National Parks: Yellowstone and Grand Teton!

Get ready for The Great Reitzling Road Trip III: Pandemic Edition!

This summer's travel plans originally had us in Banff with my parents, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary.  But COVID killed air travel and Canada closed its borders.  We did a quick pivot and decided to see just how far we could drive with four kids in a minivan.  Sixteen hours to Yellowstone and Grand Teton?  Let's do it!

Normally, I would plan this kind of trip a year in advance to get rooms at the grand National Park lodges.  But the lodges were closed, which freed me from the pursuit of the perfect itinerary.   I lined up some hotels, cabins, and AirBNBs, bought five tons of food at Costco, and we set off to spend a lot of time outdoors while avoiding people as much as possible.

Day 1: Drive to Medora

The first day was completely uneventful.  We drove straight to Medora, ND, stopping only for lunch halfway.  I picked up Subway sandwiches and we ate in a nearby park so everyone could stay outside and stretch the legs.  Then back in the car for another four hours of iPads and Target dollar bin activities.  The kids are really awesome at this whole road trip thing.  

Medora is where we stayed for the Theodore Roosevelt NP portion of our first road trip.  We were looking forward to seeing the town and eating the breakfast sandwiches again.  We stopped in town for Hidden Java, then drove part of the loop through TRNP.   Fritz was delighted to be reunited with his beloved bison.

We had dinner at a restaurant for the first time in months.  North Dakota is much more "open" than Minnesota has been, and it felt rather weird to be out, doing something normal, with people who were acting like that is normal.   I found a restaurant (Boots Bar & Grill) with outdoor seating and we parked ourselves at the far end of the patio away from other parties.  We picked up ice cream at Hatlee & Brae and realized that having one parent go inside alone to order is actually an awesome way to avoid having all the kids demand all the random things.   You learn some things during a pandemic.

We returned to the hotel so the kids could swim!  In a pool!  We're all sort of dying for lack of pool time this summer.  We had the whole pool to ourselves and the kids were just so happy.   Day 1 ended with the traditional bed-jumping and bed-assignment negotiations.

The kids really like each other at the beginning of a trip.

Day 2: Medora to West Yellowstone

The second day began with the fabled breakfast sandwiches.  I waited two long years to be reunited with those gas station sandwiches and they were delicious.  We had another easy day of driving with another picnic lunch in a random park. 

The last third of the drive through Bozeman and Big Sky was gorgeous and I was ready to move to Montana.  We rolled into West Yellowstone in late afternoon, checked into our AirBNB just two blocks across from the Yellowstone entrance, and I picked up extremely delicious Mexican takeout from a bus.  The kids carried their travel packs to their rooms and we marveled at our first trip without any baby gear -- no pack n play, no bottles, no pull-ups, no monitor, nothing.  After such an easy drive, I wondered whether the kids were big enough that nothing really crazy (like cactus incidents) would happen on our trips anymore. 

Day 3: Geothermal Wonders

We spent our first day in the park exploring the geyser basin area.  I like to kick things off with whatever makes a park most unique, and the geothermal features did not disappoint!  Karl and I visited Yellowstone in 2009 and I remember being amazed by the number and intensity of the geysers and pools.  It's just as spectacular the second time; on this visit, I was struck by how many random geysers are scattered throughout the park -- hundreds of them, just bubbling and steaming in the middle of nowhere.  Any one of them would be a major feature in another country, but Yellowstone has so many, they don't even get labeled on the park map. 

We parked at Old Faithful, where the Lodge was closed but the Visitor's Center was open.  We considered going in for Junior Ranger packets but decided to just stick with our outdoors-only pandemic strategy.  I had been watching the much-touted NPS Yellowstone app with geyser eruption predictions, but alas, there is no cell service in the park, so we just looked at the handwritten signs like the old people we are. 

Old Faithful dutifully erupted 10 minutes after we arrived.  AND there was a bison parked right in front of it like he was posing for the postcard photo shoot.  So we were starting on a high note. 

We set off for the full three-mile loop around the Upper Geyser Basin, with the spectacular Morning Glory Pool at the far end.  We walked it clockwise, starting with the more boring paved section, which was a great way to tackle it with kids.  By the time they started to whine about walking, stuff started getting interesting. 

Henry was running ahead and saw Castle Geyser erupt all by himself.  It was still pretty cool by the time Fritz and I got there.

  

On the boardwalk side of the loop, there's a pool or geyser every few hundred feet, and the kids were very enthusiastic.  Henry declared Yellowstone his favorite park so far.  

Everyone loved Spasmodic Geyser, which was bubbling and steaming and smelly enough to be intimidating.  Heidi worked up the courage to run through the steam several unnecessary times.

