Road Trip Adventures-National Parks Edition

We were invited to the wedding of a family member in Iowa.  We haven't been out to Iowa to visit for 23 years so we decided it was past time.  Joe suggested that we take a couple of weeks there and back and see some National Parks along the way and the way back.  

I planned out the trip last winter.  Three parks going out to Iowa and at least three parks coming back.  We decided not to take the travel trailer because we wanted to be able to go on random roads without worry.  This also meant we would leave the dog at home.  National Parks don't let dogs on the trails and we couldn't leave him in the hot car all the time.  

This meant taking Olaf, my white truck, and loading him up with all the things for a road trip/family wedding party.  

Because we were going to try and see more than four National Parks we bought an annual pass so we didn't have to worry bout the fee at each entrance.  I also downloaded an app called GasBuddy that would tell me where gas stations with diesel fuel were and the cost.  This was very helpful and made it so we could find the best deal possible.  The app did list view but also map view so it was easy to look ahead on the road we were traveling for the best price in the area.  Another app I got which was very useful was RestStops which would show us where the next rest stop was and approximately how far it was from our current location.  Not super helpful on the highways but was awesome on the interstates.  

But the best app I got was one a co-worker told me about, an app called Just Ahead (thank you Kelle!) and it was awesome!  A narrator would tell us about the history of the park as we drove through, side trips that were don't miss add ons.  The best places to take pictures and details about different hikes.  The app worked without cell service, which is good since there wasn't really any in the park.  When we have our map app going with directions we often thank Siri for her help.  So we decided the narrator for the Just Ahead app needed a name.  Since we had just gone through the city of Jackson before enering The Grand Tetons park, we named him Jackson or Jack for short.  

Big difference between last years adventure where we fit everything for a three week adventure in a carry on backpack to this year where we took suitcases, backpacks, wedding outfits, hiking stuff, a cooler with drinks and snacks, etc. I was disappointed with not being able to take my big Nikon camera.  Evidently the battery in it had failed and when that happens the battery can swell up and get stuck.  We tried different ways to get it out without damaging the camera and just couldn't make it work.  I didn't discover this until the night before we left so I didn't have time to find someone who could try and repair it for me.  So all of my photos are done with my phone.  They still turned out pretty well though.  

I finished my school year on Friday, June 14th and we were on the road in the morning Saturday, June 15th.  

Day One-Travel Day:  Long day driving.  We drove a little over eight hours and spent the night in Twin Falls, Idaho.  We decided to find as many different brew pubs and grills as we could for our main meal every night.  So our Twin Falls pick was The 208 Grill.  It was good food and we enjoyed the restaurant.  After we ate we headed back to the hotel and crashed.  

Day Two-The Grand Tetons:  We finished our drive through Idaho and got into Jackson, Wyoming.  First National Park on the list was The Grand Tetons.  This park was a great start to our adventure! 

WOW!

Wow became a consistent theme as we traveled through the beautiful parks and the beautiful countryside.  

First view of The Grand Tetons!

Our chips we brought from home reacted to the change in elevation. ;-)

Outside the Visitor Center.  

We drove the truck into a pullout and enjoyed a snack while looking at the beautiful mountains.  There are definitely worse ways to spend time.  

There weather was lovely.  Not hot but in the 70's with a little breeze.  We enjoyed seeing all the sights and learning about the park.  We did not see any wild animals, which was a little disappointing.  But Jack (our guide on the Just Ahead app) said the best time to see wildlife is early in the morning or at dusk.  So we made our plans for the next day with that in mind. 

We headed to the next place we were sleeping which was calle The Hatchet Lodge in Moran, Wyoming.  I think it was the tiniest room we have every been in.  Cute and very clean but tiny.  And the shower had NO water pressure so getting my hair washed was an event.  lol  But we had a nice dinner at their restaurant and slept well.  

