Category: Wyoming
Our 2021 Travels

Our 2021 Travels

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Hey Guys! It’s December 31…the last day of 2021…and I thought it would be fun to do a review of our travels for this year!

With everything that was going on this year, not only in our country, but worldwide…we weren’t sure how much traveling we would be able to get in. But, you know I had a plan and had us reserved just incase we could travel. Well, not only did things workout…we ended up spending time in sixteen states this year! We added twenty-nine new National Park Units to our overall NP count and managed to visit a new-to-us unit of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge…so 30 NPs all together for us this year. That puts our total National Park count at 189 of the official 423 National Park Units. So…we still have plenty to get to!!

While we spent most of the year traveling, we still got in several weeks of mooch-docking with family in Missouri so we could spend time with some of our favorite humans and get some projects done on our home-on-wheels. It’s always good to go home and see family. It’s always hard to say goodbye when we leave. Some goodbyes are harder than others…

We also had some celebrations during 2021! The boys are now 21, 18 and 17…and we had two high school graduations this year! Two! That means that we are officially done with homeschooling. I’m not sure how I feel about it…it is bittersweet.

We went through all of our 2021 travels and picked out our top ten favorite places we explored this year…so let’s get into it.

The first place we’re going to revisit on our top ten is Wall Drugs in South Dakota. Wall Drugs is in our number 10 spot. I know what you’re thinking…Jennie, Wall Drugs? Really?

Guys…Really. This place was unreal. We’ve explored quite a few places and have been to many many stores during our almost seven years of this crazy #nomadlife and we’ve never seen a store like Wall Drugs. We stayed about a block from it while we were in the area…so we got to see the crowds that came every…single…day. All Day. People would start lining up before they even opened, just to get their famous maple donuts or pecan sticky buns. Because we were staying so close for two weeks, we spent quite a lot of time in Wall Drugs perusing all it has to offer. If you ever need or want a souvenir for South Dakota…this is definitely your place. If you need a break from driving and some foodies…this is definitely your place. If you’re into quirky roadside attractions that have interesting history…this is definitely your place. If you’re anywhere near Wall, SD at all…Wall Drugs is SO worth a stop.

In the number 9 spot is Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota.

When we started this nomad life way back in 2015, we wanted to show our boys the Country they live in. We didn’t want to show them just the shiny pretty places, we also wanted to teach/show them our Nation’s history. Places like Pipestone National Monument, which preserves over 3,000 years of history, is a prime example of why we chose to live a nomad life in order to travel. We’ve learned so much history that we would have never even known about over the last almost seven years. There’s so much out there they don’t teach us in public schools. The historical National Parks like Pipestone NM are some of our absolute favorite National Park Units.

Keeping with our love of history lessons…it won’t surprise you that Scotts Bluff National Monument in Nebraska made it to the number 8 spot on our top ten for 2021.

Scotts Bluff NM has both amazing views and a rich history. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Scotts Bluff NM. It was late Spring/early Summer when we went so the flowers were still in full bloom and the heat was ramping up. The day we went, we saw temps in the 90s so we didn’t spend as much time hiking as we’d’ve liked, but we hiked some and spent time in the visitor center museum learning. I never thought of this kind of landscape when I thought of Nebraska…we were pleasantly surprised not only with this park, but with this area.

Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site in Pennsylvania sits in the number 7 spot on our 2021 list.

When I asked the boys to name their favorite places we explored this year…it surprised me when more than one of them mentioned Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site. This is one of the smaller parks we visited but it’s absolutely crammed with not only history…but also engineering. So, it probably shouldn’t have surprised me that my little nerds liked this NP unit so much. We learned about railroad engineering and the way railroads changed life along their routes.

Sitting in the number 6 spot is Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

Devils Tower NM is steeped in local Native American history and lore. We loved learning not only about the science of it, but also the lore woven around it. We visited this park on two separate days and it was insanely busy both days. If you go, make sure to pack your patience and since there’s not a lot of educational info available (no museum), which really surprised us, make sure to grab a Ranger and ask about the science and lore of the “tower”.

With our love of battlefields and history…it won’t surprise you to see Stones River National Battlefield in Tennessee sitting at the number 5 spot of our 2021 list.

If you’ve been following along at all, you’ll know battlefields are our jam. So much so, that earlier this year we did a battlefield tour of Tennessee. And while all battlefields have certain things in common…the cannons…the war…the death… there are also the stories of life and perseverance and love…and those are what draw us in. You can learn so much from the stories that surround the battlefields. Stones River was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The stories we read…especially one about two brothers…really touched the boys and made a lasting impact on their views of life. This is what National Parks will do…they’ll change you for the better.

There are only three places that made it to our top ten that aren’t National Park units. The number 4 spot is one of those with James Island County Park in South Carolina.

