The first leg of our road trip took us to the Tetons, which are located just over halfway between our house and my parents' house. The drive Wyoming went smoothly (in other words, no carsick puking daughters or arguing kids or car trouble). Jeff and I went on a refreshing shake-out run when we arrived in Jackson, and then had troubles finding dinner. Most of the restaurants were full by the time we tried to enter, and we couldn't even seem to find an open convenience store to purchase milk for the cereal we brought for breakfast the next morning. Then we realized that we forgot our bike lock, so we had to unload all of the bikes and wedge them into our tiny motel room between a bed and the window.
We finally found some BBQ sandwiches at 9pm and went to bed happy. That happiness was short-lived, though, because the beds in our motel were oddly warped so Jeff and I did not sleep much. Having a bad night of sleep mid-road trip is always an extra desperate feeling for the drivers! But we had adventures planned out for the next day, so we got up, loaded up, and drove the half hour to Grand Teton National Park.
After the previous night's fumbling around for food and generally not-great luck, things started going well again when we got moving in the morning. First, Jeff drove the 1.5 miles to Albertson's and got milk for breakfast. He loaded the bikes our of our motel room and back onto the bike rack. We all got in the van and stopped at Ace Hardware to get a bike lock. With all of that business taken care of, we made the 25 minute drive to the Taggart Lake Trail parking area in Grand Teton National Park. We arrived at 8:30am and snagged one of the few remaining parking spots. First up was a hike!
The hike was more scenic and hilly than I expected, but it was the perfect level for our family. We accidentally took a fork in the trail that led us all the way to Bradley Lake, which added 1.5 miles to our hike. But we trekked on and enjoyed the scenery. Amber tripped and fell while running down the trail and had blood dripping down one knee. Would it be a family hike without a first aid situation? I came prepared.
One child had a bathroom emergency while we were on the trail, so I had to dig out my heretofore unused wilderness "bathroom" kit. I could go into details, but suffice it to say that it pays to be prepared!
We took off our shoes to wade in the cool clear water, but one darling child didn't want to and kept getting mad at bugs for buzzing too close and asking how much longer till we could leave. So I told this child to live a little by wading in the refreshing lake. The child did it, and maybe even enjoyed it a little, but when it was time to put shoes back on, the child FREAKED OUT. This particular child hates wet feet, wet socks, sand between toes, etc., and all of it was happening at once. The child was seriously melting down, so much that one sock got dropped into the lake! That about did the little dear in--talk about adding insult to injury! A wet sock! The nerve of nature. Screeching and wailing ensued. Jeff hoisted the angry child over his shoulders and carried them away from the lake to a nearby log and helped get socks and shoes on.
*I realize that my pronouns are awkward in this account, but my kids are getting older, so I am attempting to protect their identity a little. I couldn't leave this story completely out! So I masked it a tad. I probably won't be able to do that for long.
The foot-freak-out child was still fuming when we started hiking away from Taggart Lake towards our car, lashing out and snapping at the family repeatedly. I pulled the child aside and, after acknowledging how upset they felt, I said that it's ok to feel upset and mad but it's not ok to take that rage out on our family. "You need to figure out how to handle it without bringing us all down," I said. Somehow my pep talk miraculously worked and the child stopped the tirade for the remaining 1.5 miles of the trail. Our total hike distance was 5.4 miles.
Back at the van, Jeff took the bikes off the rack while the kids and I prepped a car picnic of tuna packets with crackers and other miscellaneous food items that we had in our road trip snack box. After a long chat in the parking lot with a random retired man who just wanted to talk, Jeff joined us to rest and eat in the car for a little bit before we jumped on our bikes for a ride along the Multi-Purpose Pathway. That's seriously the name of the long paved bike path in Grand Teton National Park. Not super creative, but oh well. We rode 6 miles on the path, with jagged mountain peaks on one side. Amber was a machine! She cruised along, challenging anyone who tried to pass her. Wildfire smoke was gathering during our ride, and we were feeling it by the end with the telltale tickle in the backs of our throats. After our ride, we drove back to our hotel to rest for an hour or so. Then we went to the tiny greenish indoor hotel pool, where I sat on the side and watched while Jeff had swim races with the kids.
After the swim, the swimmers showered and then rested in the hotel room again for an hour until 5pm, when it was time to hunt down dinner. Jeff and I walked to a cute place called Thai Me Up, where I ordered pad Thai. We waited on a bench for 15 minutes and once we had that food in hand, walked to the pizza place where Jeff had an online order waiting. The $19 pizza turned out to be personal size, not family size, so Jeff quickly found a Domino's and ordered the kids a pizza. We walked back to our hotel room and I sat on a stool in our prime parking spot to keep it claimed while Jeff drove to Domino's to pick up the kids' pizza. Feeding a family in a tourist trap town without a kitchen sure can get complicated!
While I sat saving our parking spot, I ate my pad Thai. It ended up being the worst pad Thai I've ever had. It had to be a mistake. It tasted like they sautéed it in pure lime juice! And they ignored my request for no onions. Whatever. It wasn't completely unpalatable, so I ate it. At least Jeff loved his $19 mini pizza! Haha. I definitely would rather stay a bit farther away from the madness of downtown tourist town.
The kids quieted down and fell asleep nice and fast, thanks to our very adventurous day! Jeff and I switched beds with the girls to see if that helped us sleep better. It helped me, but didn't help Jeff. Ah well, we still got up and drove to Denver the next morning.
The road trip begins!
Some online research led me to purchase these funky motion sickness-proof glasses for our daughters. They claim to help regulate the inner ear with the blue liquid in the frame. I tested them first, and I think they worked? I was never brave enough to test them by trying to read a book while driving. But I did feel maybe a little...calmer while wearing them. I definitely bought a package of those blue hospital grade emesis bags for any potential kid puking.
Rose was way cuter in the crazy glasses than me.
Post-drive shakeout run on the National Elk Refuge road.
That tiny dot is Jeff running the opposite direction. He turned around a little before me.
It was a mellow evening and that Wyoming sky was wide open.
The hotel room of doom. It would have been a perfectly adequate room if the beds were better!
First bridge crossing of the hike!
Amber was excited to use her darling mini hydration pack, but after a mile or so I realized that she was not being her usual energetic self on the trail. She kept lagging behind. At last we removed her backpack and shoved it into Jeff's backpack. Our energetic explorer was back!
Wildfire smoke made the mountains a bit hazy, but they were still nice and pointy in the background.
I always love paintbrush flowers.
Eventually Amber even got tired of her hat, so Jeff held the child sized hat.
Taggart Lake! We had to hike for a while after seeing it to get down to the shore.
Jay was proud to donate supplies from his very own trail first aid kit to Amber's injuries. In this picture I'm holding Amber's bark boat for her. When she tripped and fell while running down the trail, she needed extra love, which I gave by doing something I rarely do on hikes: holding odds and ends collected by my kids.
This family picture was extra challenging to take. I stabbed a piece of driftwood into the sand at the edge of the lake, leaned it back against the bushes, balanced my phone on top of it, and set the camera timer. Later I cropped it into this better-balanced shot.
This was my other attempt at a picture. It was a bit more crooked.
Resting in the van after the hike.
I introduced Rose to the art of elevating tired legs.
BIKE RIDE!
The rig.
Cute Thai place, not cute Thai food.
Jackson, Wyoming is way more charming in the quiet early morning when all of the tourists are still asleep.
I went on a run before we left Jackson, and found a pretty little trail on the edge of town that nearly tempted me into running an extra ten miles. I resisted, but just barely.
Smoky sunrise.
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