The Beginning of the End

Day Eight

We got up early, excited about seeing the amazing Teton mountain range, but sad about leaving Yellowstone, and our impending departure from El Guapo, Liblitz & Daphne later this day. 

We had thankfully passed a slightly warmer night, and by the time those of us in the RV had woken up, the others had already packed up the campsite.  But this posed a problem for breakfast, b/c we were for sure staying long enough and running the generator for coffee again.  So we decided to cook our breakfast inside the RV, which even though it has a microwave, fridge & gas stove, we had yet to use it as a “kitchen” for anything other than sandwiches. 

I am sorry to report that I did not take a picture of this event.   But as you’ve seen the inside of the RV (see earlier pictures), I will try to describe this for you in detail.  The stove has 3 gas burners.  Liblitz stood over the stove and cracked eggs into a bowl on a 2-inch strip of counter, then scrambled them in one skillet, while she fried sausage in another.  Kiki sat up on her knees on the table bench backwards and cooked bacon in a skillet on the 3^rd burner.  Nona sat on the other table bench and made 12 individual cups of coffee in the Keurig at the small table, which then also doubled as the buffet as meats & eggs became ready.  The rest of us constantly interrupted them getting this & that out of every cabinet & drawer around them.   And while we told them to stay outside, 5 & 7 constantly ran thru the tiny hallway (if you can even call it that).  Then I washed the dishes & skillets in the tiny sink.  It really was an event itself.  

After our hearty breakfast and making sure we had left our camp clean & tidy enough for the Bear Country rules, we headed out for our last animal scans of Yellowstone and towards the Tetons.  Every eye was on the lookout for our only missing animal, the elusive bear.   But alas, sigh, we pulled out of the gates of Yellowstone not having seen one.   As 5 put it, “why didn’t we find Yogi?”

But right away, we were seeing the Tetons ahead of us, and they are GLORIOUS.  Impressive is just not a strong enough word to describe them.  They tower over everything in sight, with huge glaciers covering most of their peaks.  Once we entered Teton National Park, we probably stopped about every scenic view on our way south, especially hitting the ones on the lake. 

 

 We were driving along, in awe of the scenery, when we suddenly hit brake lights.  The traffic was a bear.  No literally, it was a bear. (That was Nona’s joke)  Everyone was stopped and running into the woods, so we pulled off too, and several of us shot out with cameras ready…and sure enough it was a black bear, a cub, and it was really only 20 yards away.   And it was moving fairly quickly.  I sent Rough to get the kids, they had to see this!  It would duck into the bushes, and come out and we’d all have to move right another 10 feet in the woods, but then it started coming a little too close for comfort, and then you start thinking about the momma being somewhere nearby, and Liblitz & I decided to get back.  I mean, I didn’t have any bear spray after all.   About then, the ranger showed up & started shooing everyone back.  By the time we’d got back into the RV and back into the traffic to pass where it had been, the ranger had everyone on the opposite side of the street and the cub was literally 5 feet from the road shoulder. 

SUCCESS!!  We had seen our bear, and up close at that.  My pictures don’t do it justice, the camera kept focusing on the trees around the bear.  Kiki got the best one, I’ll have to post it for you next week.  

After that we went to Jenny Lake Junction, which is a great spot for viewing Grand Teton Mtn up close, and for hiking, canoeing, etc.  However, we didn’t have time for all that, so we just took the short walk down the lake trail.  It had a cool little rocky beach and we all walked along, checking everything out.  Rough & 5 were rock-hopping just along the shore, and the rest of us had climbed on to a small hill looking out over the lake.  Liblitz shouted, “Oh” and then we heard the splash, and turned to see Rough & 5 totally in the water.  It wasn’t deep, but it was cold!   We convinced 5 to finish the walk and take some pictures even though he was soaking, but watching him walk back to the RV was pretty hilarious.  According to Rough, 5 wanted to jump to the one largest rock and balance on it, even though it was about 2 feet offshore (see pic below).   Rough agreed to this ..?? and in they went.   Luckily, when you travel by RV, everything is with you.  No worrying about needing clothes back at the lodge, etc, it’s right there.

Before...note the large rock behind them

After...wet

We ate some lunch together in the RV and then headed south, the last of our sightseeing now accomplished, with sad and yet full hearts.  We drove to Lander, WY where Liblitz & El Guapo’s good friends came and met us for about 5 minutes.  We said our goodbyes, and then parted ways as we began our long, long, long, long journey back to the East Coast.  But our adventure was not quite over yet.  We still had some high points to look forward to in the last 3 days.   
 

That night we decided to drive to all the way to Denver, and since it would be late, give ourselves a break from the camping, and stay in a hotel.   We thought we had already experienced the worst of long hours in the RV on the way out…the boat-like rocking, the hot-or-cold-but-never-in-between temperatures.  So it turns out that much of Wyoming & Colorado have 75 mph speed limits.  This was a very exciting discovery for Rough & Tough, who could now speed up the process of getting there, but to the detriment of the rest of us.  Now we also couldn’t hear….at all….on the RV.  Literally you’d be talking to the person right next to you, and What?  What?    Forget about trying to talk to the driver if you were by the kitchen.  (Which are only 5ft apart)

So around midnight, we checked into a Hampton Inn, and man did it feel like the Taj Mahal after our week of camping & RV sleep.  We all crashed into comfy beds & even Moose felt a little pampered for the night.

 

Day Nine

We left our hotel early, anticipating a long day of driving through Kansas to get to Kansas City.  This is where we loved the new faster speed limit, b/c while we could barely talk to one another, we got to KC by 6pm, instead of our estimated 8pm.  This was great b/c Kiki & Tough were going to stay with and see friends they grew up with, my fam was going to see cousins at Rough’s brother’s house, and this left Nona & Pop-pop to some much needed respite at a hotel and nice date night out at one of KC’s best steak houses. 

Everyone had a great time and some much needed relaxing this evening.  I’ll tell one story, Rough had been arranging all this with his brother, who knew we were in an RV and had even read the blog.  But somehow, he’d forgotten to share this with his wife.  So she calls me a few minutes out and I tell her we’d just been laughing about where we will park the RV at their house.  “The what?”  “The 28-foot RV we’re driving. You didn’t know about the RV?”  “But where are you going to put it?”  This proceeded to be a pretty funny conversation.  Imagine us pulling up in their sweet suburban neighborhood, like a scene straight out of National Lampoon’s Vacation.   In fact, when we got there, they were across the street letting a few neighbors know that this was family and we had just been to Yellowstone (and I’m sure they added not to worry, the RV will be gone soon).  I hopped out and said, “Hey, your crazy family has arrived!” 

While there, 5 was so excited to have a real sleepover with his big boy cousins (7^th & 9^th graders).  One of his cousins likes to hunt with his dad, and has the head of a deer hanging on the bedroom wall.  We asked 5 if it was going to scare him, but he wanted to be with them so he said no.  At bedtime, the boys laid down with 5, even though they are old enough to stay up (so sweet).  Not 5 minutes later, we hear from the top of the stairs…”Mommy?”  Yes, I respond.  “Umm…I wasn’t really interested in coming to sleep here at this house.”   I was mortified, but luckily my in-laws thought it was hilarious.  That was his way of saying he was scared and he ended up in bed with us all night.    Even though we’d seen the live versions this week, I guess that was a little too up close & personal for him. 

But all-in-all, it was a great time of catching up & seeing friends and family that we were so glad to fit into this adventure.   But we were now only two days away from home, and your mind really starts to shift towards your bed, your comforts, but it was still going to be two long, long, long days of driving.