Wednesday, September 17, 2014

After our detour around the park, we headed out the West gate and through West Yellowstone looking for our campsite.  Rainbow Point ($22 per night), is north of West Yellowstone 6 miles – hey it’s the Gallatin National Forest – cool!!  Turning left onto the road to the park and Kelly started to think that there was no way we were going to get wifi, I reminded him that they have wifi all over the place – it’s still possible. So onward we chug down a very rough road – thank goodness it was only 2 miles long.  We turned into the park to be greeted by BEWARE of BEAR signs – Grizzly bears frequent this area!  Cool!!  I know I guess I should be scared, but I’m more excited than scared.  We headed to our reserved spot in C19 – it was right next to the park hosts site, hope that doesn’t become weird people coming and going at all times of the day/night.  We got out to check the spot to determine where we want to pull in, as we are walked around we noticed that there was only electric hookups, no water, no sewer, and not only is there no wifi – there is no phone signal either.  Kelly and I just stared at each other in disbelieve – How did this happen?  This most not be the right place?  Where is the office with the canoes and kayaks?  How did this happen??  What are we going to do???

The campground is beautiful, huge, tall pine trees, very quiet and secluded – we just were not prepared for dry camping, we dumped all of our water so we weren’t hauling extra weight on the trip.  We have a lot of things going on in our family so not having phone access is not going to work.  I’m also really trying to get things moving on my Lash business – so if there is no wifi, I at least need good phone signal so I can get on line with my phone.

We went over to the camp host camper to try to figure out what happened with our reservations – sure that they must have something wrong on their web site, because we both remembered the web site and all of the amenities that were described.  Larry was the camp host on duty, he came out with his hair all up in the air – apparently we had interrupted his shower (oops).  He was very nice and explained that they did not have any of the amenities that we thought they had – just electric and beautiful woods.  We met the other camp hosts (Glenn and Erin) who we were camped next to and they let us hook up our water hose to their water so we could fill our tank.   So it looks like we are dry camping for now, so the adventure begins, this ought to be interesting.

Until next time – thanks for following us!
Sharon

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Last year when we came to Yellowstone, we came in via West Yellowstone and we were only here 3 days.  We never managed to make it all the way to the South or Northern parts of Yellowstone, so the drive in from the Tetons was all new.  I know I need to increase my vocabulary because I just can’t seem to find the words that can truly describe the beauty of this place – I will give it an attempt.

Grand Tetons are only 17 miles away but the scenery is very different from Yellowstone.  As you enter Yellowstone the Snake River winds through the meadows that are aglow with golden grasses of autumn, along the banks of the river the brush is silhouetted in a deep red.  There are not many Aspens in Yellowstone, but the ones that are here make their presence known as they stand with their golden and orange leaves flickering in the wind speckled here and there among the pine trees. It looks as if the mountains are on fire everywhere. Not too far into the park we passed Lewis Falls, we didn’t make many stops on the way in today because we were hauling the trailer and it’s difficult to find long enough pull outs to safely stop.  But we did stop at Lewis falls and I got a nice picture.

One lesson learned on this trip is that the park starts doing their major road work after the main summer season ends .. about 2 weeks after Labor Day. Yep, so we planned this trip so that we would miss the crowds, which we are; however, we are going to have to take  an 85 mile detour to get to where we need to go today.  Instead of being able to come in from the south entrance and head north and west around the loop past Old Faithful – we are being forced to go EAST all the way around the loop to the west exit and then cut all the way back across the park.  I know – how can you complain when you’re in Yellowstone, well when you planned an easy hour drive to get from the entrance to your campsite so you could drop your trailer and be able to go back exploring and it takes over 2 ½ hours (which also means more fuel) it’s a bit frustrating.  So yes, all parts of Yellowstone are beautiful – but hauling a trailer you can’t stop easily – so not many pictures – so not as fun.  We found out about the road closure 2 weeks before our trip and we had already booked and paid for our campsite.  So we really had no choice but to deal with the delay – now I’m wondering if we will make it back down this way to get to see the beautiful sites we passed by .. it will be another 85 – 90 mile one way trip …. I guess time will tell.

So for those of you planning to come to Yellowstone or other National parks, there are benefits to coming post season – just be prepared for possible delays, detours and not being able to see everything based on possible closures.

