Last minute kind of trip….. Part 3

Welcome back to the last part of our Last Minute Kind of Trip from early last summer. Photos are with moms camera and our phone. Enjoy! 🙂  

The next morning, we decided to kind of have a slow morning as the weather was supposed to be cold, gloomy and rainy today so we were just going to see how things go. Plus, I, Miss Kayla needed a few treatments and what not. I was also a tad under the weather due to the elevation and climate change.

We finally left and went to the visitor center that is on the property but down in the lower area. Since there is no wheelchair path, we drove down which was fine as it was still really cold out and we were wanting to go for a drive after going to the VC. Surprisingly the Visitors Center wasn’t very wheelchair friendly, but we made do. It was a cool center that had a neat topography model of the park and I, Miss Kayla got my passport stamped.

Afterward, we got in the car and headed east and then south through Hayden Valley to see what we see.

Well, we saw a lot of Buffalo but honestly, not like our previous visits over the years. There weren’t as many as we used to see. Maybe they were somewhere else today. We did get to see some young ones which is always cool. They are so cute. We did watch a mom and baby make their way along the river going through some mud. I, Miss Kayla don’t think that the baby was too keen about having to go through the thick mud.

It was still quite chilly out (low 40s and windy with drizzle/rain here and there). Pretty quiet through Hayden Valley besides the Buffalo.

The Buffalo decided to cross the highway. Can you believe that one just decided to cross right in front of us like at the very last minute???? Well, it did. So we had to wait for them all to cross.

That is common here in Yellowstone. 😊 Once they finally cleared the road we were able to continue on.

Not much further down the road, mom pulled off in a large pullout so we could get out and see what we see . It was great to get out for a few minutes far from the Buffalo, but it was cold and drizzly. Yeah, you don’t want to be out of the car when there is Buffalo near.

We continued on as it started raining hard and we came across these Buffalo off on our right so mom pulled off and tried to get some photos of them in the rain.

There was this bird hanging out with the Buffalo, even sitting on top of it.. I, Miss Kayla was not sure what the heck this bird was thinking doing that?!?!?!

We continued and went east towards the east entrance as we heard there were some recent bear sightings out that way. We hit some road construction where we had to wait for our turn to continue. It wasn’t too bad, maybe 20 minutes.

There was still a lot of snow on the ground in the lower eastern section of the park. It was so pretty as the blue sky was out in this area.

Knowing it was mid-day we knew our chances were slim of seeing a bear as its better early morning or late evening, but we have had luck in the past seeing them during the day so. Plus, sometimes you just can’t be too picky, right. So, we drove for some time and got to an area where bears aren’t known to be so we decided to turn around and head back. Plus, it started to rain and we didn’t know how the weather was back in the area of our lodge and didn’t want to have any issues. It was a day that extra caution needed to be taken.

On our way back we saw some more Buffalo and a Coyote. It was kind of difficult for mom to get a shot of the Coyote from where she had to pull off in order to do so…

We made a quick stop at the lodge before we headed to the other side of the park looking for bear..

We drove through the bear area which is also under construction and has a portion of the highway blocked off for parking as people were abusing it the last few days when bears did appear so they block it off for a while in hopes the bears will move on to another area. So even if we were to see a bear, we wouldn’t be able to pull off the road to watch it so it was probably best we didn’t.

We then decided to go check out Old Faithful. Well, we hit a huge traffic jam

and you can only guess the cause of it – YEP, BUFFALO. It took us 45 minutes to get through it but I, Miss Kayla don’t think it was truly the Buffalo causing the traffic as it was people stopping in the middle of the road to get a photo. People were even getting out of their cars in the middle of the road to get a photo as the Buffalo were just on the side of the road. People were only like 20 feet from them – not cool. Mom pulled off the road at a pullout and took this photo from across the road in the car.

When we finally arrived at Old Faithful, we arrived about 3 minutes after Old Faithful last went off. Oh well, we can wait for the next one as someone said it was only 30 minutes till the next one. We decided to stroll around, browse through the shops while waiting. The Visitors Center there had just closed. We went back and just strolled in the area we were going to watch Old Faithful. Cubby and my, Miss Kaylas jacket and blanket were saving a spot for us – well, really this older couple who we said we would watch their spot for them as we weren’t using a bench to watch Old Faithful. We strolled close by.

I, Miss Kayla was so excited and enjoying our strolling.

Well the 30-minute wait turned out to be over an hour but we still waited. I, Miss Kayla was so excited, but the last 20 minutes of waiting the weather started changing- getting colder and windier which I didn’t like, my respiratory didn’t like it so I became a little irritable off and on and my patience was shot. People were also starting to fill up the area.

