Day 12 and 13 - Dubois, Wyoming
We packed up early (we're getting good at squeezing all of our belongings into the many compartments of the car and storage space), and began the drive to Dubois, Wyoming - where we would camp for 3 days and make sure we could spend a day in the Grand Teton national park. The car was fully charged, thanks to our tether to the plug inside the sliding window of our cabin.
The drive from Yellowstone gave us our first glimpse of the Teton range -- breathtaking from whichever angle you approach.
We entered the park at Moran and made a brief stop for lunch at Colter Bay Village. We were impressed with both the pizza, and the beet and goat cheese salad served in the adjacent restaurant. Seriously - it's fresh arugula, a light vinaigrette, golden beets, and they caramelize a little sugar over the goat cheese that makes it crunchy and especially delicious.
From there, we beelined it to the Longhorn Ranch and Resort, in Dubois, about 60 miles east from the park. We initially chose the location because a) everything in the park was already booked, and b) it was close enough to make it to Grand Teton, but also we planned originally to head east to Cheyenne next. Since our plans changed for a number of reasons, this would now be our most eastern stop.
Leaving the Teton area, we wound our way slowly up, up, up. We had not really been paying attention to elevation, but we were shocked when we hit an altitude marker for 9600 feet! The terrain changed slowly. We came around a corner, and I saw a unique-looking mountain in the distance. My first reaction was that someone must have mined it -- in the afternoon sunlight, the carvings and patterns in the rock looked almost mathematical. As we got closer, we it was just the natural erosion of the mountain. The photo below was taken a bit later in the drive, but these formations continue to get more complex and more amazing the closer you get to Dubois.
We were so focused on spending time in Grand Teton, we didn't realize that there were horseback and hiking trails into these incredible formations until it was too late and everything was booked. But we still really enjoyed our time at the Ranch.
It was our first true camping of the trip! We arrived at the ranch, which was just a few miles outside Dubois.
We checked in and were directed to our campsite, which was right alongside the Wind River. We had negotiated an RV campsite so that we would have a 50-amp plugin for the car (which is shockingly harder than you might expect.) Many RV campsites have restrictions where they don't want tent campers mixed amongst the RV's -- so make sure to ask if it will be ok. We started unpacking, and Bill said that our next door neighbor (in a huge RV with sliders, etc), was amazed at all the stuff I unpacked from our relatively little vehicle.
We enjoyed an evening campfire and settled in on our shockingly comfortable bunk-bed cots. (Hint: bring your favorite pillow and any bed gets way more homey.)
Another interesting thing about Dubois. They don't sell wine in the grocery store - you need to go to one of the three bars in town (the very nice checker at the store recommended 'The Outlaw.') I walked into a classic dive bar, full of smoke, and the bartender walked me around the corner to this dark room where the 'off sale' liquor was stored. I chose from one of the 4 bottles of cold white wines, and headed back to the bar to pay. "Where's the party?" asked a lady sitting next to me. As I paid for it, the bartended mentioned that next time, I could use the drive up window. So they don't sell liquor in the store, but you can buy it from a drive up window at a bar?? I'm curious which laws led to this outcome.
Anyway, we spent the next day just hanging at the resort. We needed to catch up on laundry, and Owen and Bill wanted to try some fishing in the river. The current was too fast for the gear we had -- a fly fishing rig perhaps would have yielded better results. They had a lot of fun practicing, though. Bill and Mackay made the short drive into town for supplies, and HAD to stop at the 'World's Largest Jackelope Exhibit.'
We agreed we'd get up early the next day to head into Grand Teton. Though Bill and I had been to the park once, we weren't exactly sure what we wanted to see. We incorporated advice from a number of blogs and other recommendations about what to do in the park, given we only had a day.
The car would be fully charged by morning, so we tucked into our tent and slept well.
The drive from Yellowstone gave us our first glimpse of the Teton range -- breathtaking from whichever angle you approach.
We entered the park at Moran and made a brief stop for lunch at Colter Bay Village. We were impressed with both the pizza, and the beet and goat cheese salad served in the adjacent restaurant. Seriously - it's fresh arugula, a light vinaigrette, golden beets, and they caramelize a little sugar over the goat cheese that makes it crunchy and especially delicious.
From there, we beelined it to the Longhorn Ranch and Resort, in Dubois, about 60 miles east from the park. We initially chose the location because a) everything in the park was already booked, and b) it was close enough to make it to Grand Teton, but also we planned originally to head east to Cheyenne next. Since our plans changed for a number of reasons, this would now be our most eastern stop.
Leaving the Teton area, we wound our way slowly up, up, up. We had not really been paying attention to elevation, but we were shocked when we hit an altitude marker for 9600 feet! The terrain changed slowly. We came around a corner, and I saw a unique-looking mountain in the distance. My first reaction was that someone must have mined it -- in the afternoon sunlight, the carvings and patterns in the rock looked almost mathematical. As we got closer, we it was just the natural erosion of the mountain. The photo below was taken a bit later in the drive, but these formations continue to get more complex and more amazing the closer you get to Dubois.
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| The beautiful rock formations on the way to Dubois, WY. |
It was our first true camping of the trip! We arrived at the ranch, which was just a few miles outside Dubois.
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| Entrance to Longhorn Ranch - our campsite awaits! |
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| Our awesome home away from home |
Here's the evening view from our awesome home away from home (minus the mosquitos, which only took about a half a pint of my blood during our stay).
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| Sunset across the Wind River |
We enjoyed an evening campfire and settled in on our shockingly comfortable bunk-bed cots. (Hint: bring your favorite pillow and any bed gets way more homey.)
Another interesting thing about Dubois. They don't sell wine in the grocery store - you need to go to one of the three bars in town (the very nice checker at the store recommended 'The Outlaw.') I walked into a classic dive bar, full of smoke, and the bartender walked me around the corner to this dark room where the 'off sale' liquor was stored. I chose from one of the 4 bottles of cold white wines, and headed back to the bar to pay. "Where's the party?" asked a lady sitting next to me. As I paid for it, the bartended mentioned that next time, I could use the drive up window. So they don't sell liquor in the store, but you can buy it from a drive up window at a bar?? I'm curious which laws led to this outcome.
Anyway, we spent the next day just hanging at the resort. We needed to catch up on laundry, and Owen and Bill wanted to try some fishing in the river. The current was too fast for the gear we had -- a fly fishing rig perhaps would have yielded better results. They had a lot of fun practicing, though. Bill and Mackay made the short drive into town for supplies, and HAD to stop at the 'World's Largest Jackelope Exhibit.'
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| Note the Jackelope poop. They sell it there, if you want a souvenir. |
We agreed we'd get up early the next day to head into Grand Teton. Though Bill and I had been to the park once, we weren't exactly sure what we wanted to see. We incorporated advice from a number of blogs and other recommendations about what to do in the park, given we only had a day.
The car would be fully charged by morning, so we tucked into our tent and slept well.
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| Day 12 from Lake Yellowstone to Dubois. (And, I just discovered I can make the lines bend for greater accuracy!) |
