A beautiful and cold 10 days in Big Sky, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, & Jackson Hole 🌧❄️🐃🐻🐎

Where do we begin? First, Jim tweaked his back lifting too many bags, so we took it easy at our Vacasa (airbnb-type place) condo in Big Sky, MT. For those of you who have not visited, this is one of the most beautiful places in MT!! Deserves the name.

We arrived on June 2nd and spent 5 relaxing days in Big Sky. The first condo was on a pretty golf course in town, with a wonderful hammock. It had a hippie vibe, but also a wonderful Casper mattress, which was good for Jim’s back. The second condo was up mountain at the ski resort. A bit quiet due to the hub season, so we took advantage of the quiet pool and jacuzzi.

During our stay in Big Sky, we left early one frosty morning and headed into Yellowstone National Park. It was generally cool all day, but that seemed to mean more animals were active. At first, all we spotted were Canadian Geese....Jos even made a comment that none of the animals were around. Just then, two Bison came down the side of the road, walking right next to our car. Jos rolled up the window!?! 😀 Btw, we learned that in N. America, we have bison, not buffalo. I guess it is easier to sing, buffalo soldier vs. bison soldier... 🎶 😀

A bit later, Jim spotted a big black bear in the distance, near a pond. We stopped and watched the bear as he made a track around the pond and up towards the road. 🐻. Unfortunately, cars started showing up and pretty soon there was a “bear jam”. One women in flip flops got within 50 feet of this 400+ pound bear...fortunately a ranger showed up and told the dumb people to move back. That bear would have had a tasty snack if the ranger didn’t show up.

We then headed into the NE side of the park (Lamar valley region). A former Yellowstone park ranger who we met at the condo pool suggested this area for wildlife viewing. He was right! We saw hundreds, maybe thousands, of bison. We also used someone’s telescope to look at a grizzly bear and 2 cubs up in the hills...very cool. And glad they were thousands of yards away. In all, a great first day in the park. Left for dinner, and the drive back to Big Sky.

We took a well-deserved day off, then got up the next morning for a wintry snow storm. See pic of Jim’s car. ❄️ We drove through Yellowstone to our next Airbnb in Jackson Hole, WY. The rain and cold weather continued......we did stop to see a few geysers, but we saved Old Faithful for another day.

We took another day off in Jackson to watch the passing snow showers outside, do some shopping, and get in an hour of yoga. Jackson Hole and it’s neighbor, The Tetons, were gorgeous. We did a bit of shopping in Teton Village.. Jos found some great deals including a new snow cap (see the cute pic).

The next day we took our last trip into Yellowstone. We got to Old Faithful minutes before the eruption. It was crazy crowded and just a tourist stop. We then drove along Yellowstone Lake and into another area known for wildlife...and it didn’t disappoint. We saw hundreds more bison, including two crossing a river! Very interesting seeing 2k lb bison swimming a large river. We saw many elk, moose, and pronghorns (small deer type creature with a white butt).

The next day the weather started warming up, so we went on a bike ride on a beautiful bike path beside the Tetons. Absolutely gorgeous, but our butts were a little sore by mile 10, as we have not ridden bikes for some time.

The next place we stayed was Jenny Lake campground - our first camping of the journey! It’s a beautiful area at the foot of the Tetons and we walked the trails along it and neighboring lakes for epic views. It got down to around 40F at night, which was pretty chilly in a tent, but we hope to do much more camping in milder / warmer weather.

We had some great food, good shopping, and amazing scenery throughout our stay around Jackson. A wonderful place to visit all year.

We packed up the next day (June 12th) and made the long 8+ hour drive from Jackson, WY to Grand Junction, CO. The scenery during the drive was stunning. From mountain passes, to steep tree-lined ravines, to high deserts, and through beautiful red canyons (Flaming Gorge National Recreation area), rich with fossils from prehistoric times. We then drove through Northern Utah, which had great signs along the road telling us what prehistoric era we were seeing in the cliffs (along with the animals of the time).