Twenty Trip--An Unexpected Roadtrip

Wednesday, September 12th, 2012

Our last day of true vacation!

We left the Oregon Trail and continued back towards the East, quite melancholy at the thought of our vacation ending. Then panic set in.

Vacation? Done? Finished? Completely?! We can't have that! It can't be over that quickly! Besides, we still lack several souvenirs for the folks back home! Quick, turn the car around!

We left the hotel in Laramie and stopped at a gas station parking lot to decide where to go. The result?

Estes Park, Colorado!

My parents and sister had stopped there briefly during her Twenty Trip back in 2010, so we thought it would be a fun side-trip. 

Plenty of interesting shoppes to poke through and souvenirs to obtain.

Off we went. The terrain was most interesting, how we went from the flat, flat lands of southern Wyoming, into bluffs and hills, then suddenly we were in the mountains! These were impressive, but not as much so as the Beartooth or the Tetons. Those ranges just shot up out of nowhere, where as coming into Estes park the climb was more gradual.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

I should have kept count of the national forests we drove through.

The fog lent a fairytale quality to the mountains. Who knows how much further they go up?

Mom was trying to take a nice picture, but I hadn't photobombed at ALL for this entire trip! I got this one in, though. It's a good one.  

We stopped by the river (name of river: unknown) to take pictures. Oh, beautiful! 

It was chilly, definitely a mid-fall afternoon, but enjoyable.

One can almost see a castle atop this.

Dad and I on a (very slippery) boulder in the middle of the river. 

Mom stayed safely on dry ground, camera in one hand and 911 on speed-dial in the other 

for when we fell in.

Had to take a pic with Spidey! 

(Haven't you noticed him in previous pictures? He's in quite a few, the sneaky little photobomber.)

This is my new shop! I should have applied to work there--see that "help wanted" sign in the window? How cool would it be for a Laura to work at Laura's?

To polish it all off, we swung by Rocky Mountain National Park. Technically we never went inside the park, but I walked to the other side of the sign--that counts, right?

The end!

My Twenty Trip was over before I knew it. We drove late into the night, found a hotel in the middle of somewhere, and drove more the next day. My aunt and uncle in Gilman, Iowa

fed us lunch, then we made our way back home.

What a vacation. I'd change a few minor details, but nothing major. Another week would have been nice, but at the same time it may have been to long. 

I was glad to be home, but the travel bug has bitten.

Thank you for reading, folks! I'm sure I can sort a few more pictures into another post or two, but we shall see. I'm not sure where this blog shall go next.

Have a good one!

~Kiwi~

Twenty Trip ~In Which we Visit the Oregon Trail

Tuesday, September 11th, 2012

On Tuesday we departed Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and began our journey home. This was the beginning of the end, and I was sad, leaving all those gorgeous mountains behind!

We left without breakfast, winding our way through the mountains, past the remains of the fire, a cattle roundup, and a "Bridge For Sale!" (That's just what it was. A metal bridge sitting in a front pasture, nothing beneath it but grass, For Sale.)

We stopped in Pinedale, WY for a quick oil change and breakfast. Sadly, we didn't take any pictures of that pretty town. We came in on this wide four-lane road, nary a car in sight! All the buildings on either side of the road were old, with wide porches and false fronts.

We ate in a small restaurant next door to the auto shop, feasting on hot chocolate, coffee, pancakes, hashbrowns, and bacon.

The Pinedale welcome center was our next stop. (That welcome center had a positively ENORMOUS stuffed grizzly bear! I was a little afraid to stand by it, it was so huge!) The lady there gave us very good instructions on how to find a well-preserved spot on the 

Oregon Trail, so off we went.

We stood by the Big Sandy Crossing sign for a while, looking around and taking pictures. Across the street and the "Big Sandy" (which was actually rather small by my standards) was this cliff and the actual, honest-to-goodness Oregon Trail.

See the trail?

I spent my childhood reading about the Oregon Trail. Playing Oregon Trail with my sister in the pasture across the street. Playing not one, but TWO versions of Oregon Trail on the computer. Imagining the Oregon Trail. I probably even started a few stories about living 

on the Oregon Trail!

And here I am. Walking on the Oregon Trail!! 

We can cross this off my bucket list!

