Vacation 2009
Yellowstone National Park
Grand Teton National Park

We are having a really wonderful vacation with our friends. We're going to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Along the way, we're also visiting Glacier National Park where we had an amazing vacation together in 2004.

The journey takes us by train on "The Coast Starlight" from San Jose to Portland, Oregon. Then a change to "The Empire Builder" to take us to Glacier National Park, Montana. 36 hours of fun on the train.

A day hike in Glacier National Park and then a one day drive in our rental cars to Yellowstone National Park where were joined by Richard - a friend from Seattle.

We camped in Yellowstone National Park for 5 nights and 4 nights in Grand Teton National Park. The weather for good - we had very little rain while camping. However Yellowstone was cold (below freezing point) at night.

We had 6 hikes on the trip - all rather different and unique. Sunday was a 10 mile hike in Glacier National Park. In Yellowstone we did 3 hikes - all about 8 miles: "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone", Mt Washburn and Hayden Valley. In Grand Teton we did the quite demanding 20 mile "Paintbrush Divide" trail and much easier 11 mile trail from Lupine Meadows to Amphitheater Lake and back.

I'd like to thank everybody who participated in this expedition - especially the Project Manager Jim for organizing everything and donating the Amtrak tickets. Great Vacation Everybody - thanks for your company.