Oh well … we are still in Yellowstone, so a detour here is better than rush hour traffic in Dallas ANY DAY!!

Can’t wait to see our campsite, Rainbow Point here we come … full hookups, WiFi, and canoe and kayak rentals!

Thanks for following us!
Sharon

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Today we packed up and left the Grand Tetons, we definitely need to spend more time in this beautiful place next time.  When we first found out that we were not going to be able to drive up into the mountain like in Rocky Mountain National Park, I was a little disappointed – but then I started to realize that you can’t judge one National Park against another, they are each unique and beautiful in their own right.  Coulter Bay Village was a bit pricey but it was beautiful and it was in the middle of the park so it was worth it.  As we were packing up we met our neighbors, Diane and Gregg from Maryland – they informed us that as we slept all cozy in our bed that a buck was right outside our door eating leisurely from the grass IN OUR campsite!!  Dang it!!

We visited for a while; they promised to email us the picture – Diane got to try the 3D mascara and said that it was a “blessing” to her – wow that was cool.  She loved it so much that she bought some and texted her sister about it!  I seriously love this Lash business, Kelly and I would love to make a full time life of living on the road – blogging about our National Parks, Younique is something that I can see getting us there.  Oh the dream of being able to be independent and not tied to the 8-5, no more meetings or conference calls – what would that life be like?

There were continual spectacular views of the Aspens changing color and glowing on the way out of the park and into Yellowstone.  It’s a short 17 miles from Coulter Bay to the South Entrance of Yellowstone – the Fall is a beautiful time of year to come to the parks – the colors are amazing – just make sure you bring your patience because it is the time of year that the parks service does road construction.

Thanks for following us!
Sharon

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

We started the day early (for us) up at 8:30 – headed out by 10:00 – not sure why it takes us so long to get up and out.  Today the plan is to take the boat shuttle from the South Jenny Lake Visitor Center and then hike to hidden falls and inspiration point – so no stopping on the way, that’s the plan!

Well best laid plans – as we headed out we could see the mountains more clearly than we had since we had arrived at GTNP, so we HAD to stop.  The site of Mt. Moran and the fall trees reflecting on the glass like surface of Jackson Lake stopped us in our tracks.  There was no way we could pass up this picture opportunity!  In the middle of the reflection at one point there was a flock of ducks swimming along – I’m telling you if this doesn’t make you feel little and awe inspired – I’m not sure anything will.  After a few more stops to get just the right angle of the mountains, we were finally headed towards South Jenny Lake.

You can hike 2 miles around the lake at a pretty easy hike, or you can take a shuttle across for $9 per person one way or $15 round trip.  We opted for the 1 way, with the intention of riding over and hiking back.  The boat ride takes about 5 minutes to get across; it was a bit chilly but a nice way to get over to the other side quickly.  Arriving at the west dock, there are stairs that take you to the trailhead – the hike to Hidden Falls is just around .5 mile and not too steep, there are free walking sticks offered which are recommended.   About ¼ of the way up there is a small fall that is very pretty and I think that it fools several people into thinking that is Hidden Falls.  It’s amazing how much longer .5 miles feels when you are traveling more vertical than horizontal.  This is one of the most popular hikes in the park, so depending on the time of the year can be very crowded.  We made it to the falls in good time – especially for 2 out of shape old farts.  The falls are aptly names as they are hidden within some rock outcroppings – they are beautiful.  People gather around the fence area to get pictures with the falls in the background – it’s a nice backdrop.

Turning around and heading back down the path about 100’ there is a bridge which takes you to Inspiration point about .4 of a mile further.  We headed up the trail to Inspiration Point, this part was a little steeper but still nothing like some of the hikes we had done in Rocky Mtn. National Park. About ½ way up there is a nice rock formation that is a great spot to stop for lunch.  There was a group sitting in the same area that we had seen earlier on the trail and I had noted several different accents being spoken in the group.  They were all eating sandwiches and I mentioned that I almost packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as we pulled out our leftover smoked baby back ribs, and Kelly said “you should have”.  One of the girls in the group looked over and said “You have ribs and you’d rather have a sandwich?”  Well if you know me, that was all it took – we started chatting with Lizanne (pronounced Lee-Zon) from South Africa by way of London for the past 9 years.  Apparently the group was from all over and on a 2 week tour of several of the National Parks with a tour company called Trek America.  We talked to Lizanne for a good long while, long enough that some of her group went up to Inspiration point and back.  One of the things that we are enjoying about this trip is meeting folks along the way.