Guys…this park is awesome! It’s not only on our top ten of 2021 list…it’s on our top places to stay list. I would go back to this area just to stay at this park. When I booked this place…it was a last resort. There aren’t a ton of places to stay in the Charleston area and when the place we usually stay wasn’t taking reservations because of the whole CV thing…and then the other places I tried were either closed or refusing to take reservations that far out…I ended up taking a chance on James Island County Park. It was the best decision. We love everything about this park. From the walking trails to the fishing pier (sunset pics) to the paddle boats (watch out for the gators) this park is the best one we’ve found in a long time.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee has the number 3 spot on our 2021 list.

There are 423 National Park Units. Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited National Park unit in the United States. While the park was crowded every single time we went, we were still able to find a few quiet places. There is an underrated beauty to this park that is refreshing. We’ve found that while the “old man mountains” of the Smokies aren’t big and flashy…you won’t find the dramatic views like you’ll find in the Rocky Mountains or the Sierra Nevadas…there is a quiet calm and a beauty to the Smokies. Tranquil is the word that comes to mind…even with the crowds.

Custer State Park in South Dakota is firmly in the number 2 spot of our 2021 list.

Custer SP should definitely be a National Park. We stayed just outside it for two weeks and good grief…the whole area is amazingly gorgeous. This park has it all! Views, hikes, wildlife… We look forward to going back someday. Hopefully, without the tornado that went through while we were there.

As soon as we started making a list of our favorite places of 2021, Badlands National Park was the first place we thought of. And, while we might have disagreed about which numbers the other places on the list fell…we all agreed that the number 1 slot definitely belongs to Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

Guys, this park blew us away! Badlands NP isn’t just on our favorites list for this year, it’s made its way onto our overall favorite list as well. We saw so much wildlife at this park…and the colors were just…amazing. We went in the Spring while everything was still green and the bison were starting to shed their winter coats and all of the baby animals were bouncing around. Badlands NP has got to be one of the most underrated NPs in the NPS system. We spent two weeks going in and out of Badlands and completely loved it.

And….with a year of travel comes a year of foodies. We started listing the places that were fabulous…the places we wanted to include…and well, you can imagine that the list kept growing. So, I’ll leave this collection of foodie pictures here and tell you that we had a very very good foodie year. So good, we all gained a few extra pounds. Ha!!

We’ve been living this crazy nomad life while we’ve been on our #grandadventure for almost seven years now. In those seven years we’ve seen so so many amazing places and made countless memories. We’ve learned more than I ever thought we would, traveled farther than I ever thought we would and did things I never thought we would have the chance to do together as a family. We’ve grown… in more than one way…some of us are quite a bit taller now than when we started this amazing journey all those years ago…and with that growth, comes a need for a change. We’ve decided that 2021 will be the last year we live the nomad life. It’s time we get a more permanent basecamp where the boys can learn how to adult “normally” and go to college and get jobs and start planning adventures of their own.

So…this is the end of our Grand Adventure as a #digitalnomadfamily and as fulltime RVers. When we started planning this whole crazy thing way back in 2014, we never thought it would become our life for almost seven years, take us to 49 states and shape us in the way that only traveling can. And, as with every end, there is the magic and promise of a new beginning. As 2021 ends and 2022 begins we look forward to the promise of adventures…of a new kind.

We hope y’all have a wonderful New Year filled with all of the amazing adventures your heart desires.

Thank you for coming along on this crazy nomadic ride with us…we’ve loved having you be apart of the journey!

Much Love,

Jerl, Jennie, Charles, Alex and Nicholas

#theend
The Plains

The Plains

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Hey Guys! We’ve spent six years criss-crossing all over our Country, but we haven’t really spent much time in the plains area. Why?

Storms.

The plains are known for their huge storms that pop up and roll through. When you live in an RV…storms are a pretty big deal. The plains section of our Country has always made me nervous so I haven’t had us spend much time there over the last six years. We’ve always just hopped through on our way one way or the other. But this year… this year we spent two weeks in Scottsbluff, NE. We were on our way back to Missouri from our South Dakota loop and we’d already had some nerve-wracking weather. The tornado that almost hit us while we were in Custer and the wind storm that blew over us in Sundance…I was pretty nervous about staying out in the middle of nowhere Nebraska where the plains are so vast and the storms can rage through. We did have some storms while we were in Scottsbluff, but thankfully, they were just regular old summer storms. Not a ton of wind and no hail.

We used Scottsbluff as our basecamp to explore three National Park Units. The first one we went to was Fort Laramie National Historic Site up in Wyoming. Fort Laramie was originally named Fort William and was opened as a trading post in 1834. In the 1840s it was sold to the American Fur Company. Improvements were made and the name was changed from Fort William to Fort John. In 1849, the US Army purchased Fort John to use as a post of protection at the crossroads of America for those traveling on the Oregon Trail, California Trail, and the Mormon Trail. Over time the name gradually changed from Fort John to Fort Laramie as travelers shortened the phrase “Fort John at the Laramie River”.

One of our favorite things about visiting National Historic Sites is the glimpse into the lives of the past. The National Park Service does such a great job at staging rooms and giving us a little look into how people lived in the past.

