Salt Lake City, Utah

 Utah has been a surprise!  The mountains change from low grasses and bushes to hard rock formations and then back.  As we approached Salt Lake City, I noticed an island on the map.  It turned out to be a state park, Antelope Island.  We decided to delay leaving the next day so we could go explore.  We took the jeep and our bikes and of course Duke and rode around the island on your bikes and hiked.  We were shocked that hundreds of buffalo and elk live here.  Dana was brave enough to ride his bike while holding Duke's 20 foot leash and we had to learn to look at Bison Scat to determine if they might be close.  You see the island is mountainous and we needed to know if Bison might be around the next bend. Duke wanted to play with them badly!  Yikes, not a good idea! 

 We did come across a couple herds, one on bike, so we quickly turned around and the other in the jeep where we had a standoff with a very large male!  Finally, Duke was barking so much he moved aside and let us pass!  They are HUGE!  In the pictures with flat land, this is where the water has receded.  It is salt flats mixed with sand, beautiful sand.  At the bottom of Salt Lake there is 3 to 4 feet of salt on the basin.  When you get close to the water, which looks beautiful, it smells like rotten eggs!  Very unique experience!

 

Tomorrow we are off to Moab and Arches and Canyonnland National parks to go off roading!!!!!

Fall Colors

 Today we are on our first half of our drive to Moab Utah!  We will stop in Salt Lake City!  We have been very removed from civilization for a couple of weeks so we are looking forward to doing a little grocery shopping and other staples! I am looking forward to buying a FEW fall decorations!!! Here is our view while we drive today!

Tetons

 It amazes us that the Tetons just a few miles from Yellowstone are completely different!  The geography is the talllest rocky pointed mountains surrounding a flat prairie land filled with sagebrush!  The Tetons were created by tetonic plates colliding and creating heaved rock! 

Our first stop was a bucket list item.  Sheri had been researching out of the way, secluded natural hot springs.  She read about a two person pool just inside the border of the Tetons.  We were able to park the RV, detatch the jeep and drive a couple of miles into the prairie.  We then parked and hiked another mile, including crossing a creek, to our first hot springs with a small waterfall and located right next to it!  It was so relaxing and I packed a picnic lunch and blanket so we relaxed and ate and soaked in the mountian views! Side story:  When we parked there was an older gentlement who asked us if we had ever been?  He then forewarned us that clothing was optional!  As it turned out it was his way of warning us that he does not wear clothing in the spring.  We ended up arriving at the spring after him and he was already in.  Luckily there were two pools,a upper and a lower.  We chose to move to the lower!

The flat area is refered to the Jackson Hole.  We quickly learned that the town of Jackson does NOT like to be called Jackson Hole.  It is the region. Jackson is a unique fun town full of shops, resteraunts and character.  We were staying half way between Jackson and      Village.  We make reservations and decided to arrive early to explore the area.  We heard some live music and found our way up to the deck where it was coming from.  We experienced yet another suprise.  The performer had invited his girlfriends' dad to join him.  It turns our that the father was a retired musician who started out in Kansas!  The band was named "Lucy".  This gentlmen, Chris Tallowful, has written many songs and was recorded by Columbia Records.   The band was on their way to California in the 80's and they stopped in Wyoming and fell in love with it and became the local talent to live out their days.  We will follow David Jeremy, who will be performing in Nashville this winter!

On day 2 of the Tetons we went to Jenny Lake!   We chose not to take the ferry but hiked 8 miles around Jenny Lake and up to Hidden Falls.  A beautiful waterful.  Dana and I love water and Jenny Lake did not disappoint!  The clear turquoise glacier run off was stunning and brought joy and relaxation to Dana and I.  How can anyone not believe in God when we are surrounded by such wonder.

A few days of downtime and new experiences

 We took a few days off from travel and just enjoyed the nature of Wyoming.  We were blessed to have a state park full of paths for snowmobiles next to our camp site.  We hiked many miles and learned that Duke does pretty well sticking with us off leash!  He is fast!  He averaged 15 - 20 mph and always ran twice as much as we biked! A funny side note was when Dana picked a nice easy path for my first bike ride through the woods.  He said it would be a 3 1/2 mile fairly flat path.  After the first mile and a half and LOTS of hills, some I didn't make up ( and no we do not have e bikes.  We want to keep our old fashioned manually bikes as long as possible!  Anyway,  as I'm walking up a fairly large hill and my heart is beating out of my chest, Dana starts belly laughing!  "What did you do"??? I ask knowing he figured out that he had screwed up! When he caught his breath he informed me that he was on the wrong path! AND we were going in the wrong direction!  Somehow we made it back home and I didn't kill him!  Duke loved it!  Another day, I was walking Duke through the woods and he found a bone and happily lied down and had a chew fest!  This adventure is full of suprises and we are loving it!

Yellowstone West Entrance

 Today we decided to hang out at the camp ground and Dana washed the entire R.V.!  What a task!  Yesterday we spent the day exploring the south loop of Yellowstone! We started at Norris and experienced lots of hot spots and springs!

Yellowstone has the most geysers in the world.  In fact, there is a one mile radius that has 150 geysers!

We also got to stand on the continental divide!  If a rain drop falls on the east side of the continental divide, it will eventually make it to the Atlantic ocean.  If a rain drop falls on the west side of the continental divide it will eventually make it to the Pacific ocean!  Wonders of the world!There are about 50 in this picture!

 

Our last stop for the day was the iconic Old Faithful.  We really enjoyed our time in Yellowstone!  Amazing thermal activity, wild life and gorgeous variant geography!  Now a few days of rest and relaxation before we head to the Tetons!

Day 2 North Entrance Yellowstone

 Today we decided to take it easy!  Yesterday was too much driving!  We did some cleaning of the RV and then went into the town of Gardiner for a delicious bison burger.  Next, we drove back into Yellowstone just to CORRECTLY walk the Mammouth springs on the boardwalks.  It was fascinating how many of these areas became dormant in the 70's!  Some are still going and some are stinkier than others!  (sulfer smell).