Driving the Coast headed East

Day 21 Continued

We got the van and had to wait for the axle. We later learned the front axle was broken and the back one was bent. The transmission had all leaked out from a worn seal and luckily no damage was done. The mechanic said we should “probably” make it home to Colorado. We drove to Port Angeles and went to the boardwalk. We had the “best” clam chowder and fish and chips because it seemed fitting. We missed the sunset because we were going to the bathroom- but caught the tail end of it off Edz Hook. (a breaker of a huge deep water harbor) We drove around to find a place to sleep and the first spot we got barked at by dogs and settled for a spot next to a guy working on his van.

Day 22 July 8^th Port Angeles to Washington beach

We woke up and got coffee- used the bathroom at a gas station ( 2 things we miss in the van) we drove to the Olympic National Park visitor center then headed around the peninsula to HOH rainforest. We got lunch and went on a hike. This place receives 200 inches of rain a year!!! Trees grow at an amazing speed and are always covered with moss and epiphytes. It was really cool to see this productive forest. Along the way to the beach we saw trees that make a tunnel over the road, purple, white, yellow wild flowers and the replanting of logging operations. We got a campsite about 200 feet off a rocky beach strewn with driftwood. It was very windy and cold and a few men braved the artic water. After high tide we went on a walk on the beach- looking for clams and shells. The ocean is beautiful!! It is very cold out so we bundled up in the van.

Day 23 July 9^th Beach to Portland, OR

This morning was a little less cool than last night. We took one last walk on the beach and found a crab leg and picked up flack rocks to put in our fish tank. We cruised to Portland and felt the heat creep in. we found and drove to Kris’ house (Jacob’s college buddy) and got to experience our 4^th shower of the trip. We meet Caitlyn and rode our bikes to a “biker” bar- this is no Harley bar!! It is a Shinn bar. Everyone in Portland loves biking and is a very biker friendly town- bikes outnumbering cars on streets even. We got some BBQ material and headed back to Kris and Caitlyn’s house for a wonderful BBQ and socializing in a summer evening on the front porch with great friends. Portland is a hig city comprised of many 30 something eco-conscious, outdoorsy, old hippy folks. We like it.

Day 24 July 10^th Portland to Oregon beach

We made breakfast at the house and contemplated what we should do today. There were hikes to go on, waterfalls to see, boating to do- but instead we soaked up the TV and internet- the 1^st time of the month. Being in a home, we had made the conclusion that we are ready to go home. We drove the rest of Oregon- stopping Oceanside miles before the CA border. It is amazing how cold and windy it is next to the beach. CA may be on fire (literally and temperature wise) but it is literally freezing at the beach. We camped on a sweet bluff looking out over huge ocean haystacks. We took a moonlight hike down the beach. It was wonderful!!

Day 25 July 11^th Oregon beach to Eureka, CA

We decided to get gas before going into CA $5 a gallon gas. Chelsey started to fill up the gas tank and a lady came running (who obviously doesn’t run very much) and said that she would finish pumping for me. Chelsey was very confused and then remembered it is illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon…how stupid!! We drove down to Crescent City- Jacob got the urge to go surfing in Artic water and Chels instantly became a beach babe. Jacob couldn’t miss the 2 foot roller waves and surfed them until he was exhausted. Chels read, shopped, laid on the beach and unsuccessfully flew a kite. We continued south looking for Redwood National Park. The signage was awful and we literally drove right past it. We found an information center and they said that we bypassed the entire national and state park. We couldn’t even drive through a tree because they are all on private property and you have to pay to go through them. We drove back to the scenic hwy and had the drive through tour of the park. (not the national parks we are used to). But when you get out of the car into the forest it is an amazingly peaceful place. We went south another 30 minutes and learned that the east bound highways were closed due to wildfires. It was easy to see because the sky was filled with a dark haze of smock. We checked some alternate routes and went to bed in the van behind Safeway.

