We woke up around 8 and were on the way to Jewel Caves by a little after 9am. Brenda was a bit perturbed that we were probably going to be there on time instead of 10-15 minutes early. We got there just before 10am and while the place was open there appeared to be nobody around. We were wondering if we missed the tour (Harlan would have been in big trouble then for being late) when 2 rangers showed up and we learned we’d be the only two folks taking the tour. While in the off season this tour is given twice a day (assuming folks show up to take it), during the peak seasons the tour we took leaves every 20 minutes and is almost always filled with 30 people per group. (there are 2 or 3 other tours that run in the summer as well that are also full.)

The tour was great – after some initial failures with the digital camera, we got a bunch of nice shots that are already on the photo gallery here. We asked lots of questions and had a very nice time. We left and headed straight for Wind Caves, and got there about 10 minutes before the next scheduled tour, and just before the tour started a couple of other folks showed up so the 4 of us got the tour. It was also interesting, and while the two sites are similar, they were different enough to be individually interesting.

We left there and headed down to Hot Springs, and along the way we saw more prarrie dogs, bison, and deer (regular and perhaps a pronghorn or two). We filled the gas tank (and poured in a gallon of windshield washer fluid), and decided that it was too late to try and visit the Mammoth Site (an archaeological dig site). We started looking for some geocaches on the way to wherever we felt like driving, and just passed a bunch that did not inspire us.

We drove thru Custer State Park, where Brenda was sometimes intimidated by the size of the bison. We also saw more deer and some rabbits. Maybe a hawk. We took some scenic roads and stopped off at one geocache at the top of a mountain that had a scenic overlook of the area, including Mt. Rushmore.

As it was getting late (near sunset), we headed off to the Gas Light restaurant again (it seems to be the only nearby restaurant with decent food) where Brenda had the parmesan-crusted halibut and Harlan had pieces of filet in a burgundy mushroom and onion sauce over noodles. We shared an OK dessert of a brownie with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry. Harlan wondered why *anybody* would use Hershey’s chocolate sauce on a dessert (if you’re gonna use a choco sauce, at least use Hungerford Smith’s Mellocream Fudge), and why they didn’t heat the brownie first. No leftovers tonight.

We headed back to the Hotel and each found a couple of more pieces to the crossword puzzle, then headed off to the room where Brenda had a soak in the tub and Harlan uploaded the day’s pictures to the website.

We’re shooting for another 8am wakeup and more touring of the area.

The day started a bit unpleasantly as Brenda woke Harlan at 7am and he was a bit grumpy about this surprise. We were out of the hotel by 9:15 and headed toward Devils Tower National Monument via Rt. 585 to 85 to 16. Scenery was OK, but we learned the more scenic route is via I90 to US14 to US385. We plan on covering this route in a couple of days as we visit other places of interest in the Black Hills of South Dakota. There are so many things to see in this area.

The day was overcast and we got there before 10:30 and were apparently the first visitors of the day. While the rangers were telling us the places to see and hike both there and around Mt. Rushmore in SD, another small group arrived and headed toward the tower.

We first walked the loop around the base of the tower, where we took a fair amount of digital and 35mm photos (the digital pics should be up later tonight). Amazing place. We then drove a little bit north and walked another loop trail that covered forest, ravine, and prarrie terrain. While we got more photos from where we parked, we did not bring any cameras on that walk.

We probably spent about 3 hours there.

We then headed toward Jewel Cave National Monument where we learned that while we could still do a short cave tour, it would be better to come back tomorrow and do the long tour (which includes the short one). The ranger there also gave us a list of places to visit in the area.

We then drove past the outside of both the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore on the way to our hotel.

We got a room at the Holiday Inn Express in Keystone, where Bobbie the front desk clerk upgraded us to a room with a jetted tub and suggested we eat at The Gas Light in the nearby ghost town of Rockerville, where we had good salads and while Brenda did not particularly enjoy her puff-pastry wrapped salmon with onions (so Harlan finished it), she did enjoy Harlan’s chicken and shrimp marsala. A miracle happened and we did not order dessert.

Returning to the hotel (with some leftovers), we helped Bobbie with a jigsaw puzzle in the lobby. After we each found a piece, we declared victory and headed back to the room.

