Western Trip Day 6 - Last Morning at Yellowstone & the Grand Tetons, and the Drive to Colorado

So our time at Yellowstone National Park was just about up. It was time to pack up and head down south to Colorado.

First,  we took much needed showers.  We had left early on our first morning at the first campground, and never returned.  So, we had not gotten to shower.  Then our second campground,  which we stayed at for two nights had no showers. Clearly,  we were ready to hit the showers,  and they felt just great!

Before leaving Yellowstone,  it seemed a good idea to make one last visit to a point of interest.  Along the way,  we saw more bison,  although not nearly as much as a couple of days before.  But there was a large number of them at the Mud Volcano,  which is what we wanted to see. This was an incredible place as is, but seeing buffalo so near to steaming geysers felt somehow surreal,  and added to the pictures,  I feel.

We then headed back towards the Grand Tetons,  which were on our way out.  It was a sunny day,  and I assumed  - mistakenly as it turns out  - that they could be viewed more clearly than on our first two visits just days before.

We went through Jackson Hole again,  although our visit this time was purposefully short.  I noticed that the Idaho border was not far,  being roughly around 20 or so miles,  and figured that this would be a good opportunity to go into the town of Victor,  Idaho. We made it,  but just barely,  as the rental car revealed for the first time that it's ability to navigate steep mountain roads was,  at best,  questionable.  After all of that,  Victor was not like Gardiner or West Yellowstone. It was limited in terms of points of interest,  although the mountain scenery was simply incredible. We snapped some pictures,  but then quickly got going again.  We had a long day of driving ahead of us.  By then,  we had already driven more than three hours from Canyon Campground,  and still had over 500 miles to go to get to the Denver area.

So,  we got going. At first,  it was a picturesque drive along the mountains, with some streams and creeks adding considerable charm and beauty to the drive.  We were listening to good music,  it was a beautiful day,  and we had thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Yellowstone.

But before long,  the landscape changed. It remained pleasant farmland at first,  but became a largely barren landscape of rolling hills of shrubs that is common for much of the open space out West. It was not too bad at first,  but after a few hours,  you really start to want to get to where you are going already,  you know?

We did get there,  though , and along the way,  we stopped to take some decent pictures of the surrounding scenery once we got back into Colorado.