Yellowstone & Grand Tetons Day 1
After months of being at home, it was time for a break from the routine…travel called. It took some time to decide where to go. Of course, in the fall, New England calls. But with all of the other trips planned for later this year, we decided to stay closer to home.
We hadn’t been to Yellowstone or the Grand Tetons in years. We had honeymooned there 46 years ago, and Hugh had attended a medical conference near Yellowstone during his career, but that also had been years ago.
We started on Sunday and drove as far as Provo, Utah, spent the night, and then drove the remainder on Monday, arriving late morning. We had driven through Jackson Hole several years ago returning from Missoula and had been shocked by the growth. This time we were expecting it, but the extent of the sprawl was still shocking. The quaint little town we had visited in 1977 had grown up.
We stayed between Jackson Hole and the entrance to Grand Teton National Park, close to the Jackson Hole Airport. Nice location. Elk Refuge Inn.
On Tuesday, we were ready to start our journey through Grand Teton National Park to the entrance to Yellowstone.
This day was all about remembering my camera and how to take a photo. Where is the focusing button? How do I change the ISO? Oh, I forgot to test the circular polarizer on that shot. The ultimate lesson came when we were on the Upper Geyser Basin trail and I ran out of space on my memory card, and neither Hugh nor I was carrying an extra. Well, I had forgotten to format the card I was using before I started shooting. So I’m on the trail, busy deleting old photos.
When I started reviewing the photos, I saw that I had overlooked leveling many of them. Thank goodness for Lightroom!
Our early morning shots were of the first light touching the tops of the Tetons.
We saw our first bison of the trip. Seeing them became a daily event, as they seemed to live near the road leading into Grand Teton National Park.
Our next stop was Oxbow Bend Overlook inside Grand Teton National Park, and then we drove down to the site of Cattleman’s Bridge.
After our morning photographing in Grand Teton National Park, we made our way to the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone. The starting point was Old Faithful. We found a grill open for lunch and, most importantly, flushing toilets. Most of the park was closed for the season, which was lovely because we weren’t fighting crowds of visitors. But it did have a downside, as most places for food, gifts, and facilities were closed.
Morning Glory Pool is spectacular. I reached it with limited to no space on my memory card and without my wide-angle lens. It was a day to reacquaint myself with the musts of photography…carry spare memory cards and a variety of lenses!