Roadtrip to Yellowstone 2016

Last leg of the Yellowstone Road trip

It looks like it is almost back to reality. This has been an amazing journey. The first two days were driving days to get us to our first destination. Estes Park, Colorado and the Rocky Mountain National Park.

I didn't know what to expect in Estes Park. A friend/client had told me about it and how great it is but until you actually see something for yourself you just never know. I was not disappointed, the hotel was meh but the town was nice. Rob especially liked all the elk just walking around town. We had to stop two different times to let them cross the road.

The Rocky Mountain National Park was covered in snow and some of the roads were still closed for the season. What we did get to see was beautiful. The landscape covered in snow, the trees, the wildlife, all of it made our first destination the right one. I hope to go back in the Fall someday to see the aspen trees in full fall color.

Once we left there our next destination was the Grand Teton National Park. I didn't make plans on where to stay for this stop on the trip because I wasn't sure exactly when we would get there or if we would camp or stay in a hotel. Its a good thing because we didn't make it there when we wanted to. On the way

to Jackson, Wy and the GTNP we did what we do on road trips. Rob and I love to get off the road and see what is out there. After we got off the interstate and took Us 26 there were several dirt roads that are state forestry roads or public lands roads. We took one and drove off to check it out. It went back a ways to the middle of nothing. We came upon a creek with a beaver dam. It was unexpected and beautiful. Made me think of an oasis. I image that Cowboys and or Indians would stop here to gather water and water their horses. The next road we took was not as pleasant. The road was Hudson-Atlantic City Road (I will never forget that name!). I had looked up 'ghost towns' in Wyoming and Atlantic City came up so off we went. I even laughed and said to Rob " we are doing what we do". About 9 miles into the road we saw a sign that said that Atlantic City was 21 miles straight or we could turn to go to some other place. At this point I had read more about A C and found that it wasn't really a ghost town but still inhabited. So we had a decision to make. Turn around or keep going. I hate to turn around once I start heading somewhere, it'sone of my many faults. Looking on the gps map it looked like we could keep going and come out on the other side and just take a different route to Jackson. There were some soft spots in the road but nothing the jeep couldn't handle. We drove by a heard of cattle that were probably laughing at us! The babies were cute, their parents didn't seem too happy to see us. There were some Prong Horns watching us too. We soon lost cell service but were confident we were on the right track. The road started getting wetter, but still nothing the jeep couldn't handle. I mean really we have been through swamps so the dessert shouldn't be a problem. I couldn't have been more wrong. We hit what we thought was a mud puddle, it was a deep mud pit! The jeep bottomed out and we were seriously stuck. I felt so bad for Rob, he felt terrible about it. It was just one of those things. He got out and tried to free us, he dug mud out, made a trench so that the water would run off, gathered rocks and a fence post to try to get traction to pull us out. Nothing was going to work. He was covered in mud! I walked a little ways up the hill to get cell service and called 911. I told the operator what had happened and that we were going to need someone that could pull us out. She said that she would tell the deputy that. He showed up about an hour or so later and tried to pull us out with his truck and a couple of straps. He didn't really know the best way to do it and so he called us a tow company. The deputy was very nice and he did try so I'm not knocking him.  He gave Rob a name of a place in town to get food once we got out. Said that if the tow people didn't get there in 4 hours to call the sheriffs office directly. He made sure we had food and water and warmth if needed, which of course we did. Now we sat for a little over 2 hours waiting for the tow. We were out in the middle of nothing. I was worried who would show up and if they would be friendly, maybe they were in cahoots with the sheriff and would rob us or worse....your imagination goes wild when you are afraid and have too much time on your hands! They finally showed up and seemed friendly enough, hard working dirty men with a jeep, that's right a jeep! Not a tow truck but a Jeep Wrangler with a winch and a couple of chains. Luckily they had the knowledge to use those tools to get us out of the mud. It took 3 tries and I was getting worried that they would not be successful. I've never been more happy to be wrong in my life! Once we were free he got out his invoice pad and I paid him. While filling out the form with our information he commented on my southern drawl, that brought me right back to being afraid. I'm not one to get afraid of things easily but I admit I was scared. It all worked out and they gave us advice on where to stay for the night and not try to drive to Jackson after it got dark. It was great advice!

Now we were back on the road and stopped in Dubois (they pronounce it Dew Boyz) at a Super 8, hey it was cheap and we needed a shower! The next morning we got up early and headed to The Grand Teton National Park. The drive in was incredibly beautiful. I'm so glad we stopped there. We saw a momma and young moose on the side of the road and beautiful scenery.

