This is it… Travel Day! Headed back to the east coast and home. It’s been a fantastic trip but we are ready to be home, to see our dog, and our pigs, our chickens, and our people.

Our flight didn’t leave until 12:30pm (it was 7:05 or 12:30pm) so we got to sleep in and have breakfast at hotel. Washington’s Covid restrictions still require a grab and go breakfast, so Mike and I headed down to grab breakfast for us all. In addition to the usual muffins, biscuits, bagels and yogurt, the hotel also had Uncrustables and breakfast bars so we loaded up.

After breakfast, we loaded up and headed out. Mike’s face 🤣🤣

We returned the car with a total mileage of 2,706 miles covered! Thank goodness for unlimited mileage 😁

We made it check-in at the airport with 3 bags and a cooler loaded with dirty clothes 🤪 I also love to see the stewardess face when she says “what’s in there?” And we reply, “dirty clothes.”

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We made it to our gate and waited to board

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The flight from Spokane to Atlanta was long but uneventful. We pulled out our “bags-o-food” and had a lovely lunch of uncrustables, Doritos and an orange.

We arrived in Atlanta and had to sit on tarmac for a bit while they waited on the ground crew to wave us in. Finally at the gate, we unloaded, and hustled to our next gate. We got there at what would have been time to board but discovered we had a bit of a delay so we grabbed a snack, refilled our water bottles and waited while the crew got the plane clean. The Covid protocols for planes is extensive so it takes them much longer to go from arrival to departure.

We finally took off and 8 hours after we took off in Spokane, we arrived back in North Carolina. (It’s really pretty awesome to think about the fact that within 8 hours, we can travel from one side of our country all the way to the other). A

nyway, Hallelujer! We are home!

And now, the last piece of the prayer chain… did the cooler make it??

We headed to baggage claim. Michael and Leo’s duffle bags came out.

Mike’s suitcase came out.

My suitcase came out.

We waited.

And we waited.

And finally… there it is!

The cooler made it! Still sealed up, and wheels attached. WooHoo 🎉

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Just one more surprise when we got home. Mike bought hand carved knives on the reservation near Little Bighorn. The boys thought he was going to give them to friends… when we got home, they found out he bought the knives for them 😊

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It has been an amazing two weeks and we have seen some awesome sites. We met some of the nicest people from all over the United States. One thing we love of travel is that it reminds you that despite what you see on the news and in the media, the vast majority of people are good people.

Now to get started on the laundry 🧺🤪

We slept in today and had coffee and doughnuts before heading out from our lakeside condo. Before leaving McCall, we headed back downtown for a few souvenirs and then hit the road.

We passed through Salmon, Idaho beside the Salmon River… also known as the River of No Return.

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We saw old school bridges

And Roads that seem to go in every direction

Long tree lined straightaways

And wheat fields as far as you could see.

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Mom’s Restaurant opened for the last time until April of 2022.

And in Lewiston, Idaho, we saw a real life dust devil.

We crossed back into Washington State and the cutest downtown in Colfax, Washington.

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We also say some humongous wind turbines. Apparently, it was a wind turbine farm because there at least a hundred of them.

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We arrived at our hotel in Spokane around 3:30. Mike and I unpacked our cooler for the last time, and repacked it full of dirty clothes. Like our last trip in 2019, the plan is to take our cooler home and use it as a piece of luggage full of dirty laundry. Fingers crossed that it makes it back to NC intact 🤞🏼

Cooler packed, the boys went down to swim a bit, and then we headed out to find some pizza. We found a great place not to far from the hotel called Pacific Avenue Pizza. (If you’re in Greensboro, it is very similar to Lindley Park as a restaurant and the neighborhood.)

I think it’s safe to say they are exhausted

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Mike and I shared a caprese salad and it was delicious! And then they brought out the pizzas. You could order it a piece at a time with up to 2 topping for $4.50 a piece.

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And Leo said the wings were just as good!

One more beautiful Sunset

And one more round of wrestling 😀

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We are all packed, bellies full and ready for bed. Ready for full day of travel tomorrow… just one more day to go.

Today was one of those days that Mike and I will think of when the boys are grown and it is just us. We started our trip in the water of Lake Coeur d’Alene and we’re ending it in Payette Lake. It was a perfect way to book-end our trip.

We are staying McCall, Idaho which is known in the winter as a great place to ski. But in the summer, it is home to Payette Lake.

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Today, we rented a pontoon boat for the whole day. We’ve loaded our cooler so Mom’s Restaurant will be aquatic today. The boat came with a tow behind so we are very excited! As we got things squared with the rental company, the boys played a little beach volleyball

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We headed out. Payette Lake is absolutely beautiful!

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We didn’t make it long before we HAD to get in the water!

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And then it was even shorter before we HAD to get the inflatable in the water! And that’s where they stayed.

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We rode, they’d fall. We picked them up, and it started over 🤣 they rode together, and they rode separate – either way, they had so much fun.

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Mike and I watched them on the tube and even though they are 12 and 13, we both saw this:

We loaded back on the boat and drove to another area of the Lake. And Mom’s Restaurant opened for business.

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I thought our captain was pretty cute ♥️

They hopped right back in the water – which wasn’t particularly warm – and off we went.

