested positive for covid and is really sick for a week... and then he has a kidney stone he can't pass and has to have surgery! I'm just typing all this here so one day I can look back and say WOW... we went through a heck of a lot and also did Yellowstone in the middle of that. 😀 and Then I tested positive for COVID a week after him! We felt like we were 10 feet tall and bullet proof as my friend says because we had our vaccinations.... we were wrong..... Stay safe out there! This dang COVID mess is not over!
So that's a wrap on vacation. There really is so much more I could say and many, many more pictures.... But I won't bore you with all that. JUST GO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF! YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID! 😍
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