Into a Federal Disaster Zone

We reluctantly left Jackson and headed across the wide empty plains of Wyoming. We drove 600 km and hardly passed any town of size. Wyoming is the least populated state for its size in the US outside Alaska. So whilst Jackson may be an appealing place to live its a long, long way from anywhere. We arrived in Laramie and as the local campsite looked pretty unattractive we decided to stay in Walmart. During the night it poured and poured with rain. The next day we headed into Colorado and to the student town of Fort Collins. As Alisha and Lucy needed to do some schooling it made sense to park next to the New Belgium Brewing Company to do this. We had discovered this craft brewery's beers on our travels and with the girls doing schooling this allowed Steve to take the excellent brewery tour. However he could not fully enjoy all the free beer as he had to drive so was only able to take small sips of each brew. All this time it just kept raining. We then headed on to the Earthroamer factory. This is a company that makes overland vehicles in the US and we had spent a lot of time studying their website for ideas. As we were so close we felt we had to call in and we were given a tour of their company. In return they also wanted a tour of our truck! Nice vehicles especially for 2 people trips. In the rain we then headed off to find the house of our friends Steve and Chris Booth who we were going to be staying with. This was harder than we thought as many roads were closed due to flooding. We got to within 2 Kms of them but a river had burst its banks and there was no way through.

20130915-122806.jpg Undeterred we looked for another route and after 20kms finally arrived at their lovely house. Later that night President Obama declared a federal emergency in the district we were in as there was serious flooding, the worst in 100 years. The following day we headed into Boulder for a look around. The biggest sight was the swollen river and most businesses were closed but we still found somewhere for lunch.

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20130915-122947.jpg Back at Steve and Chris's the weather cleared enough to allow Alisha and Lucy a swim in the pool. That evening we all headed into Denver for dinner with Steve and Chris's daughter, son in law and grandchildren at a true bar b que joint. It was lovely to catch up with some old friends from CEE, to talk about the old days and to see where they are living now.

20130915-123047.jpg Alisha and Lucy also loved their 2 dogs, Dillon and Lily.

20130915-123127.jpg We headed out over the Rockies to drive to Utah overnighting on the way at Rifle Gap Reservoir before heading on into Moab.

Grand Teton National Park

After the wonders of Yellowstone we drove into Grand Teton NP which is adjacent to Yellowstone. The magnificent scenery just continued to appear in front of our eyes with the Teton mountain range rising from the valley. We spent a couple of days in the park admiring the scenery, looking for wildlife and hiking. We have been doing a lot of this recently but are still loving it.

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20130910-220201.jpg We saw some magnificent Elk, although often from a distance, as well as Mule Deer.

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20130910-220350.jpg After an early morning drive we arrived in Jackson, a hip little town that is busy with hikers in summer and skiers in winter. After 10 days in the US it was time to introduce the girls to the big American breakfast and it did not disappoint. If we had lost any weight on the trip so far we put it back on with that meal. The girls loved the massive pancakes!

20130910-220523.jpg After doing our weekly chores, laundry, truck clean etc we went for a wander around Jackson. It is a lovely place with great outdoors on its doorstep. We could see it would be a great place to retire too and there were some amazing ranches for sale. We finished the day with dinner at a microbrewery that was chosen due to a) location, b) quality of food or c) range of beers? Well it was walking distance from the campground and their was a family restaurant in the brewery so it seemed too good to miss and it did not disappoint.

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Yellowstone

We'd all been looking forward to our visit to Yellowstone. As avid wildlife spotters we were looking forward to seeing lots of animals, as well as the scenery. Alisha was particularly keen on seeing the wolves that live in the north of the park. The park was still very busy, even though it was after Labour Day (American holiday on first Monday in September, after which the schools go back) and the weather was still warm. We had wanted to sleep in a small site right in the valley that the wolves are often seen but unfortunately it was full, so we spent a frustrating afternoon trying to find another place, as nearly all the campsites were full. Only a few big ones take advance bookings but eventually we found one close to Norris geyser basin. A late afternoon walk looking at a selection of geothermal features got everyone's legs and noses working. The following morning we were off before sunrise northwards to see animals but also get a campsite space, as this site we had been told filled by 8am. The drive was magical as all the meadows were cloaked in swirling mists. That combined with the steam gushing from fumeroles dotted through the forested hillsides gave it quite an eerie feeling as the sun rose over the mountains. Luckily we got a beautiful spot to stay right next to a bubbling stream with trout in and a herd of bison wandering over a meadow on the other side. We spent our time in Lamar Valley in Northern Yellowstone looking for animals, hiking and admiring the stunning scenery. The valley was filled with sage brush and grass which was starting to turn a very autumnal gold, especially at dawn and dusk. We didn't seen any of the fabled wolves or any predators but we did see lots of ungulates, especially big herds of bison. There was a couple of close encounters at the campground with these beasts which almost became extinct at one point. A very large male bison taking his time with a drink, scratch on a quivering tree and generally slowly surveying his domain, came through one morning. That evening when returning in the almost dark we could hear the snorts and grunts over the whole campground as a herd was making its way through to the higher ground. Needless to say both times we stayed well back, as bison, especially the males, are huge.

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20130910-164009.jpg We couldn't come to Yellowstone of course, without seeing "Old Faithful" the geyser that erupts regularly every one and a half hours or so. What we hadn't expected was the variety of geothermal features strung along the fault line. Yellowstone is actually on a giant volcano that is overdue an eruption, give or take 10,000 years or so (so we didn't lose any sleep over it). We saw and smelt a whole range of thermal pools, fumeroles (steam vents), hot springs and of course geysers while we were there. The girls schooling this week has been all about tectonic plates, volcanos, geology etc.

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20130910-164431.jpg Yellowstone also has a Grand Canyon, not "The" Grand Canyon but a hugely impressive slice through the mountains with two huge roaring waterfalls and yellow walls shot through with multihued mineral deposits. All in all Yellowstone has been fantastic and we thoroughly recommend it.

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