Wild West & Yellowstone – Fall 2024

Geysers, Coyotes, and the Silence of the Mountains

San Francisco → Morro Bay → Los Angeles → San Diego → Las Vegas → Salt Lake City → Grand Teton → Yellowstone → Lake Tahoe → Yosemite → San Francisco · September–October 2024 · approx. 4,200 mi / 6,700 km

Some routes are big. And some are so big that you only really understand them back home, flipping through photos thinking: that was us. Actually us.

We fly into San Francisco again — because San Francisco is simply a worthy beginning. Lombard Street, Baker Beach, Point Bonita in the evening light. Then a detour to Apple Park, because David just had to. The glass facade, the quiet circular form, the feeling of standing before something that matters. Then south on Highway 1.

Morro Bay surprises us. A small coastal town with nothing to prove. Otters float in the harbor, lazy and perfect. We sit on a bench and watch until the light changes.

Los Angeles has us again. But now we know it a little. Randy's Donuts for breakfast — the giant donut on the roof, the coffee inside. The 6th Street Bridge early in the morning before the city wakes up. Venice Beach, Huntington Beach at sunset. And a detour to San Diego: Old Town, La Jolla Cove — sea lions on the rocks, waves breaking over everything.

Then the desert again. Las Vegas this time with the Sphere — Postcard from Earth. We sit inside and understand that this is some kind of visual earthquake. Battlefield Vegas: the adrenaline of calibers you don't need to name. Fremont Street at night. Casino. We lose little and win an evening.

Zion National Park on the way to Salt Lake City is a stopover that turns out to be anything but. The red rocks in the last light practically burn. We stop often. We have to stop often.

Grand Teton arrives the next morning like a curtain being pulled up. The mountains just stand there, without warning, without transition — and you stand before them thinking this cannot be real. It is real.

And then: Yellowstone. Old Faithful, just as punctual as its name promises. Thermal pools in colors no filter can explain. Bison on the road — we wait until they decide when to move on. The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone: bears up close, wolf watching, that quiet sense of awe.

The return journey via Battle Mountain and Lake Tahoe gives us time to process. The water is bluer than you think water can be.

Yosemite to close it out — this time with Wawona Bridge, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and Bodie Ghost Town as a dusty bonus. Tunnel View once more. Half Dome once more. But it never feels like repetition.

San Francisco. Flight home. A whole piece of America in our luggage.