The Alaskan Adventure Has Ended

The Alaskan Adventure has finally ended.

We left Grand Teton National Park on Friday and stayed at A.B. Campground in Cheyenne, Wyoming that night. A.B. Campground also has a BBQ Restaurant and it is delicious! Worth a trip to Cheyenne! 

We woke up Saturday morning and celebrated Play Music On The Porch Day by playing "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor?" on the steps of the AHouse and shared it with the world.

We spent Saturday night at Windmill State Recreation Area in Gibbon, Nebraska, where there was no BBQ or pirate songs. We also had to start using the air conditioning instead of the furnace. As it was the end of August, it seemed like the right thing.

Sunday we camped in Hannibal, Missouri at the Mark Twain Cave Campground, just on the west side of the Mississippi River. We saw a Copperhead snake outside of the camper that evening, and that was about as exciting as it got. 

On Monday we finished up the trip, stopping at MOD Pizza for dinner 5 miles before we got home. Tom cut his hair and trimmed his beard so the only thing left to do is get the Jeep fixed and plan the next trip! 

Total days on the road: 105
Total miles traveled:  15,390
Total fuel cost:  $3,250.94
Average fuel cost:  $3.51 per gallon

Other than the Jeep getting hit, everything went great, and even that didn't slow us down or change anything. We highly recommend everyone making this trip!! 

Grand Teton National Park

We spent seven nights at Yellowstone National Park and then travelled down to Grand Teton National Park for three nights and camped at Colter Bay Campground in the park. 

The Grand Tetons are lovely but unfortunately it is very smoky here right now, as it was our last few days at Yellowstone due to all of the fires.

We were still able to get out and do some nice hikes and enjoy Huckleberry Jam, Huckleberry licorice, Huckleberry suckers and Huckleberry ice cream.

We also made it into Jackson for lunch at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, sitting at the bar on saddles.  (which the cowgirls found extremely uncomfortable...) 

After 100 consecutive nights in the AHouse we are now back on the road and heading east!

Yellowstone

We crossed into Idaho and camped in Fruitland at the Exit 3 RV Park behind a Chevron/A&W Root beer. Not bad for $20, we had electric and water hookups. (I might have preferred there were bathrooms, but the walk to the gas station wasn't too far)

We spent one night in West Yellowstone and had some delicious pizza at the Wild West Pizzeria and Saloon. 

We got up bright and early and made it into Yellowstone National Park by 7:00 and stood in line for about an hour and a half at Norris Campground and luckily were able to secure a campsite. Not everyone in line was so lucky. The line started forming at 5:00.  Hopefully that will be the last of the summer that Leslie wears gloves. We paid for five nights but we will likely stay longer.

We have been checking out the geysers and mud pots and steam vents and every stinky sulpher smelling blow hole in the park.

There are beautiful falls and the Yellowstone River and Yellowstone Lake are incredible.

Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley are full of wildlife and so far we have seen hundreds of buffalo, antelope and some mountain goats. Lots of birds too like pelicans, cranes and Jays. We have hundreds of pictures that we can hopefully upload one day. 

We no longer have two cracks in the windshield. We only have one now. One really long crack...

Oregon

We have spent about 12 days in Oregon.  Our first stop was on the coast, camping at Nehalem State Park.

We got up early everyday and checked out tide pools at Arcadia Beach State Recreation Site and Hug Point State Recreation Site.

 
We saw lots of Sea Anemones, Starfish, Crabs, Sea Cucumbers and little fish.

We tried to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory but everyone in Oregon was there, so we left... We also visited the Goodwill Store to buy some clothes for a wedding we found out about along the way... 

We went to the Sand Dune Pub in Manzanita two nights in a row since Tom loved their Oyster Po' Boy so much.

After the coast we spent a night camping in the Willamette National Forest in Detroit, Oregon camping next to the North Fork Santiam River at the Riverside Campground.

We headed next to Bend, Oregon where we have been camping for a week in the street in front of our friends' house.

While in Bend we have checked out lots of cool spots like Sahalie Falls and the Dee Wright Observatory at the summit of McKenzie Pass in the Cascade Mountains. 

We have also spent a lot of time just hanging out and playing music in their backyard and enjoying the free showers, free laundry, free food, free WiFi and indoor plumbing.

We did a 5 mile hike on the Tam McArthur Rim Trail near Sisters, Oregon one morning before the temperature reached nearly 100 degrees later in the afternoon. Yes, Leslie is finally done wearing gloves for the summer. (hopefully)

After the hike we treated ourselves to lunch at the Rainwater Cafe in Sisters and found some more black licorice ice cream!

Most importantly, we found out while we were in Alaska that our friends Markay and Glen were going to be getting married! So we were honored to attend a beautiful morning wedding in their front yard. Best wishes to the bride and groom! 

Olympic National Park

We spent several days exploring Olympic National Park on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

We camped at Mora Campground, just outside of Forks, WA where Stephenie Meyer based her Twilight novels.

The campground is right by Rialto Beach, so we set an alarm one morning to walk a mile and a half up the beach to Hole In The Rock to check out the tide pools at Low Tide.

We saw lots of starfish, sea anemones, crabs and other stuff.

We also visited the Hoh Rain Forest and did some hiking. And it didn't rain on us!

It was very chilly at Mora Campground and Leslie hopes that July 29th will be the last day of this summer that she has to wear gloves.