Day 12 - July 27, 2010 Good bye Yellowstone

I'm not going to write up much about today yet.  Instead, since I've got a bit of a better connection, I'm updating a few older posts first with pictures.

We did leave the park today and are at a very nice, although a bit expensive full service RV park not far out of Livingstone MT.

Now back to updating pictures.

Day 11 - July 26, 2010 Hello Yellowstone

Old Faithful from the backside - Away from the crowds.

Since we are now limited on how many days we have in Yellowstone, today we packed all six of us into our truck and headed to Old Faithful.  Lot's a lot's of people there.  Too dang many.  But it's a site everyone should see.  All of the other features in the basin really make it worth the walk.

Some of the strange looking people there.

Castle Geyser

Day 10 - July 25, 2010

Wow, day 10 already.  Oh how the time does fly.

We would spend the rest of our allotted vacation time here at Teton, but after a year of planning and plotting a Yellowstone trip, I guess we will head North.

The ladies took off early this morning from Signal Mountain for Yellowstone.  Got word a while ago that they have secured a couple of camping spots for us at Lewis Lake in Yellowstone.  Away we go.

We have to say goodbye to Teton.  We will be back

Our camper in the distance at the Lewis River Bridge.  Had to wait a while before traffic was that light.

 Lewis Falls on the Lewis River.  Could we be near Lewis Lake :)

After we got settled at Lewis Lake, we headed up to West Thumb to take a look at the thermal features.  West Thumb is a great place.  Some very nice thermal features and not to busy.

Some of West Thumb's thermal features can be seen in Yellowstone Lake.

Day 9 - July 24, 2010

Still at Signal Mountain.  At the rate, who knows when we will get to Yellowstone.  We have some great camping sites and lots of activities to keep us busy.

Today we split.  My family hit the trail.  "Grand View Point" trail.  While our friends with the Kayaks hit "Two Ocean Lake"  It was much hotter today.  in the 80's on the trail and over 7,000 feet in some places.  It was very fatiguing but that will soon fade and we will just have the good memories.

Southern Tetons.  Jackson Lake with Elk Island in the center.

Near the end of the line.  Hot and tired.  A shower is in our future.

From the top of Grand View Point Trail - Two Ocean Lake in the distance.  We are headed to the far end.

Ruff looking hikers.  Grand Teton in the background.

Finally made it to the lake.  Grand View viewpoint is in the hill in the distance.

Walking through wild flower meadows along the shore of Two Ocean Lake.

Our friend "E" in her kayak on Two Ocean Lake.

"E" in her kayak.  Grand Teton in the distance.

Day 8 - July 23, 2010

"P" on String Lake.

Still at Signal Mountain.  Today was a day on the water.  Kayaks on String Lake.

Loading the kayak's back on the Element

Grand Teton from String Lake

Day 7 - July 22, 2010

Trail to summit of Signal Mountain.

Signal Mountain Campground.  We sent "E" & "E" ahead to in the Element to secure camping sites at Signal Mountain.  They got us a couple of great sites.  Taking a hike was on my first order of business.  "E" & "D" accompanied me and "P"  Altitude and fatigue got the best of "E" & "D" so "P" and I were alone to the top.  Great views all directions.

Clouds remain from yesterday's rain.

Trail side flowers

View from the summit

Looking West from the summit.

Day 6 Moving day - July 21, 2010

While Gros Ventre was nice, today we moved from there to Signal Mountain Campground for a couple of nights. More hiking and lake access here. Not much of it going on however, raining very nicely and occasional lightning. Unfortunately not everyone found it as pleasant as me.

http://www.localnews8.com/news/24345365/detail.html

Day 5 , July 20, 2010. We see Teton's

Yay. We made it to Teton's today. 299 miles through Southern Idaho. Nice trip up HWY 26 from Idaho Falls ID to Jackson WY.

We've got a couple of nice camping sites in Gros Ventre campground this evening. Tomorrow we are going to check out some of the campgrounds further North to see if we want to move.

Camping at Gros Ventre

Grand Teton sunset from Gros Ventre

Take care.

Day 4 - July 19, 2010

Please don't tell me it's day 4 already :(  If it's day 4 they days are going my much too quickly.

Day 4 took us from Emmigrant Springs State Park to Idaho Falls Idaho.  We would have done more but when you spend over 2 hours at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center it's really hard on the schedule.  That said, I would hardily recommend it next time your in the area.  It has a good blend of static and video display as well as live performers demonstrating an activity used in daily life on the trail.

Nearby there is a section of the Oregon Trail still quite visible.

We passed through Le Grand Oregon on our way.  Le Grand is the birthplace of our Arctic Fox campers.  We considered stopping by the plant but just did the local rest stop instead.

334 miles on the old odometer today.  Tomorrow we will make our way to Teton.  Hope I can get a connection of some sort from there so I can update you on our progress.

Day 3 (evening)

Day three is in the log book as complete. 168 miles. Not a terrible lot but we are out of Moses Lake. Not that Moses Lake was that bad. It's just such a climate shock for those of use that are used to fog in Summer and rain during the nicer part of the year :). It's much cooler up here in the Blue's. It was 46F at 07:00 this morning. Hard to go back down into the flat lands.

The swim meet was great. Those folks at the swim club really know how to put on a meet.

Now we are on the road. Made it up into the Blue Mountains of NE Oregon. Made camp at Emmigrant Springs State Park. Inspiring to close ones eyes and imaging those thousands of emigrants crossing this area over 100 years ago. It would have been this time of year too. Took them about that long to make it this far from Missouri.

Tomorrow we will make it into Idaho. Exactly how for, only time and miles will tell.

Day 2 - (morning) July 18, 2010

The first day of the swim meet here in Moses Lake is history. A good time was had by all. Sunburns were visible but nothing serious. On the downside, one of our swimmers broke an ankle on the watersides after the meet was done for the day. Our best wishes are with "J" and we hope for a speedy recovery.

Slowish morning for us. No swimming events scheduled for "P" until late this morning. Gives us time to get packed up. "D" has already swam Shooting to get out of here mid-afternoon and make it to SE WA or NE OR for the night.

Hope you have a good Sunday

Day One Home-Moses Lake

Made it to the land of farming, wind turbines and HEAT!!!!

Kids from swim club are here for a two day swim meet. Great facility here. Including a number of water slides. Good for kids of all ages.










Miles today - 312
Total miles - 312

About time to hit the road again

Hi everyone. Summer is here. One nice thing about Summer is it's easier to take long trips. This year it's Yellowstone National Park. Should be a good one. Stay tuned, I'll updated as frequently as I can. It all depends on finding a connection.Very tentative proposed route. 

There will be additional stops, mis-turns and other various SNAFU's.

Follow along if your dare :D