It was our final day at Yellowstone.  We fondly said goodbye to the campground and made a final stop in Mammoth Springs to send our postcards and check the shop out there.

We drove south through the construction zone again and added another layer of dirt to the truck and camper.  We saw what we could of the paint pots, as we couldn’t stop and park easily with the camper in tow.  Then, the grand finale…Old Faithful.  It was faithful as ever, and we debated hiking to see if we could catch the Grand Geyser but the timing was doubtful and we needed to get to where we could secure our next camping spot.

The kids turned in their junior ranger packets and earned their patches.  One of the staff at the store there had informed us that the kids get a free ice cream when they earn their patch, so they happily claimed their prize, which even came in a souvenir ranger hat!

We drove in on and stopped at the visitor center for the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Highway and got a recommendation on a campsite for the night in the Grand Teton area.  It was a gorgeous drive into Tetons, yet totally different than Yellowstone.  We squeezed into the last site at Lizard Creek campground, and were thrilled with the location.  It was dry camping, but the campground was in the forest and peaceful.  The kids made friends with the off-duty campground host and kept riding their bikes back to see her cat.  We actually had a campfire, and made a super informal dinner of roasted hot dogs and topped it off with s’more cones!