We're Home!

4400 miles 

39 days

8 states

3 national parks

16 campgrounds

1,500 hits on the blog from 11 countries

US

Latvia

India

Canada

Germany

Malaysia

Poland

Switzerland

Russia

Netherlands

China

39 days of sunshine

2 times used wipers within 80 miles of home

favorite campground....Mormon Bend, Stanley, Idaho

favorite drive...Going to the Sun, Glacier National Park

favorite hike...tie, Two Medicine Valley, Glacier and Taggart Lake, Grand Teton

best animal sighting...tie, grizzly and buffalo and the bull and cow moose outside my window, Grand Teton

THE VICTORY TOUR....Wednesday, going home

I am writing from a KOA aka a big open field in Rawlin, WY. Our most amazing adventure is winding down and this will be my last post before arriving home.

Our last wonderful day in The Grand Teton National Park started off with Luanne rushing from Diane’s door to my door, alerting us to the bull moose and cow just outside of my window! It was a most amazing sight, the bull was working hard rubbing the velvet off of his rack. The cow was placidly munching on berries and bushes and the two of them gave us quite a show!

If any of you have a chance to visit Grand Teton don’t miss the visitor center at the Jenny Lake entrance. It is a stunning building, massive glass windows make the mountains a part of the exhibit. And the exhibits, the best I have seen at any National Park! The bronzes, and there are many, are truly outstanding and bring the past alive as you walk through. The exhibits cover everything from the animals, plants, rivers and mountains to the people who lived there and the activities in the park.

Our last meal together before Diane headed for Oregon and we headed home was cooked on the fire and we sat outside talking until the cold sent us to our beds.

This morning we parted ways, Luanne and I heading south and then our long trek east.

When we arrived in Jackson Hole we climbed a 10% grade over the mountain. When we left we were nestled between the mist covered mountains following the Hoback River Canyon Road. It was a beautiful drive until the road spit us out onto the windy great plains.

The hurricane has sent tremendous winds and it is making driving very difficult.

We stopped early today hoping that it might blow itself out a bit overnight. Three more days and we’ll be home!

We have had stellar weather; amazing and varied scenery; great traveling companions; exciting adventures and good health during our whole trip. The trip celebrated Diane’s retirement, Luanne’s 60th birthday and my soon to be 65th. None of us could come up with a better way to commemorate these milestones in our lives!!!

THE VICTORY TOUR....Monday, Jackson Hole

This morning found us at the smoky Gros Ventre Lake just outside the Park boundaries. It was a beautiful drive, but the fire which has been burning steadily for a week was coming closer and made everything very smoky and hazy. I’ve posted a picture which looks more like The Great Smoky Mountains than The Great Teton Park!

This afternoon we ventured into Jackson Hole and sidled to the bar and mounted a saddle for a couple of drinks. Yes, you read that right, the bar stools are real leather saddles. Diane and Luanne were walking bowlegged when we came out!

A little shopping, a little laughing, a little eating and now we are happily at home. It looks like it might rain and we are hoping so as it will clear out some of the smoke before our final hike tomorrow.

THE VICTORY TOUR...Sunday, Taggart Lake Hike

A spectacular day in the Tetons! I am too tired to write tonight because Diane and I followed Luanne! You would think by now we would know better!!!

OK, I guess I can’t really blame her, we made another group decision. We started out the morning headed for the amazing Jenny Lake and surrounding mountains. First we noticed the mountains were not as clear and crisp as yesterday. There is a big fire raging in the area, not causing us any problems but obscuring our views a bit.

Then when we got to the Jenny Lake boat area we couldn’t find a parking place, shades of Logan Pass at Glacier. As a second choice we headed to Taggart Lake which turned out to be an amazing hike.

It was a four mile hike, much of it going uphill following a beautiful mountain stream. We arrived at Taggart Lake and it was crystal clear with the mountains reflected in the water! Lunch and a long hike back home, so now I am tired and can say no more!!

ps...The ranger confirmed that it was the grizzly bear eating the buffalo that we saw. Luanne didn’t believe me so I had to go to the Ranger for confirmation!

THE VICTORY TOUR...Saturday, Teton's MOOSE!!

MOOSE! We have been searching for a moose for a month, all through Yellowstone and Glacier and the back country of Idaho with no success. We were in our campground at Gros Ventre in The Grand Teton National Park for a few hours when Luanne took Tucker for a walk. Diane and I were at the campfire. I looked up to see Luanne waving her arms like a maniac calling

MOOSE...MOOSE...MOOSE!!!

We literally threw the dogs into the campers, grabbed cameras and we were off running to see this beautiful, huge, majestic, sable brown bull moose roaming through the campground! His rack was massive and he was a beautiful animal. The pictures are not good, it was near dark, but you can get an idea of his size. Whip Hop!!! It was wonderful!!! The trip is complete!!

We started this morning leaving Arco and within fifteen miles were at the second most unique stop of the trip, the EBR-I Atomic Museum which commemorates the 1951 achievement of becoming the first power plant in the world to produce electricity from atomic energy. And that little bump in the road Arco was the first city to be supplied power from atomic energy. I found it rather eerie to think about the first nuclear power plant having been located between an active volcano at Craters and the unstable, earthquake prone area just west in Yellowstone!

Another beautiful drive on the backroads of Idaho through fertile, irrigated farm country with fields of golden wheat and emerald green brought us to the Teton Mountain Pass.

Our first sight of the Snake River and the drift boats out fishing made me want to be there too! We climbed and strained up a very long 10% grade and careened back down to land in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

All you need to do is look around and see the unique use of elk and deer racks to know you are in Jackson Hole!

On checking into the Gros Ventre campground we were lucky enough to get the last three sites which were adjacent. At check-in we were told there was a grizzly bear across the road feeding on a downed buffalo, so we were to be extra bear aware. He also said there were moose and elk roaming around the campground. I think we have seen the bear as well as the moose!

We drove a gravel road and Luanne spotted an animal way off in the distance. Look at the picture I posted, don’t you think it looks like there are two animals and that the big one on top is the bear!!??!!

What a day!!!!!!!!

THE VICTORY TOUR....Friday, Craters of the Moon

This may be the strangest place I have ever seen, it looks like the surface of the moon when you look at it through a telescope. Here we are in the middle of Idaho and there is a volcano! Who knew???

The first eruptions in the area were about 15,000 years ago, with the last eruption about 2,000 years ago. Scientists expect it to erupt again one day. The siesmic activity is monitored closely with a close eye kept on the activity in the Yellowstone area too.

The lava fields begin and end abruptly, shockingly actually when you round a corner and are faced with it on your drive in. There are acres and acres of black lava rock; there are huge mounds of cinder like lava; there are caves formed by the lava flow; there are mounds of lava that look like ribbon candy or soft folds of cloth.

Our first hike took us almost straight up for half a mile. It had me gasping for breath a couple of times before I crested the top! There seemed to be a dust which rose from it that had Diane struggling for air, almost as if she were having an asthma attack. An when you got to the top you were faced with a bleak, black landscape that left you at a loss for words to describe it.

There was a strange little campground there, each site nestled into it's own little lava rock wall.

I found it interesting that the area attracts a good number of foreigners. I've seen a number of Canadians and met a Swiss couple who thought it was better even than Alaska, a sentiment that I cannot agree with! A young German couple from Hamburg were hiking to the cave at the same time Luanne and I went.

The area doesn't support much animal life, I was told by a ranger even the snakes stay away from it because it is too craggy and rough.

What must the pioneers traveling the Oregon trail have thought when they were confronted with this unimaginable wasteland??