Hi all! We're back from our 4 day jaunt to WDW & I want to post a TR for that but I feel too guilty leaving this one open. I guess that's what happens when you travel so much! Not too bad of a problem, eh?
So here is our next day:
Day Ten
August 4, 2008
Today we turned east. Were 60 miles east of the Tetons now, in the sagebrush and cottonwood of Wyoming. Horse country. We just ate breakfast at the Cowboy Café in Dubois, Wy. I had found it on TripAdvisor and the reviews were dead on. Lots of food, yummy food, reasonable prices and a nice mix of tourists and locals. We asked the girls waiting on us the shortest way to Cheyenne and they asked the resident Wyoming expert and she said through Casper and that it should take 5 hours. That jives with Mapquest so we are on our way to Casper. Its 10:20 am.
As I walked to the bear box this morning with my 3 loads of garbage I unexpectedly got tears in my eyes. I really do want to turn home, Im ready to go home, and yet evidently my heart is not done with our journey yet. It has been a truly lovely journey. The right people, the right place, the right time, and very well planned. Yet another notch in my opinion that a meticulously planned vacation is a good vacation.
So yesterday was a good day. I dont really feel that it started off too well as it was the only day we had an appointment, a 4:30 appointment in Jackson for Whitewater rafting. Being unaccustomed on this trip to having appointments and being really not sure how long certain mileages would take us, I was nervous. I felt like every little thing was taking forever and I really had trouble relaxing all the way until Jackson.
I also felt all day like I was trying to put Boo to sleep. Mom and I spent all day putting her to sleep only to have something 5 minutes later wake her up. Frustrating.
For everyone else, though, it was probably OK. We started with packing (as always) and that seemed daunting yesterday. When Donald & I awoke and looked around our room it was as if a tornado had gone off. Dont worry, it wont be so bad, I said. He sighed, I know. It just looks so bad.
Dad was making toad-in-a-holes for us all, though I just had coffee and a granola bar. I wasnt hungry. Boo was merrily playing and pointing to the people and squirrels and birds. She stood on the porch and waved. Hi! she shouted over & over. Mom and Dad had had a lovely day with her the day before. Feeding her at regular intervals & putting her down for a real nap in a real bed. And then taking a walk through the woods to the gift shop. She loves gift shops almost as much as nature. She runs around frantically playing with this stuffed animal and that stuffed animal. Yanking out pencils from their holders and generally destroying any area into which she ventures. It takes one adult following her to keep the pandemonium to a minimum.
By the time we had eaten & packed, the ranger station was open & we went to get the girls ranger badges. They are cute with a little wolf paw on them. The ranger we got had braided pigtails and was very serious about the conditions under which one was allowed the privilege of being granted a badge. They had to answer all kinds of questions and prove their worth. She asked them, once she had deemed them worthy, if they wanted a quiet ceremony or if they wanted an announcement and clapping from everyone in the museum. They, naturally, both chose quiet. We took a photo to commemorate the great moment and we were on our way.
Dad hadnt been with us at Artists Point before so we stopped to see the falls again. It was still breathtaking, of course, but it was smoky. Too smoky for a great photo op. We did follow a ranger for a bit and she pointed out animal footprints down the steep, dangerous face of the canyon. We looked through Moms binoculars and pondered that. It seemed so ill advised to wander down that wall, but many, many animal steps were there and no animal slidings so they must make it OK.
We hopped back in the car to continue our timed jaunt to Jackson.
We really wanted to see a moose. We were on a Moose Mission. But it was not to be. We did see lots more pelicans and a few trumpeter swans. We saw bison, of course, lots of elk, and a black bear. The black bear sighting was exciting to me as I had seen only grizzlies thus far. But no moose. We were hopeful the entire day and I believe I saw a girl moose at the edge of the woods eating grass. She had a long face and gangly legs but not beautiful antlers and I cant be positive. But she defiantly didnt have a white butt. Of that Im sure. So maybe I saw a moose. But not the yippee skippee kind of moose sighting I was hoping for. We heard that a lot in the visitor centers. No moose sightings.
THe black bear (cooler in person, not a great shot)
We paused for a quick look at Mud Volcano which was much more interesting than I was thinking it would be. And then we drove along the coast of the Yellowstone Lake for awhile. Lots of birds and wildlife there. And lots of fishermen, but no boats. You can take boats onto the lake, but for some reason there werent any. We then went to another thermal feature area right on the shore of Lake Yellowstone. I meant to be there only a short time, but it was more interesting than I had accounted and we saw it thoroughly.