The plan was to get up and get an early start the next morning.  We needed to drive through part of the Grand Teton's park to make our way to Yellowstone National Park.  Since our likelyhood of seeing wildlife would be better in the early morning we were hoping to see something as we traveled to Yellowstone.  

Day Three-Yellowstone National Park:  We left the resort around 5:00 am hoping to see some wildlife and to give us more time in Yellowstone.  Unfortunately we still didn't see any wildlife.  Actually, that's not true, we saw a couple of buffalo in the field near the entrance to the visitor center.  

National Park #2

Rule #1-Don't pet the fluffy cows!

We got fully into the park and to the visitor lodge by around 7:30 am.  We decided to go inside the building and use the restrooms and find Joe a coffee.  While he was in line for coffee I asked about when the next estimated time for the Old Faithful geyser to go off was.  It was estimated to go off around 7:39 am!  Perfect timing.  We headed outside and sat on the benches around the geyser.  There were quite a few people but the benches were not full so we felt like we had totally scored.  We were there about 15 minutes and then we heard the gurgling begin!  Old Faithful did it's thing and it was very cool.  Then we walked around on the boardwalk they have through all the other geysers and hot springs.  It was very cool!  

The weather was much cooler this day so we were wearing our puffy jackets and stocking caps.  It was also breezy.  We saw many hats that had blown into the different thermal pools.  Oops!  

Hard to see much with all the steam but it was still pretty.

The other end of the park is Mammouth Hot Springs.  Also very beautiful in a different way.  We had another nice walk through this area. 

More buffalo!

Unfortunately, even though we got up early, other than a few buffalo, we did not see any other wildlife.  Even though our guide Jack stated many times that the park was "teeming with wildlife".  One of the things we wanted to see was a bear.  We have been several places in the past where there are bears and everyone we were with saw one, but not us.  Seems to still be holding true.  No bear, no moose and no big horned sheep.  But lots of signs for those things!

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

The drizzle turned to snow a couple of times on our trip through the park!

We spent the night in a little cabin in Cody, Wyoming.  The cabins had been built for ranch hands in 1953.  They have been updated, which is good, and it was very comfortable and charming.  The view didn't disappoint either. 

Day Four-Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse: We left Cody, Wyoming and headed for South Dakota.  The landscape was pretty and the company was good so the day went fast.  

Siri took us down a few highways and we ended up in the middle of a cattle drive.  It took us awhile to get through mostly because the cars in front of us thought they had to wait for the cows to get out of the way.  Instead of just moving slowly and encouraging the cows to move. lol  We were entertained by the mommas bellowing for their babies.

We also drove through more snow.  Good thing we both packed for different weather conditions!  

When we got to South Dakota we first went to see the Crazy Horse Memorial.  While not a national park it is still an amazing thing they are working on.  The museum is really amazing.  It shows all the steps in creating the memorial, a lot of native american artwork and history and plans for the future to finish the memorial. 

What the finished memorial will look like.

This is where the memorial is at right now.  

We left the Crazy Horse Memorial and headed to Mt. Rushmore.  It was cool to see in person at least once but it isn't something I would go out of my way to stop at again.  Looked like the pictures I have seen.  lol

Profile of Washington on the way back out.

We stayed in the small community of Hill City and had a small cabin just outside of town.  I reserved it through Airbnb.  It was was cute and comfortable too.  Small beds but since there were more than one bed we were pretty comfortable.  We went into town and had dinner at the Bumpin Buffalo Bar & Grill.  Great food and fun vibe.  We did make reservations which wasn't a big deal when we got there.  But by the time we left there was a large number of people waiting outside so reservations are probably a good thing. 

Originally we were going work our way over to spend the night in Pierre, SD (pronounced Pier, do NOT say it wrong!) and then head to Lake Okaboji, Iowa from there.  This would give us a couple of shorter driving days, just to break things up.  But we changed those plans because we were able to arrange a breakfast with Joe's mom's siblings and a few of the cousins on that side of the family.  So we decided to head straight to Sioux Center, IA so that we wouldn't have to get up super early to be at breakfast.  

