Grand Teton National Park Day 1

We were up early and started to make the drive down to Grand Teton National Park.  The Tetons are so impressive and breathtaking! After 4 hours of driving we pulled into Gros Ventre Campground.  Nick and I stayed here 6 years ago and loved that it was rustic and private, but I was not a fan of the lack of electrical hookups.  This time I was delighted to discover that they had added electric hookups to a few of their sites and we were lucky enough to snag one! Whoo hoo for air conditioning! 

After setting up camp and having some lunch Joy was ready to explore.  Nick took her down to do some swimming and fishing in the Gros Ventre River.  On their walk they heard a loud snort, looking up to see a bull moose standing in front of them!   Joy really got a kick out of seeing her first moose! 

We got dressed up and headed into the town of Jackson for what Joy was declaring a "fancy dinner."  I guess anything is considered fancy when it doesn't come out of a can, isn't cooked over a campfire, or eaten on a picnic table.  We decided on Snake River Brew Pub.  It was delicious and most importantly Joy was impressed with the macaroni and cheese.  

After dinner we walked around the town of Jackson doing some shopping and exploring.  It is such a neat town and we really enjoyed just hanging out.  

Joy caught sight of a stagecoach being pulled by some horses.  What started as an innocent plea to just pet the horses turned into Joy convincing her daddy to let her ride in the stagecoach. A few dollars later we were on board for a ride around Jackson.  Joy had the time of her life waving to the crowd as if she were royalty. 

Back at the campsite we started up a fire and made some s'mores.  Perfect ending to a perfect day. Stay tuned for day 2 and 3 of the Tetons.  

Yellowstone-AJ's version

Nick posted about our first few days in Yellowstone, but it was very focused on fishing, so I'll fill in a few of the other details and add some pics.  

Our second day at Fishing Bridge we decided to take a drive to Old Faithful and visit a few more thermal features.  Our first stop was an overlook of Yellowstone Lake.  So beautiful! 

Purple Mama is loving all that Yellowstone has to offer! 

Next stop was old Faithful.  We arrived with about an hour until the next eruption, so we passed the time by walking around, taking pictures, and visiting the gift shop.  

Old Faithful is so impressive and Joy loved it!  

Next up were some more geysers and hot springs.  

We stopped and had a picnic lunch by the Gibbon River and Joy decided to do some rock climbing.  

A drive in Yellowstone would not be complete without seeing some wildlife, especially buffalo. 

The next day we were up early, packed, and were ready to hit the road for Gardiner, MT at the north entrance of the park.  Before we made the drive we decided on one more hike in the area, Storm Point, which has amazing views of Lake Yellowstone.  

The easy, but beautiful hike allowed us to spot some marmots and a buffalo (see Nick's previous post). Nick did a little fishing and Joy took an undie swim in the lake.  I snapped pictures. 

After our hike was complete we started the drive around The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone up to Gardiner.  What a gorgeous drive! Everywhere you look is a postcard picture.  

After grabbing some burgers in Gardiner we checked into our campground and set up camp.  We relaxed for awhile and then headed back into the park.  We drove to Lamar Valley where we saw heards and heards of buffalo, antelope, elk, and almost hit a mule deer! We stopped by Slough Creek and Nick got in some fishing. He caught a nice one, 18 inch cutthroat, right away.  

We got back to camp late and Nick cooked up some dinner. 

Day 2 in Gardiner we slept in and then headed into the park to explore Mammoth Hot Springs.  Joy mailed some postcards and we did some shopping.  Joy picked out some souvenirs, a fishing vest and the book "Who Pooped in the Park." We visited some hot springs which Joy insisted looked just like "Elas's castle."

 

We stopped by Tower Falls for a quick hike and then were on our way again. As it was approaching lunch we pulled off the road in Lamar Valley for a picnic. We didn't realize that we were invading a group of grasshoppers' picnic as well as there were thousands of them everywhere! Joy had a blast catching them, but we decided to move our picnic elsewhere. 

Joy wanted to fish so we stopped back at Slough Creek.  She looked adorable in her fishing gear, but we didn't catch anything. We decided to head back to Gardiner for ice cream instead.  

We turned in early as we were planning on leaving at 6 the next morning for the Tetons. Exhausting but awesome trip so far! 

Yellowstone Post

July 14th

We slept in a little bit on the 14th and then packed all of our stuff up to move to Fishing Bridge RV Park near Yellowstone Lake.  The drive from Cody into Yellowstone is beautiful.  It is amazing to see a of the remnants of the 1988 fire and how the park has recovered so much from the fires.  We pulled into the campground around noon and took our place in the very back of the park, which I think they reserve for trouble makers.  We were surrounded by a group that were all flying their Wisconsin Badger and Packers Flags.  