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Not to be out done, Mike and I both gave it a try too

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Then the boys decided to really show us how it’s done… because facing the same way would be too simple 🤪

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We did have a sprained wrist (Leo) and rope burn on shoulder (Michael) but otherwise, we were injury-free (unless you count mine and Mike’s soreness).

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I think they were sufficiently worn out and both almost (did) doze off on the ride back to the marina.

It is beautiful on Payette Lake, but we didn’t get to see Sharlie, the famous Lake Monster of Payette Lake .

I bet it is just as beautiful in winter but the summer was just perfect to us

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We headed back to our condo, and after some warm showers and dinner, we played another round of Phase 10.

It didn’t take much convincing to get them to sleep tonight 🤣

Tomorrow we head out for Spokane for our last night.

Today is our longest drive of the trip, 7 hours. We did break it up a bit with a few stops. We headed out of West Yellowstone at 8am. Let’s all take a moment to mourn the remnants of my Yellowstone map. It was well loved.

Again this morning, traffic was lined up to get into Yellowstone. We left Montana and crossed back into Idaho, and again noticed how the topography changes.

We also noticed the difference in their light poles? We couldn’t figure out why this style versus ours?

We also giggled at how much notice they gave you of an upcoming stop sign… of course they do let you drive at 80 miles an hour so guess it takes longer to stop 😜

We traveled through the city of Arco, Idaho. The first town to be powered by atomic power! They were pretty proud of this distinction because at least every other business made mention of it.

We also saw the Arco Motel… it was interesting to see it up close because the TripAdvisor pictures were only slightly skewed 😀 I think we made the right decision to just make today one long drive.

As we started to approach today’s National Park area, the landscape started to change. The soil is black and rocky.

Welcome to the Craters of the Moon National Monument!

Craters of the Moon was formed by lava than came out through fissures in the ground instead of the usual volcano eruption that we think of. The lava ran like we’ve all seen in Hawaii, and then these areas were formed as the lava cooled. There are splatter cones and lava tubes for exploring. Normally you can go into the lava tubes (like a long cave) after you get a park permit, but due to Covid (ugh, stupid Covid), these were closed.

This areas is otherworldly with the dark soil and rocks. One trail, the Devil’s Orchard was particularly spooky with its dark rocks and twisty gnarly trees.

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And it is hot out here with all this black soil. We drove to different sections, stopping to see the different shapes and cones. It was cool to see how the vegetation is trying to regrow here. These look like moss but they are actually the beginnings of sagebrush plants.

There were lots of plaques 😃 including one that explained that the Apollo 14 astronauts came here in the late 60’s early 70’s to train on how to collect lunar samples. NASA still uses this area for training… it certainly does look like the moon!

These colorful patches are lichens. They are almost always the first microorganisms to grow on rocks. Part of what they do is break the rock down into soil where other plants and organisms can start to grow. Pretty good info right? Know where we learned it? A plaque 😜

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From another plaque, we learned that these bundles of roots in the trees are called a witches broom. They come after mistletoe infects a tree, and tree tries to save itself by overproducing… it doesn’t work but it does create the creepy trees. How cool would this place be on Halloween?

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We climbed to the top of the Inferno Cone.

It’s only four-tenths of a mile to the top but the incline ranges from 35 to 45°, and then add in the heat… whew! It was some kind of climb.

The views at the top – WOW!

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We also met the nicest family from Tennessee. They are trying to see all 50 states like we are. Their mom, Brittany opens her own “Mom’s Restaurant” from the back of the car too. They even have the same ThunderBunny US Picture map that we do! She and I shared traveled stories as we walked down the Inferno Cone, and by the bottom we connected on Facebook to share travel stories and tips.

This was such a cool stop and nice break to our long ride.

We may have accidentally found a lava rock in our car too 🤭

Watching the lava fade as we traveled we headed on toward Boise.

When we started talked about heading through Boise (and specifically making sure we were not going through Boise at 5pm), the boys asked if we could see the football field at Boise State… you know, the blue one. (I like the nickname the Smurf Turf.) So we detoured through Boise, and found the stadium.

I was totally prepared to do my southern mama spiel “we’re from NC, we’re traveling through, my boys just love Boise State and would be sick if we were this close and couldn’t see the famous blue field, could you pleeeaaasse (add thick southern drawl) let them go see it just for a sec.”

But turns out, that was totally unnecessary. There’s a sign that says

“To See the Field, go to the Hall of Fame Entrance ⬅️”.

So we did. Walked right on in and Bam – there’s the blue. It is so much more than you see on TV. I mean IT. IS. BLUE!

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We headed out and caught a little traffic in the downtown area of Boise. But this sign made it totally worthwhile 🤣🤣🤣

We left the metropolis of Boise and headed north on our way to McCall, Idaho. Again, sorry for the multiple landscapes pictures, but it is gorgeous here.

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We followed these rapids for miles and were awfully glad we weren’t rafting these! Yikes!

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We arrived at our little condo in McCall and then ran out to get groceries. We have a full kitchen for a couple of days so we are excited for a few home cooked meals. We filled our bellies with homemade chicken fajitas, chips and salsa , and strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. We played some Phase Ten and finally made it all the way to the 10th phase! (Leo decided to skip tonight and instead watched some Disney Plus.)

