Grand Teton National Park

After spending two days in Yellowstone, we went to Grand Teton for a couple of days. Grand Teton is just an hour or so south of Yellowstone.

Although Yellowstone is so much larger, Grand Teton can certainly hold it's own with it. We stayed in a "tent cabin " in Colter Bay Village on Jackson Lake inside the park. Those of you who don't tent camp would be appalled by the accomodations, but for those of you who do, these tent cabins are a terrific deal. About $60 a night, basically they are a concrete floor, with two walls of wood and two walls of canvas, with a canvas roof and canvas covered deck. There are two fold down bunk beds (bring your own sleeping bags), a couple of shelves, an indoor wood stove, outdoor fire ring and bear box. There are shared flush toilets, with pay showers a little bit away. It's basically a little step up from tent camping. There are also conventional cabins for those who like it a little more comfortable.

There is also a marina on Jackson Lake where you can rent various types of boats, an activity center to sign up (for a fee) for fishing, rafting, horseback riding and lake cruises. The resort also has a regular campground and RV campground, a restaurant, cafeteria, grocery store and gift shop. These are all run by a concessionaire.

At Colter Bay, there is also a great visitor center, run by the National Park Service, with all kinds of hikes and activities as well as a pretty nice Indian Museum.

But enough about the amenities: the star of the show is the park itself. The view of the mountains can't be beat, it's what draws many first time visitors to the park. The park didn't feel crowded to us the way some others did (Grand Canyon, Redwoods, even Glacier). To us, it felt a little more wild than Yellowstone, but a bit more accessible than Glacier.

Weather was sunny and cool during the day, in the 60s, maybe low seventies, and it was cold at night, in the low 30s, maybe a little colder (and this is mid-August mind you).

The park has several historical sites to capture the lives of the European settlers from a century ago, and, as we said, has a really nice Indian museum to give visitors an understanding of the native people who were there first.

Mike fished on the Snake River and caught some cutthroat trout (he let them go again). While fishing, he also saw some otter pups - (once the otters arrived, though,that was the end of the fish). We saw bald eagles, elk and, some moose during our stay.

The girls just loved the tent cabins and were especially excited to see the moose.

Above are pictures of the mountains, our tent cabins and a photo of a moose with her calf.

Yellowstone

We just spent two days in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. This really is the mother of all parks; two days was nowhere near enough time to visit. This is definitely one of our favorite parks (though we say that about so many of the national parks). Yellowstone is very kid-friendly and there are so many things to do; it is a huge park, with incredible diversity in its landscape and wildlife. For folks who haven't been there, it has an area with canyons and waterfalls, some grassland, some terrific fishing rivers, a very large lake, and don't forget, hydrothermals (Old Faithful and company).

We saw herds of buffalo, herds of elk and a bald eagle (flying over Lake Yellowstone).

President Obama came to Yellowstone the same time we did to see Old Faithful. (we didn't see him, just his helicopters). Here is a photo of the geyser, the President's helicopter and a gi-normous buffalo that walked past our car when we were stuck in traffic. (The traffic jam, I think, was due to the President's visit, this was all going on at the same time).

We just love Yellowstone and really hope to get back there for a longer visit next Summer.

Glacier National Park

We just spent three days in Glacier National Park; all on the west side of the park, for those of you who know the area. We spent the first night at a somewhat run down, but nicely-funky motel/cabin cluster called the Sears Motel in West Glacier. We spent the next night at Glacier Park Lodge also in West Glacier, and the last night in Many Glacier Hotel, further into the park.

We have been trying to get to Glacier for many years, so are glad we finally made it. It is the most rugged park we've been to and we thought it had the most unique landscape. Above is one view of the mountains. Mike and Grace did a day long trip through the park on one of the red antique buses the park is known for. The whole family did a boat cruise on one of the lakes as well.

In a lot of ways, this park is less "kid-friendly" than the others we've been too. There aren't a huge number of easy hikes, the hotels (in the park) aren't really tailored to families, and it is a little hard to get from some sections of the park to the others. And, despite its reputation for remoteness, the areas we stayed in were very, very crowded (though it is peak season).

Having said all of the, the park is extrmely beautiful. Above is a a picture of the mountains, as well as the hotels we stayed in .

Shooting Through Washington

Because of limited time, we're motoring quickly through Washington (and a little bit of Idaho) on our way to Glacier Park, Montana. We really would have liked to spend time in the Pacific Northwest, but, as the case with a couple of other places, we figured rather than rush through the area, we would table it for now, and see it the right way some time in the future.