Day 26 July 12th Eureka, CA to Reno, NV

We awoke to trucks delivering item to Safeway so we decided to eat breakfast at Safeway and headed east. Many of the towns are still smoky and we drove past the Fire fighters head courtiers…which were kinda crazy. Our goal for today is to get to Reno. We stopped in Tahoe and went for a little dip in the lake. It was fairly warm water and many people out today. It was weird because we were on the other side of the fence today. There was a rich “private” side and then the public side on which we were on. I could see why people want a private side- there are some crazies out there! We heard it is gorgeous with the lake and the mountains in the back round. However the smoke was hiding the mountains so no view for us. Instead we bought some post cards and ice cream and made our way to Reno. We have decided to stop and play our luck with a little gambling since we are on our way through. We have $10 left in cash- so we each get $5 to spend in the slots. We each play $2 working the penny and nickel slots and we lose it all. We have decided that we should take a rest and eat and then play the rest of our money. We went to a restaurant inside the casino and ordered garlic bread, bottle of wine, sirloin steaks, and pasta. Our bill was $23 including tip! It was one of the cheapest meals that we have ever had. We went back to the slots with $3 each. Chels went to play the penny slots while Jacob played the poker slots. Chelsey hit the jack pot and won $15 on the penny slots. I was soo excited and would not put that money back into the slots. We were pumped!! Jacob was still working the poker slots and Chels went to the nickel slots. We both had $2 left. Chelsey then hit the jack pot on the nickel slots and won $200!!!! We were even more excited that we finished our games and cashed out $215 at the casino. We were on a money winning high, drove outside of Reno and tried to sleep by other truckers on the side of the road. However Chelsey was freaking out thinking that there were people outside of the van and got her hair stuck in the window that was open. (She thought that someone was pulling her hair from outside). Chelsey then drove another 20 minutes and parked the van for the night under some old oak trees…just us with nature.

Day 27 July 13^th Reno, NV to Laramie, WY

Today was the longest driving day. We drove for about 14 hours today through the heat and fast food stops. We have really seen the country and know that there is nothing in Nevada and Utah and most of Wyoming. We stopped and got more book on tapes since we have breezed through the ones that we given to us for this trip. We thought about making it home tonight…but the Wal-Mart parking lot seemed a lot better at 11pm. We pulled up next to the other 10 RVs that were parked in Wal-mart.

Day 28 July 14^th Home Sweet Home

This morning we awoke and found out that Wal-Mart was open 24 hours and that we could have peed early this morning instead of just trying to hold it and go back to sleep. Jacob drove to Longmont while Chels caught up on her sleep in the back of the van. In Longmont we had our last fast food breakfast (McDonalds) and finished the drive home. We arrived in our new; one week lived in house by 9:30am. Our honeymoon is just starting in our marriage and we are very excited to keep on living the dream.

Ohhhh Canada and Washington

Day 14 June 30^th Jasper National Park

We got breakfast at a Jasper Coffee shop then biked around town and up to Patricia and Pyramid Lakes just outside of town. There are shallow (therefore warmer lakes than anything else in the area) as we decided we would come back to them in the afternoon to take a swim. In town we got a backpacking permit and ate lunch then to the lake we went. We took a swim at Pyramid Lake Beach shadowed by a giant mountain but bathed by the hot northern sun. Surprisingly it was really hot even though we were very far north, it was almost unbearable to be in the sun because it was so intense. We drove out to the trailhead and packed our bags to go backpacking. We were hiking up Fryatt Valley (because it was one of very few snow free trails in the area). We ended up starting up the trail at 5om- which means the sun is still very, very high in the sky. 11km (7miles…we think) later- we found our camp site. It was really nice with brand new picnic tables, a toilet, and an amazing wooden bridge crossing a definitely loud creek which we sat beside and listened to the boulders rolling along the river bottom sounding like thunder crashing. We enthouriastically read (Chels- Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston: a guy who cuts his own arm off that was stuck under a rock and Jacob- Watership Down: A Rabbit Adventure) We hung the bear bag and fell asleep in the land of the endless light (it never got dark that night)

Day 15 July 1^st Jasper National Park

Ohh Canada!! Today is Canada day which means…we are still being attacked by their mosquitoes. Today we left the river bottom and headed up Fryatt canyon (it was about 6 km away). We found our campsite, had lunch and hung out, resting before our day hike. We hiked up a massive glacial moraine of baseball size rocks to a turquoise lake set below a 100ft cascading waterfall. We had to ford many creeks to get to this part. We scrambled up the steep “headwall” to the top of the waterfall where a beautiful backcountry hut sat beside snowfields. We watched an avalanche rumble down the mountainside and then quickly hiked back to camp before the rain set in. Jacob fell in a creek while slipping during a jump and by the end we were just wading straight through all the rivers. We napped until the rain slowed down and then cooked dinner. It is still Canada Day so we did the Canadian Salute aka hold hands in front of face and swing madly at the mosquitoes that are working their hardest to drain you dry. We ate and then declared defeat and ran back to the tent to avoid the mosquitoes.