We planned to head out earlier then noon today, but Brenda discovered she could not find her thyroid medication. After much searching, we gave up and called the Walgreens in Gillette to order another 30 days’ supply. We stopped at the Trailhead Restaurant for breakfast. The title almost matched our car brand so we thought it would be a good choice. It was. Great oatmeal and eggs. We both ate for less than $10. Amazing.

We then drove to Gillette via Rt. 26 to 16 through Ten Sleep Canyon. The native americans named it Ten Sleep because it took 10 “sleeps” to get to the next town. Part of Rt. 16 near Buffalo crossed the mountains at almost 10,000′ elevation. It was great driving because one moment we were in sunshine and clear skies and the next we were in a snow storm. It was beautiful. Wyoming has several signs along the road indicating the age of the rocks (65 million to 2.3 or 3 billion years old). We haven’t seen this in any other state.

We arrived in Gillette at sunset and went to the Wal-mart to find Harlan a replacement belt clip for his cell phone. No luck and then we headed to the health food store to get Harlan more Vitamin E. Then to another 3 star restaurant (we love those AAA rated 3 star hotels and restaurants) called Chophouse. We both had seafood. Harlan’s dish had too much cheese, but the dessert made up for it (coconut creme brulee) . Brenda stuck to her committment to change her reputation and only had one bite and left the rest for Harlan. Then back to the Holiday Inn Express for veggin and picture loading.

Harlan woke up a bit before Brenda but she got going sooner. We planned to have breakfast and be on the way to the National Elk Reserve just before 10am, but we skipped breakfast and got to the reserve a little after 10am. It was much warmer today then yesterday, and it snowed a bit overnight (better sleigh riding). Some busloads of schoolkids got there before us, so we didn’t get our sleigh ride going until just after 11am. This blew Harlan’s 3rd chiro appointment out of the water. The sleigh ride was very nice – the first stop was at a tree by a little river where a bald eagle was looking for lunch – we got a variety of pictures (video, film, and digital). We then rode into a herd of elk and got more pictures. On the way back we stopped near a coyote who was hunting for his lunch under the snow – Brenda got some nice video of his hunt.

The sleigh ride was really nice! We should have pictures up soon (Harlan reorganized the photo album tonight, and added a bunch of the recently developed and digitized 35mm film).

We checked out of the hotel around 1pm, and went to Cadillac’s for lunch again. Brenda had more pumpkin bacon chowder, and Harlan had a bison burger. Brenda was getting concerned that her reputation for sharing desserts was dwindling so she only had 2 small bites of each of the desserts Harlan ordered. He ordered 2 desserts to assure himself of “getting some”. Brenda had one bite of each dessert (pumpkin cheesecake and tiramisu), which left Harlan with about 2/3 of each dessert to finish.

We headed out toward Buffalo via Rt. 287 and north of Jackson airport we tried to look for a geocache, but it was a good mile up a snow-closed road and we didn’t feel like cross-country skiing to see if we could find it under the snow. The sky was clearing, however, and we got more pictures of the Teton range.

The trip toward Buffalo took us over the continental divide again, and the geology and general terrain changed several times. Very pretty.

As we were on undivided roads and it was getting dark, we decided to stay in Riverton and drive to Gillette tomorrow.

Gary Gerber called this evening and provided wonderful input for our trip tomorrow. Thanks Gary!!!!

We left around 8:00am (yea!!!! another early morning start!!!) and headed to Grand Teton National Park for pictures. The sunrise was nice (if a bit overcast) and we were able to get some pictures, but the fog set in soon. We entered Yellowstone and drove about 20 miles into the park, turned around and headed back to Jackson for Harlan’s chiro appointment at 11:30. Brenda video taped the Tetons through the car window as we were driving back to Jackson. After the chiro pinched, poked and prodded Harlan we drove to a knife store that the chiro recommended to get Harlan’s pocket knife sharpened. We had a wonderful lunch at Cadillac’s in downtown Jackson. Brenda had a bowl of pumpkin bacon chowder and Harlan had turkey w/dressing and mashed potatoes. We just had to have the lemon crème brulee for dessert. Brenda told Harlan she was saving herself for ice cream store down the street, but ended up helping herself to most of the crème brulee leaving Harlan with the task of licking the cup. And of course we just HAD to experience the homemade organic ice cream parlor on the way to pick up Harlan’s sharpened knife.

