Finding a Jewel

With the snow appearing it was time to go.  South we hoped, as we were heading to AZ for the winter. This time, south was where the snow was coming from, so first we headed west.

This was an awesome unplanned detour.  We find the most amazing sights when we open our eyes to the unexpected and this was one of those trips.

The beauty of the Grand Tetons as the seasons change is never captured except in your soul when you experience it first hand. 

When the weather got worse we changed directions, found a place we'd never been and stopped.

Fossil Butte National Monument, aka America's aquarium in Stone was an oasis in the scrub.  

But the snow came again and it was time to get to a campground and wait out the storm.  

Across another state line into Laketown, Utah and then a few miles north back into Idaho we found our safe harbor.  

 The blue-green water of Bear Lake is a jewel to behold.

Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons

Some of you have been waiting for this post a long time.  It's finally here.  We have learned the best time of the year to go to the national parks is the week or two weeks before parks close for winter and we lucked out timing our trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons for mid to late September 2017.

Our campground was nearly empty.  We had three days before they closed for the season.  Everything in the tourist shop was on sale and the weather was beautiful, cool and dry when we checked in.  We detached the Jeep and set up quickly. We were excited to go out exploring right away and weren't disappointed.

Elk

geysers

bubbling blood red mud

more elk

waterfalls and rivers

lakes with steaming geysers

silver-back grizzly

Old Faithful

showing off

rainbow geysers

steamy boardways

bison

ravens the same size as Frances

birds foraging for winter

lots of developed trails

All that before the snow during our departure!