Ketchum and The Wedding

July 9,2012: we spent two great weeks in Ketchum. The first week we lived with Jon & Melissa and the second week was in a condo when the entire Duval Family arrived for vacation together. We joined the YMCA where they have an incredible pool with a water slide, lazy river, and fountains. We did a lot of swimming with the kids as the weather was sunny and hot every day. We took them to the top of the ski mountain one day which was great. The kids loved riding on the gondola and chair lift. We ate at the restaurant up on the mountain for lunch. It had a very European feel as we sat on the balcony at a big picnic bench in the sunshine to eat. It was a great day. We did some running, hiking, biking, shooting and visited a few playgrounds. The kids got a full service tour of the fire department thanks to our friend Eric. We celebrated Molly's 2nd birthday with all of the cousins. The kids had a blast hanging out together and the grown ups even got to go out to eat alone a few nights. We had a really fun sushi dinner in one of those private rooms and a large group dinner where we had our first chance to meet Melissa's family. We drank a lot of beers just sitting around the pool or even in the town square while the kids ran around playing together in the fountains. One night in town they had a criterium where bike racers rode fast laps through a course right in the center of town. It was a really fun atmosphere with lots of people out to spectate, beer gardens and food stands set up everywhere. The culmination of all the fun in Ketchum was when we moved an hour north to Stanley, ID to the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch for the wedding. I have never seen such a beautiful location for a wedding. The sawtooth mountains are the backdrop and the ranch itself is simple but amazing. We had a two bedroom cabin that was gorgeous. They have a swimming pool that is entirely heated from the hot springs. The water comes in from the mountain at 107 degrees and runs in a pipe through the Salmon River to be cooled and spills into the pool at around 103. It was awesome and the kids loved dunking in the cold shower then into the pool. You can ride horses, bikes, paddle boats, fish. We had babysitters up there so we were able to enjoy the evening activities a bit more. Everything about the weekend was very special and centered around Melissa & Jon. It was a fantastic wedding.

Road Trip Over!!

June 23,2012: we left Jackson and made it to ketchum! Thank you jesse for hosting us in beautiful JH. We are so happy to be unpacked and settled in for a bit. It's been great to see Jon & Melissa and their beautiful new home. We went for trail runs, went down to the river and are having a blast. This weather is amazing and we're excited for all there is to do.

Road Trip Day 14: Jackson

June 22,2012: everyone had a pretty good sleep in the tent last night. James got up and went to hike Snow king which is a steep ski mountain right in town. It is two miles to the top and gives you great views of the Tetons and the Jackson Hole area. The kids and I went grocery shopping and made a nice breakfast at Jesse's. Afterwards we headed into Teton National park to go hiking. We went into the Laurence S Rockefeller preserve and hiked to Phelps lake on a recommendation from Rhys and Schutty. We saw a moose in a stream on the way there. It was just under two miles from the car to the lot. It was not very steep but we carried Molly & JJ most of the way. Casey did a great job hiking the whole way. The reward was an amazingly beautiful mountain lake surrounded by forest. We found a nice spot to sit and have a picnic. The kids took their clothes off and waded around. James, Casey, Julia and I all dove in for a quick dunk. It was cold but not too bad. The girls made buddies with a little boy who was hiking with his mother and we hiked out with them. It was a beautiful hike and a great way to send the day in the Jackson area. When we got back home we changed and all walked over to Daryl's house for a BBQ. There were lots of kids that the girls played with and a fun dinner with high school friends, college friends and new Jackson friends. After the BBQ we put the kids to bed and went to the Million Dollar Cowboy bar with Kate & Jake Schutt. It was a fun day and night.

Road Trip Day 13-Yellowstone & JH

June 21,2012: so after our early morning escape from bear country campground we saw more amazing scenery in Yellowstone. We saw lots of deer grazing, tons of bison walking in the road. There was lots of fog settled into the valleys which added to the beauty. There was a small crowd who saw a grizzly but he was hiding when we drove up. We went to the grand canyon of Yellowstone. The falls are impressive. We hiked down to the viewing platform that looks over right where the falls tumble over. After seeing the falls and canyon we headed over to the geyser basin to look at all the hot springs and geysers. The pools are so beautiful and the colors out of this world. You wish you could settle in for a soak. We looked for the spot where you can swim in a hot spring but were unable to find it. We saw grand prismatic spring and old faithful plus lots of others. We saw more bison, deer and some huge elk with giant antlers. After what felt like a full day we headed out of Yellowstone. We had a picnic lunch and then did the beautiful drive south to Jackson. This may be one of the most beautiful stretches of road I have driven. When you see the lakes and Tetons it is breathtaking. I was the only one who saw it as everyone else was asleep. We drove right to Jessie's store, Four Daughters, and Jess and I went for a little walk. Then we took the kids to Teton Village and they played on the playground, in the fountains and we saw a show about birds of prey where they had al the birds for everyone to see. We ate a nice pizza dinner at Calico on the picnic tables on their scenic lawn. Afterwards we came back to Jessie's apartment for showers and set up our tent in her backyard. Also Casey lost her second tooth today, I guess the tooth fairy will have to visit our tent.