Day 16 July 2^nd Jasper National Park

We woke up and thankfully the rain had stopped. We packed up camp cooked breakfast and tried to brainstorm why a sleeping bag filled with clothes and water bottles would be laying in the campground through a night of rain. We hiked the 17km and arrived at the car with tired feet, soggy shoes, mosquitoe bitten, conviced we had seen grizzly poo on the trail and exited about being alive. We took our first shower in 9 days and gorged ourselves on pizza. We saw a poster for a lost lady where we had been backpacking and I told a policeman about the sleeping bag. He laughed and told me that the lady had been missing for half a decade. We washed our clothes, ate ice cream and watched people. We started driving towards Kamloops and luckily made it through a narrow window of open road when a landslide closed the highway before and then after we drove by it. A river of mud was still flowing across the road and we had to just drive through it! We ate dinner at A&W, which are everywhere up here, and they had a minimal amount of food available because the trucks couldn’t get past the mudslide area and flooding had made their water unsafe to drink! We drove into the night (our first non-lit driving of the trip) through deep logging country to Kamloops. The only note worthy items are that we saw a bear that had recently been hit on the road, lots of logged forest and we resorted to talk radio. We crashed at the visiters center in the van.

Day 17 July 3^rd Jasper National Park to Whistler

We woke up, got coffee in Kamloops, started driving towards Whistler and got breakfast at a little dive on the way there. The drive was crazy mountain valley and mountain pass driving. There were unmarked single lane bridges, 15% grade downhills and numerous panoramic views. Ecologically, we made the transition from a sage brush desert to a North-West Mountain Rainforest. The brakes on our van were beginning to stink pretty bad by the time we got to the valley floor. We saw a bear on the side of the road and also stopped to take a nap and view a glacial lake. Economically, it is interesting that just a few minutes East of Whistler is a reservation that reminded us of Panama or Costa Rica. People and dogs walking down overgrown streets to work, houses made of wood scraps and tin, dense jungle and zero road maintence (even where the road was flooded out). This scene is odd because minutes away Whistler is an economic bonanza (ex. $5 glasses of Kokanee). We watched in awe as downhill mountain bikers flew over jumps and sailed down the mountain and pondered the idea of glacier skiing in July. This place is the mecca of male adrenaline seeking twenty-some things... In Whistler the skater style is not unique, it is to be expected. We checked out the resort town watching mountain bikers and skateboarders, eating supper in the park, getting beers at a restaurant to start/continue with our thank you’s from the wedding. However we love to watch people and did not get very far. We are sleeping in the van tonight in parking lot number 4.

Day 18 July 4^th Whistler to Vancouver

Waking up to the sound of a giant bus starting its engine next to us this morning was a beautiful sound to wake up to in parking lot number 4. We drove out of town looking for a gas station and did not find one until about 25 miles later. We had Burger King breakfast and caught up on the local news in Squammish. We headed to Vancouver and had construction the whole way- they are getting the roads ready for the Olympics and people traveling from Vancouver to Whistler. When got a sneak peak at the ocean along the way and headed to Stanley Park- one of the greatest attractions in Vancouver. This park is beautiful with many different ecosystems. We unloaded our bikes and headed for the information center to see where we could visit in the park. We made our way throughout the park watching people and looking at the beautiful scenery. We went to the Vancouver Aquarium- one of the best around. The big news at the aquarium was that a baby beluga was born!! We walked around seeing all kinds of fish and animals and even going through the rainforest section. We then headed downtown Vancouver and were overwhelmed right away. There were glass buildings everywhere with small streets and tons of people getting off work. We wanted to go to Chinatown- the 3^rd largest in North America- to get sushi. We parked the car and started walking. We noticed while trying to get a parking spot that there were some sketchy areas- places where homeless people congregate and where people are just lying in the street. We were trying to walk to Chinatown but trying not to appear like a tourist with a map. We walked there and noticed it was a sketchier area and all closed up by 7pm on a Friday night. We were getting a little nervous and decided to walk back to the car and get food somewhere else. On the way back to the car we walked past: prostitutes on the corner, a pimp giving his ho her cut of the money, a crack deal (in the open), a cracked out guy looking for his drugs, and hordes of homeless people in parks and on the streets. We wanted to be in America!! We got out of that area fast- holding hands and not looking into other’s eyes. We found a sushi restaurant in a better area and drove to the burbs. We slept in our van in a quiet street out of Vancouver.