But I had planned for us to go through the Badlands National Park on the way to Pierre and Joe made that still work!

Day Five-Badlands National Park:  This park was also amazing.  Another Wow! day.  The canyons and features of the Badlands contrasted with the prairies were awesome.  The prairies were still very green and had a lot of yellow wildflowers blooming so to go from the browns and reds to the greens and yellows was beautiful.  

View from one of the viewpoints.

View at the viewpoint as we headed back to the truck. 

Rugged canyons and rocks in one direction, green prairie in the opposite direction.

One of the fun things about a road trip is the random stuff that sometimes you stumble upon.  We went to far looking for a gas station and in the process we came across this giant Jack'a'lope!  We had some fun laughs over that one for many miles after we got fuel!!

Days Six-Nine-Iowa Family Time.  At this point we spent five nights in Iowa visiting family from both sides of Joe's extended family.  It was so good to see all the family and we are still sending lots of prayers for all the people who have been impacted by the flooding.   There was a lot of rain and flooding while we were there.  Devestating on many levels for many people.  

Originally I had our entire trip planned out.  But I did try and make reservations at places that we could make cancellations without a penalty if we did it a day or two ahead of time, just in case.  This worked out well for our change of plans in when we needed to be in Iowa.  It also helped when we started the trip back home. 

The original plan was to drive straight through Nebraska and spend one night in Colorado.  Then head down to Moab for two nights glamping in the desert.  Glamping is a big spacious tent with an actual bed looking out into the desert.  

Two weather factors made us decide to change things up.  Leaving Iowa there were a lot of road closures because of flooding.  We weren't sure how easy it was going to be to go south and get into Nebraska.  On top of that, the weather forecast for Moab was going to 100 degrees the two days we were supposed to be there.  Every time I looked at our weather app, it would be forecasting a little higher.  Sleeping in a tent with no AC didn't sound super fun and we weren't sure how easily we could make our way south because of the flooding.  So we decided to make our way back across South Dakota and see how that went.  When we got to a point of knowing if we could head south or not we could decide what we wanted to do.  

Day Ten-Rocky Mountains National Park:  We got through South Dakota without too much problem.  The change in plans was that we would skip heading to Moab.  Just too far to be that hot for mutliple days.  But, we happen to live in a part of the country with lots of other national parks so we just adjusted the route some and got to see different parks than the ones in Utah.  Worked out pretty good overall.  Only a tiny glitch with the first one.  

We decided that we would still make our way to Colorado and that we would drive through the Rocky Mountain National Park on the way to the hotel.  We stopped at the visitor center just outside of Estes Park so that I could get my park tokens and ask some questions about the park.  Turns out that some of the more popular national parks require a reservation time to enter the park during peak season.  We did not have that.  The ranger said that we could go in without a reservation after 2:00 pm.  

We decided we really didn't want to wait because that would make for a really long day of driving.  So we went around the park.  😄  Both of us really liked the community of Estes Park and talked about what it would be like to live there.  lol  

While it wasn't in the park, we still enjoyed our drive through the Rocky Mountains!

We got through Colorado and spent the night in the small town of Roosevelt, Utah.  Our new plan was to get up and head for Carsen City, Nevada, spend the night and then get up early and drive through Yosemite National Park.  

Day Eleven-Travel Day through Utah and Nevada:  The drive through Utah and Nevada was about as exciting as most of our drive time through South Dakota and Nebraska, not a lot of changes in scenery. 

It's amazing how much ground you can cover when the speed limit is 80 mph!  Joe even let me drive for the last three hours of the leg.  We stayed the night at the Hardman House in downtown Carson City.  It was an old hotel but had been modernized.  Loved the old time feel of it and the pictures from way back when they had up in the lobby.  We wandered down to a bar and grill and found a place that had our favorite cider!  2 Towns Cider for the win!  Nice way to end a very long day of driving!

