May 11 - United States: Gardiner, Montana (Yellowstone National Park) to Jackson, Wyoming

Yellowstone National Park

We left the Super 8 Motel relatively early (for us) and drove into Yellowstone for the last time.  We were going to drive through the park and exit through the South Gate.  The 4-7" of snow they were predicting yesterday never showed up, and it was a lovely sunny day today.

About twenty minutes on the north road, we ran into a large amount of cars and people walking and we knew right away that we would find the bear cubs somewhere near.  Sure enough, they were about 100 yards from the side of the road eating their breakfast.  Their breakfast was a very large deer that they had apparently killed either last night or early this morning.  Most of it was gone, and they were munching on the spinal column when we arrived.  We hung out and watched them for about an hour, and then decided it was time to move on.

The Bears at Breakfast

It took us a few hours to leave the park, and we saw lots of bison and deer and one coyote on the way out.  We stopped for a bit because Jon found a nest in a tree which we think was a bald eagle.  But it was so far away that it was difficult to see. 

The Grand Teton

Immediately outside the south entrance of Yellowstone is Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.  It's not as large as Yellowstone, and we got the impression that it's not as closely guarded either.  It seemed more like a highway through lovely scenery instead of a national park.  

The Grand Tetons

We stopped a few times for pictures of the lovely mountains, but the weather became a bit burdensome.  Once we hit the cloud layer, our lovely drive turned into a rainy one.  But we did manage to see a moose... sort of...

A Moose's Butt

Jackson, Wyoming

We arrived in Jackson around 4:00 and were so charmed by the little ski town that we decided to stay.  Our room at the Super 8 Motel (just outside of town) had a microwave in it, so we nuked some soup for dinner.  Then we crossed the parking lot to the movie theater to see the 7:00 showing of Spiderman.  I really, really enjoyed the movie but Jon didn't.  He thought it was silly.