Me, Dea and the girls: 2008-07-13

More of Day 4, 6/24

Old Faithful

The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone from Artist Point

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from Mt. Washburn

On day 4 we broke camp in the Tetons and drove to Yellowstone. Since this was Mom's last day with us, we decided to hit some of the highlights: Old Faithful, the Hayden Valley, the Lower Falls and Mammoth Hot Springs. The eruption at Old Faithful was not as powerful as it was when Dea and I saw it in September. We saw lots of buffalo, but no other animals.

We finished the day by going out of the north entrance of the park and driving to Bozeman, MT. It felt really nice to stay in a hotel with hot showers and a soft mattress.

Total miles driven=301
Time in car=7hr 40min

Great Western Adventure-Day 4, 6/24

A herd of buffalo among the wildflowers in Jackson Hole.

A herd of tourists among the wildflowers in Jackson Hole.

Mt. Moran and the Snake River.

Great Western Adventure-Day 3, 6/23

Breakfast at the Poudre Canyon, CO KOA

Lots of snow in Wyoming's Wind River Range. The Winds were a revelation; I have read about them in my Backpacker magazine for years, but now that I've seen them for myself I have to go back and explore them.

Our first view of Jackson Hole and the Tetons.

Dea and I were here in September, but there was almost no snow on the peaks.

This was an easy driving day. We started in Colorado, only 25 miles from the Wyoming line. We reached the highest point on our entire trip, 9400 feet, soon after we crossed into Wyoming. We spent the night at the Gros Ventre campground in Grand Teton National Park.

Total miles driven=434

Car time=7hr 18min

Great Western Adventure-Day 2, 6/22

Lunch at a rest area in Kansas

This wind farm was the most interesting sight in Kansas.

We drove through Missouri, Kansas and most of Colorado on day 2. I was really hoping to see the Rocky Mountains much earlier than we did (a certain line from Dumb and Dumber kept running through my mind), but the day as overcast so the mountains did not appear until we were 40 miles east of Denver. We did briefly catch a glance of what turned out to be Pike's Peak earlier, but I had look at a picture of the mountain before I could confirm it.

We spent the night at a KOA near Ft. Collins, after a really nice meal at Cozzola's Pizza in the downtown. I think Ft. Collins is the new town I am planning on moving my family to.

Total miles driven=830

Car time=11hr 47min

Great Western Adventure-Day 1, 6/21

This is the car I originally rented to drive to Yellowstone with Madeline and Mom. It would have gotten 32-35 mpg, but it was too crowded before we even added Mom's stuff. The little girls liked it, though. We had to hang around Charlottesville until the car rental place opened so we could trade up. We had originally planned on leaving by 7am, but we did not get out of town until 9:20.

We took I-64 through Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana, with a stop in Louisville to pick up Mom at the airport. Oh yeah, Madeline and I were sick; I had a fever that had developed on Friday and Madeline is the one who infected me.

We had originally planned a camping at a KOA on the west side of St. Louis, but I didn't feel like sleeping in a tent. Unfortuantely, all the hotels within 60 miles of the city were full. We finally got rooms at the Booneslick Lodge, a charmingly rustic (i.e. lodge style furniture, wooden fish as wall decorations) hotel in Pineville, MO.

Total miles driven=831

Car Time=12hr 10min