One more fun day ahead before we started getting to head back to reality… but I think tomorrow will be a perfect end 😁

We have discovered 2 things on this trip about National Parks. First, to see as much as possible, break the exploring into sections. And second, unless you absolutely have to, don’t try to be there early in the morning.

Yesterday, we arrived in Yellowstone a little before 3, but because there was little to no traffic, we could see everything we wanted in 5-6 hours. Today, we decided to do the same thing. We slept in until around 9am and then headed to a restaurant recommended by the front desk.

The only negative I have found about the Yellowstone Park Hotel is the breakfast. It has the regular beverage selection (coffee, milk, juice) but food-wise, it is just oatmeal packs, cereal and breakfast bars. We were in the mood for a big breakfast, probably because we skipped dinner last night 😊, so off we went. The great thing about West Yellowstone is everything is within walking distant. And as we walked, we watched the bumper to bumper traffic trying to get into Yellowstone.

Meanwhile, the late-rising Brown’s are loving Timberline Cafe!

But first, Mike’s shirt 🤣😂

The boys were clearly starving since they ordered waffles with blueberries and whipped cream, and steak and eggs

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As we walked back to the hotel to load up for the day, we noticed these green paw prints along the road

These are for the walking tour of West Yellowstone. And look what we found! A plaque! West Yellowstone was a major hub of the Union Pacific Railroad. These are the generator hub and train depot.

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The boys packed their own backpacks and filled their water bottles, and we let them (staying together), go down to the game room while we packed the lunches and cooler. Mama’s restaurant was making awesome sandwiches today on Hawaiian Rolls

I think they were pretty happy to have a couple of minutes to themselves 😊

Today our plan was to head toward the Mammoth Hot Springs area and the North Entrance. We’ve already toured the East Entrance (when we came in from Cody), the South Entrance (when we went to and returned from the Grand Tetons) and we are staying near and coming through the West Entrance (get it, West Yellowstone). The views are a little different headed north, and a few twisty roads… of course after the Going to the Sun Road nothing really seems narrow to Mike anymore 😀

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We made it to the Mammoth Hot Springs Visitor’s Center which was the former Fort Yellowstone… an actual army outpost in the early 1900’s. The Park Service took the area over and kept the buildings and outposts as residences for the rangers stationed here, and other services (Visitors Center, service stations, general store, etc).

We found an excellent parking place and decided to leave the car and hike around the hot springs. The Visitor’s Center was interesting with lots of exhibits of how the hot springs occur and the local wild life.

Before we went hiking around, we had to go in the general store for long sleeve shirts because it is cold up here!

Of course, the minute we buy long sleeve shirts, the sun comes out. But it was shady/cool and sunny/hot all day, so the long sleeves got worn quite a bit.

Our hike around Mammoth started at the the Lower Terrace, a long winding platform that encircles the hot springs. The travertine terraces are formed from limestone deposits from the hot springs. Scientists aren’t sure if the hot springs are fueled by magma from the Yellowstone Caldera or a smaller heat source near the hot springs? Probably the big ol’ volcano waiting to erupt 😜

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These were all really neat to see and to see the difference in color of the travertine deposits. Some of them sparkled like gold and some were as white as snow.

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Once we finished the Lower Terrace, we set off to find the trail to a natural hot spring that hikers discovered. According to our guide book, we were supposed to go to the North Entrance and then drive 2.3 miles … look for gravel lot… it would be down the hill by the third tall blade of grass 🤪 just kidding about the grass but seriously, the directions were clearly not written for (or by) normal people.

As part of the journey to find the hot springs, we made it to the North Entrance… let’s pause right here for a minute. We saw and visited every entrance to Yellowstone National Park!! I know my daddy is smiling from Heaven because we have maximized the heck out of this trip.

Back to today, Michael got out to read a plaque (oh, that makes my heart happy)

And then we got distracted by the sunbeams coming down…

So, we started back again looking for this spot from the guidebook. Allegedly, water from a hot springs joins the cool river, and creates a naturally warm soaking pool. We looked and looked but never could find it (surely not due to such detailed and clear directions) BUT we did find a pretty cool area for boys to get wet.

And it was right by the 45th Parallel

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We met a nice family from Georgia with older teenage boys who continued the hunt for the hot spring (they clearly had the same guide book).

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Later we saw the boys from Georgia and they found where the hot spring was supposed to be but it had been sectioned off by the Park Service. We guessed because so many people were going to the same site. At least we know we were close.

We headed back to the Mammoth Area and found the Justice Center – in case Mike and I want to open a law office in Mammoth.

And then saw a herd of elk cows just napping on the lawn.

We started working our way back south, stopping at ever little spot we wanted. This back windshield cracked Mike and I up 😂

Since we walked the Lower Terrace, we decided to drive the Upper Terrace. Parts of it looked like a winter wonderland where the trees had been burned by a forest fire and the travertine turned white.

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We continued heading south and stopped to hike a bit around the Virginia Cascade.

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One of our favorite was the hike around the Artists Paintpots, an area of hot springs where some are covered with mud instead of water. They bubble and pop.