We then drove to the Elk Reserve just outside of Jackson and decided to do the sleigh ride through the Elk Reserve tomorrow morning instead of today (it was SO COLD today). We then picked up more water and some Moose Drool (a wonderful local beer) at the liquor store for Harlan’s friend Tom in Austin. By this time the clouds were really coming in and it was getting colder. It looks like snow soon.

We then drove up to Teton Village just outside of Jackson to see the resort we have been reading about since we arrived. We drove up the streets beyond the resort and found some incredibly beautiful homes. One of the things that makes this area so beautiful is that most of the buildings and homes are made out of wood and stone in the log cabin style.

We got back to the motel around sunset and did laundry, packed and planned for tomorrow.

We woke up around 7:30 or 8:00 anyway, and started planning the day. Brenda learned the Post Office has messed up the mail delivery, so she worked on resolving that. Harlan called the 4 local chiropractors, and learned that 2 wanted relatively large fees for the initial visit, a third was not seeing anybody new, and the 4th was real reasonable about everything. A 2:30pm visit was scheduled. Harlan made some calls and discovered that his camera was under warranty, and would be repaired free if it was shipped to NJ and we waited a couple of weeks’ time for the work to be done. As the camera body itself was only about $100 or so, we decided it would be worth going to the only camera shop in town and looking for a replacement. Harlan headed over there while Brenda did what she likes best, organizing receipts. Harlan’s 15 minutes at the camera place probably turned into a half hour or so, as they didn’t have the same camera model. The choice was between a used $100 body, and a new body with 2 new lenses (including a 75-300mm lens) for about $600 or so. As it was becoming clear that a lens with better telephoto would be a Good Thing, and since the camera shop only had lenses that went to 200mm otherwise and even then the price of the body and the new lens would be just over $500, the new camera was purchased. Oh, the lady at the camera shop said she went out early this morning to shoot the Tetons just like we wanted to do, and just after sunrise some clouds came in and hazed over the sun just enough to mess up the light. She said it was a poor morning for the photo shoot.

Now to find a bigger camera bag… Brenda was also real unhappy with the layer of dirt on the car, so we learned the location of the car wash and headed over to it and K-Mart (to look for a camera bag). The car wash was Crowded, so we just headed over to K-Mart where a real friendly and helpful guy in their camera department showed us the bags. All of them were for digital cameras (small). We next tried Staples, which also had a poor selection. We then tried to wash the car again, but it was still way too crowded.

We saw the chiropractor, who turned out to be the first chiropractor to set up shop in Jackson. He was pretty good, and suggested that I come back again tomorrow so we could spend the entire session working on my carpal tunnel problems. Brenda really liked him.

After visiting the chiropractor we tried to get the car washed again, and the lines were still way too long. We visited a bison and elk meat and jerky store where we learned that their jerky currently uses additives that we don’t want, and most of their meats are around $50/pound. Brenda picked up some lip balm, hand salve, and facial scrub for market research purposes, and on the way back to dinner the 2nd car wash place had a tolerable wait. Our original dinner restaurant had not yet opened, and since we hadn’t eaten yet we went to Bubba’s BBQ where Brenda had OK halibut and Harlan had an OK combo platter (pulled pork, brisket, ribs, and chicken). After “dinner” we came back to the hotel and wrote up 5 days of log entries, messed with the new camera, and generally organized and relaxed. Oh, the bed in this room is really comfortable.

We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, which had lousy oatmeal. Harlan had pancakes and eggs. It was -3F at the park entrance, and we saw 2 bald eagles in a tree. As it was a bit foggy at that place, we didn’t get great pictures of them. On the way to our first “thermal feature” stop we approached 4 old herd bulls. They were “going our way” so we had to be Careful. Things got better and worse when the oldest bull decided he had run far enough and got off the road and started eating. The remaining 3 bulls decided to stop in the road, taking positions on the left side, center, and right side of the road, and just standing there daring us to “do something”. We waited, and then a couple of snow coaches came up behind us and also waited. A little while later, 3 other snowmobiles came toward “the party” from the other direction. After another 5 minutes or so, the 3 bulls decided that since we were not going to cause any trouble we must not be any fun, so they also headed toward the old bull to eat a little something. We proceeded to an area that has all 4 of the thermal features in the park – geysers, fumaroles, (bubbly pool things), and hot springs. We wandered around there for a while and then got back on our snowmobiles and headed to Old Faithful. We got there about an hour before it was next predicted to go off, so we headed up the road to a waterfall for some pictures. We got back about 20 minutes later and watched a 10 minute (or so) movie about Yellowstone. Their projector was broken so the group in the theatre watched this on a small TV with fairly quiet audio. At least the closed-captions were on.