Day 19 July 5^th Vancouver to Northern Cascades

National Park

We woke up, went food shopping and then happily sped across the border into America! We spent a lot of the day driving through dairy farms and small forested towns along large salmon filled rivers as we made our way to Cascade Mountains National Park. The visibility of the mountains there was pretty minimal due to extremely low-hanging clouds but we did get small glimpses of the amazingly rugged and snow-capped cascades. We drove up a scenic dirt byway with vegetation so thick that they formed an arch over the road and we had to use headlamps to see because so little light fell the forest floor. We camped on a steep and rugged side road to the sound of rain on the temperate rain forest surrounding us.

Day 20 July 6^th Cascades to Seattle

We woke up and headed out of the mountains to the city of Seattle. We stopped at an Ice Cave although we couldn’t get to it because the bridge to it had been washed out from the 2006 flood where they received +18inches of rain in 36 hours and left all of the Northwest in shambles. A year and a half later many roads, bridges and trails are still out. Jacob forded the rivers icy waters to find myself amid a life size pixy stick game of 100ft tall trees that had been set there by what must have been a massive avalanche. Chelsey waited for Jacob’s return entertaining guests who would want to ford the river. We drove to the Seattle locks and watched boats head out of Lake Washington and into the Puget Sound of the Pacific and Salmon work there way up river through the fish ladders. We were bedazzled by the ridiculous boats that people own. One was a 100ft party yacht that seemed to be made specifically to wine and dine friends. We attempted to see downtown Seattle and Pikes Market but were thwarted by the lack of parking, the confusion of roads that close to car traffic during certain times of the day and a pure hatred for all cities. When we did make it to the Market it was all closed down due to the fact that it was late Sunday night. We didn’t think about this detail because to us there is no time or day. We had a drink on the pier and then drove to Tocoma discussing the dilemma of homelessness in N. America.

Day 21 July 7^th Seattle to Silverdale, WA

This morning we woke up in the church parking lot ready to get some coffee and head out of town. Jacob started the van and the van would not move. Something had happened and the van will not shift into drive or reverse. It would go about 10-15ft and then rev up in neutral. We rollickingly decided that it needed to be towed…again. We only waited about 30 minutes and had it hauled down to Silverdale. During the trip to the shop the tow-truck driver told us that last night he was out on a job where a 16 year old girl drove her new Acura SUV into the bay by shifting into drive instead of reverse and then jumping out of the car as it jumped three retaining walls and coasted into the ocean. He wouldn’t pull the thing out at 2am during high tide and by the time low tide came around the car had floated down the beach. Can you imagine her trying to explain that one to her parents when they get back from their trip to Italy! We ate and spent the afternoon in Silverdale, cruising around on our bikes, checking out the bay and visiting the library. The van is getting fixed- a few holes that are getting patched and some added transmission fluid and we are on our way. We need an ice cream treat!!

Pryor-Glacier-Banff- Jasper National Parks

Day 6 June 22^nd Cooke City, MT to Pryor, MT

Today we crossed over Beartooth Pass on Beartooth Scenic Highway and it was CRAZY! Although it is nearly the end of June there was 25 ft drifts next to the hwy and snow covering as far as the eye could see. We saw people skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling. We also saw a crazy ski lift at angle well over 50 degrees. We stopped in Billings, MT to eat- our first fast food meal of the week, checked email and made phone calls. While sitting outside the library a homeless man asked us for some change. Jacob told him we were living out of our van and he said “oh I’m sorry”. It is quite ironic that a homeless man was telling us he is sorry. We then made the treck to S ranch and meet up with Nolan (my cousin). We drove 45 minutes to Edgar and at the local bar- the only establishment within 45 minutes of the ranch. We then chatted with Jim, the boss, who told us we need to be ready to go by 3:30 AM on that note we went to bed.