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This was just cool to watch. We stayed and just watched it bubble for a long time… it’s strangely relaxing 🤣 (just watch it again and again and again)

Mike noticed Monument Geyser Basin as we were driving in so we made a point to stop here. This geyser is literally right beside the road. If it gets much larger, they’ll have to do some serious roadwork.

Our attempt at a selfie here, almost resulted in us going over the rail 🤣

Our last stop was Gibbon Falls. We have been following Gibbon River all day, so we wanted to see these falls in particular. They were absolutely gorgeous!

Rather than one big falls, they were a series of medium sized falls, with a busy little chipmunk population

We just became fascinated watching this guy

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These two have had a great couple of weeks.

One more herd, and we said goodbye to Yellowstone. Its been awesome!

We decided to grab dinner downtown in West Yellowstone. We couldn’t decide where to eat, so we headed downtown and let our noses guide us to Three Bears Restaurant. There was a bit of a wait, so we explored some of the gifts shops nearby.

This Bison has a motion sensor and starts talking when you walk by… he almost gave Michael a heart attack 😂🤣

And they had the best bedroom shoes 🤣

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We headed back to the Three Bears for dinner – Oh my word! We had Bison steaks, regular steaks and chicken fettuccine Alfredo, and it was all delicious. We finished it off with homemade chocolate cake. We will just waddle back to the hotel now…

We have a pretty long drive ahead of us tomorrow- 7 hours total, so Mike dropped us off at the hotel and headed to fill up with gas. We decided to take advantage of one of the hotel’s other amenities- bikes! They had the best time riding in the empty Post Office parking lot next door.

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And one more dip in the hot tub…

I think we have done and seen it all in West Yellowstone. We head into Idaho tomorrow and see our last National Park.

We woke up to the sounds of the horses coming back into the Heart 6 Corral and quite possibly the most unhappy family in America who stayed in the cabin next door 🤪 We’ve crossed paths with them several times at the ranch and every single time, they are complaining about one thing or another. No offense but if I were that unhappy on vacation, I’d just stay home and be unhappy for free 😬.

Mike went to get coffee and juice at the Buffalo Valley Grill from us – and met a nice guy from Portland who helped him carry the drinks back because the coffee was scalding hot. He and his family were on vacation here. The poor guy seemed almost ashamed to say he was from Portland but quickly added that they were moving soon. We told him how wonderful NC was and suggested they look there 😁 Then we snagged a quick picture and hit the road

We went back through Grand Teton and I’m so glad we did because we could see the Mountains a bit clearer. The smoke was a little better.

We decided to drive south a bit and check out Jackson, Wyoming. The views on the way there were pretty, but the town of Jackson was crazy!

It was so touristy and crowded. So glad we did NOT stay here. But there were a couple of cool signs that we liked.

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And just like that we are back in Idaho. We went this way to see the eastern side of Idaho.

Based on these snow markers on side of road, this part of Idaho gets a LOT of snow!

This part of Idaho is major farm land! Potatoes as far as the eye can see.

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We stopped for gas and a snack – thinking of you Amy Ehrhardt 😉

Mike started talking to guy at the next pump. He was headed to fish and asked where we were headed. When we said West Yellowstone, he suggested we detour to Ashton, Idaho and stop at Frostops for the best cheeseburgers and milkshakes ever. So off we went!

Ashton, Idaho is a cute little town where farming is big business.

And then we found Frostops. Frostops has been open since 1965. And I get the feeling the menu hasn’t changed much but after eating here, there’s no need to change one bit!

And look what greeted us as we entered.

We all ordered shakes and cheeseburgers. They were delicious and gigantic! Mike said these were the some of the best tater tots he’s ever had (and he is my tater tot aficionado)

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While in Frostops, I read the local paper that mentioned the city of Island Park nearby which posted the longest Main Street in America… so you know we had to check it out.

Technically it was the longest Main Street because that’s all there was. There were little no other paved roads in the town. But it was wasn’t the typical Main Street with lots of shops and building. The boys laughed at me for being disappointed 🤣

Not too much longer, and we were back in Montana in West Yellowstone

We are staying the Yellowstone Park Hotel for the next two days (because the Holiday Inn Express was full). But I am so glad because this hotel is great. There is a $15 amenity fee each day but for that they have free Ice Cream sundaes everyday from 4-6pm, s’mores at night from 5-11pm, free bikes to use around town, walking sticks, binoculars to borrow and several other things. It’s really cool, plus the pool and whirlpool are new and may be the cleanest pool I’ve ever seen at a hotel.

We were able to check in a bit early, so Mike and I spent some time planning our day.

Although some of us just wanted to rest.

The West side of Yellowstone is just beautiful.

Within 5 miles of entering the Park, we saw a herd of elk cows (female Elk) grazing on the side of the road.

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Since we didn’t come into the park until almost 3pm, we decided to go toward Old Faithful and see the eruotuon that was predicted for around 5pm. We were thinking that the crowd would be a little less this time of day versus early.

All along the way, there are lots of geyser basins. It is a little unsettling to see smoke just rising from the ground.

We stopped at the Old Faithful Center, parked and wandered around the area while we waited for the next predicted eruption. There are lots of smaller geysers around Old Faithful with a great boardwalk around them all.

