Yellowstone summer 2009

 We decided this summer vacation was going to be about hitting some historic sites. Let's just say I have lived in Central Texas all my life and I have never been to the Alamo.

We drove from Central Texas to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming June 2009. The weather was wonderful and the drive there was not so bad until we got to Wyoming. I love the state of Colorado and of course the great state of Texas. We only hit a short stretch of New Mexico...not worth mentioning. Wyoming however is truely a prairie. I thought Texas for the most part was prairie but you have not seen prairie until you have driven six hours across the state of Wyoming. We were glad we made it through that day. The closer we got to Yellowstone the better the weather and scenery was. We reached our hotel around 7 and hit the hay immediately.

The next morning we woke up and head to Yellowstone. We stayed in Jackson Hole so we had almost an hour drive to get there. The road construction was horrific. An hour drive ended up taking us almost two hours. We enter through the Grand Teton and the tall trees were few and far between. I was devastated by the site. There were dead trees everywhere. Plenty of new growth but not to be the grand site that it once was for atleast 60 or more years. We finally reach Yellowstone and decide to hit the Lower Falls first. Well that is another hour of driving. The Lower Falls were spectacular. The elevation was a little overwhelming for a Texan. I lost my footing when we were climbing the steps from the Lower Falls. It took me about twenty minutes to recover from the lost breath. We ate lunch near the Lower Falls and then headed to Ole' Faithful. Another hour plus driving. I did not realize that Yellowstone was an all day event.

We now enter the site of Ole' Faithful. We wait around an hour for it to errupt. Take some pics and make a mad dash for the truck. It is almost 5 p.m. at this point we are ready to get the heck out of Yellowstone. Yellowstone is a nice Park but I think the Forestry Department really should get in there and clean it up. It was devastating to see so many dead trees. Surely there is a use somewhere in the United States for the dead trees.

On the drive back to Central Texas the next stop was Aspen, CO. Boy talk about a quiet town. We arrived there in the evening had some so called Mexican Food and stayed in a very quiet bungalow. We get in the room toss our bags and suddenly we realize NO A/C. The weather was okay but the room was below ground level so it was a bit muggy. Thank goodness my husband always takes a fan on our vacations. We survived the night and head South the next morning. We drive through Independence Pass. Beautiful site but hard to look when you are afraid at any moment you are going to plundge to your death. We reach Salida, CO stopped for lunch at our favorite Steakhouse. Now that we have finally had a good meal we start heading toward Texas.

To make a long story short we made it home and thank GOD everyday that we live in the Great state of Texas.  As a child my dad drove us all around the United States so I thought I would like to do that with my children. We may attempt another trip but it may be a less specific trip.