It was getting late in the afternoon and Lizanne’s group looked ready to leave, so we parted ways giving her a card with our email hoping to keep in touch.  So onward and upward we headed, one piece of advice that one of the girls from the Trek America group gave us was to stay toward the wall side at one point in the hike up because of the cliff on the other side – in a few minutes I was appreciating that warning / advice.  There is one short part of the trail where you want to hug the wall as the edge looks over a drop off, but I’m somewhat afraid of heights and I never felt that queasy feeling.   It only took another 15 or so minutes to climb to Inspiration Point – where you can see all of Jenny lake below, again beautiful, the lake was like glass I can see why the name, it was an inspiring view.

We took a couple of pictures, hung out for a few minutes and headed back down, we were getting pretty hungry and the clouds were looking like rain.  The trek down was pretty quick – we were not too far from the bottom when someone was taking pictures of the rocky hillside, so we asked what they were seeing.   It was the elusive Pika!  A cute little ground animal that we looked for without success in Rocky Mtn. National Park.  They have cute little round ears, no tail and are just about the size of a Guinea Pig– so adorable.  Yippeee, we finally saw a Pika!  We searched all over RMNP for this little guy and we couldn’t find one anywhere.  So cool that we finally got to see one and we got some good pictures too!

Since we took a little longer than planned on our hike we ended up riding the shuttle boat back to the other side of the lake, too hungry to make the 2 mile hike around the lake.  Next time we will be more prepared.

The hike to hidden falls and Inspiration point was relatively easy – I highly recommend it.  Pack a good lunch and plan to enjoy it on the way to Inspiration Point then hike back around the lake.

A great day!

Thanks for following us!
Sharon

Monday, September 15, 2014

After setting up camp we headed out to check out the park, since we figured we would be driving we loaded up the dogs and headed South on the park road. First stop – the Visitor Center to get maps and ask the Rangers good places to go in the park.  They gave us a driving tour and recommended a couple of hikes, they also told us places to see wildlife and where there were closings because of Grizzly activity.  We were hoping to see some wildlife – we are hoping to spy wolves, bear and moose on this trip – some animals that we haven’t really gotten to see or had good unobstructed views on previous trips.

The Mountains of Grand Teton National Park were created due to a massive earth quake millions of years ago, there is a fault line that runs along the base of the mountain range.  That is why when you look at the mountains, they appear to have been ripped out of the earth.  They are jagged and shoot straight out of the valley floor, there is no gradual hill that grows into the mountains here – it is flat and then straight up mountains.  Mt Moran, is the highest peak in GTNP and is the “signature” mountain that you see on many of the Grand Teton souvenirs, it has snow on the face of it year round.

The Grand Teton National Park was established in 1929 from lands that had originally been the Maurie Ranch, owned by Olaus Maurie a biologist who came to Jackson in 1927 to study the elk herd.  John D Rockefeller Jr. donated additional lands in 1950 to expand the park to it’s present boundries.

We did the driving tour that the Ranger had given us – it was a good drive and I recommend it. We stopped a various pull outs for pictures – the mountains are so different than the Rockies – so jagged, there was a haze on the mountains so we weren’t able to get good clear shots – that didn’t stop us from snapping as many as we could though, nor did it change the sheer beauty of the mountains.

We took a drive up to Signal Mountain the road is two lanes barely, driving a big Dodge 1 Ton dually truck was interesting.  Kelly would be driving sometimes with one wheel of the dually hanging off the edge of the road because some – shall we say lessor driver to keep it nice – would be driving their little compact car in the middle of the road!  When we got to the top to see the overlook – we were well rewarded for our troubles getting there, it overlooks the a huge valley with a river running through it, and with fall in full swing the color of the entire meadow was golden – I know I keep saying beautiful – but it was.  It was truly breathtaking!  The views are so amazing that you want to just stay, but there is more to see.