I tried to be okay with waiting longer but it was a challenge for me but at least with more people coming in it was getting closer to starting. FINALLY, it was about to start but the wind started blowing, darker clouds moving in and a photographer decided to step right in front of me despite me already being in the front. Mom had to ask him to please move back over to the side of us and he barely did so mom ended up having to move me over to the side which meant asking those next to us to move just a tad so I could see again. Mom had me set up right in front of the geyser, but now I was off to the side with this photographer in my view a tad especially at the beginning. You can see him in my photo after mom and this guy asked him to please move off to side. Mom cropped him out of the long vertical pic.

Mom doesn’t know why people must be so rude. There was plenty of room around but still – we all had been waiting in our spots for quite some time. This other guy told him that he didn’t need to walk up in front of all us to stand in front of us that we all had been here for at least an hour. Anyway, back to the geyser. It was really cool to see, and it went off for a few minutes. People said it wasn’t as big as it usually is, but they think the weather turning ugly had something to do with it. I, Miss Kayla still thought it was cool but I was not wanting to be there any longer. It was getting really stormy and cold and windy. Not good for me to be out in. I was so done with this whole thing and mom decided we needed to start heading back to the car. It was still going off, but it was getting smaller and smaller, so we didn’t miss much plus mom really wanted to get me to the car AND I, Miss Kayla wanted to be back at the car like ten minutes ago. Mom bundled me up best she could, and we practically ran – strolled super-fast and very carefully back to the car figuring out which path was shortest and wheelchair friendly. That was kind of fun but still. It was thundering so loud and just as we got back to the car it started raining really hard with super large raindrops. It was crazy! And it was dark even though it shouldn’t be, yet which was even crazier. It started to hail all over me and my chair but that was just for like 30 seconds until mom could finally get me in the car. Crazy weather! We got in the car and it was pouring/hailing so hard we got out of it just in time.

We left and started back towards our lodge.

(remember, mom does voice activation photo-taking via her phone in the car so she is not touching her phone at all while driving)

Mom pulled over to get this photo with her camera..

We were out of the storm after a few miles (another crazy) where it was completely dry and guess what??? Another traffic jam caused by those silly Buffalo. This time truly by the Buffalo. They just prefer walking in the street instead of the fields off the side of the roads. Even when most of them did get off the road, one or two just had to be in the middle of the road or on our side as if they were leading us. Such silly Buffalo! This was a good 40-minute delay as well but it’s okay as I, Miss Kayla would rather have this kind of traffic jam delay than what we deal with back at home. 😊 Plus I was just glad to be back in the car.

We didn’t see any bear this evening, although we didn’t try except for what we had to drive.  But we did look for Moose since we drove through the area we saw the one at the other day but, I Miss Kayla was really ready to get back to our warm lodge.

It was so nice to finally be back in our room and me on the bed. Yay! I, Miss Kayla put on warm cozy clothes watching my programs on my laptop. 😊

The next morning was so gorgeous and warmer than it had been that we really didn’t want to leave to start heading home today.

It was an interesting check-out but we finally did and got started on our journey north in search of yep, that is right, bears. We decided to do the loop north and then head back down to the exit through the west entrance which is all through bear country.

Before getting to Tower Junction we came across a young Black bear that was in the distance. Apparently, we just missed it being closer in, but we still got to see it.

Moving on we came across some more Buffalo including a mom and baby, which the baby was nursing.

Then we stopped in Tower Junction to grab a snack and coffee for mom. We strolled around a little bit since it was so nice out. I, Miss Kayla really enjoyed that.

Back in the car we continued and came across a ton of cars on the side of the road, both sides. Well that is a good sign.

There was a big female Grizzly Bear in the field but far from us.

It was even difficult to see her with the naked eye she was so far.

We still parked and I, Miss Kayla got out of the car since the bear was so far away. We spoke to a few friendly people who mentioned she just crossed the road and said where she was then. Apparently, she was just across the street for like three hours that morning before crossing and going further into the field away from the road. Oh well. We stayed for a good 90 minutes to see what she would do but she just went further back in. I, Miss Kayla didn’t mind hanging out as the people were nice and the weather was gorgeous. Good day to hang outside.

You can see the bear in the distance (red heart around it 🙂 )

We got back on the road to continue toward Mammoth Hot Springs.

We drove for some time and then turned around and went back to where the Grizzly was to see if there was any change for the better but there wasn’t. We turned around again and decided that was it, we need to just keep driving towards the west entrance/exit and we will just see if we see any more bears. We went through the Mammoth Springs area

and headed south until we hit another traffic jam caused again by those silly Buffalo but the delay was just a few minutes as they were mostly off the road

until they decided to do just this….. Ummmmm MOM!!

Mom nor I, Miss Kayla didn’t see any more bears ☹ nor any signs of them. We made it to the west entrance/exit turnoff and took it. Mom was still so wanting to stay another night or two.  Me too. Our friends were coming into the park in a couple of days – it would have been nice to meet up with them (they saw so much) but we kept moving forward.

