We decided that since I have 3 weeks off that we couldn't probably stay at home for 2 full weeks (Remember the first week was on the Oregon Coast).

So we decided to roadtrip out to Yellowstone. I've never been there and Michelle had only been there once before. We figured that Hayden would be pretty easy to travel with at the moment, and it turns out that he is.

We spent a total of 6 days away. It took about 14 hours to get there, split up between a day and a half.

We stayed in the town of West Yellowstone for 2 nights. This let us get the most out of Yellowstone. Our first day we visited Mammoth Hot Springs which was rather developed but still pretty cool. After lunch we drove back South and went to the Canyon. This is called the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone" and for good reason. You can also get a good view of one of the good waterfalls in the park. After that we decided to head back to town and walk around a bit. From there dinner in and resting in the motel room.

The next day we went through Yellowstone on our way to the Grand Tetons National Park. This included driving through the "Geyser" region of the park which includes Old Faithful. We were lucky enough to arrive at the viewing area with about 15min. until the next eruption. This gave us time to make a lunch. After an ice cream we headed out.

We didn't make it to the Teton range until 4 or so which meant that the sun was far enough to make the pictures not as good as if the sun was in front of the range. So we took a couple of scenic drives and arrived in Jackson Wyoming.

We stayed one night here which gave us enough time to find a terrific mexican restaurant Merry Piglets and a walk around seeing the town. This seems like it is a rather trendy "Aspen" type of town. The real estate prices seem to agree. For instance this home is currently going for $919,000. (3 bdrm, 3,000 sqft)

Anyway, after a nice morning watching the sun come up to the mountain range (not sunrise mind you), we started the journey home. We left over Teton Pass (which has a very steep grade of 10%) to Idaho Falls, up to Butte, Missoula, and stopping in Coeur d'Alene. The next day we were home.

It was a great trip. One were we all spent some great time together (even though he slept through most of it ). We ended up driving something like 2,052 miles.

The trip pictures can be found here -- cjm