Once we got to the Park we were on the hunt for a grizzly bear! An old friend on mine had told me about a couple of things that I needed to see while in the Tetons too. I have so many pictures it is going to take me days to get them picked and cropped and ready for upload. The mountains were so incredible and huge! I had tears when we first saw them. All the snow caps and aspen trees, just breathtaking. There were some roads that were off the main path and of course we had to drive those too. Some where paved but most were not. If they were too wet we didn't go any further. I told Rob I was tired of being jostled around (the jeep is not the smoothest ridding vehicle). If you ever go to these type of places I recommend getting off the main road and see the back country. It will tell you if your car is ok or if you need a 4 wheel drive.

While on one of the "side" roads we saw another moose, 2 coyotes and several elk. Elk are everywhere as well as prong horn antelopes. There were lots of bison too. There was one road that took us up a mountain and that had a major landslide long ago. The landscape was forever changed. It was a very interesting story and we saw some more different scenery and a pretty purple flower.

When it started to get dark we headed to Jackson to find food and a place to stay. We decided to not camp this night. The Cowboy Village was the first place we found that had vacancy, was affordable and allowed pets. I had actually looked it up and considered it

before we left home so it was perfect! The "village" is made up of several tiny cabins with little front porches and picnic tables. The inside was cute with kitchenettes and a sofa as well as the needed bed and bathroom. If we ever go back this is where we would stay again. Then we needed food. We decided to try Sidewinders, it was a bar and grill that had been featured in a food network show, "Diners, Dives and ??"  I can't remember the show name. The food was good and it hit the spot.

The next day we went back into the park and explored it more before heading to Yellowstone. It started off another beautiful day, but snow was in the forecast for Yellowstone. Once we got to YNP I wanted to get to our campground where we had reservations. The drive from the south entrance to the campground was awesome! We knew we wanted to go back when we could stop at all the overlooks and pay more attention to everything. Once we got to the campground it took 30+ minutes to get checked in. If you think it takes a long time to check in at Venture Out try going up there and camping.

We camped in the jeep for 3 nights and it snowed all 3 nights. It was freezing cold outside but we stayed comfortable in the jeep with our two little heating pads, Bella and Bazil.

Rob loved all of the geysers and stuff. Once we walked around some of them and saw the different ones it was enough for me. There were some elk hanging around in the ones that I walked around with him and a few cool birds (I have pictures to come later). The rest of Yellowstone was beautiful to me. But I was getting a little upset that I hadn't seen a grizzly bear! We did see a very healthy looking and pretty black bear, more elk, a huge moose in the snow, more coyote, 3 yellow bellied marmot, a weasel (in GTNP) what we think was a wolverine, a bunch of pikas, ground squirrels, sand hill cranes, Ospreys, Hawks, river otters, bison, mule deer, white Pelicans, killdeer, blue herons, Ravens, blue grouse, clarks nutcracker, magpie, red winged blackbirds, mountain bluebirds, 2 trumpeter swans on the last "off road" excursion in the GTNP, violet green swallows,   hundreds of bison and finally a lone grizzly bear!

Again we took some of the less traveled roads and the back country was gorgeous! I wanted to checkout all of the different entrances, I don't know why I didn't realize that 2 of them were in Montana. We couldn't let an opportunity to see another state pass us by so we ventured into Montana at the west entrance. West Yellowstone, was a cute little town and we found a restaurant to get some real food.  Timberland Grill where Rob had beef stew and I had a grilled cheese & fries. The fries were real fresh cut and good.

After lunch we rode over to check out some of Montana. We saw a national brown sign that said "Quake Lake" 17 miles and set out to check it out. It was a very interesting place. The lake was pretty but the story is sad. There are too many details for me to put here but if you are interested in history you may want to check it out. http://www.westyellowstonetraveler.com/features/quake.shtml

The trip home started by driving back to The Grand Tetons, back through Dubois and over to Lander (where we got stuck). The part of the drive that we missed seeing because it was too dark on the way to GTNP was my favorite scenery of the whole trip. I cried several times at the beauty of it. It is impossible for me to put into words what I felt. I can't explain the emotions that overcame me. I didn't take many pictures either. I would not be able to capture it as I wanted so I will just have to have my memories of it. I will be back! We stopped for the night in a motel outside of Laramie.

It's Tuesday and we are headed toward home. We both have to be back to work on Friday and it is going to be a crazy busy summer season. Venture Out, the resort that Rob works for in the Summer and Venture Out Vacations the rental agency that I work for is going to be super busy this summer. We are already pretty booked up for all of June and July and sold out several weeks. If you ever get the chance to visit PCB make sure to contact me for the best family vacation spot on the beach!

This has been a wonderful trip, Rob and I have had the time of our lives.  I'm sure I left out some things and may do another post of additions later. Next year if we are lucky enough to be able to take another big trip, we plan to head to Baja!  Thank you for going along with us and I hope I didn't bore you.

Until my next adventure......