After completing the Upper Basin loop, we stopped at a picnic area for lunch from the car cooler, then parked near Midway Geyser Basin to see Grand Prismatic.  This area was very busy; the crowds tend to build late in the day, and this area just has one major feature and not a lot of boardwalk real estate to spread out.  It was really the only time in the park that did not feel appropriately socially distanced.  On the upside -- NPS was not allowing tour buses, so even though the crowd probably about average, the traffic flow was much better than what we experienced in Zion last year.  Removing the groups of 60+ foreign tourists moving in herds made for much easier hiking.  Pandemic upgrade.

We still had some afternoon to burn, so we drove to the Norris area to see the Artists Paintpots.  This is  a nice, short hike through the forest and along a boardwalk that climbs up and down a big hill.  There's boiling mud.  It was pretty cool, but somewhat anticlimactic after the 100-foot geysers and neon pools.  

Having successfully checked off all the major geothermal categories, we drove back to West Yellowstone to relax and make dinner.  Karl went out to get gas and I was enjoying five quiet minutes while the kids played in the other bedroom.  Then I heard a loud thud and Fritz started screaming angry rage at Henry.  I go in and find Fritz's face covered in blood from a 2-inch gash on his head.  I panicked and screamed maybe a lot of expletives.  I frantically moved him to another bed, mashed a washcloth against his face to stop the bleeding, and yelled at Henry to run to the front desk and ask an employee where to go for stitches.  Luckily, the only urgent care in town was still open for another 20 minutes.  The nurse I spoke to said they couldn't stitch a three year old and told me the nearest ER was 45 minutes away in Big Sky.  So I got myself together enough to clean off the gash and tell her it was very clean and straight with no ragged edges and could probably be steri-stripped or dermabonded.  She agreed to see him and we ran out, grabbed the car keys from Karl as he pulled back into the parking lot, and drove four blocks while Fritz held the bloody towel to his own head.  A nurse was waiting for us in the parking lot.  He took our temperatures and gave me a mask.  The other nurses whisked us into a room, promptly gave Fritz an ice cream sandwich, and started cleaning up his face.   There was some screaming but Fritz was mostly very, very tough.  The gash was indeed clean enough to dermabond.  Once Fritz was cleaned up and calm, I almost passed out from adrenaline crash and wearing a mask in a tiny un-air-conditioned room, so he had a juice box while I put my head down for a minute.  We left with a free book and another ice cream sandwich.  A+ for the West Yellowstone Medical Clinic.  

Fritz told everyone he met hat the doctors glued his head.  And the universe laughed at me for thinking nothing crazy would happen on our trips anymore.

Day 4: Hayden Valley and Canyon

Undaunted by craniofacial wounds (#fourthbaby) we set out for another epic adventure day.  First up, a long drive to Hayden Valley to look for wildlife.  It was picture perfect!  Huge herds of bison dotted the valley under big, dramatic clouds.  Wildflowers were in full bloom and it was just glorious.  

We stopped to see Mud Volcano and Sulphur Cauldron.  Fritz, our dragon-lover, heard that the first stop was called Dragon's Mouth Spring, and gave every subsequent feature a dragon job -- this is the dragon's pool!  this is the dragon's hot tub!  this is the dragon's baby pool!  He vigorously shushed us so we didn't wake the dragon. 

SHHHHHHH

What head wound?

We drove back by the bison herds and enjoyed a bonus elk traffic jam.

Next up was a brief stop to see Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  The trail I had planned to hike was closed due to rockfall, so we just walked to a couple of the overlooks.  That was plenty for me, because having the children on cliff edges really stresses me out, and Fritz and his newly-glued face really wanted to climb on all the rocks.

After another picnic lunch from the cooler, we settled in for a long drive to Island Park, Idaho for horseback riding.  The kids desperately wanted to ride, and the NPS outfitters generally won't take young kids, so I found this "ranch" that would let Heidi ride the trail, offered pony rides for Fritz, and had lots of other things for me and Fritz to do while waiting for the others.  Two thumbs up for Yellowstone Horses at Eagle Ridge Ranch!  Did you know that Island Park, Idaho, is like a redneck recreational paradise?  I did not.  But there's this whole town in the middle of nowhere with a human:ATV population of 1:1.  And a ranch where a 5-year-old can ride the trail while you and your 3-year-old paddle beat-up canoes in the swimmin' hole.  The kids all loved it.

We returned to the condo for much-needed showers and dinner from my Costco stash.

