Are we there yet – Day 28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36

June 23

100 miles, 2 hours driving

We had a picnic for lunch today at Madison within Yellowstone National Park.  The boys attended a Park Ranger class and got to work on their Junior Ranger program.  We later went to Old Faithful….we had to wait for about an hour for the geyser to go off.  We all thought it was pretty cool.  We later drove to Grand Teton National Park and had another campfire.

June 24

25 miles, 1 hour driving

Stayed at Grand Teton National Park again.  We went fishing most of the afternoon.  We spent about 4 hours fishing.  I almost caught a fish, but Erin (as we were close to deciding to finish up) caught a good sized fish (about 12 inches).  We cooked it over a campfire later in the evening and ate it for dinner.

June 25

75 miles, 2 hours driving

Drove from Grand Teton National Park to my brother Keith’s place in Freedom, Wyoming.  Arrived around 2pm.  For most of the afternoon, we played outside with water balloons at Keith and Kdee’s house.  Later in the evening we had a cookout with hot dogs and s’mores.

June 26

150 miles, 3 hours driving

We stayed in the Freedom, Wyoming area for most of the day with Keith, Kdee, and Zackary.  We saw an elk farm on the Idaho side of Freedom.  We played at a playground for several hours.  We then saw a cow farm.  We ate lunch at a restaurant called Tootsies.  Later in the evening, we drove up to Jackson to go to Bar J Chuckwagon (a dinner and show).

June 27

230 miles, 4.5 hours driving

Went from Freedom, Wyoming to Salt Lake City, Utah.  We arrived in Salt Lake around 4pm.  Both Kevin and Jason were able to come and hang out with us and play on the playground until around 10pm.   We all had a good time.

June 28

50 miles, 1.5 hours driving

Stayed in Salt Lake City, UT today.  We got to visit with Erin’s cousin and her family today. 

June 29

515 miles, 9 hours driving

Since we had lots of driving to get to Flagstaff, AZ we decided to not do too many touristy things.  At this point, we were getting kinda anxious to just get back home.  We were all exhausted and ready to get back to our normal routine.  We arrived in Flagstaff around 8pm.

June 30

175 miles, 3 hours driving

Stayed in Flagstaff, AZ and decided to not go to the Grand Canyon.  We instead decided to go home so it would give us plenty of time to clean out the RV and get it ready to return.  Arrived back home around 2pm.

July 1

15 miles, 20 minutes driving

Stayed in our own beds last night for the first time in 5 weeks.  Returned the RV to Cruise America in the morning around 9am.

Total miles driven (according to the odometer):  7825 miles

All good things must come to an end…

This is a momentous occasion; the very last blog entry of the Griggs Family Grand Adventure! We are currently spending the night at the KOA in Flagstaff, AZ and will be heading out tomorrow for good old Chandler and triple digit weather.

Our stay in Salt Lake was short but fun. After a quick visit with Uncle Jason and Uncle Kevin (or Uncle Heaven as Riley calls him), and our first experience with El Salvadorian food, (pupusas, anyone?),

 

  we spent the following afternoon at Temple Square.

We ate lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe, which, by the way, has the biggest cinnamon rolls I have ever seen.

Here’s Carter waiting for a bite (he knows it’s coming).

   Then it was off to visit more boy cousins and try our hand at ice blocking.

  

What’s better than 3 rowdy boys in an RV? How about 5?

The last 5 weeks have been an adventure, to say the least. So, to say a proper goodbye to our insanity, “Goodnight, goodnight, parting is such sweet sorrow. That I shall say goodnight ‘till it be 5 years from now.”

--Erin

Brayden, Riley and Zackary: three peas in a pod!

June 25 & 26

The population of Freedom, WY jumped over the past two days from 100 to 105 due in part to our arrival. Two words to describe it: beautiful and cool.

Aunt Kdee bought some water balloons and the kids, Aric included, spent most of the afternoon drenching themselves.

 

 

Once all the balloons were gone, we visited with the horses,

  played some ball…

and rode in the back of the truck.

  What more could a little boy ask for?

Saturday morning Aunt Kdee took us to an elk farm,

where the boys climbed the hay

  and fed the elk some grass (I hope that was legal).

  

Then it was off to the park to get in some swing time,

and to bury ourselves in the rocks.

Next, we got to see some baby cows.

    And, to end our day off with a true Wyoming bang, Keith and Kdee took us to Bar J’s Chuckwagon, in Jackson,

where we took a wagon ride and

enjoyed a nice swing in the evening sun.

Three peas in a pod!  

The dinner and show were fabulous: true cowboy grub served up true cowboy style on a tin plate and true cowboy music complete with a with fiddler, steel guitar, yodeling and and a rendition of Old Man River that literally shook the floor. Keith, Kdee and Zackary – you rock!

Now it’s onto Salt Lake City, UT for a little R&R.

--Erin

Grand Teton National Park

June 23,24

Since Yellowstone was completely full, they should call it the Disneyland of Wyoming, we decided we may have better luck finding a place to camp at Grand Teton National Park. After visiting Old Faithful, we drove a hour and found one of the last spots.

The Grand Tetons: Aric’s favorite mountain range.

 

The highlight of this two days’ trip was FISHING! The boys have been asking us to go fishing for a few weeks now and we finally found a place to rent some rods and get a one-day license.

 

We spent about three and a half hours at Jackson Lake Dam…

  

And after about three and a half hours: DINNER! I can’t wait to try again.

Next stop: Freedom, WY and visit with Uncle Keith, Aunt Kdee and Zackary.

--Erin

Yellowstone National Park

This leg of our trip has been the closest we have been to “roughing it.” No hook-ups (electricity, sewer or water), no Internet and no cell phone coverage. So, if it feels like we’ve fallen off the face of the earth, I’m sorry and I promise to be more diligent in the last week of our vacation.

We began our Yellowstone trip in Cody, Wyoming, and a visit to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. A great way to get in touch with your inner cow-person.

One of the demonstrations at the Historical Center was a chuck-wagon cook making a meal just like they did in Buffalo Bill’s time. We learned that at every meal, cowboys had coffee, biscuits and beans. Guess that explains the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles?

  Checking out the stereoscopes (an earlier version of the 3D View Master).

And what would a Buffalo Bill Museum experience be without the opportunity to shoot a gun at something?

 

Yellowstone in a nutshell: No available campgrounds (by the time we got to the campgrounds),

beautiful scenery,

“wild” animals,

 

campfires,

   

and Old Faithful.

 

--Erin