Day Twelve-Yosemite National Park.  I had been to Yosemite once before for a ladies backpacking trip.  We had an amazing time and I loved every minute of it.  I didn't realize how much of the park we didn't see!  We just stayed on the one end of the park, did our backpacking and left the same way.  So there was a lot of the park I had never seen.  We had another WOW day!  So much beauty in one place!

Tualame Meadows-This is the farthest I had been into the park on my one other visit. 

Tenaya Lake

We were still not having much luck finding wildlife.  But at this viewpoint Joe had spotted a marmot.  The cheeky bugger was moving around in the rocks below the viewpoint and hiding.  When we got into the car he came up the rocks and poked his head over the edge. lol  So our big wildlife sighting at this park was the elusive marmot.  😁

Half Dome

Bridal Veil Falls

El Capitan

This part of the park was packed!  We got there later in the morning and it was busy!  We tried to go into the visitor lodge but the parking lot was an exercise in frustration.  So we decided a drive by to the falls and rock features would have to do this trip.  If we come back, we would come in super early or come later in the evening.  Or even stay at the lodge so we could have easy access to those quieter times and then take naps when it's too peopley out there.  lol

Once we saw all the things we headed to our next spot for the night.  We decided to stay in Grass Valley, CA.  I had been looking at our road atlas and guided Joe to a more direct route than Siri was giving us.  Super curvey, narrow road for a lot of it, so maybe listen to Siri in the future.  

We stayed at the Gold Miners Inn, Grass Valley, CA.  Another nice hotel, I enjoyed staying at places that aren't the cookie cutter hotels you get with Comfort Inn, Best Western, etc.  Those are great and dependable but it's fun to stay somewhere that is unique and has some history.  

Joe was able to go for a nice run and I took a nap.  

The next night we were scheduled to stay near Shasta Lake.  Did you know there is a national park just an hour east of Shasta Lake?  Since the drive to Shasta Lake was only going to take about 4.5 hours from Grass Valley we decided that we should add one more national park to the list!

Day Thirteen-Lassen Volcanic National Park:  This was a great adventure.  We had no idea what to expect and this park was awesome!  Not super crowded, gorgeous scenary and had some things we hadn't seen anywhere else.  If you are spending a vacation at Shasta Lake I would definitely recommend a day trip over to check out the park and maybe taking in a hike or two.  This was the only national park that we didn't have Jack telling us what was Just Ahead.  lol  Missed having that extra insight into history of the park and which viewpoints or hikes were must do's and which we could skip.  Hopefully they will add this park to the list because it was a fun suprise to find this fabulous park relatively close to home!!

Lake Helen.  Still partially frozen.  The blue color comes from the hot springs that feed into the lake.

Still a lot of snow up there!

The backside of the park we could see all the fire damage from the Dixie Fire in 2021.

While we didn't see much wildlife on this trip, we did see the rare phone booth.  Not working however.   

When we left the park we headed west towards Shasta Lake.  We stayed in a lovely place called Inn at Shasta Lake.  The owner Max was awesome and made sure we knew how to get there and greeted us when we arrived.  It was a lovely place to stay for our last night on the road! 

Day 14-Home!  We had a five hour drive home from Shasta Lake.  We stayed and had a lovely breakfast at the Inn before we headed out at around 8:30 am.   Mount Shasta was looking amazing in the morning sunlight as we started up I5.  

We had a wonderful trip and saw many amazing sights.  God's hand can be seen in all the beautiful places we visited!!

While this isn't the usual blog about workouts and figuring out how to be healthier on the day to day, it was a fun way to see a lot of places and get motivation for getting healthier and in better shape to go do hikes in the places we visited.  I definitely have ideas on things I want to go back and spend more time exploring!

Fourteen Days, ten states, six national parks, one national monument, one national memorial, 5,000 miles on the truck, quality time with the best road trip partner a girl could as for and some great memories with the Iowa family!  

That's a fabulous start to my summer vacation!