Final stretch

Tonight we stopped in Nashville.  Left Kansas City at 8 am and arrived at 6:30 in Nashville.  I guess we could have pushed through but we are tired after 2.5days of driving.  

Hopefully if traffic cooperates we will be home tomorrow early afternoon.  

I didn't have a chance to post yesterday.   We finished the Nebraska stretch. We stopped for lunch in Nebraska city at Arbor Lodge State Park where the founder of Arbor Day lived.  It's a nice arboretum. 

Whisper benches 

Yesterday's stop in Kansas City was fun. We stayed downtown and enjoyed KC bbq. We even walked to the WWI memorial which is massive. Here are a couple of pics 

Zoe is behind the fountain 

We ended the night with some rooftop pool swimming.  The sunset from the hotel roof was awesome. 

Nashville tonight.  No pics.  Home tomorrow.  

Headed home day 1

We crossed Wyoming and half of Nebraska today.  Wyoming had some interesting sights along the way.  Can't really say that for Nebraska

We did make one fun but kind of weird stop. In Rawlins, Wy you can tour the frontier state prison.  Frontier is kind of a misnomer since it was built in the early 1900s.  It was in use until 1981.  That's the really scary part.  We got to see the whole prison including the gallos and the gas chamber.   

Probably shouldn't comment on this one 

Cell blocks issued until the 1980s

Gas chamber.  Several people on the tour sat in the chair and took selfies

On the plus side,we entered the central time zone today.   

A day of fossils

We have begun the drive back East.  This morning we left the Tetons early so we would have time in the fossil capital of the USA....SW Wyoming.  Who knew?

It was a 4 hour drive from Jackson Lake Lodge to Kemmerer (pronounced Kimmer) Wyoming.  We watched the landscape change from lush river basin to high desert.  Our first stop was the Fossil Butte National Monument.  At 7000 ft above sea level, you wouldn't expect a desert.  Lots of rock and sagebrush.

Wyoming landscape around Fossil Butte

The drive up to the visitor center started with signs about 1/2 mile away showing a geological timeline where 9 inches = 1 million years.  As we got closer to the visitor center, the timeline got more detailed.  By the time we were on teh walk to the center, each 12 inches was marked with geological or evolutionary event.

At the very end...the last 18 inches marked humans.  it was awesome!

I loved the visitor center too.  Very much a Frank Lloyd Wright style.  Check out the triangular pavers

After filling up our water bottles and checking out the inside of the center, we headed 2 miles up the road for lunch at a picnic area at Fossil Butte.

This is the way we have lunches most days. After, we attempted the small 1.5 mile "Nature Trail" near the picnic area.  we got about .75 miles in and called "uncle"  It was hot, dry, and the air was thin at 7000 ft.  We did enjoy the views.

We were all happy to come down the mountain.  It is really difficult to show the scale of things out here.  It's vast!  In the image below you can barely see the "Spaceship" minivan in the middle-right.  

The highlight of the day we yet to come.  About 1 hour away by car, and the other side of Fossil Butte was a place were you can dig your OWN fossils!!!!!!

Fossil Safari is a quarry that you pay by the hour to dig, pry open, and smash open limestone to find fossilized fish.  The entire are of Kemmerer is a fossil lake.  Obviously the lake has been gone for several million years.

The drive to the quarry was a little rough (sorry dad).  The minivan held it's own.

It was a rock and gravel road or about 6 miles through Wyoming desert and cowboy country.  The directions even had you count the number of cattle crossing gates because there were no other landmarks to follow.

 It was SO MUCH FUN!  After a quick tutorial of how to do it, we were given our own rock hammers and metal wedges and were taken to our dig area.

First, you break out a large slab of rock (12x24 inches at the largest).  You use the wedge and hammer to break apart the rock in layers.  the limestone flakes apart in sheets.  Each time you break one open, there is always teh possibility of a fossil.

It was ADDICTIVE! 

We could have stayed for hours.  The rocks in teh foreground were discards from the digging.  

Look closely at the rock in Kim's hands.  You can see the darker brown fish fossils on the rocks.  We probably came home with 10-12 fossils.

Kemmerer, WY is known for its fossils.  All over town there are reminders of the fossils in the nearby mountains.  I loved this bronze plate in the sidewalk.  "Wyoming's Aquarium in Stone"

Kemmerer is not only known for fossils.  It is also known for on other thing....it is the town of the mother store of J.C. Penny Company.   This is store #1.  It is still open!

Tetons - Day 2

It's a bit sad that we will be leaving the Greater Yellowstone Area tomorrow and heading home.  We will do some fun stuff on our way back, but nothing will be quite like the last week.

Today was such a fun time.  We started the day with a nature hike up Lunch Tree Hill at Jackson Lake Lodge.  We spent an hour with a naturalist, and heard more of the history and geology of the area.

You can see the roof of Jackson Lake Lodge in the background.  The Tetons and Jackson Lake are to the right (out of the picture)

After our walk, we boarded a bus and headed for a 2 hour float trip down the Snake River - named not for the abundance of snakes but for how it meanders through the valley.

The trip included lunch with grilled hamburgers and hotdogs at the river's edge, and then we boarded the rafts.

Zoe as photographer

lunch/ picnic site

the kitchen

our raft

Once we were given all the safety instructions and what would happen to us if we fell out of the boat, we were off.  We floated for 2 hours from north to south along the East side of the Tetons.

The kids had a blast (and we did too).  We were lucky to get one of teh smaller rafts that only fits about 8 people.  The guides are always entertaining.

we saw 4 bald eagles along the way

And at the very end of the trip, the guide noticed lots of people looking at something off a nearby bridge.  He said, "gotta be a moose"   He was right.  We beached the boat and all RAN to see it.  Ian said the one animal he wanted to see on our trip was a moose.  Moose are getting rarer in the area as their populations decline.  We got lucky.  It was a big bull moose on the river side eating.  It made the whole trip!

Tomorrow we leave Jackson Lake Lodge.  If there is anything I can say about it, it is that to days here is not enough.  Jackson Lake Lodge has so much to do.  It's like a big summer camp for families.  Hiking, raft trips, horseback riding, wagon rides, a pool...it is little camp-like resort, western style.  

morning view from the great room at Jackson Lake Lodge

The view the whole time you are in the Tetons.

Tetons - Day 1

After we pack up from OFI - we headed south to the Grand Teton National Park.  

One of the first things you pass when entering GTNP is Jackson Lake.  The Tetons are still miles away, but are still huge.  The Grand Teton - the largest mountain, is about 13,700 ft about sea level.

We had a little time to kill so we drove into Jackson,Wyoming.  It's a great town - very touristy -  make sure you bring your wallet too. 

There is a part in the middle of town that has two elk antler arches.  

Zoe and Ian met a friend, and they pondered about theories of relativity and quantum mechanics.  

...and then they showed some real intelligence.  

After an afternoon in Jackson, we drove back to Jackson Lake where we checked in to teh Jackson Lake Lodge

The Lodge overlooks Jackson Lake and the Tetons.  It's been around since the 1950's and is a bit more modern than there OFI.  The views off the back terrance aren't bad either.

The rooms are a series of little motel-like rooms.  The whole place function as one big resort with horse stables, a pool, several restaurants, a store, and walking trails.

We hiked up to a little point that has a tribute to John D. Rockefeller.  He was instrumental in the formation of the GTNP.