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It was unreal to see them bubble up and know that it was pressure and gas coming up from the earth!

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We made it back and waited for Old Faithful. We entertained ourselves while we waited.

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I have never seen a group of Americans this quiet.

It bubbled and spit slowly getting a little bigger as the pressure built up… And then BOOM!

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Bucket list item: ✔️

Old Faithful was just crazy to see, and then to realize that for 135 years, it has been erupting every 90 minutes or so. That’s just unreal!

We finished exploring around Old Faithful and decided to work our way back, stopping at several stops along the road. We started at Biscuit Basin. We walked on every inch of boardwalk surrounding the geysers. The colors are dictated by the thermophiles (heat loving organisms) that live in the water. Colorless or yellow are hottest, orange brown and green are slightly cooler. And by slightly cooler, they may not melt your skin immediately 😬

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Just imagine walking along and seeing this:

We left the Biscuit Basin and were headed toward Midway Geyser Basin and the Grand Prismatic Spring when traffic slowed down. As we approached, we saw what the problem was. A big ol’ bull bison needed to eat some grass right beside the road and people were stopping to see it.

Bison are big when you see them in a field but up close! Holy Moly!

After this excitement, we continued on toward the Midway Geyser Basin and the Grand Prismatic. Grand Prismatic is the largest hot spring in Yellowstone. It’s the hot spring you’ve most likely seen in photos with the rainbowed edges. These picture don’t do it justice…

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It was also cool to see the hot water then flowing back into the cool river water.

By now, it was about 7pm. We had promised boys they could swim in Fire Hole River. (We learned from some folks at Heart 6 Ranch that this was a great and safe place to swim). There were at least 30 people already swimming. The current moved just fast enough that you could swim against it without being moved… kind of like the oceans current. The boys loved it!

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And that’s when it went from a great day, to a day they boys will tell their grandkids about.

Mike and I were sitting on the riverbank, and we noticed traffic to our right started to back up… which we’ve learned means animal nearby. We didn’t think much of it until we saw this…

We were afraid to tell the boys to run out of water because all we’ve heard from park rangers is be calm, don’t approach, and don’t spook the bison. (Apparently no one told the bison the “don’t approach” rule) So we yelled for the boys to stay in the middle of the river and be calm.

The bison showed absolutely no aggression… in fact, he just seemed curious as to why we were at his watering hole.

And after he had all he wanted to drink, with a couple of pauses to just look around, he wandered back down the road… right down the yellow line

Absolutely the most incredible thing we’ve ever seen.

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After we calmed down from this adventure, the boys swam a bit more and we saw a gorgeous sunset as we left the park.

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We were still so full from that giant lunch at Frostops that we decided to skip dinner. Instead, we drove back to the hotel and grabbed our s’more kit and headed out to the fire pit.

Then we unloaded our backpacks, and headed down to check out the Game Room. It in a basement at hotel (clearly with sound proofing) with big screen TV, foosball, air hockey, curling table and arcade game… and an xBox!!!

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This has to be one of the most incredible days ever!

Today was a Clark Griswold Day if there ever was one. We absolutely packed today full of adventure with only minor grumbling due to exhaustion.

We bought doughnuts back in Cody, so we had a nice breakfast of coffee and doughnuts on our little porch before loading up for our next adventure… Horseback riding and a night at Heart 6 Ranch.

We’ve had to popcorn around a bit on this trip due to hotel availability. Jackson Lake Lodge only had our cabin available one night and Heart 6 Ranch was only open one night. But they were only 20 minutes apart, and we just made it work. Today, we are horseback riding and some of us are excited!

The lady at the hotel said to give ourselves 45 minutes to get to Heart 6 Ranch due to 2 lane road and construction, so we left by 8:15 for our 9am arrival… and wouldn’t you know the one time we leave on time, there is zero traffic and zero construction so we arrived at 8:40 🤪 The ranch was fun, and it was clearly a working ranch.

The boys wandered over to another cabin with the door open

I couldn’t see what they were doing, but they were laughing and talking. When I got there, I found out what was entertaining them:

We met 2 groups from NC who were riding today too. One group from Charlotte, and a man and his daughter from Lenoir. We all recognized each other because our accents stand out out here. We saddled up and hit the trail. Mike was riding Colt, Leo rode Timber, Michael was on Timber and I rode Rockwell.

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It was a beautiful ride up to the top of a mountain in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

We did have a bit of excitement at the top of the mountain. My horse, Rockwell, bent his head down to snack on some grass and must have instead gotten a bite of an ant hill, because he yanked his head back and bucked me straight off his back. Thankfully, I was able to get both feet out of the stirrups and hold onto his reins before landing solidly on my backside. Thank you Jesus for hearing and answering my prayer to keep us safe today! It was about time for me to re-bruise my backside since the bruises from Coeur d’Alene had just about healed up 🤣

We had corned beef sandwiches on top of the mountain and just relaxed for a half hour while the horses rested. The views were amazing

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We definitely had the hard-headed horses of the group… which is fitting for us 😉. It took about 5 pictures to get one where we and our horses are all looking remotely in the same direction:

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Lunch finished and horses rested, we headed back down the mountain.

