We just got back from an awesome trip to Glacier National
Park. On the way, we passed through
Grand Teton and Yellowstone Parks and spent the night at the Mammoth Hot
Springs hotel inside Yellowstone.
We really didn’t do anything more than drive through Grand
Teton, stopping to take some pictures (which didn’t turn out well because it
was cloudy and hazy) of the mountains and the first wildlife of the trip- some
roadside Bison.
We’d originally thought of going to Yellowstone for our
vacation, but by the time we started planning (in December of last year)
everything inside the park was already booked for the summer and we decided to
visit Glacier instead as neither of us had ever been there before. I’m glad we did- Glacier National Park is
spectacular, but more on that later.
We happened to find one room available for one night in
Yellowstone and decided to stay there along the way. The hotel was cool, it was built in 1937 in
the Mammoth Hot Springs area of the park, which was originally built as Fort Yellowstone when the US Army
managed the park in its early years. (I
watched all 6 parts of Ken Burns’ documentary on America’s National Parks in
preparation to bore my family with historic facts throughout the trip)
Our room didn't have a private bathroom (that’s how they
rolled in the 1930's I guess) For one night,
this was just quirky enough to be charming, but would probably have gotten old
after too long. We walked around the
area of the hotel, took some pictures of the elk that were roaming the area,
visited Old Faithful and the (smelly) hot springs and were on our way north the
next morning.
Grand Teton National Park:
The Tetons:
Wes checking out the mountains:
Bison / Mountains:
Bison:
Yellowstone National Park:
Old Faithful:
Kids enjoying the geyser:
Elk:
Mammoth Hotel:
Elk around hotel area:
Yellowstone Post Office:
Art Deco wood map of the United States in the hotel lobby:
Hot springs:
