Airstream Trip to
Grand Tetons and Yellowstone
August 2010

Another view of the Elk horn arches and a glimpse of the Jackson Hole ski runs at the top left corner. The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is just across the street.

"The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is located right on the town square in the heart of Jackson. It is famous for its western cowboy flare motif, complete with a large collection of western memorabilia, unique knobbled pine architecture, cowboy murals, animal mounts, and genuine saddle barstools.
The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is known world wide for its western dancing and live entertainment. Some of the finest entertainers on the country music scene have been known to hit the stage here, including Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Jr., Asleep at the Wheel, Hoyt Axton, Glen Campbell, Tanya Tucker, Willie Nelson, Commander Cody and the James Cotton Blues Band."

The interior of the bar was not brightly illuminated. This is a view of the saddle bar stools.

The tourists at Jenny Lake.

"Jenny Lake, formed by melting glaciers about 60,000 years ago, is a beautiful blue mountain lake set in the heart of Grand Teton National Park, at the base of Teewinot Mountain. On the west side, the lake touches the Teton Mountain Range. The lake is about 260 feet deep at the deepest point."

The flow at Mammoth Hot Springs seems to be greatly reduced compared to a visit with Linda in 1963.

The hot water that feeds Mammoth comes from Norris Geyser Basin after traveling underground via a fault line that runs through limestone and roughly parallel to the Norris-to-Mammoth road (the limestone is the source of the calcium carbonate). Shallow circulation along this corridor allows Norris' superheated water to slightly cool before surfacing at Mammoth, generally at about 170°F (~77°C). Algae living in the warm pools have tinted the travertine shades of brown, orange, red, and green.

Thermal activity here is extensive both over time and distance. Terrace Mountain at Mammoth Hot Springs is the largest known carbonate-depositing spring in the world. The most famous feature at the springs is the Minerva Terrace, a series of travertine terraces. The terraces have been deposited by the spring over many years but, due to recent minor earthquake activity, the spring vent has shifted, rendering the terraces dry.

We continued our drive to Roosevelt Lodge.

"President Theodore Roosevelt was a great outdoorsman. He came to Yellowstone National Park in 1904 to explore its wildlife and mountain terrain. His camp was based close to where Roosevelt Lodge is located today."

A trumpeter swan seems to like this location. We saw one here 3 days in a row.

"In a standing position, trumpeter swans are approximately 4 feet high. However, if the neck and legs are outstretched they can measure nearly 6 feet long from bill to feet. Adult male swans can vary from 21-32 lbs., but more typically weigh 26-30 lbs. Trumpeter swans feed on submerged aquatic vegetation and on occasion aquatic invertebrates. Every year adult swans go through a flightless period in which they molt all their feathers at once thus making them flightless for a 1-2 month period of time. This typically occurs during the warmest months, namely July and August."

We are standing at an overlook called Artist Point taking this picture in the rain at 47 degrees.

Artist Point stuck in my mind ever since I was here in 1949 as an 8 year old boy. Mom had brought the four of us kids to Yellowstone on our biggest ever family trip. Back then the viewing area was just dirt. Now it is paved and has concrete steps for easy walking and a low stone wall to keep people from slipping over the edge.

The interior of Old Faithful Inn looks like Tinkertoy construction on steroids!

"The inn's architect was 29-year-old Robert Reamer, an architect for the Great Northern Railway.

With its spectacular log and limb lobby and massive (500-ton, 85-foot) stone fireplace, the inn is a prime example of the "Golden Age" of rustic resort architecture, a style which is also known as National Park Service Rustic. It is also unique in that it is one of the few log hotels still standing in the United States.

Initial construction was carried out over the winter of 1903-1904, largely using locally-obtained materials including lodgepole pine (the bark was later removed in 1940) and rhyolite stone. When the Old Faithful Inn first opened in the spring of 1904, it boasted electric lights and steam heat.

The structure is the largest log hotel in the world; possibly even the largest log building in the world. In 2007 the American Institute of Architects conducted a survey to determine the 150 favorite buildings in America; the Old Faithful Inn ranked 36. The Inn, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, is itself part of the Old Faithful Historic District."

After enjoying Old Faithful, we walked along Firehole River to see several other geysers, the most notable being Grand Geyser. It seemed to bubble forever then finally after waiting 2 hours it did erupt. Click for YouTube video.

Look for these control gadgets at the bottom right corner of the video to adjust resolution and display size.

Unfortunately for us, Montana was busy spraying tar and laying fresh gravel as part of their highway maintenance. We got speckled with tar spray and a passing RV threw a stone that knocked out our window. A short while later, a passing truck threw a stone that cracked our windshield.

Carol and I taped a trash bag over the missing window and Jill helped by calling several cities along our route to locate a replacement window. She found one in Salt Lake City. We arrived there a half day later very tired of hearing the plastic flapping in the wind. The next morning I got the window replaced ($611 for the "traveler in distress" special).