We got back to Heart 6 Ranch and got horses back to the corral. We checked and our room was ready so we checked in a little early. We all enjoyed letting our backsides rest after bouncing on horses for four hours. I think my crew is a little tired.

Hahaha! We spent about 45 minutes resting and then decided to head into Grand Teton… just as we made it into Grand Teton, we noticed cars stopped on the side of the road. As we approached, we found out why. Bison! A big ol’ herd of Bison!

Oh my word, they had walked right through the fence, and just meandering around the field. They are huge!!

We had a list of things to see in Grand Teton and I knew we couldn’t see it all, but was ready to start checking them off.

✔️Item 1: Snake River. Snake River has been here forever. According to the plaque 😁 all the plateaus along the River bank are levels where the Snake River once rose from glacier run off.

✔️ Item 2: Jackson Lake Overlook

✔️ Item 3: Jackson Lake Dam… love a good Dam picture 🤪

✔️Item 4: Jenny Lake. This was one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever visited.

We got on the road here for Jenny Lake – finally the smoke started to clear so we could see Grand Teton. We knew we wanted to ride the shuttle boat at least once. We hopped on and road the boat across, and decided to hike up to Hidden Falls and then hike back around the lake (about 3 1/2 mile hike) back.

First, the boat ride was great relaxing with nice breeze (why they wanted us to wear masks outside in the wind off the water was unclear). The views made it all worth it – It was gorgeous!

Then, we disembarked on the other side, and hiked the half mile up to Hidden Falls.

And of course, we found rocks to climb

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The hike was perfect – a little warm at times but for the most part, it was shady with a nice breeze – and very little elevation 😁

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Although these are always fun to see 😬

The reward for hiking, other than the views, was a swim in Jenny Lake. This water was chilly! Not Glacial but we er chilly but chilly

They had the best time… although when they jumped in the first time they said it took their breathing away 🥶🥶 I was also very proud that I remembered towels today! Score one for the big brain on mom’

We hiked back for a view the mountains and view more pictures. Usually, I take the pictures and then edit out to get best shots, deleting bad ones etc. but I could resist these… they so truly show real life vs photos

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That is so real life 🥴🤪🥴🤪

We headed back to the Heart 6 Ranch from Grand Teton

We decided to just grab dinner on the way in at the little on-site restaurant, Buffalo Valley Grill. Mike and Leo had bacon cheeseburgers, I had a steak and Michael decided to try a bison burger. It takes a little longer to get bison burgers because you have to cook them slower since no fat, but Michael said it was delicious!

One more picture of this sunset

And the Brown’s are off to bed. It’s been an amazing day but we are exhausted! Tomorrow we head south, then east, then north for the last few days of our trip.

We started today in our little basement apartment after a fantastic night of sleep. I loved getting up with a cup of coffee and being able to just sit on the couch for a minute. All the laundry is clean so we re-packed our bags and got ready for week 2 of our journey.

We headed into downtown Cody for a little exploring. Cody was the home of Buffalo Bill. So lots of things bear his namesake and likeness.

Anyone ever seen a 4 person paddle board? Well you have now 🤪

Michael loved the Bob Ross Positive Energy Drink… little happy tree over here, and little one over there

We picked up some Cody, Wyoming souvenirs, including some Buffalo and Elk Sausage (darn those free samples) and some huckleberry Lip balm.

We may have fallen in love with Wyoming… I even caught Mike checking real estate offerings.

We couldn’t help thinking of Jimmy and Karen Moore when we saw this honey for sale… they pumped it right from the tub into your honey bear.

And upstairs we excelled at finding the Queen thanks to Jimmy and Karen 🐝

We left Cody and headed toward Yellowstone. We got caught in some road construction and decided to stop off at the Buffalo Bill Dam – you know we love a Dam tour.🤣🤣

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I have always wanted to see Yellowstone Nation Park and was almost giddy as we stopped for our picture. We met a nice family from California, and we traded picture courtesies – we took theirs, they took ours. 📸

If you’re not familiar with Yellowstone, it is HUGE. We broke our visit into parts. We entered Yellowstone today at the East gate, and we’re going to depart the South Gate. Later this week, we are staying in West Yellowstone so we will explore that side then.

I bought a trail/guide book for Yellowstone and Grand Teton in Cody, and am Clark Griswold-ing the crap out of our time in the parks!

We were in the park for about a hot minute when we spotted a big brown lump in this field… and then it moved. Bison!

Then we saw 2 more bison… wait, those aren’t bison. Those are goobers in bison hats ♥️

Then we drove a bit more and tah-day Elk!

We traveled on through the park and were amazed at the dramatic changes in scenery, especially when we got the areas effected by the 2009 forest fires that burned so much of the park.

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We stopped along a beach and decided to open Mom’s Restaurant right there in Yellowstone

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Our new location has plenty of seating and gotten great reviews, although the bathrooms are a bit primitive 🤣

We headed on, and stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin. This is an area within the Caldera (crater made in the magma chamber of a volcano after it explorers) of Yellowstone where the gases are constantly coming to the surface. The color indicates the heat of the water. These are amazing to see, and some were so deep you couldn’t see the bottom.

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We left the basin and continued heading south. And look, we crossed the Continental Divide again (last time was at Logan’s Pass in Glacier National Park.)