By that time, I was starving, as my coffee and granola bar were long gone. We pulled into Grant Village and headed to the little eating area. I was chasing Boo and Donald ordered and oddly, didnt really order me anything. He order a cheeseburger (for him), chicken tenders, and a hotdog. I made Donald scrape some jalapenos from the burger & ate a bit of that and had some chicken tender and a bite of hotdog. But mostly, I ate french fries. It was good. And Boo made her yummy noises over the hotdog and ketchup. My word does that child love ketchup. The little sitting area in the cafeteria was beautiful and we filled up our refillable mugs twice with our last free pop before we headed to the Tetons.
Into the van we all piled again, and headed out of Yellowstone. Goodbye, Yellowstone, with your strange thermal features and your huge herds of bison and your gorgeous canyon.
Next stop: Colter Village. We pulled in and went to check into our tent cabin (it was around 1:00) but the crowd in front of us was very curious and talkative and it seemed like forever before they finally headed out. OUR turn, finally. They had messed up our reservation a bit, but finally (again with the finally) we pulled into our little tent area. In retrospect, we should have set up camp at this point. But at the time we were too concerned with trying to find an empty bear box which never panned out.
Originally, I had Mom & Dad going with us to Jackson and entertaining themselves, but Boo, who of course wasnt sleeping, was being a pill and they considered staying at Colter while we went on to Jackson. But you werent allowed to have any food, cosmetics, baby wipes, etc in the tent. And without the van or a bear box, they were basically stranded in the woods with a baby and no supplies. So they opted to go with us. I was happy with this as I always thought they would enjoy Jackson and that perhaps there time there would even being one of the best memories of the trip with Boo.
We took a detour past Jenny Lake and got some great photos of the Tetons.
The drive to Jackson was a beautiful drive.
And we arrived around 3:30 so we had plenty of time to spare. And we had cell service which was exciting. Donald & I checked into the Jackson Hole White Water place and then we drove around to show Mom & Dad there eating and shopping options. Its a lovely town. Expensive, but nice.
Then it was time to check in and change. We actually left early for our trip since all the people going had arrived early. It was about a 25 minute drive on a school bus which felt like forever as I was getting nervous. I just knew the water would be freezing and I really, really didnt want to fall in and be freezing. Mistakenly, I thought there would be some kind of safety program. But no, they just teach you to put on a life preserver and throw you in the boat. My intention was to sit in the middle (where it would be drier) with the girls, but again, it was not to be. There were 12 adults and you need 10 rowers. Looking around at our crew, it was pretty obvious I would be a rower. They put you in your seats & I got sat between the elderly couple & a prima donna and thereby found myself in a position near the front & sure to get absolutely soaked by even the smallest wave. And having to do most of the rowing on our side.
With that, we were off. We had three commands. Row forward. Row backward. Stop. We never used the row backward. Our guide was a very nice guy, about 25, who was a rapids guide May through October & then a skiing guide October through May. He loved his life and had found the perfect little niche. Personable and funny but not imposing, he was a great guide. Our group were fairly pitiful rowers but somehow we managed the river safely. The Snake River was about 55 degrees and 6-10 feet lower than its highest point of the year. It was level 3 rapids. In May, it is level 5 and they actually pull dead bodies out of the river. We saw people kayaking, and jumping off cliffs, and fishing. He also said they base jump, though it technically isnt high enough.
It was a much more enjoyable experience than I thought it would be. The girls had a fabulous time and not even halfway through Mulan asked if there is any place to raft closer to our house. Donald and Ariel jumped in when there was a little spot for swimming but Ariel only lasted a few seconds and when he asked later if anyone wanted to swim even Donald declined. 55 is pretty cold.
We finished up, loaded up the boats, and drove back to town. The trip back home was much quicker. We changed back into dry clothes and had steak and garlic bread, which the rafting company provided. I had been looking forward to a potato with my steak, it made logical sense to me as that is what I would serve, but I guess Wyoming isnt potato country and they werent going to ask Idaho to help them out. Its steak country and you get steak. It was a giant & tasty steak. But no potato, really?
By this point Mom & Dad were back to pick us up and fill us in on their Jackson evening. They had eaten at the Bunnery (recommended by TripAdvisor) and looked at galleries and Coldwater Creek and other stores. Neither had really felt like shopping but they enjoyed watching Boo wave at the people. And they especially enjoyed watching her eat her grilled cheese dipped in ketchup with chocolate milk.