There were no signs on the fence on this side of the road, so we ducked through the 

barbed wire to explore.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the Big Sandy River.

I considered losing my hiking boots and going wading, but Mother discouraged that.

Here you can see the trail snaking away through the sagebrush (which made me sneeze quite violently, by the way) and off into the hazy distance.

The terrain was most interesting.

Don't worry, Oregon Trail, I'll be back!

~Kiwi~

Twenty Trip ~ Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Oh dear. Here I am, eleven months later, and I still haven't finished my vacation picture blogging! I apologize for the length of time between posts. Busyness has taken a hold of my life once again, though not too much of it is exciting.

I will do my best to finish up before September 1st, the one year anniversary of our departure. Before  I get into the actual post, I'd like to give a quote from a blog I look at every now and again, by Carlotta Cisternas. 

(For a link to the post the quote is from, click "last summer" in the quote.)

I have heaps of photographs from my trip to Europe last summer that I've never shared. Last summer. How is that even possible? It's ridiculous how much I miss it; the dull ache of never really goes away.

Just replace the "Europe" and "last summer" with "out West" and "last September," 

and the quote applies here quite well.

Okay, on to the vacation story.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Monday was our day in town. We visited just about every quaint shoppe and not-so-quaint shoppe in Jackson, Wyoming! To start off, we visited a Pearl Street Bagels, about two blocks from the hotel. The place was packed, and with good reason! The bagels were good, the coffee was good, the hot chocolate was good... Right tasty all around. 

Next door to the bagel place we found this quaint little building. This is a historical site in Jackson (Don't ask me why!) and as of September last year, it was for sale, along with the small white building you can see on the right of the picture.

We considered buying it and starting a muffin or cookie shop. 

The yellow building was a mere $1.25 million dollars. 

Seriously.

If I could find the flyer I'd prove it.

The two buildings together were two point five MILLION dollars! What a steal! 

Of course I had my picture taken under one of the famous antler arches in the square. Just north of Jackson is the elk refuge. Each spring when the elk leave, the local boy scouts gather the antlers and auction them off (sounds like a better deal than their popcorn!). At some point, people started stacking and weaving the antlers together. 

I wonder how many antlers went into each arch?

"Don't look now, but..."

"Oh."

"Why hello there, Mister Bear!"

While in Jackson, I found me a man. He's the strong, silent type. A little on the short side, but the ten gallon hat disguises that. =)

For supper we had grilled salmon at the Teton Steakhouse, which I just discovered is no more. 

I decided that I like smoked salmon a bit better--this was a tad dry--but all-in-all the food was very good.

(Who can resist a few food pics?)

That day was a long shopping day, and a bit frustrating because of the high prices and low-quality of the souvenirs. I wish we had been able to find more of an interesting local place, perhaps an antique shop, but we didn't go very far off the beaten path. Next time I go out West, I think I'll make it my goal to hunt down some good thrift stores. 

Who knows, maybe the western thrift stores have more exciting stuff than Wisconsin ones?

~Kiwi~

Twenty-Trip -- Fire in Jackson Hole!

Sunday, September 9th, 2012

 

As we descended the trail we noticed an impressive plume of smoke rising above Jackson, and another to the east. This required investigation.

 

 

 There were two fires that started late on Saturday. This one was just south of Jackson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (This is the one further east--we didn't check that one out.)

 



 

There were airplanes and helicopters taking off from the airport as we drove back into town. As we approached, we could see them swoop in to pour flame-retardent on the hillside.

 

 

 

(We spent a good 15 minutes watching them on Monday, too.)

 

This is the view from the vistors' center lawn, just north of town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After supper we went a little ways south of town, to where we could see the fire glowing on the hills.

 

 

As it got darker, we saw more and more little orange spots jump up here and there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fire-watching became boring after a while, even with all the eavesdropping we were able to do on our fellow watchers, so we went back to the hotel.

 

 

 The orange glow in the centre is the fire trying to cross the ridge. Firefighters were trying all day and night to keep it from crossing the ridge, because then it would be hard to keep it from sweeping down into the valley,

and eventually into Jackson itself.

 

I sat outside for a good hour or so, watching the fire through binoculars and talking with my friend on the phone.

It made for an exciting night!

 

~Kiwi~