The day we were at Fort Laramie, there was a Living Historian there to show and explain what the inside of a tipi most likely looked like. We’ve seen tipis before, but hadn’t seen one set up like this. The historian talked to us about what life was like on the plains as a woman in a tribe. It was really interesting!

Other important trails that went through Fort Laramie were the Bozeman Trail, Pony Express, Transcontinental telegraph route, and the Deadwood & Cheyenne Stage Route. Fort Laramie National Historic Site preserves one of the most important locations of the westward expansion.

Not far from Fort Laramie, we found a place where we could stand on the ruts made from the thousands of wagons on the Oregon Trial. The wheels of the heavy wagons actually cut right through the rock and made a permanent path. We also found a place called Register Cliff. We’ve seen a few of these during our travels…there’s one in Utah and one in New Mexico that are both part of the NPS and are great! We always enjoy looking at all of the names carved into the rock by passing emigrants. There were quite a few newer names that had been carved into this particular Register Cliff.

Scotts Bluff National Monument protects about 3,000 acres and consists of towering bluffs, badlands, mixed-grass prairie (watch out for those rattle snakes) and a rich riparian area. Rising 800 feet above the North Platte River, Scotts Bluff has been an important landmark to emigrants traveling along the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, Pony Express and the California Trail.

We enjoyed driving up to the top of the bluff and doing both of the hikes available. The views were spectacular! We spent quite a bit of time in the little museum at this park. It has a surprising amount of information. We started to walk the Oregon Trail path outside of the visitor center, but the day we went to this park, the temps were triple digits and we decided against doing the whole trail. I found this painting of a woman holding her toddler while watching a line of wagons in front of Scotts Bluff in the visitor center…Guys, I can’t imagine how hard life was for the trail blazers who made their way west. They were truly made of tougher stuff than we are now. This was a great little park and totally worth the time to visit!

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument was the last place we explored during our week in Scottsbluff. The day we went…it stormed. We still managed to explore the visitor center and get in one hike…but check out those dark clouds. Those dark clouds came with a decent amount of wind and some really cold rain along with some hail too.

Originally, this area was a working cattle ranch called Agate Springs Ranch owned by Capt. James Cook. Then, in the early 1900s some paleontologists found a treasure trove of complete skeletons belonging to extinct Miocene mammals. When I first saw these skeletons…I thought they looked like little t-rex dinos but then I looked at the info sign and found out that they were huge pig like creatures that stood over six feet tall. Wow! That’s a lot of bacon! ;-P Seriously though…I would not want to run into something like that out on the trail.

Around the same time, a friendship between James Cook and Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota began. The museum in the visitor center has a wonderful collection of artifacts given to James Cook by his friends in the Lakota Tribe. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at all of the beautiful bead work in the museum. There was also a peace pipe made with red pipestone…from the Pipestone National Monument we went to earlier this year! If you missed that post, you can find it here. It was really something to see one of the pipes out and know where it came from and the history behind it. We’ve learned so much during this Grand Adventure/crazy nomad life of ours!

A big storm went over while we were in the visitor center. It got windy and hailed and poured rain. The lights flickered and I rushed to make our souvenir purchase just incase the electric totally went out. These tipis are right outside the visitor center…I braved the elements to grab the shot above so I could show you what one of those great big plains storms looks like. It was an impressive storm. I’m glad we weren’t out on a trail hiking when it hit.

Once the storm blew through (it was moving pretty darn fast), we headed out to one of the shorter hiking trails. The one we did was about two miles and super easy, but it had some breathtaking views of the plains! And…we got to see some of the actual fossils that make this park important. It looks like a corkscrew and it took paleontologists a while to figure out what exactly it is. It’s the fossilized burrow of an ancient prairie dog type animal. No joke. We can’t seem to get away from prairie dogs this year! LOL!! It was really neat to see and our nerd family learned so much.

You know all of those warning signs about danger noodles on the trails…well, they aren’t lying! We found this big snake skin on the trail on the way back to our car. So…this big ol’ nope rope was somewhere close by. I don’t handle snakes very well. I think I just about flew to the car after that.

I love sunsets…I love sunsets even more when they’re mixed with amazing cloud formations! Jerl and I were out walking in the RV park when we spotted this amazing cloud! We walked around then sat outside and watched it turn colors as the sun sank behind Scotts Bluff over at the National Monument.

We also had some electrical issues while we were at this park. They weren’t our issue…it was with the town…but the temps outside were close to triple digits. I don’t know if you know this…but when you live in an easy bake oven, it gets hot real quick when there’s no AC. It ended up getting to 93* in the RV. We were struggling to stay cool! Our AC units had already been struggling, but I think that when the eclectic blipped on and off and then went out, it did something to our AC units. They never seemed to get quite as cold or keep up with the heat after that. Guess we’ll need to look into replacing those sooner rather than later.

Guys…there were so many pretties blooming! It took me twice as long (maybe longer) than usual to hike because I kept stopping to snap pictures of all of the different flowers. Love them!!

