West - Day Thirteen - July 5, 2005

The late night progressed into a late start in the morning. We didn't actually leave Jackson Lake until after noon. After sleeping in, we went to breakfast which took forever, shopped a bit, took some pictures and basically couldn't get motivated or organized to leave...we needed that. Once we got on the road, we headed up to Canyon Lodge in Yellowstone, our hotel for the night. We stopped to hike at the mud pots in West Thumb - amazing blues and oranges, smelly sulfur, hot vapors rising and bubbling water everywhere. Along the drive, we spotted several types of wildlife including elk, bison, pronghorns, geese, a bald eagle and more. The kids were getting to be good at spotting the animals as we drove along.
After an early dinner at the lodge, we drove out to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We stopped at many of the lookouts, did a couple of walks, spotted another bald eagle here and had a good long time to watch it relatively up close. It was spectacular in the later afternoon/early evening sunlight. And the crowds were gone though the bugs were out in force. Another late evening which manifested itself in a Katie meltdown. So, while I played the memory game with Noah and Justin, Katie had to go right to bed (she was not happy about this!).