Week 2 – Explore Idaho, Wyoming and Montana!

We left Salt Lake City heading north on I-15, making our way toward the Idaho border. Week 1 took us from Tennessee, through Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and Utah.

We’d driven roughly 1,800 miles during our first week on the road, and we were ready to settle in for a few days in one spot. We crossed into Idaho and made our way up to Idaho Falls, where we had lunch at the Frosty Gator! We then made a stop to see some old friends who live in Idaho Falls. It was a nice visit, but we were eager to finish the last stretch of road that stood between us and 3 nights without breaking camp and spending endless hours on the road. Hello Victor, Idaho! We pulled into the Teton Valley Resort and we were very pleased to find it to be a great campground/spa! Yep, they had a spa right in the campground – massages and all! We got Mac all set up, and made some delicious chili for dinner, before attempting our first campfire of the trip. Due to the extremely dry conditions and the fires blazing in California, there had been burn bans in the previous campgrounds. But here, you could rent a steel fire ring and buy some firewood, and they let you have a fire! This is Idaho. It seemed like a good idea, given the safety measures with the fire ring and tiny logs, but we quickly felt strange about having a fire under the circumstances, so we doused it with water and decided to live without fire for now. We slept well knowing that tomorrow we would be exploring Jackson, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park!!

Day 9 of the trip did not start out as expected. First, we got a call from our youngest daughter, who was a few thousand miles away in the Emergency Room! Long story short, raw cookie dough can give you food poisoning, but you will live! Then, while I was off at the shower facilities, which were some of the nicest we’ve ever seen at a campground, our sweet little Stella was attacked by a small dog that had managed to get away from it’s owner. It took Jen, the dog’s owner and a passerby more than a few seconds to get the dog to release his grip on Stella’s neck. She was terribly shaken up by it, as was Jen. It was a big enough scene that some of our neighbors came over to check on Stella over the next few days. It was an awful morning!

Once everyone had gathered their wits, we got in Lexie and headed over Teton Pass and down into Jackson, Wyoming, a mere 24 miles away from camp. We were ready for lunch, so we made our first stop at Roadhouse Brewing. We had a nice lunch and a cold beer and did some pretty good “people watching.” We had a table right on the sidewalk and downtown Jackson was bustling! What a fun little town! After walking around for about an hour in Jackson, we decided it was time to pay a visit to Grand Teton National Park.

We entered the park and made our first stop at the Visitor’s Center. We got our official pamphlet, purchased a few stickers, and headed off to hike around Jenny Lake! The views were slightly obscured by smoke from the wildfires, but nonetheless they were amazing! We spent a good while just staring out across Jenny Lake at the Tetons shooting up into the sky! The smoke does not photograph well, so the pics didn’t turn out great, but the view in person was much less hindered. The park does have at least one nice hiking trail that allows dogs (if traveling to NP’s with dogs, you need to do your research), so we completed the hike around the lake and decided to see what else Grand Teton had to offer. We found our say to Signal Mountain, which provides incredible views of Jackson Hole! It also shares its name with a mountain just north of Chattanooga, where I grew up and we raised our girls, so we could not pass up this opportunity!

We had high expectations for Grand Teton NP, and it certainly delivered! On our way back to camp, we stopped at Grand Teton Brewing Company, of course! We sat outside in Adirondack chairs, looking out at Teton Pass and the beautiful Idaho landscape before us, sipping some fantastic beer and discussing our plans for the next day. I’m not sure that it really gets much better than that! After a rough start to the day, it was nice to have the rest of it go so very well!

For day 10, we decided to do limited driving, and just explore the general area around Victor and Driggs Idaho. We had a terrific lunch at a place called Butter, then we drove a whopping 10 miles north to Driggs, where we picked up a few provisions at an Ace Hardware store (I guess those things are everywhere) and stopped at Citizen 33 Brewing for a cold beer. We got back to camp in the early afternoon and did some much-needed relaxing. We made Naan pizzas for dinner and took Stella for a nice walk around the campground – we even played some fetch! One of the reasons we’d chosen Victor as a destination was that we have friends who live there, and we had heard such good things from everyone who’d visited the area. We finished off the evening by going over to their house for a backyard bonfire. We had such a good time visiting with them and Stella even got to meet their horse, and she was fascinated. The horse, not so much. We returned to camp and called it a night.