After Signal Mountain we continued south to see Jenny Lake, we had heard so much about how pretty it was so we had to make it there.  We stopped at the pull out to take pictures at North Jenny Lake, it was as lovely as we were told with trees surrounding it.  We didn’t stay too long because we plan to do a trip tomorrow to South Jenny Lake and a hike up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point (another Ranger recommendation).

We drove a little further south to Lupine Meadow where there was a dirt road, we took the road and found a couple of guys from Utah that looked like they had spotted something.  We asked and they said that there were elk bugling on the mountain. Cool – a chance for us to try out our new spotting scope!  We pulled over, jumped out of the truck and pulled out the scope and tripod – we trekked out to the middle of the meadow and searched and searched the mountain side, we could hear them but couldn’t find them.  We did see a beautiful water fall, but no elk.  So we trekked further across the thick meadow and wet lands and across a small river that led into the brush (where I reminded Kelly that this is exactly where Bear like to roam) – still no elk.  We had fun; felt like we were real animal spotters and Kelly looked like a pro with his hat turned around and carrying the scope over his shoulder.  We decided to call it a night it was getting dark and the dogs were hungry so we headed back to the campsite.

Home for the night …
Thanks for following us!
Sharon

Monday, September 15, 2014

Last night after setting up at Teton RV Campground Kelly and I got to talking and we were both frustrated that we settled for staying outside of the park, that was not our dream for this vacation.  We are learning that we need to not panic and book the first thing – but to stay calm and check things out a little more.  The pressure of night falling and having to hook up in the dark added to our pressure when we were calling so the first place that said that they could fit us – we jumped on it.  So first thing this morning I called 2 of the sites that we had looked at that were in the park and they both had openings (aarrghh!)   I went to the office at Teton RV and prayed the whole way over, I just asked for favor and promised I would not lie, you see we had to pay for all 3 days up front – so who knew if they’d give us a refund.  I was honest and explained that our goal was to stay in the park but that the reservationist pretty much told us that there wasn’t any place still open that could fit our size rig (38′) but that I called and found 2 this morning that could!  The girl at the counter gave us a refund for the unused nights and asked where the sites were so that if others asked she could have the correct information.

We didn’t feel like we had lost out too much, that night we had a beautiful view of the mountains and ate breakfast looking at them as well.  So after breakfast, we broke down camp – we are getting really good at tear-down and set up; Kelly has his routine outside and I have mine inside – things go a little wonky when one of us gets in the middle of the others routine though.

We moved over to Coulter Bay Village Campground ($65 – Military and Senior Discounts), in the National Park right on Jackson Lake – we got the last site – I was so happy!!  Which means Kelly is happy too – because he doesn’t like to see me pout.  The sites are all beautiful with loads of tall pine trees, they are full hook ups – 50 Amp service, but the WiFi is up at the laundry and does not reach to our site (H-65).  We were set up in less than 30 minutes and headed out to check things out when within 100’ of our campsite we saw a deer just wandering through the park munching on some grass – THIS is why I wanted to stay IN the park!!

Tetons RV Campground has a beautiful view of the mountain range, the cost seems a bit high to me for the amenities.  Check out the full review on our Review’s page.

Thanks for following us!
Sharon

Hey guys thanks for your patience, as things go in camping there are times we have good wifi and times we have nothing – But hey that’s why it’s called “roughing it”.  So we are doing our best to keep the blog going – we’ll be back on line with full Wifi access on Friday 9/19 and will upload pictures and more at that time!

Check instagram and facebook for some phone pictures ..

It’s beautiful here in Yellowstone – fall is on fire!!

Thanks for following us!
Sharon

September 14, 2014

So by now you might be seeing a trend, I tend to think in song titles and lyrics – can’t sing on tune but in my head I’m a Rock Star (or maybe country star depending on the song)!!

On the drive from Laramie to the Grand Tetons, that song “Wide Open Spaces” just kept going through my head.  It was so beautiful and open – amazing compared to most of the country where we try to squeeze just one more building or neighborhood into an already crowded area.  We tried and tried to take pictures to show the grandeur of it and no matter what we did it just wasn’t translating through the lens.  On these open ranges herds of Prong Horn Antelope play right alongside herds of cattle and horses.  We have seen huge hawks spying their meals from the power lines and poles.  We even saw a coyote walking along the highway, our animal count for the drive is pretty impressive so far, we can’t wait to see all of the wild life at Grand Tetons and Yellowstone!