We should have paid more attention to our geography classes in school; Oregon and Washington were nothing like we imagined. (We had envisioned Oregon and Washington as being all big pine forests and lumberjacks. ) Coastal Oregon had some great forests, but was more like a northern New England coast (with better beaches and better weather). Oregon Dunes looked really amazing; we hope to get back there some day.

We followed the Columbia River a bit (through the scenic gorge over the mountains); that, too, was a really beautiful car trip. We then drove up through Central Washington via Ellensburg to Spokane. This area was primarily desert- it looked sort of like what we saw in Colorado before getting up in the mountains. The weather was more temperate, though: around 80, with really high winds. Folks we spoke to say it's really windy like this all of the time.

In Ellensburg, where we camped the first night, we were next to a very pretty river; the Yakima; it's supposed to be an excellent trout stream. Here's a picture of our campsite. We also stayed the night outside of Spokane, where we ended up in a campsite close to a railroad crossing. The owner had warned us that the campground movie might be a bit loud, but didn't bother to mention the freight trains with their piercing horns that passed through several times during the night. It was a little bit like something out of "My Cousin Vinny". But the owners seemed like nice folks and it was otherwise a nice campground. That stuff's all part of a roadtrip.

Oregon Coast

We drove up the Oregon Coast from northern California today. We had thought it would be more of the same, but the coast was really different from what we saw in California. It was especially striking around the Oregon Dunes- these huge coastal dunes in the Pacific Northwest which are designated a National Recreation Area. This part of the coast seems to have everything all in one place: deep woods, mountains, rivers and oceans.

On the route, we crossed over several really beautiful concrete bridges in an elaborate art-deco style that seemed more like something you would see in NYC rather than the Oregon Coast. We googled them, and it turns out these bridges are kind of famous: they were built by a man named Conde McCullough in the 20s and 30s. Here's a link to some info about the bridges: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BRIDGE/docs/SpanningOregonsCoast/newest_spanning_brochure.pdf

Two other things worth mentioning about today's leg of the trip:

1. Best Fish and Chips Ever: At a little place called the Crazy Norwegian, it's by the side of the road in Port Orford OR. The fish tacos, lemonade and pie were also terrific.

2. Worst Campsite Ever: At the KOA in Waldport, Oregon. We booked a tent site and what we got was- literally- a double-wide parking spot behind a utility shed. It was so genuinely awful, it was worth a photo (picture above). It's actually worse than it looks in the picture. We ended up staying in a hotel instead.

Redwood National and State Parks

After heading north from Mendocino, we visited the Drive Thru Tree; photo above. (Irene is addicted to roadside attractions, and this one is iconic). We then continued through Humboldt County, which, in additon to being America's marijuana capital, has a terrific redwood park: old growth redwoods and sunshine, something you don't see further North.

We spent the past couple of nights outside of Crescent City, near the Oregon border and the northern gateway to Redwood National and State Parks. The parks are great, someone told us parts of E.T. were filmed here. Don't know if it's true, but the old groves do look just like the place where E.T crashed.

It seems very prehistoric, all misty and overcast, with huge trees and huge ferns under them. The national/state parks have not only redwood forests, but prairie (where we saw elk, photo above) and rivers and ocean environments as well. We're very glad we were able to spend a few days here.

MacKerricher State Park (Mendocino)

After leaving Petaluma, we headed up the coast, breaking our journey at MacKerricher State Park north of Mendocino and Ft Bragg. So far, this has been the campground Mike liked the best. The water is too cold and rough for swimming, but there are lots of trails and tidal pools (photo of girls' in the tidal pools above. Also a picture of them in front of a whale skeleton at the campground's nature center). Mendocino is something out of a postcard; I believe they filmed Murder, She Wrote, around here. Ft Bragg is a little less picturesque, but maybe a bit more authentic.

There are a lot of young and not so young people around Ft Bragg and points north whose situation is a little hard for us to place. They are sort of grunge/mother earth and look a little weatherbeaten. They seem to hang out by the side of the highway and the supermarket parking lot. We were wondering if they are homeless, or one step up from that, or maybe it's just a look they cultivate (like our urban gangsters back East).

We mentioned in earlier posts how severe the recession seems to be in California. The northern section of the coast seems to be even harder hit.

It has been extremely difficult for us to reserve campsites in the state campgrounds. While there are a great many of them, they are all booked solid. Despite their popularity, because of the recession, a number of them are scheduled to be closed. At first the governor was talking about 250 closures. Last I heard it was 86, with the parks to be selected after Labor Day. It seems the public benefit of these parks greatly outweighs the very small cost of keeping them open, but I imagine when you're also laying off sheriffs and police, everything needs to be on the block.