Category: Uncategorized

Going to the Sun

Scored tickets for timed entry onto the Going to the Sun Road.

First, from camp-

Fluffed some steel wool into the gappy spots on our tailgate
May not be foolproof but hope it’s mostly mouse proof. Things the first time in 3 years we’ve had a mouse in the house (truck)
Night camp
Young buck at site across from us
Apgar campground, Loop C. Sites are pretty spacious and spaced out.

Going to the Sun Road- photos can not even come close to capturing the majestic beauty of these mountains and lakes and waterfalls.

The famous Glacier Red Buses
Huckleberries
St. Mary’s Lake
Pileated Woodpecker

Heading north to Glacier.

We’re flying by the seat of our pants here. We have three last minute nights booked at a site in Glacier starting TOMORROW night. Not completely sure where we’ll end up tonight so check back on this page later!

Leaving Grand Teton NP this morning, on the John D Rockefeller Parkway, we went around a corner and had a young adult GRIZZLY BEAR run across the road right in front of us! It happened so fast we couldn’t even snap a phone photo.

Now here we are in West Yellowstone, MT again.

McDonalds- Anyone who knows Josie knows this is a given
Candy store we saw on Instagram

Made an unexpected stop at the Hebgen Lake visitor center, which documents the historic 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Hebgen_Lake_earthquake.

Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park

We were able to roll in here and get a site. They have a nice overlook, gift shop and restaurant.

Our site m A-4 in Lewis and Clark SP
Rare down town, sitting in the sun reading our books

THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A NEW DAY’S BLOG POST:

Second night in a row I was awakened by the sound of small animals and crinkling wrapper. Guess what, it wasn’t something OUTSIDE the truck after all. It was a MOUSE and it was INSIDE the truck bed. A couple days ago I found a suspicious shredded paper towel but no other mouse signs. Yesterday I found a little bag of peanut butter-filled pretzels chewed up and realized we had had a visitor. Last night at 2:18am I peeked down at the little food box we were dumb enough not to put into the truck cab, and yep, a mouse. I tried to scare him off and he started running all over the place. I knew it was too much to hope he ran out and in fact I could hear him all night. Luckily the stupid RV next to us had its AC running all night so that periodically muffled the sound enough for me to fall back asleep. So around 8am we unpacked the whole truck and found the little guy and despite his insistence that he stay I finally scared him out. We don’t know WHERE HE WENT when he left. I don’t want to think about it. We packed everything back in and about an hour later I realized the extent that mouse had gone to building a nest when we found about 2 cups of shredded paper towels in my also partially shredded Nike sneakers. Josie woke up part way through that mouse extraction and delighted in taking video of the whole thing. Maybe we’ll post that on YouTube. Ed told the kids I shot it. Of course I did not, though Erin questioned it. At 2:18am I had considered it though.

We made it to Glacier NP. Ed was lucky he was able to book 3 nights, last minute, at Apgar campground. Someone must have cancelled their reservation because usually, if you can even get lucky, these sites need to be reserved six months in advance.

Just pulled in to the campsite
Josie, Butte, MT McD

Colter Bay campsite

Our week of luxury Airbnb is over. I will say that those rentals in Dubois and Wapiti have even further endeared these particular areas to me and my constant Wyoming house and land searches. Some day, some day. But suffice it to say I recommend those areas if you’re planning to adventure in Wyoming. So with the rest of the family back home, we managed to snag a site at Colter Bay campsites. We had some pop up rain and it went from a little too warm to surprisingly chilly, but we had the best night’s sleep of the trip. I was sleeping by 7pm and woke up at 2am to the sound of animals scurrying around the site. I looked but didn’t see anything but am pretty sure it was the ground squirrels that had holes all over the place.

Yellowstone, last big family day

The rest of the family flies back to their homes tomorrow so we had to cram a lot of Yellowstone into today.

Dragon’s Mouth Spring, bison resting
Bison now agitated by person flying a DRONE illegally at Yellowstone. Ask me to tell you the story
View from Artist Point of The Lower Falls
The Grant Canyon of Yellowstone
One of our favorite spots, The Buffalo Bar, in West Yellowstone, MT
Chopped Taco Salad, with ground bison
Our lovely ride, at the trailhead at Mt. Washburn
Typical residents of Lamar Valley
“Red dog”, baby buffalo

Yellowstone

Our Starlink doesn’t work so reliably through the trees at our campsite so I can’t post the blog end of day like I usually do.

This fox had a mouthful. We actually turned around to check it out. It appeared to have a mouse, a bird and maybe a pika. We got some good camera photos we will add. And we also came across a couple fox kits. Pics to follow!

Yellowstone NP

Was about 7 hours from Laramie to Yellowstone. We browsed a bit through Dubois to check the location of the house the family rented for part of next week and also drove up a very sketchy (read unpaved mud road) to try to peek at a house for sale I’ve been watching on Zillow. Now we’re at our campsite, have the tent and truck set up, the Lava Box lit and Josie’s hammock set up.

Josie was making smores and a little squirrel hopped right on the picnic table as she was putting it together. I sure wish I had video of that nonsense because we surely made fools of ourselves trying to chase him off.