Okay – we’re now settled in our hotel in Missoula, MT. It’s actually a pretty big city (compared to Green Bay). I made friends with the front desk clerk who recommended a great steak joint for supper tonight. Love it…
Monday, we drove through the Bighorn Mountains where we’ve been up and down from 4500 to 9500 feet above sea level, but we haven’t cracked the 10,000 ft. mark yet. We were planning to stay at a campsite that we reserved but the afternoon just couldn’t go right after not getting our credit card back at a gas station and not realizing it until 150 miles later, and then driving 20 minutes past the campground we reserved. So we got a site that actually had a better view and a gas station and a “sub shop” that served hamburgers and beer. The showers there left a little to be desired, but you can’t have everything! Amy also got bitten by some odd bug while we were setting up the tent. More to come on that below…
We left early in the morning on Tuesday (our 8-year anniversary) so we could grab one of the first-come, first served sites at Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons National Park. They were not kidding when they said that the sites all fill by 8 a.m., but a nice lady from Wisconsin let us grab her spot as she was leaving. We got our tent set up then began our day of hiking. We took a ferry across Jenny Lake and began hiking up the Cascade Canyon. Even though the flies were swarming around us, it was very beautiful. Lots of waterfalls, and scenic views at every turn. We didn’t see any bears, bighorn sheep, or moose while hiking, but did see ground squirrels everywhere, in fact one wanted our peanut butter sandwiches so much it would have crawled up our legs if we didn’t keep trying to scare it off. We ended up hiking up all the way to the back of the canyon (“The Forks”), before the flies and our sore feet sent us back down. We ended up with nine miles hiked (and over 1,000 feet in elevation change) in the end. Sorry to Dad (and Uncle Doug) who did this plus another 5 miles (and another 1,000 feet of elevation) when he was SIX YEARS OLD!!! (By the way gentlemen, the ranger was VERY impressed with that tidbit…)
We rose early Wednesday morning (6:00 a.m.) to get on the road up to Yellowstone. Beautiful drive. Yellowstone is a zoo. Imagine Door County on the 4th of July weekend… The trick is to get up there early and hit the big things… We got a decent campsite, but small. We took a TON of pictures and video. Amy’s “bug sting” from camp two nights ago worsened and her leg was pretty swollen and red. We spent some time in the medical clinic (with an attractive young, male doctor from Yale) having Amy’s leg looked at. Nothing too serious – but he did prescribe some antibiotics. Old Faithful is still relatively faithful… wasted some video time waiting for the “big show.” Pretty neat though. This morning we were surrounded at “Mud Volcano” by a herd of bison. A little nerve-wracking, but we made it out of there intact.
That’s about it – we’ve rambled enough. We’re heading through Idaho tomorrow (VOTE FOR PEDRO) and into WA. We’re camping near Grand Coulee and then completing our journey to Seattle for the wedding of Tracy and Tobias – which promises to be a grand affair.
We’ll check in again from Seattle.
P.S. By the way…cheapest gas so far was $2.18 in South Dakota…most expensive was $2.49 in Yellowstone Park. Tourist effect? We think so!
Responses to comments:
Ginger – yep, I finally changed my shirt. Had to show off the city of Green Bay a bit though… [grins]
Thanks for the anniversary wishes. Couldn’t imagine a better place to spend it…
Mama Lapinskas – thanks for the prayers. Amy thinks it was those prayers that helped us survive my driving in the Rockies…
Glad you guys like the blog. We promise to not do this for our weekend trips to Iola though! LOL “Jeff caught a bluegill….” “Amy went to garage sales…” “Jeff drank a beer…” snooze….
Austin – Have fun on your adventure to Blackhawk Island. We’ll talk about Kastle Karts when we get back. Remember – you’re our favorite nephew…!
Amy E. – You’ll always be #1!
Nope… the feet don’t stick out of the tent. Who says Jeff is allowed to sleep in the tent? [grins]
Morse – I knew you’d pick up on the Dreyfus bit. One sci-fi nerd to another…
Kline Road Trips 