I know, it’s been a minute since my last post. Boy was I in a funk that day! The past week has been pretty great, time with my husband immersed in timeless scenery is hard to beat. Since a week is alot of ground to cover and WAY too much reading…I’ll give you the highlights.
After my super-funktastic day in Denver, we headed to Cheyenne and bunked down for the night at the A.B. Campground with BBQ restaurant on site. Holy crap – their smoked pulled pork was ridiculously delicious and it fit with my unfortunate low-fiber diet of meat and simple carbs. The next day, we drove to Thermopolis, WY for the Hot Springs State Park and some soak time. On the way, we stopped at the Quebec 01 Missile Site. It was surprisingly fun and interesting to see!
First of all, take a closer look at that logo on the sign…skull with two BOMBS instead of crossbones and then flanked by two missiles. Damn, now that’s a logo for an old cold-war missile silo! From the website: “Built in 1962 as a Minuteman I Launch Control Center it was upgraded to a Peacekeeper Missile Alert Facility in 1986. Visitors have the opportunity to go 50 feet down into the Capsule and get a guided tour of where the United States would launch one of it’s most powerful weapons ever deployed.” While there, I thought Oh, crap! I was alive then. Reagan and the whole race to beat Russia with long-range weapons…
I did learn that the Peacekeeper missiles were no joke, serious warheads with massive destructive and long-range capability. All the old Peacekeeper sites were decommissioned in 2005 as part of a peace treaty. This site is the only Peacekeeper Site open to the public, but the actual missile silos are all filled in (per the agreement). The tech was fun to see, such a flashback to the 80’s!
The picture here is from the drive…but I thought a Jackalope, riding a Unicorn, lead by a Yeti was just too funny to pass up.
We stopped in Thermopolis to see the Hot Spring State Park and camped at a place with their own soaking pools to boot!
The pool at the campground was….special. I worried about ending up the the hospital again. But the State Park was the opposite – free, clean and awesome!
An interesting thing to know about this park is that the bathhouse is FREE because in 1897, when the State of Wyoming purchased the land from the Eastern Shoshone, Chief Washakie negotiated that the hot springs should remain free to all who seek its healing waters.
We spent the next day in Grand Teton National Park, which makes my French husband giggle and make lame titty jokes all day. (Grand Teton means giant nipple in French)
We stopped at this amazing museum…the National Museum of Wildlife Art. I’m not usually big on museums, but we ended up spending a couple of hours there. The outdoor sculptures are amazing, the indoor art is a mixed bag of things I really like and meh. I did learn a new favorite artist, Carl Rungius. I loved his paintings.
After the museum, we headed towards Jenny Lake through crappy traffic and a thunderstorm. Thankfully, it stopped raining just in time for our hike.
The hike at Jenny lake was spectacular. We took the boat shuttle across the lake and hiked to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point before heading down and hiking the Jenny Lake trail back to the parking lot.
I wished we had time to hike back into Cascade Canyon, but it was getting late and I was worried about getting back before dark. You just don’t hike after dark in Grizzly country!
Up at Inspiration Point, we had an amazing moment watching a family of Marmots just doing marmotty stuff, then seeing a Pika just chilling on the rock for us. On the way up, we stopped to watch a Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel eat a flower. The sun set as we hiked the lake trail and ended our hike with a moment of peaceful splendor.
Too soon, our time in Grand Teton was over and we moved on to Yellowstone, a first for my husband. We did several hikes and visited all the major sites over 3 days until we almost got tired of mud pots, geysers, and fumaroles…almost. I think the BEST moments were our hike to the Lone Star Geyser, which erupted spectacularly for 24 minutes, and the walk at dusk in the Geyser Basin near Old Faithful.
On our last day (yesterday), we rested. We camped just outside the north entrance at the Yellowstone RV Park in Gardiner. We could have gone back to see the Mammoth Hot Springs area…but it was my husband’s last full day and we both wanted a rest day to just CHILL. Our site was right over the river, so we spent the day just relaxing and watching the rafters going by on the river.
Both nights, a nice Elk wandered through the campground right a dark. She wandered from site to site eating grass and generally disinterested in anything with only two legs.
The first night, as I lay in bed with the slider open…the Elk came to graze and walked within 5 feet of me in the moonlight.
I don’t think you can see her in the picture, but I just have to show you! Sunset on night two was spectacular because of the brewing thunderstorms.
Today, I dropped my husband off at the airport in Bozeman and am staying tonight at the Bozeman Hot Springs and Campground. Tomorrow I will drive to Helena to spend the 4th and take Rosie for a desperately needed brake job on the 5th. Then…I have absolutely NO IDEA where I am going…not a clue. I guess I have a couple days to figure it out.
I enjoyed your journey through the spectacular west.
Thank you, I’m having a pretty good time exploring 😄
Hi. I met you and your husband at Yellowstone. Would you please do a post with photos of your camper. I’d like to learn from your expertise. Thank you.
For sure! The plan is to eventually have a whole page dedicated to Rosie the Wonder Van, In the meantime I’ll try to get a few pictures up for you. I have intermittent signals so it might take me a few days.