The parking lot filled considerably during this time, and at about 15 minutes before the next scheduled “eruption” we headed over to Old Faithful to wait it out (it usually goes of within 10 minutes’ time of the prediction). After a number of false starts, we saw a small spurt about 10 minutes’ time after the predicted eruption. For some reason, everybody stayed there a bit longer, and 5 minutes later we were rewarded with a decent blow. After 143 pictures over the 4 days, the batteries in Harlan’s digital camera ran out, and he was also down to about 6 more shots on his 35mm camera. We left, crossed the continental divide for the first of three times that day, then crossed the divide again and headed to West Thumb for lunch. We saw a ranger there who said “Old Lonesome” (an old herd bull) was down the path if we wanted to see him, and suggested that as he was both mostly deaf and mostly blind that we not surprise him, especially from the front. We wandered around the paths looking at thermal features and the nice view, and then came across Old Lonesome. He pretty much stood there grazing. We got some pictures, then headed up to lunch.

After lunch we headed south, crossing the divide for the third time. We stopped for some pictures a few more times (including another waterfall, where the 35mm camera started to act up) and then dropped off the snowmobiles and got in the van for the drive back to Jackson.

The drive was pretty, and we stopped to look at a mama moose and her “little” one. The weather was pretty clear, and we had some very nice views of the Tetons on the way. As the sun was already well in the west the lighting was all wrong for pictures, but Brenda and I decided we’d wake up early in the morning and head over to shoot some photos and video of the Tetons.

The parking lot filled considerably during this time, and at about 15 minutes before the next scheduled “eruption” we headed over to Old Faithful to wait it out (it usually goes of within 10 minutes’ time of the prediction). After a number of false starts, we saw a small spurt about 10 minutes’ time after the predicted eruption. For some reason, everybody stayed there a bit longer, and 5 minutes later we were rewarded with a decent blow. After 143 pictures over the 4 days, the batteries in Harlan’s digital camera ran out, and he was also down to about 6 more shots on his 35mm camera. We left, crossed the continental divide for the first of three times that day, then crossed the divide again and headed to West Thumb for lunch. We saw a ranger there who said “Old Lonesome” (an old herd bull) was down the path if we wanted to see him, and suggested that as he was both mostly deaf and mostly blind that we not surprise him, especially from the front. We wandered around the paths looking at thermal features and the nice view, and then came across Old Lonesome. He pretty much stood there grazing. We got some pictures, then headed up to lunch.

After lunch we headed south, crossing the divide for the third time. We stopped for some pictures a few more times (including another waterfall, where the 35mm camera started to act up) and then dropped off the snowmobiles and got in the van for the drive back to Jackson.

The drive was pretty, and we stopped to look at a mama moose and her “little” one. The weather was pretty clear, and we had some very nice views of the Tetons on the way. As the sun was already well in the west the lighting was all wrong for pictures, but Brenda and I decided we’d wake up early in the morning and head over to shoot some photos and video of the Tetons.

We got into town and dropped off 5 rolls of print film at the camera store for developing. It looks like the slide film will have to wait to get developed, as the only place in town that develops slide film has a reputation for scratching the film. We stayed at the same hotel (the 49er Inn) but got “downgraded” from a “suite” that had a king bed and a fireplace to a room with a king bed and a whirlpool tub. We like the new room better.

We finally had cell service and returned some phone calls.

For dinner we had really salty food from the Original Philly Steak place in town, because Bubba’s BBQ was closed. Harlan picked up some fresh batteries for the 35mm along with an eyeglasses repair kit.

The new batteries didn’t help the camera, so we decided there was no point in waking up early to shoot photos.

Brenda arranged for a 6am wakeup call after Harlan set the alarm for 6:30. It seemed to make sense at the time. We met everybody for breakfast, which also had good oatmeal. Brenda probably had a waffle and some eggs, Harlan probably had steak and eggs. It was cold that morning, probably close to zero F. There is an arch in Gardiner that looks like the Arch d’Triumph. The van stopped for some pictures along the way, and Harlan obliged. There is an interesting rock formation there, called something like “The Cap” but we didn’t get any pictures of it. We saw more wildlife on the drive up to the snowmobiles.