For the most part the cheeseheads behaved as they had plenty of PBR to keep them quiet.  

As soon as we had lunch we got in the truck and took a drive through Hayden Valley where Joy got to see a bunch of buffalo.  

We also visited the thermal features which included the bubbling mud, which Joy loved.

I am never impressed with bubbling mud or hot springs, but I always get a kick out of crop dusting the spectators had have them think they are taking in a natural Yellowstone stench.  

July 15th marked the opener on the Yellowstone River and there were plenty of people out fishing it. As soon as AJ and Joy decided to take a nap I took the 10 minute drive to a stretch below LeHardy Rapids.  I spoke with a few people who said that they weren't having much luck, but the few fish that they saw caught were big.   I picked a spot away from the big crowd and while walking to the river I saw a fish rise.  I tied on a salmon fly and on my first cast hooked a monster cutthroat.  I was using the little 4wt rod that Dave found in the Ausable and couldn't turn that brute.  I caught up to him after he took me about 75 yards downstream and had him dead to rights. I was approaching another fisherman and decided to try to horse him through the current and pulled the hook out.  The guy standing there watching me fight it said that it was considerably bigger than a 24 incher he had seen landed earlier that day.   Andrea and Joy came back down to the river after dinner where I fished for about an hour.  

I had one other hookup which immediately broke me off.  The next morning I hit the river at sunrise to try one more time before we moved camp to Gardiner.  There wasn't much rising so I put on a large stonefly nymph and quickly had a strike.  It was another beast and I followed him downstream in the current just as far as the one I chased the night before.  However, with no other fisherman on the river I was able to play him longer and was able to get him in the net.   He was a football shaped 24" cutt.

I only fished about 30 more minutes and then went back to get the girls as we needed to break camp for Gardiner.  

After we packed up we drive down to hike in to Yellowstone Lake at Storm Point.  We did this hike last time and AJ loved it.  The views are amazing and we were able to see a ton of yellow-bellied marmot and one buffalo which we encountered on the trail while waking out.  We came out of a creek bottom and noticed that thing was walking right down the trail towards us. We got off the trail behind a deadfall and let him pass.  As we were watching him walk down to the creek another family came waking down the trail while looking at the lake. I finally realized that the kid in front (maybe 16 years old) did not see the buffalo.  I yelled to him to look out for the buffalo.  He looked up and then dropped a load in his pants because by the time he realized it he was within 5 feet of the buffalo. Joy loves telling this story!!!

Yeehaw! Prime Rib and the Cody Rodeo

After setting up camp last evening we headed into the town of Cody for dinner at Buffalo Bill's famous Irma Hotel.  We enjoyed a delicious prime rib dinner and enjoyed looking around the historic restaurant and saloon built by Buffalo Bill in 1902, named after his daughter.  

Since it was Sunday, we missed out on the usual street shootout which is held next to the hotel Monday-Saturday.  After browsing some of the shops in Cody we were off to Joy's highly anticipated event...The Cody Night Rodeo.  

Upon entering we saw an enormous 2100 pound bull named Mongo that was posing for pictures.  Nick asked Joy if she would like to sit on him and much to my surprise she scrambled to get in line! She even gave him a hug! 

Before we knew it the rodeo was in full swing.  Joy screamed and cheered for the cowboys and cowgirls roping, riding, and racing.  Her favorite part was the bull riding as she anticipated if the cowboy would be able to stay on his bull for 8 seconds. She loved it and is now asking her daddy for horseback riding lessons. 

It is now 7:30 am and Nick and I are up and showered.  Our sleeping beauty is still out like a light.  I think we may have worn her out yesterday.  

Happy that our drive is behind us, we are thrilled to be heading into our next destination...Yellowstone! We will be spending the next 2 nights at Fishing Bridge Campground inside the park.  I'm unsure of how cell coverage will be, so you may not hear from us the next few days, but we will update when we can. 

Stay tuned! 

Praying Chipmunks, Wall Drug, The Badlands, and a Shortcut Through the Bighorns

Many miles were driven and much was seen in the last 24 hours.  I know Andrea already posted about the Corn Palace, but I have to add how disappointed I was that it was under construction.  We pulled In and realized that the parking lot was basically empty, but we parked in the back anyway so we could avoid the crowds when leaving.  Joy and I then ran together while leaping, laughing, and even some skipping all to the sound of Chariots of Fire only to get up to the entrance to see that it was under construction.  Not since Cassidy's Pub was closed on Good Friday after we made the pilgrimage across the ocean and the island have I been this disappointed. 

