Hellloooooo, friends! This is Libbie, filling you in with all the exciting details of the past three days of Rad Trip.
Let's see, where to begin...
We discovered in the middle of the night our first night of camping that our camp site was very near an active train track. So we were both jolted awake in a panic as a freight train roared by our tent. Surprise! After the first one, the rest weren't so shocking. We didn't get much sleep that first night in Montana, but at least the stars were awesome.
In the morning we headed south to Yellowstone, where we walked among the geysers and took lots of pictures. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm but not hot, and as the sun set we came across a herd of elk grazing among the geyser basin at West Thumb. It was amazing! We kept our distance, though, and watched them from afar.
That night we got all fancy and cooked grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup over the campfire. We camped in Grant Campground, a very busy campsite, and sadly we were kept awake all damn night by the hippie family in the spot next to ours, who thought it was a marvelous idea to bring their sick baby on a camping trip. In the Rockies. In September. The poor kid was hacking and crying all night, and we got no sleep. Plus, we discovered that my sleeping bag sucks and I froze all night. We left our campsite in a cranky mood, but fortunately we arrived at Old Faithful exactly on time to see it erupt. A little coffee put us to rights and we headed down to Grand Teton National Park.
We lucked out big-time and got one of the last campsites available at Jenny Lake, a tent-only area that I highly recommend if you are a car camper. I read online that the Jenny Lake site might be the most beautiful campsite in the entire National Parks system, and I believe it. The scenery in our campsite was unbelievable. The Teton Range was so close we might have touched it, and the lack of RVs in the campground meant there was minimal noise and minimal kids.
We took a short hike along the Leigh Lake trail but turned back when clouds began to gather. An afternoon nap helped make up for the previous night's hippie-induced sleeplessness, then we took in a fascinating ranger talk on nocturnal animals, in which Paul volunteered to read the part of the Snowshoe Hair in an educational presentation. He pronounced the word "crepuscular" like a champ.
In our quiet, secluded camp site we built a fantastic fire and chilled out in the peaceful dusk. The sky was gorgeous, the most incredible cobalt blue color shining through the clouds. We turned in for the night and slept much, much better than the previous evening. In fact, we actually got a good night's sleep, a rare thing on a camping trip. We were only awakened by a gentle rain shower, and thank goodness, the tent held up fine.
In the morning we struck camp and passed through Jackson on our way south. When Paul saw the antler arches (you know what I mean if you've been to Jackson!) we had to stop and poke around downtown for an hour. I was happy to note that Paul seemed genuinely impressed by Jackson. He even dragged me into a souvenir shop. With that kind of enthusiasm for the town, I think I might convince him some day to join me in my secret lifelong goal: own a vacation home in Jackson. Wooo!
We were delayed by construction and insane speed limit fluctuations as we continued south to Utah, but we made it into Salt Lake City by about 3:30. A much-needed shower was in order as soon as we found a room for the night, and then we headed to Tracy Aviary, where I was an intern two years ago, and where I made an ass of myself talking to the birds in that special stupid voice I use to talk to birds. It was awesome.
We've had dinner -- our first "real" non-camp food in four days -- and soon we'll be heading out to check out Temple Square at night and prowl around downtown SLC on foot, while I continue to bombard poor Paul with stories of when I lived in SLC. This is payback for all his stories about guns that I don't get.
Tomorrow we head on to Arches, then the Grand Canyon, and the following day, Vegas. So you won't hear from us again until Vegas day, when we have internet access once more.
Until then...!
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