We did see a Coyote in the field along the west entrance road. It was so pretty.

He/She was after something…

We arrived in West Yellowstone where it was still such lovely weather that we parked and got out to take a stroll in this neat little town. I, Miss Kayla did some shopping as I found some 100% cotton Moose soft pajamas in a junior size. It is so hard to find 100% cotton anymore so when I do, I get them if they are in my size which is also hard to find so the pjs match my age. I can wear a junior size if it’s a fitted type style otherwise its too big. I can only sleep in 100% cotton, so I don’t overheat. So, I, Miss Kayla got them – Yay, I was so excited.

I, Miss Kayla had so much fun and mom was still tempted to stay the night in West Yellowstone where its not as expensive as staying inside the park, but we went back to the car and headed on our way home.

We got to the Idaho border and one block from the state sign we saw a Moose. Yay, a Moose. It was hard to see but we did. So cool. And in Idaho. Go figure! Lol.

On one of our last trips to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons National Parks we stopped at Mesa Falls in Idaho, which is a huge waterfall, one I, Miss Kayla could see well so mom decided to take the little detour to see it again.
This is the photo mom and I got a few years ago. This was also what I could see when we were there then. 🙂 :

Well, talk about things changing. It was nowhere like what it was several years ago, and I, Miss Kayla couldn’t see it this time. Mom felt bad. It was still pretty. There is now a large walkway zigzag path that was built up on the side of the mountain, but wheelchairs can only go down the first part of it and get a glimpse of the waterfall.

I can’t see much like where everyone else can go down a few more zigzags and some steps and finally reach the lower level where they get a clear view semi-close to the waterfall. At least we got to see it again, but now we know what its like and we got to get out in nature. So glad we got to see it several years ago. We do love the sound of water which was beautiful to hear. I, Miss Kayla strolled everywhere I could before we got back in the car. Oh, and the mosquitos were ferocious! Ugh. Luckily mom had bands for us, but she still got bit, but mom didn’t think I did – thank goodness. Mom always does if mosquitos are around even with repellent.

We drove down to the next viewing area to see what that was like. It’s a pretty trail to it which is more of a natural viewing point (like what the other area was years ago) but it was much further away from the waterfall, so harder to see. This was probably more a river viewpoint than the waterfall. I, Miss Kayla loved getting out and strolling around in the nice warm sun despite it being in the high 40’s still. The sun can make it feel warmer.

We continued our drive and stopped for the night in Utah.

The next morning was gorgeous when we got back on the road that mom decided we could stop at the Hoagie Zoo in Salt Lake City as a break from the drive. Plus, mom and I, Miss Kayla had never been there so we needed to mark off this zoo from our list. So, we did just that – yay!

I, Miss Kayla got there just before the first Giraffe feeding ended. Oh, thank goodness because I would have missed it altogether as mom didn’t think we would still be there for the second Giraffe feeding hours later. I, Miss Kayla just started Giraffe feedings and I love it. I finally have something to do at zoos that offer it and is accessible for me to make it a special visit. However, this time I had to use my left hand to feed, which I have done before, but much prefer my right.

We watched the young Orangutan which was fun and then the bears. The bears, both polar and grizzly or brown bears were in their pools swimming or just hanging out in the water.

It was a pretty warm day. I had fun despite it being difficult to see a lot of the animals as, like most zoos, their railings are at my viewing level making it difficult for me to see the animals, but I still enjoy being out and about.

At this zoo, they use debris that is collected from the Pacific Coast beaches by volunteers to make sculptures out of as an educational resource on the importance of recycling.

Mom had an idea to drive to Las Vegas and go see the Bellagio Fountains as I, Miss Kayla and mom for that matter has never seen them before, but we ended up hitting a lot of traffic due to an accident and construction causing long delays so we ended up staying in St George.

We were going to go further, but there was a big traffic jam just at the NV/UT border, so we just pulled off in St George. Plus, I was ready to get out of my chair for the night.

The weather was still gorgeous, and we stayed at the perfect place. It was just off the freeway, right next to the Bear restaurant (that are located everywhere can’t remember what they are called) and the staff was so friendly and made sure we got what we needed not that we need much (just ground floor and nonsmoking). We will definitely be making this a stop for us on our road trips when traveling through this area.

After my, Miss Kayla’s bath I enjoyed watching my programs all bundled up in my blanket. It has been so nice to get a bath every night in the bathtub despite it being hard for mom and not the safest but no other options plus I love them! Mom enjoys giving them to me.

The next morning, we were back on the road for the last stretch. We hit major traffic

through the Cajon pass which is normal and of course, San Diego County but we finally made it home. We are ready to return to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park.

Hope you enjoyed moms and my, Miss Kayla’s last-minute trip to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park..
Until next time….

Love, Miss Kayla