Grand Tetons & Yellowstone May 2023

Since I retired from my law practice in January 2023, I have wanted to do more road trips. 

This is a write up of our trip to the Grand Teton mountains in Jackson, Wy and Yellowstone, 5-21-23 to 6-5-23, just over 2 weeks.

Our first stop was South Lake Tahoe where I had a Probate Referee Convention on May 21 and 22nd.  

We departed South Lake Tahoe late morning on the 22nd, and stopped for the night in Wells, Nevada, about a 6 hr drive including charging stops.  I picked Wells only because that is the town in Nevada where you have to turn north to head towards Jackson, Wyoming and the Grand Teton mountains.  If you haven’t heard of Wells, you haven’t missed anything.

After Wells, we stopped to charge in Twin Falls, Idaho, where I took this photo of the bridge over the Snake River.  I just missed getting a shot of base jumpers, people with parachutes, jumping from the bridge and landing on the bank of the river.

I realized that we had an extra day before our stay at the Jackson Lake Lodge started, so we stopped for a night in Driggs, Idaho. This is a cute little town on the other side of the mountains from Jackson, Wyoming.   The business area of the town is about 3 blocks long.

On our way to Driggs, we suddenly encountered a hail storm which quickly covered the road with hale; fortunately we were able to drive through without problems, but it made a great photo:

In Jackson, Wyoming, we stayed 3 nights at one of our favorite hotels, the Jackson Lake Lodge.  It has a gorgeous view of the Grand Teton mountains, and is a very nice hotel.

Here are some photos around Jackson

Our toast on the patio of our cabin on our 1st night

A view of the mountains from our cabin at sunset on a cloudy evening

The Lodge has a great view of the mountains from the great room

Waiting for dinner at the Lodge

No trip to the Tetons would be complete without a photo of the old Moulton’s barn with the Tetons in the background

A stream next to the barn

Here’s a photo from Signal Mountain, near Jackson Lake

Wild flowers near the Tetons

A small frozen lake on the way to Yellowstone

After our stay at the Jackson Lake Lodge, we headed to West Yellowstone for one night. I picked West Yellowstone for our 1st night near the park because I wanted to charge the car before our stay in the park.  West Yellowstone  has a Tesla supercharger right across the street from the hotel I picked.  The town also has more restaurants and better food than any restaurant in the park

On the way to West Yellowstone, we visited the geyser areas, including Old Faithful.  We saw it erupt, although the eruption wasn’t as high as we saw it the last time we were here many years ago.

Here’s a mineral hot pool with lots of colors

Another shot of the mineral pool

Another geyser area

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone #2

Our next stay was at the Lake Yellowstone Lodge, right in the middle of Yellowstone, on the shore of Lake Yellowstone. Here’s a photo of the hotel

The front of the hotel was a grazing area for this Bison

Here’s Marge watching an elk grazing in front of the hotel

Sunset with a rainbow at Lake Yellowstone

Marge getting ready to take a photo of a mountain sheep

The Lamar Valley is famous for wifdlife, like bison, wolves, coyotes & bears.  Here’s a herd of bison crossing the road

Hayden Valley is another area of Yellowstone that has lots of wildlife, and was not far from Lake Yellowstone.   We took a drive after dinner one night and got this photo of a herd of bison.  I liked how the grass was made vibrant by the evening sun, contrasted with the bison.

Hayden Valley #2

A reflection off of the Yellowstone River

I liked the contrast of this marshy area of the Lake with the cloudy sky

After Yellowstone, our next stop was Coeur d’Alene, Idahoe, however, to break up that drive, we stayed a night in Missoula, Montana.

We stayed two nights in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, so Marge could visit with her friend Kathy, who Marge has known since high school.

After Coeur d’Alene, our next stop was Klamath, Falls, Oregon, which is over halfway between Coeur d’Alene and Hayward.  It was about a 10 hr drive with nice scenery.

The trip was about 3200 miles and took 15 days.  We drove my Tesla because I can charge it for free at Tesla Super Chargers.  We were able to charge at Super Chargers the whole trip, except for our time at Lake Yellowstone, where I found a free charger about two blocks from the hotel.  When I drive, I use auto pilot which does a good job of driving the car, although I always have my hands on the steering wheel.  This allows me to relax a bit and enjoy the scenery.