I had wanted to check out the Bunnery myself. Boo was attached to me, however, as she wanted to register all her complaints at being left behind while we obviously had gone and had fun. So I sent Mom & the girls in to find some pie. Apple crumb, I requested, but anything other than raspberry would do.
They were gone for a long time, which I didnt mind as I was people watching, but Donald felt daylight burning away and he was going to miss his 9:00 pm astronomy appointment. When they did come back they had 3 boxes. Peanut Butter/Chocolate cheesecake. Regular Cheesecake. And a full ¼ of an apple crumb pie. It was like its own planet. We all munched happily as we drove back to Colter Village.
I told Donald to skip the Jenny Lake area and go the other way, but I wasnt really paying attention as I was eating my pie. At some point he started freaking out that we werent going the right way because we had never entered the Teton park. It was the only time this whole trip where we all panicked and felt lost. We pulled quickly over & grabbed a map and lo & behold, we were just a few miles away from Colter, not at all lost, and it definitely had been shorter. We should have just trusted Sheila. We did enter the park and we almost made the 9:00 appointment. We dropped Donald & the girls, bug sprayed up with shoes, jackets, and blankets in place, at the amphitheater at about 9:05, give or take a minute.
The rest of us headed back to make camp & hopefully put Boo down. It didnt take her long to realize that we were sleeping outside and she just couldnt stop pointing out the little tent window & shouting, Look! even though it was nearly dark & there was nothing out there. What there was, however, was an entire family of squirrels living in our tent. That, combined with the other families laughing, playing guitar, and having fun, was enough for Boo to put in a full protest. So Mom & I headed over to the amphitheater too, Boo in her Ergo. Call us bad parents, to take a toddler out at 10:00 pm but there was no way I was staying in a tent with squirrels and a totally awake baby.
When we got there it was completely empty so we followed the sound of the voices to a field. I had little LED lamps on my ballcap and as I got to the field I shut them off. This was no place for lights. It was National Astronomy Day and it only happens once a year. And we were there. There were maybe 10? telescopes and a lot of knowledge people with laser pointers pointing out all kinds of interesting things. There is no way to explain exactly what this was like, and Im definitely not capable of imparting all that knowledge in this trip report.
Ill just tell you what I saw, my personal highlights. I learned that the North Star and Sagittarius are the axles of the sky and that the whole sky spins around them, thus the reason the North Star is so good for navigation. I also learned that many stars we see with our naked eye are actually 2 or 3 stars spinning around each other, including a three star cluster in the handle of the big dipper.
We looked at Jupiter & saw 2 defined bands as well as the spot on the lower band and the 4 moons. They were a lot brighter than I had been expecting. I saw 4 shooting stars. And a whole bunch of other stuff. Its just too hard to describe. But it was cool. Truly super cool. TOTALLY SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After that we went back to our tent and hunkered down for the night. The squirrels settled and we were able to get some shut eye. Boo and I slept in one sleeping bag on the air mattress and the mattress was comfortable, but sharing the sleeping bag was not so great. It was hard to keep little Boo warm. It was about 45 degrees and her little arms kept getting cold. And the sleeping bag on the air mattress was slippery and we kept sliding all over. We did manage to get some sleep, I think she may even have slept well.
Donald:
Boo & I:
The light woke us, but really it was the squirrels that forced us out of bed. They simply were furious at us for existing and made all kinds of noise chattering & yelling & scurrying up & down the wall near Mulans head.
We didn't need this, thank goodness. Doesn't it look scary?
We cleaned the van & reconfigured the seats for our ride home. We packed & I fed Boo pie & water.
It didnt take long & we were off. I had picked the Cowboy Café (mentioned earlier) and figured wed be there around nine, or even earlier. But there was a LOT of road construction and it was closer to 9:30 10 oclock before we got there. That was pretty rough to start our 26 hour (driving time only) journey home with delays from construction and with no coffee. But we did make it.
Were now out of the mountains, but still hours from being out of Wyoming. Boring, boring scenery is ahead of us today. There are currently antelope & cattle & lots of horses on rocky, sagebrush covered ground out my window. But within the next 5 hour it will give way to corn.
Donald & the girls are watching the Backyardigans and Mom is listening to magazines. Dad is driving. Well probably stop for lunch in the next two hours. Nebraska here we come.
Dh made a comment while we were on the trip that we'd probably never be back that way again. I told him that we'd be bringing the grandchildren (if there are any) to Yellowstone someday!
It is just a different kind of beauty. 