We can tell we are getting closer to Jackson and the Grand Tetons because the price of gas is getting crazy – $4.20 for diesel now, holy cow what will be once we are actually up in the park??

There are 2 basic routes into the Tetons from Laramie, either stay on 287 and wind through various other highways and come into the East side of the park at the Moran gate, or continue on I-80 to Rock Springs and into the park through Jackson.  Since we had never see Jackson – we decided to take that route.   We drove through the Bridger-Teton National Forest, it was beautiful to see the Aspen trees as they were changing to gold and their leaves flickered in the wind.  The Hoback River winds along the road, passing under the road and winding back and forth – we can see the mountains in the distance!  Our excitement is gaining with every mile, I have heard for years how beautiful the Grand Tetons are – but honestly I really don’t know what to expect.

We rolled into Jackson around 6:00pm and figured while we had cell service it would be a good time to call and find a campsite.  For the entire trip, the only reservation we do have is for Yellowstone – everything else has been “late arrivals” or “space available”.  Our plan for Teton was to come into the park and find a spot, we had both read that several of the campgrounds inside the park were on a first come basis. I wasn’t too worried, being late in the season and a Sunday night figured we should be good.  We called a couple of places near Jackson but decided we wanted to be closer or in the park – so we found a spot at Teton RV Campground ($65 no discounts except military) – just a few miles outside of the Moran gate (guess maybe we should have gone the other way) while on the phone with their reservation person, he told us that there were not many places that could fit a rig our size so we felt that our best bet was to make the reservation.  The campground was in the process of closing or the season, and had already closed down one section, we stayed on the back side right next to the laundry facility.  Most sites seemed to be pull through with full hookups, good wifi but no TV.  We arrived just before sunset and since we were outside of the park, we had a beautiful view of the mountains as the sky turned pink.  We were so busy getting set up and ready for dinner that we didn’t get a picture (fail) – we just have it in our memories.

Dinner time – Brisket with mashed potatoes and corn, yummy!

BTW – did you know that there is no town called Jackson Hole?  Apparently, the town is  Jackson the airport is Jackson Hole Airport and on the map, it shows the area being called Jackson Hole … strange not quite sure the deal. We drove through the town, it was very nice – lots of shops, restaurants and things to do, unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop we wanted to find a campsite before dark.  We did manage to get a quick picture of the famous Jackson archways made of elk antlers on our way through.

That’s all for tonight …

Tomorrow first full day exploring the Grand Tetons!

Thanks for following us!
Sharon

September 13, 2014

I have figured out something about myself; I like to see the whole picture.   I need to know the end point and I need to have checkpoints along the way that I can check off.  I started figuring this out when I was working out; I needed to see the count down on the treadmill, running 5K races , I needed to know I only had 1 more K or 1 more hill to go (just ask Andrew).  All that to say I NEED a map and one bigger than the 2 inch screen of a GPS, I don’t want to just see the next 10 – 30 miles – I want to see it all and I want to know all of the options.  So here we are on Day 2 of our Roadtrip and I can’t find our Atlas – it’s driving me CRAZY and that means I’m driving Kelly CRAZY.  I searched and searched and couldn’t find it, it’s supposed to stay in the truck or trailer so by now I’m close to freaking out – thank goodness Kelly realized my need and that ignoring it wasn’t going to make things better and in Dumas pulled into Walmart so I could go buy a new atlas ahhhh I can already start to feel the relief.  $5.99 later I am out the door with a folding map of the Western United States – no atlas, but I feel better!

Now that we have our map, we can make some decisions on our route and not feel bullied by our GPS, we decided to go 287 to 40 then to I-70.  This was a different route than we had previously taken.  It was a nice change to be on the smaller highway and go through the little towns, that’s part of the road trip – seeing the country, not just Interstates!  We went through one little town, Campo, Colorado that had a “Country Lawyer” and the Beautician in the same place – in a tiny little building that went by so quickly I couldn’t take a picture.  Their signage was like graffiti painted on the side and front of the building.  So we wondered … is the hairdresser now charging for those chat sessions and advice?

Hwy 287 – Welcome to Oklahoma!