From there we finished our drive to the Badlands KOA for our anniversary.  Joy actually took this picture. 

This is actually a very nice campground with shady sites and a decent view.  Upon arriving Joy and I hit the pool while Andrea took a little nap.   We ended up taking a drive later in the afternoon and were completely amazed by the Badlands.  

Even though we visited them 6 years ago, I think they were more amazing this time despite being 6 inches shorter.  Even Joy kept saying how beautiful they were.  However, Joy's favorite part of the tour was spotting Prairie Dogs, which she called "praying dogs" and stated that they talk to Jesus.

She later began calling them "praying chipmunks".    

During the Badlands loop we stopped in the town of Wall and visited the famous Wall Drug where we got some ice cream, Joy played in the sprinklers, got scared by a giant T-Rex, and she continued her streak of using every public restroom between Michigan and Wyoming.  

This morning we got up early and hit the road to drive to Cody.  It is a solid 7.5 hour drive.  We ended up taking a shortcut through the Big Horn Mountains which Andrea felt was not the best way.  However, I was making great time and once we made it through the mountains, a cop pulled me over and was able to settle our disagreement.  This was a shortcut and is much faster, but he did remind me that I need to go 30 through the towns.  I will say the drive through Wyoming is amazing. It makes a long drive seem enjoyable.  

We just got to Cody and are getting ready to head into town for Prime Rib at Irma's and then off to the rodeo.  Joy is pumped about this!!! Hard to believe that we have enjoyed the trip this much already as most of the trip has been driving to this point.  For the next week the longest drive we will make will be less than 2 hours.   

The No Corn Palace

We were up early today in Sioux Falls to pack up and start the next portion of our trip.  Our first stop was the much anticipated Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. It is a palace completely covered in corn, adorned with detailed corn murals. We were all pretty excited, especially our castle loving girl.  Much to our disappointment we found that it is undergoing a major renovation through April of 2015. There was some corn and a few murals, but overall the palace exterior was empty.  That didn't stop us from hitting the gift shop, browsing the "corny" merchandise, trying on corn hats, and enjoying some popcorn balls before we hit the road again. 

Well, I guess this is our excuse to make the trip again, of course after the facelift is complete. Who doesn't want to see a palace completely made of corn? 

11 years today!

Can you believe it?  Today is our 11th anniversary!  Who would have thought that Andrea would have put up with me for this long?   We are going to celebrate by driving about 300 miles to the Badlands where I am going to prepare a special anniversary casserole with Jalepeno SPAM which was purchased yesterday at the Cooperstown of processed meats.  It has been a great 11 years and they just keep getting better. 

A Dream Come True!!

As we were crossing through Minnesota we got a call from our great friend Dani-Sue who began telling us about the Spam museum. She nows that I am a huge fan of high quality processed pork products.  DS couldn't remember where this oasis was and that she just remembered that it was next to the Hormel factory, but within 30 minutes of talking to her the clouds parted and we saw a ray of sunshine glistening off of the Hormel Foods sign.  

We immediately got off at the exit and visited this fine American institution.  

We got our picture taken with the SPAM  

Mascot, Joy practiced working on a SPAM assembly line, and we visited the gift shop for a hat, Christmas ornament, and a few of the 14 varieties of SPAM.  

We pulled into Sioux Falls, SD at around 6:00 and fired up the griddle to cook up the Bacon SPAM (my favorite) and then used it to top some pizza.  What a way to finish off a long day of driving.  

We passed through Wisconsin and the Dells, which I now know means water slide.  By about this time I could barely sit because of my back and Andrea was also uncformfortable and starting to get crawly.  Basically, Joy has turned into the best traveler of the bunch. 

Visit with good friends...and now a driving day

Yesterday was the first leg of our adventure.  We spent the day with our good friends from Georgia, Sean, Lynn, and their adorable children Brian and Anna at her parents' lake house in Coldwater, Michigan.  We had an amazing time going for boat rides, swimming, and visiting.  Joy not only experienced her first speed boat ride but also got to go tubing for the first time.  Don't worry...it was totally safe, huge sit-up tube and daddy rode with her.  

Today we were up extra early at 5:00 am to start our journey. Nick was worried about making it through Chicago with morning traffic.  Luckily we made it through with just a small delay, although the tolls killed us! Our only casualty so far is the top cover to our trailer battery (must have blown off).  We are now in Wisconsin with a final destination of Sioux Falls for the night.  Joy has been a great traveler so far.  She's currently working on her "travel school" homework. 

Tomorrow's Agenda: The Corn Palace (finally going to make it there, Grandpa!!!) and a shorter driving day to the Badlands.