We found a really great burger place called Goonies! We were going to go back, but we didn’t have time since we were only there for a week. We also made it to a Mexican food place and somehow ended up getting all of the dips. I’m a dip person…are you?

Well Guys, we crammed all of that into one week! It was an incredibly busy week and to be honest, we were all ready for a vacation from our crazy nomad life after the South Dakota loop!

See Y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Towers, Canyons, and Waterfalls

Towers, Canyons, and Waterfalls

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Hey Guys! After we left Custer, we headed to Sundance, WY to check out Devil’s Tower National Monument.

The plan was to have a slightly more relaxed week in Sundance, but well…that didn’t really happen. We found out about a few more things to see/do in the area so buckle up and lets go!

The main reason we went to Sundance was to visit Devils Tower NM. It ended up being about a thirty minute drive from Sundance and we ended up having to go twice. The first time we went happened to be the only day of the week that the visitor center was closed. *palm slap* And yes, before you ask, I did check the website before we went and didn’t see anywhere that they’d be closed that day. So, we hiked up to the base of the tower and checked it out with about a hundred other people before heading on. It was neat to see. We were really disappointed with the lack of info about the tower or lore of the area in the park. When we went back… we checked the visitor center for info and didn’t find anything in the visitor center. We did notice that the local Tribes still put prayer bundles in the trees. That tells us they still see this land as scared. When I did some digging, I found that over twenty Tribes consider the site sacred.

Established in 1906, Devils Tower National Monument is America’s first National Monument. Wyoming is the home to the first National Park and the first National Monument! The tower is really a butte made of igneous rock from the cooling of magma. Over the years, the softer earth around it eroded away revealing the 1,267 foot butte we see today. For some reason, we’d all gotten it into our heads that the whole area would be more…desert like, but there was a nice forest surrounding the Tower! We were also surprised to see so much red dirt! It was almost like being back in the southwest! Almost. ;-} We found another prairie dog town! Is it just me, or are prairie dogs one of those animals you can watch for hours. They get up to so much mischief with one another! So much drama…LOL!

All of the Tribes have different names for the Tower…several of the names center around Bear. There are several different legends that go with the names, a few of them have a huge bear in them. I don’t know them well, but the one I can kind of remember goes like this… One day seven little Kiowa girls were playing far from their village and were chased by a bear. They ran on top of a rock and begged it to save them so the rock began pushing them up. The bear scratched up the rock and broke it’s claws as it was trying to get to the little girls. The bear kept jumping and the rock kept growing higher and higher until the little girls were in the sky where they still are today…the stars that make up The Pleiades.

We ended up doing two scenic drives here…one of them retraced a bit of the other…but the area is so pretty, no one really minded. We stopped by the Aladdin Tipple to see what we could see. The area is fenced off now because the darn thing is going to collapse any day. It looked like a strong breeze would knock it down, but it was neat to see. This mine was a coal mine used to supply coal to the gold mines of Lead and Deadwood. There were three different coal mines that used this tipple to supple coal to the train that would take it on to the gold mines. The last train left Aladdin in 1927.

We found the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center by accident. We were driving through and needed a place to stop and figure out our route. We pulled in the the parking lot of Sanford…and well…being the nerds we are, we spent time geeking out in the little museum learning about the Homestake Mine and the science lab that’s connected to the building that does dark matter experiments. We were really hoping a tour of the lab would be available…but nope. We were so incredibly bummed. Apparently, you have to be a legit scientist…with some letters after your name… to get into the lab.

In the little town of Belle Fourche (Bell Foosh), SD you’ll find a memorial for the geographical center of our Nation. This includes Alaska and Hawaii. And…if we’re being nit-picky…it’s not the actual location of the geographical center. That can be found in a field about twenty miles away, and I think it might be on private property, but this little memorial is close enough. We had a good time wandering around all of the flags and reading each state’s stats. It even has a plaque that looks a lot like an official geological marker where you can snap a picture! Totally worth the stop!

We were so close to Deadwood…and we knew y’all would ask us if we went… So, we stopped in and took a walk down the main street of Deadwood. Back in 1876, thousands of people made their way to the city of Deadwood in hopes of finding gold and like most gold mine towns back then…Deadwood was a wild, rough and lawless type of place. We saw the place where Wild Bill Hickok was shot by Jack McCall and the place where McCall was caught. We saw the famous Brothel and the historic Adams House. We opted not to take any of the tours. While we enjoy the history of places like this, none of us like the showy tourist side of it. We did find a wooden dragon (Toothless) that was pretty darn cool.

We skipped the daily shoot out/gun fight street show, but found our way up to the Mount Moriah Cemetery where we got our daily steps in walking up and down the steep hills. We found both Wild Bill Hickok’s and Calamity Jane’s grave sites. There were some beautiful lilac bushes blooming while we were there and I spent quite a bit of time with my nose stuck in them!

Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway snakes through a nineteen mile gorge with thousand foot high cliff sides and is filled to the brim with postcard worthy pullovers and hikes. You can easily fill an entire day or two hitting all of the hikes and sights on this scenic drive. We were there in the spring, but I’ve heard it’s absolutely gorgeous in the fall with the leaves changing colors. I’d love to go back someday!

I’ve had the Chapel In The Hills on the list for quite a while. It’s an exact reproduction of the famous Borgund Stavkirke in Laerdal, Norway and was built by a local Lutheran Church as a home for their radio ministry. Today, visitors are welcome to roam around and enjoy the peaceful area or walk the meditation trail. The chapel is gorgeous and definitely needs to be seen in person.

You’ll also find an authentic grass-roofed store house or “Stabbur” that is used as a welcome center/store. It was built in Norway and then reassembled in it’s current spot. We went in and bought a few Norwegian items. There’s also a little cabin that was built by a Norwegian immigrant gold prospector back in 1876 and is now used as a small museum. I loved walking around the little chapel and the grounds. We got there in the evening and had the place almost to ourselves. We were lucky with our timing…apparently, the chapel is a very popular wedding spot.

We were only in Sundance for a week but man-oh-man did we squeeze a lot of adventures into that one week! We found some pretty good foodies too! We had to have chislic one more time and we found the Deadwood location of the Chubby Chipmunk for some more hand dipped truffles! Jerl had one of the best Philly Cheesesteaks he’s ever had while we were in Deadwood…it was at a place called Mavericks. It’s a casino, but they let families go up to the restaurant. I found an Indian Taco at a little diner called Cheyenne Crossing in Lead, SD. I was skeptical about getting an Indian Taco in a state other than New Mexico, but someone at the RV park we were staying in told me that she grew up in New Mexico and thought the Indian Tacos were really good. And Guys…they are. Its not the same as the Navajo Tacos you get in the Southwest that are covered in spicy green chilies (those are still my fave), but the Indian Tacos at Cheyenne Crossing are so good I would totally go back just for another!

Well, Guys…I think I’ve covered everything we did in the Sundance area! We saw a lot, but missed just as much. I should have scheduled two or three weeks instead of just the one!

See Y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
An Unexpected Trip Home and Some Updates

An Unexpected Trip Home and Some Updates

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Hey Guys! Well, in true 2020 style…something went wrong.

We had three weeks left of the 2020 travel loop and Jerl’s right retina started to detach.

We were in the middle of exploring Yellowstone National Park when he started to notice some light tracers…which are the first signs that something isn’t right. Fortunately (I guess) this wasn’t his first experience with a detaching retina, so we knew what to expect and what needed to happen.

We ended up cutting our Yellowstone adventures short by a couple of days and start the long 1300 mile journey back to Missouri. Which…wasn’t our first experience with that either. During the last week of 2017 we were in Phoenix, AZ and had to make a similar trek. You can read about that adventure here if you missed it.

Before I get into the drive back to Missouri…let’s talk foodies from the West Yellowstone area. We found a couple of tasty spots! One was a food truck called Taqueria Malverde…it was really good Mexican food. Big portions, great food and nice people. The other place we found was The Buffalo Bar. We had some great burgers! We highly recommend both of these places if you’re ever in the West Yellowstone area.

There are a few different ways we could have left West Yellowstone and made our way back to Missouri. We decided to head south in Yellowstone National Park to the John D Rockerfeller Jr Memorial Parkway. The day we left was really smoky from all of the wildfires raging in the west.

This route let us drive through Grand Teton National Park one more time…and Guys, we saw eight grizzly bears! Eight!! The first three were hanging out on the road. We think they were juvenile males…possibly siblings. They were so goofy and unimpressed with all of the cars.

Right around the corner we ran into Mama Bear 399 with her four murder minions. Y’all know I wanted to see these bears sooo bad that while we were in Grand Teton earlier in the year, we’d gotten up at 4am to try and get a glimpse of these famous danger floofs. We never saw them during that trip, but Guys!!! We finally saw them! It kind of took some of the sting out of our situation.

To give you an idea of how smoky it was…the picture on the left is what the Tetons looked like when we were there back in early July of this year. I took the picture on the right as we were driving through Grand Teton NP in September this year.

Between the smoke from all of the California and Montana fires and then the smoke blowing up from the many Colorado fires, we saw really smoky skies for the first two days we were driving.

We made it to Missouri late that third day. While it was good to see family, it was still disappointing to miss several National Park Units and anxiety about upcoming eye surgeries was starting to set in.

We got back to Missouri on a Sunday and Jerl had eye surgery that Thursday. Everything went well. He had to lay face down for three weeks while his eye was trying to heal. It wasn’t his first eye surgery experience…and this one seemed to go smoother for him with less pain.

But now what?