There was one more stop we wanted to see on this side of the park… the Hidden Falls.

These falls were gorgeous! And the boys (and Mike and I) could climb down and put our feet in. The water was definitely chilly but not as cold as Glacier.

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We traveled south leaving Yellowstone and crossed into Grand Teton National Park.

We didn’t plan to really do a lot in Grand Teton today but there we did stop at a few overlooks.

These Mountains are absolutely beautiful although they were a little obscured by smoke from the forest fires in Utah and Oregon. Isn’t it crazy that fire so far away can effect the view in Wyoming?

We went by the Visitors Center to get the paper, guide and map photos so We can maximize every second of our time here.

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We rented a cabin at Jackson Lake Lodge tonight. The cabin itself was fine but the Lodge was a different story.

Because it is a National Park Lodge, they said they had to follow strict federal guidelines regarding Covid. But the guidelines seemed a bit wonky to me. For example, the “diner” style restaurant was take out only, but the fancy $$$$ restaurant was eat in. Plus once we all got our take out, everyone just took their to go plates and sat outside at the tables together. And then, they didn’t have water to put in glasses, and had no bottled water but you could buy canned water?!?! So Mike had to have canned water… $8 canned water… Apparently they went to the glacier and canned it on a mountain top for that price 🤪

One other thing, the pool and playground were closed. They didn’t really advertise these changes, which I thought was a bit sneaky… seriously could you imagine coming here with a 3 and 4 year old and find out the pool and playground were closed?!? Woo, I’d be hot mad.

Now that I’ve said the bad, here’s the good. The hotel itself was really nice – we were impressed that they had old fashioned metal keys.

And the views were amazing. Again you’re just going to have to take our word for it – the Grand Tetons are there but it’s just a bit hazy. We will get closer tomorrow.

There was a mile long trail right off the back of the hotel and we were about to take it and then we saw this sign…

The crowd here was just WAY different than what we’ve gotten used to on this trip. I’m so glad we were in a cabin and not the main lodge.

Our little cabin was tiny but it worked. After we walked back, we filled the cooler with ice, and then had another night of playing Phase 10. No one has made it all the way to Phase 10 yet but we’ll get there.

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We finally called it a night around 9:30… seriously the sun stays up forever! We are tucked in and ready a full day tomorrow. I’ve got a full Clark Griswold day for us tomorrow 😉

We started today on the east side of Wyoming, and ended up in central Wyoming. The direct route would have taken us about 3 hours… but when have we been known to take the direct route on vacation 😉

We decided to drive along and through the BigHorn National Forest instead of the interstate because we want actually see part of Wyoming… and as our mantra says: when will we be back here?

We went through so many great little towns. I love when they show the population on the town sign (especially when it’s less than 1,000) Each town had these great downtown areas… Buffalo, Ten Sleep, Manderson, Worland.

This drive was beautiful!

And I love that Wyoming has signs along the Highway for “⬅️ Point of Interest” because you know that means there’s a plaque or a gorgeous view, or if you’re lucky – Both!

It got to the point that the boys just shouted “POI” when they saw one because they knew we had to stop 🤣

We also noticed more and more of these wooden structures beside the road. They are snow fences. They force the snow to accumulate in a specific location (instead of the road)

The topography changes so quickly here… from flat and dry to hilly and green in a matter of 30 miles

We passed through more little downtowns who proudly waved the American flag 🇺🇸

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We arrived in Cody, Wyoming around 4pm, and stopped at the local Walmart for a few supplies – and cash back without an ATM fee 😉- since we are staying at a VRBO tonight with a kitchen. Walmarts are the same no matter where you go – 40 registers and only 4 are open 🤷🏻‍♀️. But Yea for a home cooked meal tonight!

We had heard from a few folks in our travels that the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming were seeing a huge influx of people from Oregon and California. The issue has been that these new folks didn’t want to adapt to the place they moved to, they wanted to change them… in other words, they brought the same problems they were running from to their new location… which made this sign hilarious to us 🤣🤣

Our VRBO tonight is the basement apartment of a house on a working farm. It couldn’t have been more perfect for us. Boys had a bedroom with their own beds. Mike and I had a room, washer & dryer and an outdoor area for boys including a trampoline!

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The owners, Amy and Mark Law, have 2 boys, William (age 15) and Wesley (age 12). They actually bought the farm from a family who were moving to NC. They raise cattle and horses. We really enjoyed talking yo Amy and comparing farms tips. She stocked the fridge with yogurts for boys, fresh eggs, milk and cereal for us. We have had the best experiences with VRBO, and met the best people along the way.

We didn’t have to rush and started learning a new card game we picked up, Phase 10. It was so nice to have a minute to just sit while clothes washed.

We fixed sliders for dinner with the beef from Karen and David (at our little cabin in Montana) and used the fresh relish she’d given us too. It was delish!

Our primary reason for coming to Cody was to be a halfway point to Grand Teton. BUT THEN my friend, Cyndi, asked if we were going to the rodeo when we were here… well, we are now!

The Cody Nite Rodeo was started in 1938 and is the longest running and only nightly rodeo (June to August) in the whole world.