We snowmobiled thru Mammoth, Norris, and then southwest to Madison. We went a little farther south to some falls for more pictures, as that road is only open to snowmobiles from noon until evening. We turned around and headed back north to Madison and then headed West to West Yellowstone. Brenda remembers seeing various thermal features today, some small geysers. There were some large herds of (OK, like 15) bison on the roads today.

In the afternoon we visited a wildlife place that has grizzlies and grey wolves. We took pictures and saw an hour-long National Geographic documentary about the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone.

That night we stayed at the Stagecoach Inn (or something). We had dinner down the street at a place called Bullwinkle’s, where most everybody else enjoyed Moose Drool Beer. We had a taste, and liked it. Dark, but not real strong. Brenda had a full rack of baby back ribs, and Harlan had a NY Strip. For dessert we shared a piece of (very good) cheesecake.

We agreed on a 6:15 wakeup call.

We woke up around 7:30 and met everybody for breakfast about 8am. Good oatmeal. The Willox family ran out of 35mm print film, so Harlan gave them a roll from his supply. Ray (one of the group) talked about Savannah GA and Brenda wants to add that in as a place to visit. Some of the group was also familiar with New Orleans and suggested places for us to visit there, too. The weather was pretty good – not too cold. Heading back up the pass we stopped and took some pictures looking east. One of the mountains there might have been named for the way a cat looks, lying on its back. Along the way we encountered many more bison. We had a sack lunch at Fishing Bridge, and then headed to Artist Point for a little walk and more pictures. We continued west to Norris, then headed north, stopping at Obsidian Cliff before heading to Gardiner for the evening. We dropped off the snowmobiles and a van from the hotel picked us up. We saw elk, bighorn sheep, mule deer, and probably other stuff. The hotel was a Best Western, and that was one of the better hotels we stayed at. For dinner we ate at the hotel restaurant, where Brenda had king crab legs and Harlan had a steak. The appetizer was roasted garlic, which was tasty and also effective for several days’ time. The Willox’s replaced the film that evening.

Brenda says this was the best day of the trip.

We arrived at Old Faithful Snowmobile Tours at 7:00am dressed in our rented snowmobile garments ready to go. We had breakfast at the Virginian Restaurant with the other 6 members of our tour. The drive to Yellowstone took about 60 minutes. We drove through the Grand Teton National Park to get there. It was foggy part of the way so we didn’t get to see all the Tetons until we were well past them. We then got a short introduction on how to operate a snowmobile, strapped our luggage on the back and headed to the east side of the park. We saw our first buffalo close to lunch time. It was alone on the road and was still. We crossed the continental divide and stopped for a bag lunch at West Thumb. We continued north and east, crossing Sylvan Pass in the afternoon, and it was probably around there when one of the screws fell out of Harlan’s glasses and one of the lenses fell out. He drove using his “desk” glasses, which were almost useful.

That night we stayed in Pahaska, at the Pahaska Teepee motel. We got a tour of Buffalo Bill’s lodge, and Harlan got some nice sunset pictures on his digital camera. Our group was talking in the bar, but that was too smoky for us so we visited with the other group on our tour, the Willox family. While there, Mike, the motel’s caretaker came over and repaired Harlan’s glasses, and talked about some of the things he likes to do (like repair old transistor radios and some of the watches and clocks he collects). A bit later he brought over an old train conductor’s watch he found while walking along a railroad track. It was made under government contract for the railroads by the Hamilton watch company, and had 24 hours on the dial, and ran in “GCT”. Very interesting timepiece! He also told us about a lead-encased clock he picked up at an auction in Seattle that came off a decommissioned Soviet submarine. The clock was effectively silent, and was waterproof to something like 2000 feet. Just before dinner Harlan was able to take some nice sunset pictures (at least we think so) on the digital camera. Dinner that night was pretty good – Brenda had “Trout, married with almonds” in some pleasant sauce, and Harlan had tournedos of beef with mushrooms in marsala wine. For dessert Harlan had a brownie and ice cream. The group chatted a lot, and when they heard the plans of our trip Diane suggested we see Devils Tower on the way to Mt. Rushmore. The room was pretty simple – no TV or telephone, and not much in the way of lights. That night, Brenda was chilled and didn’t get much sleep. Harlan was way too hot most of the night and didn’t get much sleep, either. The shower was really good, though.