Making Our Way Back Home

Well, we knew from the time we left San Francisco last Sunday that the rest of the trip was all about heading east and getting back home. Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and the Badlands were part of that trek east, but that still left a few more days (and stops) to get there.

The first of those stops was in the Minneopa State Park, which is located just east of Mankato, Minnesota. Like I mentioned in the previous post, this was a place chose solely because it was on the way home and about 6-7 hours away from the Badlands National Park.

After driving on a bunch of back roads at times through South Dakota and Minnesota, the state park and campground seem to come out of nowhere. Our site was located in the back part of the campground, and with all neighboring sites unoccupied, it made for a very private site.

Despite the happy smiles on the faces above, we weren't too happy about the mosquito village we seemed to invade. The fire proved necessary to help keep some of those pesky bugs away.

These Are the Baaaaaaaaadlands

Sleeping in this open campground in a field in the Badlands of South Dakota was pretty interesting. At some point in the night, Ethan and I awoke to the sound of something howling off in the distance. I think all of us eventually heard it, too.

They were coyotes and the pack was moving quickly because, a minute later, we heard them on the other side of the campground. It was both fascinating and frightening. I guess that's why they have you park around the campground and set up your tents inside the loop.

Still, it was a really cool place to spend the night. And this is what we woke up to in the morning:

There were also some prairie dogs moving around in the campground in the morning. Actually, there are prairie dogs everywhere in this park. They're definitely the cutest animal we saw this trip.

Yellowstone -> Bighorn -> Mount Rushmore -> Badlands

Although we've returned to Pennsylvania, there are still a few more posts that I'd like to get up about our trip. The first of those posts is about our trip out of Yellowstone and into Mount Rushmore.

On Wednesday morning, after a good night's rest after a long Yellowstone-filled day, our alarms went off around 6 am. It was the second straight day we'd had to set an alarm, but this was important.

The trip from Yellowstone National Park to Mount Rushmore was roughly seven hours. If you factor in stops, it could creep to eight hours. By getting up early, packed up, and on the move by 6:30, we were giving ourselves a chance to get to Mount Rushmore by about 2:30.

This was necessary because we'd scheduled an appointment to replace the windshield there with Safelite. Without service, though, we had no confirmation or exact time other than "in the afternoon" to meet with the repairman. We assumed if we got in by 3, we'd be OK.

Credit is given when credit is due, and Lauren surprised all, including herself, by getting up and helping pack up without coffee in less than 30 minutes.

The trip out of Yellowstone was quite peaceful and calming at 6:30 am (but maybe that had to do with the fact that every one of us was silent and coffee-deprived). Lewis Lake Campground was on the southern end of Yellowstone, so it took us nearly an hour to head north and then east to leave the park on the east entrance.

As we left, you could see the remnants of the 1988 Yellowstone fires, which burned nearly 800,000 acres and roughly 36% of the park. Anyways, the trip out, especially toward the east entrance, ran up, down, and along the mountains. It was extremely beautiful with the morning sunlight.

Eventually we got service and a phone call from Safelite, and our plan was working out. The repairman planned to meet us at Mount Rushmore around 3 or 4 pm.

Once out of the park, we didn't go far before wanting to stop again and take in the scenery. This time, we were in the Bighorn National Forest. The contrast of rock, green, and blue sky, made us all appreciate the beauty.

The drive through Bighorn National Forest, toward the end, takes you along mountains and views of the vast valley below.

Yellowstone is YUGE! (said in Donald Trump voice)

Tuesday started out very early. Alarms were set for 6 am, and we were on the road by 6:30.

Destination: Yellowstone National Park

Goal: get a first-come, first-serve campsite ASAP

Result: Accomplished.

By 7:30 am, we were in Yellowstone and had landed a campsite along Lewis Lake. The lake is the first major stop in Yellowstone if you come through the south entrance.

We had to wait for another set of travelers to pack up their site, so we spent some time eating breakfast and enjoying the beauty of the lake in the early morning. Once we had our site set up, we immediately set out for the park because we knew we had a big day ahead of us.

I think our travels started around 10. The plan was to do a loop from Old Faithful to Madison to Canyon Village before making our way back to our campsite. Some of that might not make a lot of sense to you if you haven't seen a map of the park or if you haven't visited it before, but it's a fairly popular loop.

It's also a very small section of the park, which from the title of this post suggests, is absolutely massive. We'd sometimes drive for 10-20 miles before making our next stop. I'll do my best to walk you through it.

The first stop was at the Kepler Cascades, a beautiful set of waterfalls.

Not So Grand Teton

After our interesting night sleep in Idaho, we weren’t in too big of a rush to get on the road. It was only a five and a half hour trip to the Grand Teton National Park with the plan to stay at Jenny Lake. This slow start in the morning would prove to be a big mistake.

Eventually we got on the road around 9 am. Driving through the western part of Idaho and into Wyoming didn’t seemed a lot like our trip as we left the Rockies a couple weeks prior. That all makes sense considering it’s the foothills of the western side of the Rockies. Wyoming was the 13th state on our trip.

We entered through the south entrance of Grand Teton National Park and planned to either set up camp at Jenny Lake immediately or do some hiking and sight-seeing through the park and camp at some other campsite.

The biggest thing I can remember from this park is the stunning backdrop of the Teton Mountains against green fields and blue lakes.

Time to Head East. Let's Start in Idaho.

So in case you were wondering, there isn't really any service or wifi between San Francisco and Yellowstone. That's why I'm a little behind.

Anyways, after saying our early morning goodbyes to Uncle Ron and Aunt Kay on Sunday, we took off for the Sawtooth National Forest in southern Idaho. We stayed in the Lower Penstemon Campground.

It took at least 10 hours to get to our campground, which is why we had to unfortunately leave so early.

The western part of California is scenic as you make your way through mountains. We went just north of Lake Tahoe on our way into Nevada. If there is ever a state that is extremely difficult to drive through because it's so boring, I think it might be Nevada. Nebraska is also in the running for that title.

Eventually the scenery started to change when we hit Idaho. We didn't go far enough north to see Boise, but we did see a bunch of small towns en route to our campground.

Sawtooth National Forest is aptly named. The mountains and rocks jut out of the ground in a zigzag formation that made it seem like they were teeth clamping down on the roadway (and our car).

A Day in San Fran

Nobody had a problem sleeping last night. After a wonderful meal and a quick dip in the pool, all four of us passed out easily.

This morning, after waking up and eating breakfast and getting our caffeine kick, Uncle Ron drove us about 10 minutes to the Walnut Creek BART station. If you're ever worried about using public transportation in a big city, take a trip to the Bay Area. The transportation was extremely user-friendly and easy to figure out.

We ended up getting off at the Powell Street station, walked up the stairs, and were hit with the sights and sounds of a bustling downtown.