We had to cancel the rest of our travel loop for 2020 and figure out what we wanted to do for the winter. With the whole virus thing still an issue plus all of the civil unrest/violence plaguing the country and the upcoming elections…we decided it might be a good idea to stick close to family this winter. Which means…we’re mooch-docking in my (Jennie’s) parent’s driveway until we head out again. We’re not sure when that will be. Like the rest of the world, we’re waiting to see how the whole virus thing plays out and how this coming election ends. By the time this post goes live, we will hopefully know who the next President will be and will have a better idea of what the heck we’re going to do with our 2021. Do we travel more? Do we buy a house and settle down?

You just never know with us.

See y’all down the road!
Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

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Hey Guys! We spent almost two weeks in West Yellowstone, MT so we could explore Yellowstone National Park. This is a park that everyone seems to compare all other parks to. We were both excited and a little… weary about exploring this park. We don’t have the best track record when it comes to enjoying the super popular parks. We’re not fans of overly crowded areas plus sometimes we’ve heard the hype and built it up so much in our minds that the park doesn’t have a chance to live up to our high expectations.

Yellowstone National Park is not only our Nation’s very first National Park it’s also the world’s very first National Park. When people find out we’re on a National Park Tour there are two parks they always ask about…Yellowstone and Glacier. And they were usually shocked when we told them that we hadn’t been to either park yet but had plans to…eventually.

At the heart of Yellowstone National Park sits the remnants of a supervolcano. This supervolcano last erupted somewhere around 631,000 years ago and now is the power behind all of Yellowstone’s hydrothermal features. You see signs everywhere warning about the fragile crust and the heat of the water. Another words…stick to the trails! Even with all of the signs, we saw people getting off the trails. This not only puts them in danger of falling through the thin crust and getting burned by the boiling water that’s sitting just under the surface of the crust…but it also damages fragile ecosystems that will take years to recover.

We liked to get into the park early in the morning. Not only were we avoiding the major crowds by getting out early, it was also easier to see where all the geysers were. It looked so otherworldly looking out over the land and seeing so many steam columns coming up from the various hydrothermal geysers, hot springs, steam vents and mud pots.

When you ask most people what first comes to mind when they think of Yellowstone National Park, more often than not they’re going to say Old Faithful. We spent almost an hour waiting for the famous geyser to do it’s thing. The park has tons of benches around the viewing area so people can sit and wait. It was…ok. I mean, I’m glad we saw it…but once was enough.

Old Faithful was first documented in 1870 and is one of Yellowstone’s more predictable geysers erupting about every 90 minutes. So, what’s a geyser? Basically, a geyser is a hot spring that has a narrow space somewhere in its “plumbing” system where steam and water will escape as pressure builds up. When pressure reaches a critical temp and the water bubbles harder…the geyser expels water and steam until the pressure in the plumbing has dropped again.

Old Faithful might be the most well known geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin, but it’s definitely not the only one. There are 150 different geysers, hot springs and steam vents found along a boardwalk trail. Honestly, I enjoyed the boardwalk trail more than Old Faithful. But that’s just me.

Even with the whole covid virus thing happening there were still tons of people at Yellowstone during our visit.

So many people. Everywhere.

We were told by one of the volunteers that the NPS had, for some reason, cut the Ranger numbers down to a quarter of what they usually were. I believe it. We hardly ever saw a Ranger out. We did see tons of people treating the park like their own personal playground. We saw someone moving a fence so they could park there. It was crazy.

Yellowstone is home to close to 10,000 hydrothermal features… that’s over half of the total hydrothermal features found worldwide. All of those hydrothermal features are evidence that the Yellowstone volcano is still very much alive and active.

They’re called thermophilic communities. Bacterial microbes from thick structures and mats…communities made of a descendant of an ancient bacterium called Thermocrinis. The colors and shapes of the communities depend on the types of microbes, pH, and temperature of the water. Mats can be as thin as a single piece of paper or as thick as a 600 page book. Cyanobacteria form columns or pedestals. These communities are made up of layers and can be a mix of thermophilic microbes.

Another hydrothermal feature you can find in Yellowstone National Park is called a mudpot.

A what?

A mudpot is exactly what it sounds like. A bubbling stinky mud pool. A mudpot forms when a hot spring is very acidic and has a limited water supply which causes the rock around it to dissolve into a thick slurry type substance. While I don’t love the smell…I do love the different colors and formations you can find in the area.

The Grand Canyon section of Yellowstone has several overlooks where you can get a good look at the Upper and Lower falls of the Yellowstone River. I wasn’t expecting canyons like this in Yellowstone. The canyon is just over 20 miles long and has some really pretty colors along the walls of the canyon.

Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces are constantly changing shapes and colors as hot springs go dormant and then suddenly come back to life. Hot water combined with dissolved limestone bubbles up to the surface and over time builds steps and terraces that can be different colors based on the temperature of the water.

We spent a couple of hours exploring the different terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. We got there early one morning and beat the crowd. I’d read that it’s a popular spot and to get a parking spot you need to get there before 10am. We were finishing up as the crowds started to descend and people were circling the parking lots trying to find a spot.