Oh my word, This was the best! And we ran into this sweet couple and their friends from Asheville that we met at Little BigHorn yesterday! (The boys said how do y’all already know people here?!? 🤣🤣)

The boys rode a mechanical bull!

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And Leo and I took a turn sitting on Mongo the bull. Yes, he was real and he was gigantic!!

We headed into the arena, and stood while they prayed and then sang the Star Spangled Banner 🇺🇸 It was so old fashioned and so patriotic! ♥️

The bucking Broncos were crazy! Some of the riders went flying in the air!

Next up was calf roping… Michael and I were a little more worried about the little calf than the time it took to rope them.

There was also an appearance from Nevada Jane. She is from Roanoke, Virginia and does tricks on her horse (I’m not sure why a cowgirl from Virginia is named Nevada but whatever)

Then they played Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” and everyone sang and used their phone flashlights. It was really cool to see! 🇺🇸

The littlest riders came next and they were awesome!

Then there was this little girl. We think she was somewhere between 6 and 8 years old and was the youngest sibling in a family of cowboys. She was the cutest ♥️

These two had an absolutely ball and screamed their heads off. They were also amazed to learn that the University of Wyoming has rodeo scholarships! Who knew that was a thing?

Last event of the night was the BIG bulls. These things were monsters, and I think only one Cowboy made it the required 8 seconds to score.

You have to be a special kind of something to get on one of these big ol’ bulls!

It was just the best time together!

Thanks Cody! It was awesome 🏇🐂🇺🇸

We went back to our little place, played a little more Phase 10 and snacked a bit before bed.

Tomorrow we’re heading into downtown Cody before venturing through the East side of Yellowstone down into Grand Teton National Park.

We woke up in Billings, Montana with only one thing on our agenda – visiting the Little BigHorn National Park. Otherwise we could stop and do whatever, just need to end the day in Sheridan, Wyoming.

We slept in and of course, grabbed our Holiday Inn free breakfast 😉. We loaded the car and cooler and headed out. The drive was so flat in places that when we saw this train, we could see the engine and all the way to the caboose!

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It was only about an hour drive to the Battlefield. This was one of the things Mike was most looking forward to on the trip.

Found our own cowboy in the Visitors center 🥰

I think we read everything in here. I’ll be honest, I really didn’t remember a great deal about this battle, other than it was “Custer’s Last Stand.” So I thought they did a good job with the museum/story telling of the visitors center.

The boys really liked all the ways the Native Americans used every part of the bison. Mmm… how about a bison bladder for a drinking container?

USAToday version: US Government wanted the Indian tribes to stay on the reservation land. The Indians wanted to live as they always had, nomadic and following their food sources. The US Troops thought they could control the Indians. A bloody conflict resulted.

For years, this area was known as Custer’s Battlefield but the Native American Tribes fought to have it renamed, and in 1999, it became Little BigHorn National Battlefield. There is a separate monument to the US Troops who died, and to the Native American Tribes.

Honestly from the reading, it sounded like the Indian Tribes did all they could to avoid the conflict, but the US Troops basically kicked a hornets nest that they weren’t prepared to handle, nor should they have. Custer seemed to have taken an all or nothing approach to the battle, and things did not end how he expected.

We hiked the mile long Deep Ravine Trail. After seeing this sign, no one ventured off the trail! 🐍

There were markers along the way that corresponded with this trail book.

Everyone had to take turns reading the stop summary… some of us liked it more than others 🤣

It was cool to see to depictions of the battle and then look up and see the exact topography of that battle.

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Made it back to the top and headed up to the marker at top of the hill, which is literally the sight of Custer’s last stand and where they found his and his brother’s bodies after the battle.

The battle occurred on June 25 and 26. And on the 28th a group of soldiers returned to claim their bodies. All were buried in shallow graves initially, and years later, the government came back and recovered their bodies. The remains of the US troops were then buried around this marker.

Yikes another one of these warnings!

The white markers depict where US Soldiers were found, and the red stone markers were where an Indian was found.

The Indian Council created this monument to honor the Indians who died in the Battle.

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This turned out to be a really cool stop.

We left and made a stop at the Crow Tribe Trading Post. They had literally everything in here: pottery, jewelry, fabric, knives, walking sticks, food, clothing, books, bags, etc. They even had a stuffed bison!

We made our purchases, and as we were leaving, we saw an awesome sight – a grill on a grill.

Hello Wyoming! State number 24

We checked in to our latest Holiday Inn in Sheridan, Wyoming, and like clockwork, got our swimming time in before dinner. We headed into Sheridan to eat at the Cowboy Cafe in downtown Sheridan.

As we approached downtown, the streets were blocked off. We weren’t sure what to do but kept circling and finally found a spot as we did, we looked downtown and found out it was the 2nd Thursday Festival.

We explored booths and found the Cowboy Cafe. It was so good – I had Spicy Elk and Bison sausage with grilled onions, Mike had a locally raised steak, Michael had locally caught rainbow trout, and Leo had corn dogs 🤣 We all had dessert and finally discovered what all the buzz was about for huckleberry dessert

Then we explored the festival for a while – it was so fun!

And then we found the axe throwing!!!

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I love when we stumble on stuff like this. Thanks Sheridan! We had the best time!