On our last full day in the area, we felt like we really needed to get some real excercise, so at the recommendation of our friends who live in the area, we hiked in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness in Darby Canyon, to what is known as the wind cave. The hike was fairly strenuous, but the views from the top of the climb were amazing. The hike was over 6 miles, and took us several hours, but all 3 of us, Stella included, needed it!

We rolled back down to Victor and stopped by Wildlife Brewing, where we met some very interesting characters! They had good beer and we wound up staying there for several hours, as the conversation had been pretty entertaining. We stopped nearby at a place called West Side Yard for dinner, and I got my first taste of deep fried avocado, what a treat that was!

After dinner, we headed back to Teton Valley Resort to start packing up, as we’d be headed to Montana in the morning. This was a big change to our original plans. The wildfires in California forced us to alter our route, and so at this point we were moving along without really knowing for sure where the “new” route might lead. We were disappointed that our goal of reaching the San Juan Islands was now out of reach, but we knew that we would make the best of it somehow. We decided to check out Missoula, Montana. I booked us a spot at Jim & Mary’s Campground and the next morning, we would be driving north! The route would send us right through a little place you may have heard of, Yellowstone National Park.

On day 12, we packed up and said our goodbyes to Victor, Idaho. It had been a very nice 3 days but we were ready to move on. We crossed Teton Pass for the last time, drove through Grand Teton NP once again, and made our entrance into Yellowstone – after the obligatory stop at the sign, of course! We stopped at Lewis Canyon Falls, had lunch on the shores of Lewis Lake, watched Old Faithful erupt, and took a quick tour of the Lodge! It was all just amazing, and I do plan to make it back there someday. But on this day, our plans were to make it all the way to Missoula, Montana.

We exited Yellowstone at West Yellowstone and continued on toward Ennis, Montana. We almost ran out of gas getting there – the distance between gas stations can be unreal out there – but we coasted into Ennis on fumes and filled Lexie’s tank. We made another stop in Butte for a beer and pizza at Butte Brewing, then carried on to Jim and Mary’s, setting Mac up in the dark after a very long day!

Day 13 found us exploring Missoula. We made a lunch stop at Conflux Brewing. We learned a lot at this stop. First – due to a city-wide ordinance – dogs were not allowed at restaurants or breweries, even outside. We were shocked! Poor Stella was perfectly fine to spend a little time in Lexie given the very mild temps, so we decided to go ahead and eat lunch. I had a mushroom french dip, which was excellent, and we also had a beer. The second thing we learned is that in Missoula, there is a 3 beer limit on day drinking. The bartenders are legally obliged to ask you how many beers you have had, if it is before 8 PM! In fact, they issue you a small piece of paper to help you keep track… After 8 PM you’re welcome to drink as much as you like. WTF, Missoula?

We will never go back there. Luckily, the bartender at Conflux told us that most people with dogs claim that the dog is a service dog. Apparently, the establishment just has to take your word for it, and cannot ask what disability the dog supports. Again, WTF Missoula? We decided to make a second stop at a brewery called Imagine Nation. I parked Lexie and went inside by myself, to test the “service dog” theory. I went to the bar and asked the very nice lady if we could bring our service dog inside. She said of course we could, and that was that. We are so glad that we stopped in this little gem of a brewery! It was phenomenal. Fantastic beer, laid back vibes and a friendly atmosphere! We really enjoyed Imagine Nation!

The next morning, we woke up early to a text message from our friends in Seattle – the smoke had been cleared out by a passing storm system, and the air quality was expected to be very good for the next few days! A quick check of the map app told us that we could be there by dinner time, so we packed up and cleared out of Missoula as fast as we could. Seattle here we come! We made a mid-day stop in Spokane at a brewery called Brickwest, which was really fantastic. They had a nice outdoor patio area that was dog-friendly, and the weather happened to be very nice. Not to mention some good beer!

The drive west on I-90 was really interesting. It seemed that every few hours, the landscape changed entirely. We arrived in Seattle in a steady rain, but we’d made it this far now, and we were excited to have come so far. We wrapped up the second week crashing in an actual bed for the first time in 14 days! We were staying with some friends who live out there. Somehow, I missed sleeping in our little camper. I did not miss the walk to the campground bathing facilities in the morning. Did not miss that at all!

Week 2 – Salt Lake City to Seattle; 1,000 miles; 3 states; 2 National Parks; 8 breweries.

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