6-27 The High Life

A lot travel today, plowing through Wyoming and into South Dakota. We came across a clutch campground with a pool, showers, TV, wifi, rabbits, ample plugs for us to cook our oatmeal in the morning, and all at an affordable price! It's been a good night.

6-26 The moose is loose!

Big hike today. Eight miles around Jenny Lake was long, but pretty flat and easy. We also went off on a small tangent to see Hidden Falls.The water here is crystal clear, the rivers and lakes look like glass. Beautiful day in a beautiful environment.

 

Comin' hot!

On our trail, a group of people were walking rather hurriedly toward us with cameras out. Again, our scene. Not far behind them was a young bull moose, trudging forward in our direction. We resorted to guerrilla tactics, snapping photos and dropping back until finally the moose diverted his path to chow on some leaves. While he didn't have a rack, he did have 2 nubs, so that counts. Another good day.

6-25 Hello again, snowcaps

Back to the Rockies! Grand Teton National Park is essentially connected to the south end of Yellowstone, a very short drive. We got a campsite inside the park no problem and explored the area; a 3 mile hike and some driving around. The Teton Mountains erupt right off of the lakes and rivers around the area, making for quite the sights. 

We had one mission for the day: find a moose. Lucky for us there is actually an area called Moose, so we knew where to go. After extensive searching, we left disappointed. But wait! As we were driving back, a large crowd of people were gathered with cars pulled over on the side of the road and tourists flocking with cameras. This was our scene. Exiting the car in a flurry, we saw our prize. A moose cow was munching away on some leaves with complete disregard to the ruckus around her. Her calf then emerged from the brush, a bonus to the unexpected sighting. 

She cheesed for me

As we were playing cards back at camp later that evening, a moose came wandering through our campsite. She first emerged not far behind the bathrooms and slowly meandered to about 20 feet behind our tents. Three moose in one day? Mission accomplished.

Literally right behind our tents

6-24 Nice marmot!

Old Faithful doing its thing

The early bird gets the worm and can snag a nice campsite. We got a spot reserved around 8 a.m. and explored Yellowstone more today. Most of it is by car, so it isn’t too strenuous to see a lot of stuff. Old Faithful delivered right on schedule (even though there is about a +/- 10 minute margin of error, I thought it was more regular than that). A lot of the stuff we saw was right on the giant sleeping caldera that is Yellowstone. Last time it blew, debris was shot over 240 cubic miles. Keep sleeping, Yellowstone. 

Firehole Lake

Bull elk

 We saw a good deal of animals during our stay here, getting uncomfortably close to some!

Come here, marmot!

Third time was almost the charm.

Enormous

6-23 Can't Win 'Em All

We got our first big storm last night as we camped in Idaho and found out that the tents leak a little. Our bodies were dry, but our stuff was wet. Not long after hitting the road, the right wheel started feeling funny. With some scrutiny we found the culprit: one of the five bolts that hold the wheel on had snapped. Three of the remaining four were loose…Tightening the bolts, we carried on to find the nearest garage to get the problem fixed, but not before losing the hubcap driving over a bridge. The garage didn’t have the right sized bolt we needed so we were stuck in Missoula, MT for a while. To remedy the whole situation, we walked over to the local IHOP, got Splashberries and Big Country Combos, and ate ourselves silly (as our excuse, we couldn’t get into the van to make our lunch! We were starving!). It rained heavily for the majority of the remaining drive. 

By the time the van was done and we got to Yellowstone it was pretty late. We were able to see a few things and get some pictures before searching for the only open campground which was full by the time we got there. It was another parking lot for us this evening.

Pronghorn (the fastest mammal in North America!)

Minerva Terrace hot springs

6-22 Nothin' fancy

Due to the heavy fog, clouds, and general rainy disposition of the morning, we were unable to see Mt. St. Helen’s, but at least we tried. Other than that, today was just travel from WA to Coeur d’ Alene, ID for the night. Our campsite even had showers. We didn’t get any potatoes.

6-21 MEN IN SPACE (NEEDLE)

Today we took a day trip to Seattle and our first sight was something a little out of the ordinary. We found a troll. Under the Fremont bridge is a huge concrete sculpture of a troll, complete with an actual Volkswagon Beetle in his grasp. Seattle has some pretty funky stuff and a lot of art.

We poked around the city a bit before going to Pike Street. This was a neat place with tons of vendors all in a multi-story pedestrian market. They were selling everything from fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, leather stuff, t-shirts, souvenirs, flowers, magic supplies, lots of places to eat, etc. Musicians were playing outside for tips. For lunch we all decided to get some halibut sandwiches at the Market Grill.

After such a hardy lunch we made the trek over to the Space Needle to see all of Seattle at 520 feet. While it was a bit pricey to go up, when else are we going to be at the Space Needle? The views were great and we were lucky enough to get a clear day in the usually rainy state (good weather follows us). It was an awesome day in another cool city. A giant thank you to Lenae and Ken for hosting us and treating us so well!

Mt. Rainier in the background

6-20 New threads and new states

Well, we’ve driven 7,000 miles so we need another oil change. With some time to spare in Portland, OR, we got the van back in fightin’ form, drove around the city, and hit up some Goodwills (probably the best Goodwills we have ever seen, one had a café in it). It was tough to leave the bargains, but we said farewell to Oregon and continued to Kalama, Washington to stay with our hosts Lenae and Ken. We were greeted with the utmost hospitality and treated to delectable food and much-needed showers. We’re off to see Seattle next!