Day 3: Bears and Moose and Elk, oh my!! The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and waking up in Butte

After a brief nap at the Rock Springs La Quinta, the BDC got on the road for day three at about 9:20 Monday morning. We cruised north through Wyoming and got some good pictures of the Bridger-Teton National Forest around noon. The gang stopped in Jackson (the same Jackson of Jackson Hole, the famous ski resort) at about 1 o’clock for gas ($3.09) and a quick lunch in a shopping center plaza parking lot.

Next up, we came to the Grand Teton National Park. The Grand Tetons are a really beautiful range of mountains in western Wyoming. Grand Teton itself is 13.700 feet tall and it was truly stunning. There is a good-sized glacier on the east face that is gorgeous. We got several good pictures for you below. We also saw several buffalo (including one taking a cool dirt bath) in the park.

We arrived in Yellowstone National Park about 4. We were hoping to see some wildlife, and we were not disappointed. Before we got to Old Faithful, we saw a black bear and two cubs climbing a wooded ridge. We also saw several moose, elk, and deer. Carrie and I had just a brief time to explore the Old Faithful area, but we took in a couple of bubbling, rotten egg-smelling sulfur pits. On our way out of the park, we were lucky enough to see our second bald eagle of the trip!

The BDC crew left Yellowstone and entered Montana at around 5:30. Carrie and I snapped a few photos of some interesting landscapes driving on Montana highway 191 next to the Gallatin River (I believe named by Meriwether Lewis after the U.S. Treasury secretary serving while the Lewis and Clark expedition was surveying the Louisiana Purchase). While we were driving in Montana, we had our first car trouble. This guy was driving aggressively and passing the Prius, and as he was passing the van, the hubcap and another piece came flying off. At first, we thought it was from the guy’s truck, but when we got to the hotel in Butte, we discovered that the driver’s side back hubcap had come off the van!

We finally arrived in Butte at around 10 o’clock and got a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow it’s back on I-90 for almost 500 miles. We will go through Montana, the panhandle of Idaho, and Washington. Check out some photos below and be on the lookout for what happened to the BDC crew on Day 4.

Day 3

-BDC