Day 13 (Sunday May 24) Yellowstone to Jackson WY

Max and I in front of Old Faithful Geyser, May 24, 2009:

Today we started from our cabin at KOA West Yellowstone and wandered through the southern half of Yellowstone, including lots of geothermal features (geysers, hot springs, etc.)  Of course, sometimes Max would find animal scents from under the boardwalks more interesting than what I was trying to look at, such as this picture by White Dome Geyser.

We got to Old Faithful in between eruptions and got lunch, then had lots of time to walk around.  There was not much of a crowd yet and we had time to kill, so we sat around for a while.  A number of folks came up to pet the beagle, and we got one of them to take some pictures of us together (top).  Eventually it did erupt, as it does every 90 minutes or so, and it was pretty impressive to me.  By that time Max had spread out on the observation deck in the sun and was taking a nap.
We kept driving through the southern part of the park, taking in the sights.  Saw another Bear Circus on the way, but never saw the bear itself.  Lake Yellowstone was a sight since it still had lots of ice on it, forming intricate patterns.  Deri called around then so I pulled over and talked to her for a while while looking out over the lake.  She was driving back from a fun weekend in Atlanta and for a change it was her mobile phone that lost signal.  Great view.  

We turned around at some point north of the lake and went down through the South Entrance, through the Grand Tetons to Jackson.  It was a shorter trip than I thought (77 mi) and became very cloudy and rainy.  The tops of the mountains were covered by the clouds.  The last time we were here (on our honeymoon) it was a crystal clear winter day with snow on the ground.  

Jackson is not a cheap place to stay, and the weather was not really suitable for camping, so we crashed at Motel 6.  They were apparently the first nationwide pet-friendly hotel chain so I thought we'd check them out but didn't expect much.  Apparently they have really redone most of their properties, though, so the rooms looked more like a botique hotel than anything I expected.  Go Motel 6!  Still, very basic, no extras, have to pay extra for internet, etc.  

Chatted with Deri some more then searched online for restaurants and found Bubba's Bar-B-Que down the road was supposed to be good and fast, and it was.  I think I walked in to order and walked out 5 min later.  That, of course, made Max very happy.  Watched a little TV for the first time in 2 weeks and bed.

Day 14 (Monday May 25) Jackson, WY

Took it very easy today, sleeping in after staying up late last night watching Neil deGrasse Tyson on C-Span talking about one of his books.  That's the Astrophysicist who hosts Nova Science Now and was in the middle of of the debate over reclassifying Pluto as a Kuiper Belt Object and not a planet, which was the book that he was talking about tonight.  He is always entertaining to me because he's got to be one of the quickest and most intelligent people in the world right now.  He always has the answer to any question, and he can relay very complicated material in an easy to understand and humorous manner.  Check out Nova Science Now on PBS if you haven't.   

Anyway, after a slow start to the day (it was a holiday, after all) we ventured out around Jackson.  Not a whole lot was open, and it does not appear to be a very dog-friendly town.  All the parks have signs up that no dogs are allowed under penalty of being fined.  There were a couple of pet-friendly restaurants listed online, but one had closed permanently and one was only open for Breakfast and Lunch so we missed that.  We did take a couple short walks around downtown Jackson.  We were walking along and I realized that we were only a block over from the Alpine House, where Deri and I stayed on our honeymoon, and the sushi place we really liked near there.  

Back to the hotel to relax for a little while.  Max has been on a kick the past week where he doesn't want to eat much in the morning, then he eats a big lunch and a fairly big dinner.  I would think the time change would make him want to eat earlier, not later, but he's a weird little guy.  

We drove over to a trailhead I had read about as being good for walking with dogs, but it wasn't too good for us.  There were lots of mountain bikers on the trails, and lots of loose (big) dogs in the parking area.   We went down to the second parking area, and I was going to give it a try but Max didn't even want to get down from the car.  I was hesitant too, so we went off in search of an appropriate site to walk.  We were on the far Eastern side of town so we were only a couple of blocks from the entrance to the National Elk Refuge.  We went up there a few miles, and found this hill that had a trail going up it.  There was a sign saying that hikers and bikers could enter the refuge here but only if they stayed on the marked trail.  There were no other cars there, and no large wildlife visible in the area, so it seemed like a pretty good place.  This was near where Deri and I saw the Bighorn Sheep up close (though we called it a Billy Goat and made up a song about it).  Anyway, we hiked up the hill about a quarter mile and had a great view over the valley and the Teton range.  Being up at over 6,000 feet of altitude was very apparent to both of us as we hiked.  Max was huffing and puffing pretty good by the time we got up the hill, but he had a smile on his face and seemed to really love exploring this area.  We sat on a big rock up on the hill and looked out over the surrounding area, taking in the picturesque view.  What a great moment.  

After a few minutes we had both caught our breath and my little buddy was ready to head back down.  He got real excited whenever another car came down the road, and I think the elevation and openness of the land out here was playing tricks on his depth perception.  He just has not had much experience seeing objects that far away, so I think he thought the cars down on the road a quarter mile away were fast moving little animals.  He would watch them go by and around the curve, then run down the trail to where it seemed like it would have looked like they disappeared to him, and sniff all around.  Hilarious.  Oh, and it was supposed to rain all day today, but it was 65* and partly cloudy with a light breeze.  Just perfect weather.

We went farther out into the Elk Refuge in the Jeep until we had to turn around, maybe 8 miles total.  Back through Jackson, drove around a little bit but there was nothing else I really wanted to see.  It's a pretty small town and with all the parks, schools, etc (pretty much anything with a nice surface to walk on) off limits to dogs, we came back to the hotel.  Max was pretty sleepy and I had a few things I wanted to read and look up online.  I think we'll get dinner from that same place, Bubba's Bar-B-Que.  It's right down the road, very good, not that expensive, and FAST.  Last night between walking in and ordering, paying, waiting, and leaving could not have been more than 6 minutes.  It had very good reviews online.  Then maybe I'll watch a movie.  Oh, and I still have some brownies for dessert.  Fun.  We have eaten out a lot here in Jackson, but they don't really approve of using camp stoves in the Motel 6 anyway, and there will be plenty of time for cooking out the next week or two as we head south into warmer weather and start camping much more often.  

Max hates this hotel because he can hear people moving around upstairs and it scares him just like thunder so he did not get much sleep last night.  That plus his walk made him pretty sleepy.  It seems like most of the hotel emptied out today so it is quiet, allowing him to sleep peacefully.  The room has two beds only about 2 feet apart so Max has a whole routine.  He'll come in and lay in his bed until I'm done moving around, then hop up and nap on my bed for a while.  Then, when he wants to really sleep soundly, he'll jump across the gap (a pretty good leap for an old doggie) to the other side and curl up on his own bed.