Well it seems as though it would be hard to top such a lovely trip out to Yellowstone like that, but the rest of my trip was fantastic as well. Sunday June 28th, was my 28th birthday! Yes I turned 28 on the 28th! It was a great day and I received a lot of love and special messsages from many of my friends. I couldn’t have asked for more honestly. When I woke up that morning, my parents hit me with yet another surprise. Because we missed going to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park while we were in Yellowstone, my parents planned to drive down to Jackson on Monday, stay the night and then drive home through Yellowstone again on Tuesday! I was beyond excited… I was going to have one more chance to see my favorite places before I left!

After a wonderful breakfast and some time spent getting ready, my Aunt Diane, Uncle Barry and my grandma Prueter came over from Anaconda to go out to dinner with us. Grandma Prueter was very excited to see Abby again and she is looking fantastic. After some time spent hanging out, talking and catching up… we opened presents!! I received some really cute things, but its all too hard to explain here. My big treat was dinner at the Rib and Chop House in Livingston and so after gift opening we took off.

The Rib and Chop House was amazing!! That’s about all I can say. When we arrived Abby had just fallen asleep in the car, so she spent some of the time cuddling up with her grandpa. Grandma Prueter (Great-Grandma to Abby) had her margarita on the rocks with light salt. She might be almost 90, but that little Irish voice inside her still wins when it comes to well made libations! The steaks there were amazing! I don’t eat red meat often, but holy cow! Ruth Chris Steakhouse eat your heart out! Wow! I cannot wait to visit again so that I can take Shaun there. Better yet, I cant wait to take Tommie there!

When dinner was over, we piled back into our cars, pants buttons undone and headed home. After giving our yummy dinners some time to settle, it was time for…. you guessed it…. cake!! And not just any cake, my favorite…. a Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream cake from Baskin Robbins. Ahhh the little things in life. It was yummy and the whole day was great! I couldn’t have asked for anything better. After Aunt Diane, Uncle Barry and Grandma left it was time to pack for our trip to Jackson and Yellowstone. Another exciting few days!

If you would like to see a few extra pictures, please click on the following link to see our slideshow! Birthday Dinner

Jackson and Yellowstone or BUST

The morning after my birthday we woke up and hit the road. On the way to Jackson we decided to stop in Anaconda one last time to visit. My Aunt Diane wanted to take me to her favorite store in town called Beyond Necessity. Many of her gifts to Abby have come from this store and I was eager to see what they had. Let me tell you… it was worth the trip! The store was great and I wanted to take everything home with me. Unfortunately I am not made of money and had to leave most of it behind. I did get a few things though. I couldn’t help myself. They have a website you can shop at, but its not quite the same as shopping there. Take a look though at http://www.beyond1989.com/ . After we had lunch with them, it was time to leave. I was sad to say goodbye, but we had a wonderful day ahead of us.

The drive from Anaconda to Jackson took about five hours and was gorgeous. The entire way we chased a thunderstorm, but kept missing it. I was really hoping to have a nice thunderstorm while I was there, but they were always off in the distance. The drive from Driggs Idaho take you along the West side of the Teton Range and still allows you to see the Grand Tetons from a different perspective. It was definitely pretty, especially to see a storm work its way over the peaks. When we arrived in Jackson we unpacked the car at the hotel and headed out to downtown to have dinner at the Bunnery. The Bunnery is a little bakery and restaurant that we have been eating at since I was a little girl. Its tradition and is fantastic! Hey they have survived 28 plus years… there has got to be something to it to last that long! After dinner we walked around and visited some of the shops that were still open before heading back to the hotel. I got Abby a really cute creeper and I promise to take a picture of her in it and post it soon!

The following morning we woke up very early so that we could have breakfast at another Taylor family tradition, Jedidiah’s House of Pancakes. If you haven’t been to Jedidiah’s, they aren’t just any ole pancake, they are sourdough pancakes. Its an acquired taste, but they are great and they fill you up fast! After breakfast we had the chance to take pictures in front of the antler arches, yet another family tradition! This is where I really wish Shaun could have come with us… another time soon I hope!