Day 7 June 23^rd Pryor, MT

Nolan woke us up at 3 AM and we dressed up in his cowboy gittyup. We then ate breakfast at the Scott’s. We and 7 other cowboys rode 45 minutes to get to the mountain where we would be branding all day. This ride was extremely muddy and 4wd. We got to the top of the mountain and all the tents set up were destroyed because of a storm that went through the night before. We then saw 60 horses come over a ridge. 7-8 horses per cowboy and they rotate each horse each day. We drove the rig to the spot where we were going to be branding and wrestling calves all day. Nolan explained how you wrestle a calf and we had a few minutes to see other people do it. The operation was- a cowboy on a horse would rope a calf by the hind legs and 2 calf wrestlers would get it while it was being dragged to them. One would take the legs and one would take the head. You put it in a position so that it can get branded and get shots and if needed its balls cut off. It was quite an experience every time!! Each calf was a different experience with a New York woman riding a calf backwards, Chels getting a rope to the face and getting tossed into the panel from the calf. We did this all morning stopping at 12:30 for lunch. We then went on a horse back ride with Nolan around all their land. We were riding up the hill side and our horses were best friends…whatever Jacob’s horse did- Chelsey’s horse did. Jacob’s horse starting running up this hill and Chelsey’s did too- and she started falling off one side and then the other, yelling all the way up the hill. Towards the top of the hill Jacob’s saddle came loose and fell under the belly of the horse, making Jacob dive off the horse- I am sure Nolan had a great time with us J It took us and hour and a half to get back to the ranch because the roads were too muddy and the trailer slid off the road. We were very tired and sore cowboys at the end of the day. We chatted and spent the rest of the evening with Nolan but headed to bed early because Nols had to do the same thing tomorrow starting at 3AM. The ranch was a great experience!! The only way to understand what it is like to be a cowboy is to be sitting in the muck holding a calf’s foot, while it screams, and getting hair smoke in the face.

Day 8 June 24^th Pryor, MT to Glacier National Park

We were very sore and tired this morning. We had breakfast at Nolan’s and treated him to a house cleaning. We know understand that cowboys don’t have time to clean and how easy it is to get a house dirty. We drove to Glacier National Park (about 10 hours…however we were in a tired daze driving through gorgeous country so it went by very quickly). We stopped in a few small towns treating ourselves to ice cream and kept on keeping on. We got to Glacier and was going to camp at Many Glaciers camp ground. We were supposed to meet Jess and Marcos the next day in this area. However we found them in the campground, ate supper together, and chatted the rest of the night. Being so far north is different because it is light out until 10:30pm…making it difficult for our bodies to know when bed time is. We slept in our van tonight at Jess and Marcos’s campsite.

Day 9 June 25^th Glacier National Park

Today we hiked up to the Red Rock Lake trails with Jess and Marcos. The park is covered in snow and the main road through the park (Going to the Sun road) is not even open yet…trails are very limited right now. Hiking follows glacial lakes and valleys surrounded by giant snow and glacier covered peaks. It is a humbling environment. We took a nap and had lunch at a lake surrounded by mountains. This is definitely grizzly bear country so when we were hiking we had to be loud and cautious although we just saw a moose and a distant mountain goat. Exhausted we drove over St. Mary’s, set up camp and took an afternoon nap. We had supper and went to a Geological ranger talk. It was very interesting to learn about the different rocks and how all the peaks were formed. We meet some other teachers and science people there. We drove up the Going to the Sun road as far as we could and plan on biking the closed section tomorrow morning. The view from the road is beautiful with huge lakes and snow covered mountains. Sadly only 25% of the glaciers are left with an estimation of all glaciers in the park being gone by 2020.