Day 5: Lamar Valley

After two epic days of activity, we decided to have some forced downtime by driving to Lamar Valley to see even more wildlife.  It's a long drive from West Yellowstone -- almost two hours.  That was one downside to the limited lodging options; ideally, we would have stayed a few nights on the east side of the park.  If I got to do this trip over again, I would drive into the park via the Northeast Entrance and see Lamar that way.  I think it would have been worth adding 90 minutes to the long driving day  -- especially since more animals are active in the evening -- instead of four hours roundtrip from West Yellowstone.  

But I'm still glad we did it!  We saw SO MANY ANIMALS.  Hayden Valley had a herd of bison; Lamar had thirty herds.  We also saw a bunch of elk, some pronghorn, lots of pika, and a bear!  There are no marked trails, so we occasionally just got out and tramped around.

We stopped near Mammoth for another picnic lunch.  I donned my mask and ducked into the Mammoth General Store to unilaterally choose t-shirts for everyone.

After four+ hours in the car, we were ready to stretch our legs, so we stopped to hike at Bunsen Peak.  This was a great hike, winding up through forest and alpine meadow with a great view of the western side of the park.  We did about three miles (of a nine total to the summit and back), climbing just high enough to find a patch of snow.  Heidi was our hiking champ again.

The evening ended with another dinner in the condo and some ice cream that made everyone cry.  

Day 6: Mammoth

We spent our final Yellowstone day in the northern part of the park around Mammoth hot springs.  The terraces were gorgeous and other-worldly and not nearly as smelly as I remembered.  We arrived early to beat the crowds (and the heat) and that was totally the right decision.  We had the boardwalks mostly to ourselves.  When we drove by in the evening, the parking lots and boardwalks were overflowing.

We left the park and zipped up to Gardiner, MT for the much-anticipated whitewater rafting!  We went with Wild West Rafting, which was awesome.  When I booked this, I called to verify Fritz could come, and they said sure, you'll just sit in the middle of the boat and hold him.  Great.  And then their social distancing protocols put us in our own smaller raft, with me and Karl both paddling, and Fritz sitting by himself with his chubby fists gripping two rope loops.  

We put into the river and immediately started splashing and bouncing.  Fritz and Heidi wept loudly and I thought the whole thing was going to be a disaster.

Weeping

By the time we cleared the first set of rapids and got a breather, the kids had adjusted to the wild ride and thought it was the best thing ever.  Henry chatted up the guide and was ready to adopt his life plan of going to college in Montana and being a rafting guide in the summer.  Fritz demanded MORE SPLASHING.  Heidi squealed with glee and made this face the whole time.  

Our guide beached the raft for a little while to let us dip in the river where a hot spring bubbled up from the banks.  The sand was so hot we could barely touch it!  We finished the trip (the kids would have eagerly done another three hours), handed in our life jackets and water shoes, and walked across the street to the best Yellowstone sign for the traditional photo.  A perfect end to our days in Yellowstone!

Day 7: Grand Teton

Karl woke everyone early for our final daily stop at the Espresso West trailer and the two-hour drive to Grand Teton National Park.  The route takes you right through the southern part of Yellowstone, so we saw a little more of the park on the way out.  GTNP is jaw-droppingly gorgeous.  Unlike all the other mountain ranges I've ever seen, the Tetons have no foothills.  They jut straight up out of the plains for maximum effect.  

We stopped on the way to the hotel to hike the Taggart Lake loop.  This was perfect for everyone -- easy but not boring, following a creek, with a couple of fun footbridges,  and a sparkling lake at the end.  We had a snack on the far shore before trekking back and driving into town.

We checked into our room at Mountain Modern Motel, which had these fun family bunk rooms.  It was an excellent way to stay in Jackson on the cheap (which is not easy) and still have a pool.

Then it was time for our Alpine Slide reservations!  My aunt who lives in Jackson told me her grandkids love it, so I booked tickets at Snow King.  I survived the ski lift ascent, we got our little carts (which were Clorox-wiped by masked employees), and went flying down the mountain!  Oh man, the kids loved this so much.  Fritz rode with me and cackled maniacally the whole time.  Everyone loved it so much that when the kids asked to go again, even Karl did not complain about paying for more tickets.

I hate ski lifts

Ingrid racing so hard she flew off her cart and
face-planted into the bumper pillow

After two runs down the mountain, we returned to the hotel for a quick swim before dinner.  There was only one other family.  I never thought our kids would be SO HAPPY to see another simple hotel pool.  Then we picked up Korean food from Bopp and ate in an amazing park we had spotted on the way to Snow King.  Leave it to Jackson Hole to have a rock-climbing park!

Day 8: Teton

For our final National Park day, I picked the hike to Inspiration Point and Cascade Canyon.  Many AllTrails users reported seeing moose on the trail that week and I really wanted to see a moose.  The adventure begins with a boat ride across Jenny Lake, then a short hike up through the forest to a waterfall.  From there, you climb up, up, and up along a cliff edge that prompted Fritz to scream, "MOM YOU ARE CWUSHING MY HAND" and gave me nightmares for three days.  But the view from Inspiration Point was stunning!