Finally we were on the road and headed to Grand Teton National Park. It was a gorgeous day, bright skies and even though there were storms headed our way, you could see the peaks of Teton without any problem. I took plenty of pictures and had the chance to take some great shots of yet another thunderstorm rolling over the mountains. As a note…. we missed that one too by about an hour. We stopped at the new Visitor Center at Moose Junction which was beautiful and then at Colter Bay for a few snacks. All in all we spent about 5 hours driving around through Teton, discovering a few dirt roads that took us to a few spectacular views. We finally had to move on and get to Yellowstone so that we could grab some lunch and enjoy the park before we had to head home. It was quick, but I am sure glad that we had the chance to make it through Jackson and Grand Teton.

We stopped for lunch in Yellowstone at Grants Village, which is on the lake near West Thumb. It had been a while since I had stopped there and eaten at the cafeteria and explored the gift shop. Some things had changed, but not much. It was nice to stop somewhere we hadn’t been in a while. After lunch we headed up the road along the lake to Canyon. At Lake Village we stopped to take a look at The Lake Inn. Its not a well known inn but it is beautiful. I don’t think I have ever been there before and I hope one day to stay there. It was built back in the 1930’s as a luxury hotel in the park and it certainly appears that way even now. It even appeals to Jillian as well as several locations within the hotel are supposed to be haunted. Very cool!

After our visit there, we headed through Hayden Valley hoping to catch another glimpse of our Grizzly. We didn’t… but it was worth a shot. We stopped at Canyon for a quick break and a look around the Visitor Center one last time, and then decided to head up and over Washburn and make a quick trip out to Lamar again. Ov the other side of Washburn people were stopped and we had just missed a Grizzly. They said he was headed up and over a particular ridge. Well luck would have it that he was headed up and over to an area that had vehicle access for the public. So we turned around and headed up that road. When reached the top there was no sign of the bear. We waited a while, walking along looking at the flowers and the lone bison up there with us. Yet, nothing… but its ok. He could have been over a hill or two, but none of us wanted to see him that much. Oh well… we had seen some pretty spectacular things so it wasn’t a bust.

Once we left, we decided to head down to Tower Junction and out to Lamar for one last look. The drive was beautiful as another thunderstorm was rolling in and we were quickly approaching sunset. On the way out to Lamar, we did spot a male black bear up on a hillside, staying far from the road. At the same spot as our first trip, there was a wolf feeding on the same bison carcass, but he or she was quite a distance away. Feeling a little disappointed we turned around and started our journey back to my parents house. But on the way back the male Grizzly had moved all the way down the hill, to a meadow near the road! He walked around, not oblivious to us, but seemingly indifferent to the fact that all of us were there.

The little black bear moved along in the meadow, pushing weeds and plants around with his nose, eating the bugs he could fine. But after a few moves down the road in our car, hopping out to snap photos when we could, the black bear was no more then 10-20 feet from the road side. All I can say is wow, for several reasons… seeing a bear that close in the wild and because of the amount of ignorance and stupidity out there. I will tell you the rest and rant about it later in another blog. Eventually our little black bear crossed the road and headed toward the Yellowstone Picnic Area and Trailhead. Three young guys had their propane grill going, cooking dinner. We had to drive up and warn them that they had a bear heading their way. Luckily they packed up and got into their truck because sure enough, not more then 5 minutes later that black bear came over a rise and down into the picnic area. After he crossed the picnic area and headed into a meadow, we could no longer see him. It was yet another amazing experience.

After watching him and following for nearly an hour, we had to get into the car and go. It was getting dark and late and everyone was hungry. Luckily we had a nice thunder and lightening storm roll through on our drive home. The lightning lit up the sky all over the valley in multiple directions. Its storms like that that make me want to live in the mountains even more!