“For the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” President Roosevelt was visiting Yellowstone National Park in 1903 during construction of the north entrance arch and was asked to lay the cornerstone. The arch was then called the Roosevelt Arch. We drove all the way up to the north entrance just to see the Roosevelt Arch. I saw a picture of this arch in a textbook in elementary school and decided I would one day go see it. Seeing the arch in person after having it on my “bucket list” for so many years was amazing. The northern entrance was the first and main entrance into the park.

Yellowstone NP protects over 2.2 million acres of land. To give you some size perspective…that is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined. There are five entrances that will get you into the park and get you to the Grand Loop Road which is the way to get around the park. The loop road looks more like a figure eight and is about 142 miles long. We did it in two very full days. On day one we did the bottom half and then the next day we did the top half.

The main loop road might only be142 miles long but there are 300 miles of paved roads in the park that will take you off the beaten path.

If Old Faithful is the first thing people think of when you mention Yellowstone, Grand Prismatic is the second. This is what I really wanted to see. We tried to see it three times while we were in the park, but never made it there before the crush of people. Our last day in the park we went super early to beat the crowds…but…it was smoky from nearby wildfires and it was cold, so steam blocked most of the view. I really wanted to see those bright vibrant colors…but I have to admit, I’m not mad at the softer pastel morning lighting that we got.

We drove to both Lamar and Hayden Valleys to see the bison herds. Yellowstone NP is the only place in the United States where bison have continuously lived since prehistoric times. The herds here are the largest found on public lands. We saw so many bison and they pretty much go wherever they want to go…whenever they want to. We got to Yellowstone right as bison rut was starting. The bison bulls were pretty aggressive with each other and anyone else they felt might get in their way or challenge them. Including cars on the road. One bison charged a car and busted a tire. I guess he was tired of the paparazzi taking pictures. ;-p

Bison and elk roadblocks were a frequent thing. We also saw tourons trying to get killed by two ton bison bulls as they were taking pictures of it. I can’t believe we didn’t see anyone get hurt. It was close a few times though.

We saw tons of bison, loads of elk…pronghorn antelope, dragonflies galore…but no wolves or bears. We did see a bear print on a hike…but no actual bears.

We enjoyed our time in Yellowstone National Park. I’m not sure it made our top ten list. I mean…Yellowstone is definitely the most colorful and smelliest NP we’ve been to…but Guys, you can only look at so many geysers and hot springs before they kind of all start looking the same. I hate to say that…but I like to keep it real with y’all. While we totally appreciate the history of Yellowstone National Park and love the history/story this park is preserving…we probably won’t go back any time soon.

Our Yellowstone visit was cut short by two days when Jerl’s retina detached in his right eye. If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll know that he’s had two other detachments (both in his left eye) so… we knew what to expect and headed back to Missouri three weeks before schedule. I’ll tell you more about that in the next post.

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park

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Hey Guys!! We spent five days in the Wilson, WY area so we could explore Grand Teton National Park. If you can believe it…we actually took a vacation. Zero work was done. It’s a shocker…I know.

We haven’t taken an actual vacation in…well…I honestly can’t remember the last true vacation we’ve had. It was kind of weird and oddly exhausting all at the same time. Who knew vacations were so tiring? By the end of it…we were all ready to get back to our normal nomad routine.

Grand Teton National Park was formed in 1929 to protect the forty mile long Teton Range, but it actually protects closer to 310,000 acres. People have been coming to the Tetons for more than 11,000 years. The first people to call this area home were nomadic tribes who would stay in the Teton area during the summer months to hunt and then move to a different area for the winter.

Our first day in the park was cold and rainy. The entire Teton Range was hidden behind clouds the whole day. I worried that our entire stay would end up a bust and we wouldn’t get to lay eyes on the mountains the park was formed to protect.

We explored the park anyway and made a game plan for the rest of our time there. We also saw a pretty spectacular sunset that first night as the clouds finally started to move out.

In 1807 John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, became the first Caucasian to see the Teton Range. Over the next thirty years, Jackson became a profitable fur trapping area. Beavers were one of the biggest draws.

My favorite area of the park is the Schwabacher Landing and Blacktail Ponds area. Both give you access to the Snake River. At Schwabacher you can see a large beaver dam and if you’re lucky…some beavers and moose. We saw evidence, but not the actual animals. We did see a mama deer and her fawn one evening. When the wind is calm, you can catch the Teton Range reflection in water. At Blacktail Ponds you get a better view of the park’s wetland community. At one time, the Snake River flowed through this area with enough water that boats were able to launch. With the shifting of the river, it’s no longer viable to launch boats from this area. Blacktail Ponds is named for the blacktail deer that can be seen so frequently in this area.

The Homestead Act of 1862 drew settlers to the area. The promise of 160 acres to any person willing to work the land for five years brought a vibrant community to what was originally known as Grovont, but is known today as Mormon Row. There are several settlements still standing today. We enjoyed exploring them and learning a little history about the first families to make the Teton Range area home.