Highway 287 must be known to the truckers as the “Over-Size Load Road”, I swear we saw more oversize loads  on that road than I’ve ever seen.  We actually enjoyed the trip on 287 it was fun to go through the little towns, some that made us wonder – “what do people do that live here?”  We made good time the speed limit was usually between 65 – 75mph and generally the road was mostly smooth except for a couple of short stretches were we were jiggled around a bit.

Prince nappig

The dogs are doing great – Prince has now figured out that he can stretch out across my laptop bag and the cooler and use the console as a pillow so he can be almost in the front seat.  If you take this route, make sure to fill up at the Walmart in Dumas, it was the cheapest fuel we saw from that point on.

The trip to Laramie was a pretty easy one, until it came to figuring out how to get into the Laramie KOA Campground ($39 w/o KOA card $34 w/KOA Rewards), between the GPS (agghhhh) and the confusing signs at the Campground, we got into another backing up situation (starting to see a pattern here yet?) at least this one was not as far, just a few feet.  The Laramie KOA campground was just off of the highway, we had seen negative reviews because of the noise, but we didn’t think it was too bad – you don’t really hear much once you’re in the trailer.  The sites were nice and level, we stayed near the back because we wanted to be close to the pet area, which was nice and had a few agility things for the dogs to jump through or run over – they didn’t quite get it.  We were a bit frustrated that for late arrivals they don’t provide the wifi code, so make sure if you’re going to get there late you call and get a reservation and ask for the code!  The other little gotcha is that their cable TV requires a digital box, so again you can’t get that after hours – it takes a $50 deposit because there is a little box that you have to use.  I would recommend this campground – especially if you understand the above and have a KOA Rewards card because they don’t take any other type of discount.

Next Stop – Grand Teton!

Thanks for following us!
Sharon

September 12, 2014

So after our “Slow Start” .. we headed out to our first way-point, Amarillo, we had no reservations just a goal to get to at least Amarillo by the first night.  So starting at 6:00PM from Richardson – after dropping Q-tip off at Mema’s – we were looking at a pretty late arrival but we

Q-Tip

were going for it!   Our Trip to Amarillo was smooth sailing, no major issues.  We pulled into Amarillo at 1:30am and were searching on the RV Parky app for a good overnight RV park, our first attempt at A-OK Camper Park was NOT Successful.  First it was this tiny little place with no lights so we drove right past it as the GPS was totally confused too.  After turning around (which in a 38’ 5^th wheel is always fun) we found it and looked at each other with a questionable look, “do we try it?”  – We did.  BIG MISTAKE, the park was small only 2 roads that you can travel on and actually get out, well what do you think we did?  Yep, you guessed it, we headed down the one in the middle with NO OUTLET!  And no open RV spots to pull into, so when we got to the end of the road, Kelly was not a happy camper.  Backing up down a dark road – trying not to wake everybody up and me with a tiny little flashlight trying to direct him, that’s what you call a recipe for disaster.  Thank goodness Kelly is such an excellent driver – we managed to get out of that pickle and even though there was a spot on the back row, he was so mad at the place for not posting a “no outlet” sign that he refused to stay there – even though it was only $11-22 per night.

NEXT RV Parky recommendation … Amarillo Ranch RV Park ($37 or $33 with Good Sams or AAA

Amarillo Ranch RV

discount), this looked to be a larger RV  park with all of the possible amenities you could want. And one that we shouldn’t have any issues getting into and out of, just off of I-40 and Sunrise drive about 6 miles west of 287.  We pulled up and very happy, the park was good size, they had several vacant sites and easy after hours registration.  The site was so level that we were able to leave the truck hooked up so it was a quick set up and tear down.  We took the kiddos to the dog park and let them play off leash for a while, they liked that, and then we opened up the trailer and pretty much headed to bed, we were spent!

In the morning I went to check out, the office was clean and the staff friendly with tables for sitting and enjoying the free coffee and donuts.  I took a peek at the indoor pool area, it was actually decent size – bigger than some hotels I’ve stayed at and it was very clean. They also offer a free shuttle to the famous Big Texan Steakhouse, home of the FREE 72 oz. steak…assuming you can eat it ALL!  We enjoyed our stay and would recommend this to you if you’re in Amarillo. For a more detailed review see our Site Reviews page.

Next stop Laramie, Wy!

Lilly & Prince go Western!

Thanks for following us!
Sharon