Chris hadn't slept very well that night and had really bad stomach ache but he insisted that he was fine to carry on. We had only been in Yellowstone a few minutes before we saw our first wildlife spot - a buffalo by the side of the road. We stopped the car to take a photo and Chris ended up needing to get out of the car to be sick at the side of the road. Lovely! We then got all the way down to the Grand Teton Park before Chris decided that he needed to pull over again. By coincidence we picked a beautiful place to stop on the Oxbow bend but Chris wasn't taking any of the view in, he was being really, really sick!
While Chris was bent over at the side of the road I noticed just a couple of feet away from where he was that there was a snake in the path. I kept quiet for a bit hoping that it was dead, then it started moving so I said that I knew this probably wasn't a good time to mention it but there was a snake right next to him! He slowly moved away from it and luckily it changed direction too.
After a bit of recovery time Chris insisted that he felt loads better and probably had it all out of his system now. We had a horse riding trip booked that afternoon and he was sure that he felt well enough for it.
I was feeling totally fine, I've turned into a bit of a fussy eater particularly at buffets, I had only eaten a bit of salad and mashed potato at the restaurant the night before whereas Chris had been tucking into meatballs, fried chicken and some dodgy looking fish dish. I kept saying that I didn't like the look of it but he was insisting that it was fine...
Our horse riding adventure was over the state border in Idaho at the Teton Mountain Ranch. We didn't really know what to expect and when we arrived the place looked deserted. We were early though and after a few minutes a truck and horse trailer turned up and a cowboy jumped out. His name was Kent and he owned the ranch. We got into his truck with him and he drove us up into the Targhee Forest. After about 10 minutes he stopped the truck and led the horses out of the trailer for us. It was the first time that Chris had been on a horse so he looked a bit worried especially as he'd been ill all morning. I used to go riding as a child but I hadn't been on a horse for years. Luckily the horses were really laid back and just followed our cowboy up the trail into the forest.
It was without a doubt one of the coolest experiences of my life. The forest was beautiful and Kent our cowboy was so interesting to listen to. He told us all about his ranch and I had a million and one questions to ask him about life in Idaho as a cowboy.
When we got off the horses and back in the car Chris admitted that he wasn't feeling that great and would be glad to just get to our hotel in Jackson Hole which was about a 45 minute drive away. As we were driving back we ended up getting pulled over by a Sheriff! In Chris' desperation to get to the hotel he had been speeding. Luckily after about a 10 minute wait he got let off with a warning. That's the beauty of a diplomatic driving licence - outside of the DC area the law enforcement officers don't know what to do with it. Our small town Wyoming Sheriff said he'd never seen one before.
As soon as we got to our hotel Chris went straight to bed so I was left to explore Jackson Hole on my own. I really liked the town, it had some lovely shops but was very expensive, it's definitely where rich Americans vacation.
Friday night was probably the worst night sleep I have ever had. Chris was ill all night and was constantly up and down to the bathroom every 30 minutes. We finally got a couple of hours of sleep before it was time to get up. My packed itinerary had not allowed any time for illness! Luckily Chris was starting to feel a bit better so we drove back to Grand Teton National Park to check out the famous old barns.
I didn't think it was a good idea to go hiking in Chris' condition so we just had a short walk around one of the lakes instead. I also had serious bear fear so didn't feel happy about wondering too far into the wild. I have just about got over my fear of brown bears as I've been assured that they are unlikely to attack but there are grizzlies in Yellowstone who will attack! The rangers recommend carrying bear spray but it's really expensive so we decided not to but instead didn't wonder too far away from other people!
Later in the morning we continued our drive north back into Yellowstone. First stop for us was the West Thumb Geyser Basin. It wasn't as smelly as I was expecting it to be!
Then we drove on to Canyon Falls. There are loads of different viewpoints for both the lower and upper falls so we drove around to them all. My photos aren't great, we were there at the wrong time of day when the sun was right behind the falls.
By the time that we stopped out the final viewpoint, my lack of sleep the previous night had really caught up with me and I couldn't face the walk downhill to the falls because it meant walking back up a pretty steep path on the way back. I told Chris to go without me and I'd have a little sleep in the nice, warm car. I was soon fast asleep but was woken up about 20 minutes later by Chris urgently hammering on the car window and shouting at me that there was a bear out there!
The path back up from the falls snaked up the hill in a zig zag pattern and as Chris was walking back up he noticed something big on the path above him - it was a bear! The bear was following the path back up the hill and Chris had the choice between heading back down to the falls which was a dead end or following the bear up the path. It was a black bear so he decided to keep his distance but follow it up. When it got to the top it walked across the car park which is when Chris ran back to the car to get me. By the time we got back to it a crowd had gathered to watch him.
On our way to our hotel we saw another animal by the side of the road. We weren't sure what it was at the time but after a bit of research we've decided it was a coyote.
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