Road Trip Day 12-Beartooth & Yellowstone

June 20,2012: we headed south from Billings onto the Beartooth Highway. This is a beautiful mountain road 68 miles long from Red Lodge, MT to Cooke City, WY just by the Northeast gate to Yellowstone. You get as high as 10,947 feet. There are incredible views and the plateaus up there are amazing. We saw lots of snow which the kids wanted to stop and play in, we saw foxes, waterfalls and endless beautiful scenery. After a few hours driving the Beartooth we entered Yellowstone. Right away we saw mountain goat, tons of bison, deer and the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. It's so incredible how preserved it is. We drove over to mammoth springs and then made the long trek to our camp site at bridge bay. We tried to reserve a different one but they were all full. On the way to bridge bay we passed they the Hayden valley and at one point there were about 50 people out of their cars looking at something. We quickly saw the grizzly bear across the river. It was very far away but easy to tell what it was. We felt very lucky. We finally got to our campground and it was packed. We were in a far site with woods all around. The bear warning about not having anything at all in your tent or campsite made me so nervous. I did not sleep a wink, between my fear of a bear attack, Molly's coughing, and temperatures in the low 20's we were freezing. Finally at 5am James and I put the heat on in the car, put the kids in, packed up camp hastily and got out of there!

Road Trip Day 11-SD,WY,MT

June 19,2012: we drove out of South Dakota through Spearfish Canyon which was beautiful and reminded us a lot of the mountains in France. We entered Wyoming and went to see the Devils tower which is a national park. It is interesting to see but we just had a picnic right outside the park and looked at it instead of paying to get closer. We have not had any real set plans going forward so today we made our decisions as we went. We called up James's aunt pat who lives in billings montana and we are headed there. We stopped in Buffalo, WY for ice cream and a playground stop. All in all we saw some very beautiful landscape today and beautiful places in our country but it was probably one of the more boring days for the kids as we didn't get out and do too much. It will be nice to sleep inside and take a shower, it's been a few days!
We had a great pizza dinner with Pat & Charlie and got all the inside scoop on Yellowstone and the surrounding area from our local experts. We had a much needed meal, shower and bed for everyone. Pat and Charlie were wonderful to take us in for the night.

Road Trip Day 10-South Dakota

June 18,2012: last night we made some headway and drove for a few hours after dinner. The kids watched a movie then went to sleep. We got to Halsey, NE around 10:30pm and set up camp at the Nebraska State Forest. We moved the kids into bed and it was easy. The big freight trains went by all night and blew their whistle a lot. The kids slept fine. I was hot, it was probably in the 80's all night. We were up at 6, packed up and underway around 7:30. We drove thru the beautiful sand hills region of Nebraska north up into South Dakota. Great little old western type towns, lots of prairies and cattle. We arrived at Badlands National Park and set off on a hike. We chose one of the more difficult ones but the kids were champs and had no trouble. It is really a unique and beautiful landscape. Such a change from the prairies coming up. The hike had us walking thru a canyon, then up a log ladder and along a rim trail which was great. It ended at an open area where you can see out over the valley. We had a picnic lunch and started to head back. We paused for a moment before beginning the walk back and while standing still Julia fell down and whacked her head on the ground. It was bleeding a lot. Some other hikers gave us band aids and we hoofed it out of there at high speed. We drove to Rapid City to the hospital. James took Casey and Molly to play at a water park and I am here with Julia waiting for her to get stitched up.

Part 2: Julia got 3 stitches to close up the divot in her head. She was so brave, the worst was when they put the numbing medicine right into her cut. Afterwards we were starving and celebrated her bravery with some sonic. We then headed down and checked out Mt Rushmore. We felt a little like Clark Griswold when he looks at the grand canyon. To get to the mountain you have to pass thru a hideously touristy town that reminded us of Hampton beach. After checking it out for awhile we drove north to a state campground. The place was very empty and we had a nice quiet sleep. It rained a little and there was some thunder and it was cold at night, probably in the 40's. We were all exhausted and slept well.