What a hard day emotionally. Even
though we haven’t showered since Sunday morning and we are dirtier than I think
we’ve ever been and the mosquitoes are dreadful and the bathroom only has cold
water we are still going to miss Yellowstone. More importantly, we are really
going to miss the Pierson’s. It was great being together again and saying
good-bye for another year is as hard as ripping a band aid off a turf burn (the
soccer ladies understand this reference). But, it’s time for us all to head our
separate ways. So, good-bye for now…we will miss you all so very, very much.
So, my initial plan was to be
packed up and heading out of the campsite by 9am. I really wanted to get as far
as Salt Lake City, UT tonight. But wherever we end up, we need to pull in early
because we have to do laundry and take really long, deep scrubbing showers. But,
I forgot that now I’m working with Mark and not Sharon. He moves at a very
different speed, similar to that of a turtle. Departure time ended up being at
11am. Oh well, guess we aren’t going to make it too far, but we’re flexible. We
need to stop at Old Faithful one more time to load up on the memorabilia. From
here, we’ll be heading to the Grand Tetons for a quick visit. With 4503 miles
on the odometer we have officially left Yellowstone. We did stop to take one more family picture at
the South Park Exit in front of the Yellowstone National Park welcome sign. We’re
looking a little grungy so it probably won’t be the official holiday card
picture.
Teton National Park entrance is
immediately after the Yellowstone exit. You literally drove from one park right
into the other. So, of course we had to stop and take a picture in front of
that sign too. Ally was so delighted ;-) Well the Grand Tetons were definitely
worth the visit. The day was very overcast, but we could still soak in the grandeur
of this mountain range. We chose the scenic route which wound its way along the
mountain range. We stopped to soak in the scenery at Jenny Lake. There was a
short trail that led down to the water’s edge. So, we went down and hung out on
the lake shore for almost 30 minutes. It’s too bad we need to make some tracks
today because we would have liked to explore a little more in the park. Brooke
wants to return someday and do some rock climbing. She really wants to hike to
the peak of a mountain. We talked a little about winter camping and the other 3
in the car had no interest, but I can see Brooke and I giving it a shot someday.
After the park we stopped in
Jackson Hole. What a resort town!! Definitely not setup for kids though. Tons
of bars! If it were just Mark and I we would have had to try a beer in each
bar! Funny thing though, we bumped into the Obar’s at the visitor center. Both
families were trying to decide if staying in Jackson was worth it. Apparently
this weekend is a festival weekend and therefore all accommodations have
inflated prices, ie Best Western $249. But, it was hard to say ‘no’ because
there are so many fun activities like gunfights and rodeos. After a lot of back
and forth discussion between Mark and I we decided it was best to push on. We
still need to do laundry and take showers. If we stayed in Jackson to play we
would not have gotten to any of this stuff and then we’d really be behind. So
dinner was a quick trip to Wendy’s and back on the road we go. Have
reservations in a town called Pinedale for the night. Laundry, Pool and
Breakfast included…ahhhh!!! We have to start paying attention to our travels
though. Evidently we are heading in the direction of some of these wildfires.
Not exactly sure what route we are taking home yet. The original plan has
already been thwarted by the fires. We have high speed access tonight so I’ll
have time to do some research.
On our way down to Pinedale we
went through a town called Bondurant, population 100. Along the highway you saw
the Bondurant Fire Department, Church, Post Office and Elementary School and
then that was it! It’s pretty remote out here. But this side of Wyoming is
worth the time. I went to a Laundromat to do our 4 huge loads of laundry. While
there I sat outside for a little while and got to watch a rancher herd his
cattle for the night.
The kids swam until almost 10pm
which is when the laundry was finally done. We all folded clothes, repacked our
bags and climbed into bed. It was nice to have a real bed. I love my camping,
but I do appreciate my bed when I’m away for this long.
Tomorrow we’ll plan for the rest
of the ride home. We only have 7 days to travel 2600 miles, 40 hours of drive
time. Guess we’ll be saving UTAH sights for another trip.
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