We tried so hard to see wildlife. One morning three of us got up and 4am and headed into the park with hopes of spotting some mama bears and cubs. We saw tons of pronghorn (you can’t go anywhere in Wyoming without seeing pronghorns), elk, deer, squirrels… We found a footprint of something one morning at Schwabacher Landing. We can’t agree on what it’s from though. The closest we came to seeing a bear…we saw a black bear’s hiney as it was making its way back into the forest and we saw the fur of a grizzly (We know it was a grizzly because the Ranger told us. We wouldn’t have known otherwise.) for maybe a half a second. I don’t have photos of either encounter to share with you.

Alex wants to be a Ranger. He reads every sign we come across and devours the park map and newspaper for every drop of information he can get. He’s going to make an excellent Ranger one day.

We stayed in Wilson, but the main town in the area is Jackson. We’d stocked up on food and groceries before we got there, but still went into town to check it out and see what we could see. It’s super touristy and reminds us of pretty much all of the other Ski Resort towns we’ve seen on our wanderings.

We did take one of the boys for a meal while we were there. See the little QR code in the picture? That was our menu. We had to scan it so we could bring the menu up on our phones. I actually liked this. It was one less thing for us to worry about having to touch and then eat. Our burgers were decent…mine was actually pretty good. It had an onion ring on it and they filled the onion ring with mushrooms.

There were so many pretties! I was in flower heaven!! I’m not sure if I took more pictures of the mountain range or the pretties we found around it. 😉

If we ever go back to Grand Teton NP, we’ll have to figure out a better place to stay. The park we stayed in was horrible. Super tight spots, super muddy, and the hookups…were under the rig. Yup, we had to crawl under the RV to hookup and unhook our water and sewer. And Guys, this place was the most expensive place we’ve ever stayed in. It was bad. We heard pretty much everyone there complaining about it.

That’s it for this National Park Unit!! We had a great time in the park!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Pizza Roundup Grandpa’s Downtown Pizza

Pizza Roundup Grandpa’s Downtown Pizza

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To my fellow pizza lovers! I bring to you a post from Cheyenne, WY.

Grandpa’s Downtown Pizza is a really good pizza place. The inside is not very large. Their menu is also nice and simple. Some salads, some subs, then pizzas and calzones.

One of the cool things about this pizza place is that they give a free slice of pizza to the homeless when they come in!

Their garlic knots are really good, the only thing missing is a whole lot of butter!

They don’t skimp on the toppings either.

I think this place gets 5-stars from me!

See y’all next time on…

Pizza Street!!

Written by Nicholas
Cheyenne, WY

Cheyenne, WY

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Hey Guys!! We made it to Wyoming! These weekly jumps are wearing us out!! We’ve had three weeks in a row of jumping states and long drive days. Moving so fast makes our travels seem kind of like a blur. We start the whole…which-state-did-we-do-that-in thing. It’s no bueno.

Utah sent us off with a spectacular sunrise. We also spent some in the morning keeping track of a big semi-truck that kept swerving all over the road. I think he needed a nap. He was swerving so bad we didn’t want to try and pass him…and honestly, we didn’t want him behind us. He’d speed up and slow down and was just all over the road.

It didn’t take us long to reach Wyoming. Unfortunately, the sign was in a bad spot to stop so I had to snap a picture on the go.

Our long drive to Cheyenne was filled with looonnggg stretches of road like the one above. We saw so many antelope. I think we found the land where the antelope play. We really wanted to see some deer playing with the antelope and maybe a buffalo roaming around. *wink, wink*

Our reason for staying in Cheyenne was to visit the State Capitol Building. Guys, it was closed! Completely closed! It won’t reopen until sometime in 2019. What the hey-diddly!!! They’re completely remodeling it. Y’all may or may not know, but I have a book that I collect stamps from each State Capitol Building…stamps you can only get in the SCB. It’s not a sticker stamp. It’s an ink stamp. *sigh*

Plan B. We went to the State Museum which is right across the street from the SCB and hoped that the stamp had been moved there during the SCB remodel. We lucked out and the stamp had been moved to the museum. The museum was small, but filled to the brim with information about Wyoming. This was the boys’ favorite exhibit. There was info about everything from Wyoming topography to Wyoming natural resources to the state’s history and lore.

Jerl was pretty excited to learn that the NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center was located in Cheyenne. There was a small visitor center with some hands on exhibits. I have four boys who were in nerdom heaven. We were able to take a tour of the facilities. I heard lots of numbers and names of things fly around. It all went over my head. All I can tell you is that you’re looking at a very, very, super-dee-duper fast computer. The little lights were flashy and it really was impressive.

If you’re ever in Cheyenne look for the big boots. They’re all over the place and are all decorated differently based on where they’re located.

We were surprised by how small town Cheyenne felt. We saw so many antelope all over the place. I don’t think there was a single time we went out that we didn’t see antelope. Wyoming really is the place of wide open places where the deer and the antelope play.

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018