Yellow Stone and Grand Teton, hell and heaven on earth

On memorial day weekend, the family headed out to Yellowstone National Park. I need to blog this while the memories are fresh in my head. This blog is working as a diary of sorts as well for me :-). Yellowstone was always one of the places that was on my "Places to visit before you die" list. Really wanted to see the wonders of nature, i.e., the Geysers etc, things we read about back home in India in Geography class. Living in STL, I always wanted to goto Yellow Stone. However, the concern with air fare, time loss therein etc had kept me away. From SLC, being 6.5 hours away, I could not make excuses :-).

The plan was we leave on Friday evening, stop at Idaho falls and then next morning head to Yellow Stone. Spend Sunday at Yellowstone as well and drive back to SLC on Monday.

The dear wife had mentioned that the weather in Yellowstone would be in 35-45 degrees Fahrenheit so we packed accordingly. Pants, full sleeved shirts etc were part of the baggage. I had a nagging feeling that I should pack some shorts and simple T-shirts but abandoned the same in light of the weather forecast.

Saturday at Yellowstone, the temperature reading in the car mentions a blaring 80 degrees. I am wrapped up in an uncomfortable pant and shirt and start teasing the wife regarding her forecast. Maybe she picked November in the calendar etc, lol! I was missing my shorts rather badly. What value is a hot day when I cannot show some skin :-))).

Anyway, the objective of the day was to see Old Faithful and any other geysers/hot spots on the way. We saw some deer and bison as well. Seeing the different sulphur spewing geysers and hot spots, it felt like being back in Chemistry class. Hell might smell like this. One is not allowed to walk on terra firma near the hot spots as there might be hidden spots that one could accidentally step on and get scald. In fact straying from the road to take uncharted walks might not be a good idea as one cannot tell where the ground is dangerous. Being near the Geysers, I got reminded of this scene from the movie Dante's Peak where these two teens jump into a pond to skinny dip and the water suddenly starts boiling and literally cooks them.

The park folk have built very nice wooden walkways near the hot spots. Travelling with Kids is fun and hard. To view each of the hot spots, there is a distance to walk. My kids will not cooperate more than a certain distance and further it is dangerous if they were to fall, so we had to push them all around in their prams. Quite a work out. Some points of interest were the Grand Prismatic spring, and Biscuit basin.

Anyway, seeing old faithful was a treat. There is a nice seating area around the geyser, almost like a theatre, and we say old faithful spew out a gush of water. There is a log lodge near old faithful which is just superb. Reservations for the same would need to be made well in advance I imagine. So Saturday went in visiting Old Faithful and the lower basin.

On Sunday we headed to see Mammoth Springs and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The temperature on Sunday was in the 50 s so it was now my wife's time with the taunts :-). I was still holding out saying that it is no where close to 35-40 :-)

We were not too impressed by Mammoth but we enjoyed seeing the other springs along the way such as Steamboat etc. The entire area feels like a snapshot of primordial earth in some ways. Geysers, bubbling mud spots, smell of sulphur etc etc. However, it might be like hell but its no doubt a hell that is immensely watchable :-)

A discovery channel episode mentioned that Yellow stone might blow one day creating one of the greatest volcanic eruptions of all time. Glad it did not happen while I was there :-). Even if the explosion does occur and I am in SLC, no chance of survival :-)...but hey who wants to live forever, better to have lived and enjoyed the wonders of this earth than live for ever without.

The Grand Canyon of Yellow Stone was one of the most breath taking scenery's that I have ever experienced. A canyon with streaks of Yellow on the rocks, a water fall and a sunset. The views from Artist point was simply breath taking and very very peaceful. There is something about nature, I tend to feel so much at peace. The canyon was definitely one of those. After this wonderful experience we made our way back to the hotel amidst rain. I was rather watchful driving as there are many cases of cars colliding with the wildlife at yellow stone causing fatalities to the animals. We went past the Yellow stone lake but did not stop much due to the rain.

An incident that I must mention is seeing a Bison on the road walking at its own pace and holding up the cars behind. We were lucky enough to be passing on the opposite lane to see the bison walk by our car. One thing I need to vent about is that I hate it when people stop (for a long time) to see wild life on the road, take pictures and hold up many many cars behind them. I would much rather these people show some consideration and park on the side and let others through who are running short of time. If they slowed down saw the wild life and moved on, I have no complaints against my fellow man enjoying a moment of wild life sighting. I do not have all the time in the world, quite the opposite of Louis Armstrong's song "We have all the time in the world" :-)...Enough of the whining.

Our plan for Monday was to head back to SLC directly and then relax. However, I was in such a vacationing mood that I wanted to drive through Grand Teton National Park and then head home. This deviation meant a longer journey and reaching rather late to SLC. However, the family was game.

Monday, the temperature is now in the 30-40. The wife has the mocking grin and I try my best to avoid the topic of temperature for obvious reasons. We have purchased an annual pass to the National Parks. For this reason we were not charged for entry to yellow stone. We assumed that as we headed from Yellow Stone into Grand Teton that our pass would come in handy again. Apparently not so, a fee for Yellow Stone covers Grand Teton as well.

Now Grand Teton! I am so glad we drove through. The park is "heaven on earth". Picture perfect. The scenery reminds one of Calendars we see. The Einstien that I am, I had forgotten to take my digital camera re-charger with me so no more digital pictures. I did however pick up a disposable camera. There are still a few exposures left so do not really know how well the pictures have come. But at least I had my camcorder and took some video.

There is a lake called Jenny Lake at Grand Tenton, a one way drive to a scenic overlook is simply gorgeous. The calmness of the lake amidst the mountains and forest made me never want to leave. However, we had to. As we drove on we realized that there is a boating facility that will take us across Jenny lake. Now, we were having doubts whether to do the boat ride or not. Our concerns were that we might get delayed considerably and reaching very late to SLC in the process. We decided to chance it and went for the ride. It was well worth it. 10 mins across the lake and 10 mins back. Kids loved the boat ride. One problem that we faced was that it was drizzling and was rather cold over the lake. The moron that I am, I did not pick up a ponchos at the boat dock. But all in all a Blast...

We then drove back to SLC reaching at around 10:45 p.m. The trip was tiring but was one to cherish.

The next vacation, I would like to go to Yosemite National Park, probably rent an RV...that would be super cool. Got to make good use of the annual pass that I have purchased after all and see America the beautiful.!