Wyoming

The Tetons are just south of Yellowstone, and just as popular.

Unsurprisingly all the campsites were fully booked so we decided to do car based sight seeing rather than the long hikes we Mike had originally hoped for. 

 

Our lunch stop was up on signal mountain, truly spectacular views of the surrounding valleys with mountains looming in the distance.

On the way back down the mountain we pulled over and spotted a mother black bear with 2 cubs wrestling in a sunny glade. One cub was brown and the other black which made for an adorably mis-matched pair.

After ogling the views at Oxbow Turnout and elk flats (no elk, just pronghorn and bison) we headed around the Cunningham homestead.

Next up was a walk and a paddle at Schwabachers landing (that's the formula one driver, right??) where after noting that the pile of sticks across the river looked like a beaver might have been responsible, we watched a very large beaver swim past then go about his beavering business.

Our chosen campsite was out past Mormon row (home of the most photographed barn in America) and despite the horrendously bumpy road we planned to head back to catch the sunset later on. 

Said sunset never amounted to much so we made a fire and roasted marshmallows instead. Mike has now been fully indoctrinated into the art of S'Mores, Amy having previously perfected her technique on a gas stove in University halls of residence (where else??).

Mormon Row was still beautiful in the morning and the rain overnight had cleared the air, leading to better quality photos.

 

After an unhelpful SatNav tour of the worlds most stressful place to drive (Jackson Hole) we headed on down to Utah in order to shortcut into Colorado. On the way we stopped at Rock Springs which is home to a large BLM wild horse adoption facility and had fun watching the foals and deciding which horse we would adopt if we had a spare $125....

A beautiful sunset led to a huge and bright orange moon rising above the mountains, so bright we thought it was light pollution from a city! 

We crossed into Utah early the next day and headed to dinosaur monument, where you can touch real fossils in the rock quarry where they were found!

First stop though was the Red Canyon, where the visitor centre made us happy by using the word atrocities to describe the treatment of the native Americans at the hands of the White pioneers. 

Several hours were spent poking dinosaur bones, we were very glad of the shuttle service provided as the heat was punishing for even the shortest of hikes! 

We had a quick nosey at some ancient petroglyphs then continued our journey into Colorado. 

Next post: Colorado Part 1