From there, we took the trail into Cascade Canyon.  The full hike to the next pass is 4.5 miles each way.  We went a little over 2.5 out, and failed to see any moose, but did see some spectacular peaks and beautiful mountain streams and lots of boulders for Henry to climb.

I made my tired, sweaty family drive by the Moulton barn on the way home.  

We had a little time before our scheduled chuckwagon dinner, and Henry wanted to go back to the climbing park and the girls wanted to swim, so we split up for an hour.  Then we cleaned up and set off to the Bar J-5 chuckwagon dinner.  This was a wonderful, cheesy, COVID-friendly way to do the wild west dinner experience.  We rode in a covered wagon with just one other party, seated at the other end, and ate outdoors at our own table with our own server.  I think the food suffered from being packed in individual styrofoam boxes, but I was glad we could do something -- the other famous ranch dinner is all indoors.

Character-appropriate face covering

Day 9: Cody

Karl mercifully let us sleep for an extra hour, which we all needed after hiking 6 miles and swimming/climbing and going to an evening show.  We loaded the car for the first day of driving toward home.  First way-station: Cody!  

The drive was spectacular, winding through part of GTNP (with new mountain views!) and back through the southeastern portion of Yellowstone, which we hadn't seen.  I made everyone stop for photo ops.

We stopped at the side of the road for a tailgate lunch because all the rest stations were closed.  Not a bad picnic spot, eh?  We all celebrated finishing the cooler food.  After nine days, we were thoroughly sick of eating the same stuff for breakfast and lunch.

The coach rolled into Cody, WY in time to check into our cowboy cabin before the boys' reservation at the Cody Firearms Experience.  We're not exactly gun people but Henry has an enormous repertoire of video game firearms knowledge and was very eager to try shooting.  Karl got to shoot all kinds of crazy historical weapons and Henry got to fire different several .22s.   He was very proud of his target sheet and declared that he was giving up on his Montana rafting guide life plan and pivoting to a Wyoming firearms instructor life plan.  Meanwhile, the little kids and I took a dip in the hotel "pool," which turned out to be a very large hot tub.  Sub-optimal on a 90-degree day but we made it work.  

We all had a tasty dinner on the patio at Pat O'Hara brewing before heading to the rodeo!  I showed Fritz a rodeo video weeks before the trip and he asked every day when he could see the cowboys.  The girls got bored early and I walked them back to the cabin, but Fritz was riveted until the very end.  

Day 10: Rapid City via Devil's Tower

Our second driving day took us through a stunning part of Wyoming.  Who knew Ten Sleep had a canyon to rival Zion?  Alas, it was very twisty driving, and we had to stop a few times for carsickness. Once we cleared the mountains, it was a fairly boring drive all the way to South Dakota.  We made a short detour to see Devil's Tower.  I'm glad we checked it off the road trip list, but it was less dramatic than I expected.  In my mind, it jutted up out the featureless prairie; in reality, there is quite a bit of topographical and geological interest in the area.  We discussed the Wikipedia entry instead of going into the visitor's center, took the requisite photo, and kept driving.

We stayed in Rapid City, SD with plans to visit Firehouse Brewing, site of the 2018 cactus-recovery beer.  Our hotel had a pool with a slide, and the kids were SO EXCITED, but it soon got so crowded that Karl and I made them leave.  We dashed to Firehouse, hoping to grab a table on the patio before the dinner rush, but a sudden intense rain shower closed the patio and we were stuck inside a restaurant for the first time in four months.  Sort of ironic that after 10 days of keeping to ourselves with very little effort, our social-distance luck finally ran out on the last day of the trip.  Or maybe South Dakota just doesn't give a damn.  

Day 11: Drive home

Eight extremely boring hours on the road, and we were home!  

This was a fantastic trip.  With all the random closures and activities off-limits, I wasn't sure it would be worth 3,000 miles of driving.  But it totally was!  We missed out on a few of our favorite travel traditions, like exploring the Visitor's Centers and getting Junior Ranger Packets, and eating in lots of local restaurants, but we found more than enough awesomeness to fill 9 days.  

Last year, the kids complained that we spent all of vacation just walking around (i.e. hiking).  They were delighted will all of the non-hiking activities that I planned this year.  Rafting, horseback riding, the alpine slide, the rodeo, and the shooting were all big hits.  Planning lesson learned!  We were all grateful to have such a grand adventure after months of staring at our own walls.  Yellowstone and Teton are truly as grand as it gets!