Day 10 June 26^th Glacier National Park

Today we woke up and biked Going to the Sun road from the east side. It was 3 miles of beautiful scenery with waterfalls, rushing rivers, and glaciers. We had to stop at the top other wise we would have prosecuted because they are trying to clear the snow. At this point there were 3 avalanches in the same spot causing 25-30 foot drifts making it not open for another week in a half. We then cruised 25-40 mph on our bikes down the huge hills that we just road up. It was kinda sketchy or awesome. We drove to the West side of Glacier which took us about 2 hours to get all the way around the park. We stopped in Apgar (West Glacier) visited the Visitor Center and had HUGE scoops of ice cream. At the visitor center we learned that Many Glacier is the hot spot for wildlife especially the grizz because it is so dry and open, whereas the west side is very moist and densely vegetated. We camped at Avalanche campground and did an evening hike to Avalanche Lake which was gorgeous! We hiked up through thick Cedar forests with down trees and a lot of moss. At Avalanche Lake there were at least 3 waterfalls over 500 feet high cascading into a glacial cirque lake. We walked around the beach and we saw a black bear cub out by the water. We knew the mother bear must be close. Rowdy kids scared the bear away (so we think). We picked up our bikes and rode down to another waterfall that was at a rushing river over look. Because many of the trails are closed because of snow we have decided to not do a backpacking trip in Glacier.

Day 11 June 27^th Glacier to Kootenay National Park (Canada)

This morning we rode up the west side of Going to the Sun road that was closed. It was not like the east side- steep and short. It was 6 miles and a very nice ride. Crossing over a sweet bridge with a great view we spotted a black bear about 15 feet away. We slammed on our breaks and got the camera out. The bear started walking towards us (to cross the bridge) so we got on our bikes and backed up a little bit. It was about 10 feet away. Chels was fumbling her camera and case and freaked out because she couldn’t get clipped in to get away from the bear. The road was closed at the top and wouldn’t see piles of snow or anything- just a sign saying closed. We went back to the van and headed to Canada. We went through customs and were a little nervous about it- we both have never done this before. The customs guy was really nice and asked about where were from, who owned the car, where we were going, how long we were staying, if we had a hand gun(and if we didn’t tell him…Jacob would go to jail, and cease the van), and if we had any alcohol. We thought he was going to take the alcohol away so we were slow to reply yes. He asked how much and he said “That is it!! You must not be heavy drinkers” We made it into Canada. We stopped at Radium and got information on Banff and Jasper. We found out that it is Canada day on Tuesday so there will be a lot of people out. We camped out at Marble Canyon and got eaten alive by mosquitoes. It was light out until 11pm, so we are going to sleep in tomorrow morning.

Day 12 June 28^th Kootney to Banff National Park

We drove over to Banff and went to the visitor center. It is hard to work the money system here- we are trying to use all credit cards and not exchange any cash over. We had a picnic in front of the visitor center and wow there are weirdos bringing back some style in Canada. We saw fanny pacs, vests, and man pris. We hiked up C Cirque which was about a 4 mile hike to the top of a ridge looking one way into the Banff valley and the other way at a glacial cirque. It was beautiful! We went to Lake Louise and Lake Moraine which are both amazing- teal covered lakes with huge mountains and glaciers behind them. There were tons of people around- none of which speak any language or are from this continent. (Lake Moraine is on the Canadian twenty.) At 8:30pm we set off on a backpacking trip about 3 miles in. We talked all the way because we don’t have bear spray or bells- just each other. Chels was a little scared at the beginning but too exhausted to care by the end. We found our campsite by 10:30 (it was still light out and no bears to be seen). The tent was surrounded by a glacial lake with steep mountains all around it. We couldn’t wait to get up and explore tomorrow morning.

Day 13 June 29^th Banff to Jasper National Park

We woke up this morning to Bald Eagles fighting above the lake. We hiked up a little ridge by our campsite. This hike had very loose rocks but was deceiving to how high it was. We made it up and down safely and cooled off in the lake and backpacked out to our cars. Then we drove the Trans-Continental Hwy to Jasper and looked at all the waterfalls, mud falls, ice fields, glaciers, lakes, and AMAZING mountains!! We stopped at Peyto Lake and checked it out. We also stopped at Columbia Ice Field and saw the Athabasca Glacier. It is receding a ways but it is amazing how much of it we can’t see. The Ice Fields go soo far behind the mountains that you cannot even imagine it. We headed into Jasper the town, had supper and checked out the town. We are going to sleep in the van tonight.

Tetons-Yellowstone Week

Day 1 June 17^th Denver to Rock Springs, WY

Chels is already freaking out because of the heat and packing. (I had to change clothes in the van because I was soo hot) We got all packed up, got the GPS and Sirius Radio and of course the traveling guitar…and hit the open road. Wyoming was very windy so the kite flying was amazing. We ended the day setting up the tent on a random road and watching the sunset.

Day 2 June 18^th Rock Springs, WY to Grand Teton NP

Driving to Jackson Hole there was approximately 75 miles of construction, one gas station and no bathrooms. But the Wind River Range is gorgeous! We were on a scenic byway with tons of antelopes and averaging 27 mpg. Pinedale is a very cute town! “Jacob get it!!” exclaims Chelsey as she sees a moose swimming across the river. The van is starting to act up…but the park is amazing! It seems as thought the mountains rise up endlessly from complete flatness. There have bear and moose jams on the hwy. We road our bikes from Jackson Lake/Single Mountain (where we are camping for the night) to Jenny Lake for a total of 20 miles. Now the mosquitoes are eating us so off to bed we go. We listened to kids sing us to sleep this night.

Day 3 June 19^th Teton NP

We decided to try to get the van to town to get it fixed. We turned the key and nothing happened. We got it jumped twice but did not make it very far. We pulled off on the side of the road and people thought we were spotting some wildlife and no we were broken down. We rode our bikes to Jenny Lake Lodge and called for a tow. 3 hours later (it was only supposed to be an hour) a truck showed up and we went into Jackson. The tow guy was weird and called us suckers for being teachers. But everyone in Jackson was so nice…all wanting to give us rides places so that we would have to ride our bikes everywhere. We rode our bikes and walked all around town. Chels accidentally spit on another biker…oops! We went to a little league baseball game, ate at pizza hut, and looked at all the cute shops. We stayed at a hotel and ended the hard day with much needed beer and cable TV.

Day 4 June 20^th Teton to Yellowstone

Because the tow guy took 3 hours to get us- the van was fixed this morning. We picked it up, gassed up, picked up our tent (we got a citation for leaving a cooler out- that is breaking the beer caution rules!) and we headed to Yellowstone. We got denied for a camp spot when we got there so we are going to spend the night in the van. We drove to Old Faithful and put our tourist caps on. We walked the boardwalk and saw Castle, Old Faithful (2), Daisy, Grotto, Riverside, and the Grand go off. The Grand and Riverside were probably our favorites. The Giant and Morning Glory pools are amazing! We meet some sketchy oil rig workers and spotted a black bear on the hill side- far far away. It rained so we ate supper in the van and became geyser hunters. We had an ice cream picnic at Riverside after racing there on our bikes to get there right when it started. It was sweet. We went to the Grand, the largest predictable geyser in the world. We ended the night looking at gift shops, Old Faithful going off at sun down and crawling into the back of the van to sleep in a sketchy parking lot.

Day 5 June 21^st Yellowstone to Cooke City, MT

Today we saw: beaver, bison, deer, elk, bearish (2 bear jams), antelope, hawk (grabbing something out of the air), coyote, fox, big horn sheep, cranes, moose…whoa!! Today we looked at more geysers at Black Sand Basin and Biscuit Basin. We saw Excelsior geyser crater- Amazing, some mud pots, and Spasm geyser go off. We saw tons of bison, almost a bear (the ranger would not let us get out of our car) and hiked to the upper and lower falls. We hiked 328 stairs to the lower falls. We ended the tourist part in Mammoth Springs (nothing special there). We noticed the amazing re-growth of the new trees coming in from the fire. There was also a bison jam going over a pass out of the valley. I guess he closed down the road for hours. We headed east through the Lamar Valley which is Beautiful!! There are rolling green hills, streams and mountains all in one spot. In the valley we saw bison breeding grounds, 2 more bear jams (we really need binoculars), moose (2 different times- a mom and baby and then a bull), huge elk and a giant sweeping valley with snowcapped mountain vistas. We camped in a campground but were a little nervous because there are signs EVERYWHERE about grizzly bears significant in this area. There is a $150 fine if you leave food or water unattended in your camp spot. Soooo we slept in the van.

Wedding Day

The wedding was absolutly perfect!!! What more can I say? If you were there you know how special it was, if not, I'm sorry you couldn't make it. -Jacob

Moving Day

Jacob-We spent the entire day packing up the house into boxes, then Chels scrubbed the entire place until it shined like a new penny while I lugged all of it 200 yds to the garage. I am consistently amazed at how much stuff you can accumulate.
Chelsey- i cant breathe tonight because i think i have inhaled too many fumes today. Hopefully I am not high.