The Wandering Women of the World

Friday, August 1--Sunday, August 3 2008

The Wandering Women of the World

My eyes are drooping and I'm about to fall asleep as I type this--but I want to get it out before I forget!

This past weekend, my good friends Jaime, Allison, Angie and I formed a group. We are The Wandering Women of the World. We all decided to have a girls weekend and go travel. Here's what we did...

FRIDAY

Friday, August 1--My Mom's Birthday!!! (She's old! She's two numbers!!! I love ya mom!!!)
We decided that we were going to go to Idaho on Friday after work. We left here and and drove through rush hour traffic...ick--to Idaho--where we went to ... Lava Hot Springs. It was a hot day and we went and soaked in the hot tubs!!!! It was hot!!!!! Not the best conditions for it--but the hottest pool was tolerable and Angie was able to even put her feet in it this time! I'm proud of ya, Ang!

After the hot pools, we stopped and got a drink because the water drains you--Jaime and I decided to play gangsta and we found a fishing pole and some bait. We decided to pose for this pic..

We got to my parents new home in Idaho late that night and had birthday cake with my mom and dad and BOTH of my sisters (Melissa actually came home!). Then we went to bed--we were tired--and we had a full day planned for the next day.

SATURDAY

Saturday, August 2--The Yellowstone, Teton, Jackson Hole Loop... (and a lot of driving for me...)
We got up early and had a wonderful breakfast courtesy of my mother--if you want good lodging and good food, just stay at my house in Idaho! She's a great hostess! We left my house around 9:30 and headed to the West Entrance of Yellowstone Park.

We first stopped in my old stomping grounds of Rexburg and grabbed lunch to have a picnic. We then drove through Island Park and through Targhee National Forest (one of my favorite places in Idaho!). It was beautiful. We crossed the border into Montana and we had to stop and take a picture. We got to West Yellowstone (which would be an adventure in and of itself--but we had a different course today...) and then we entered Yellowstone National Park.

To travel through Yellowstone National Park and through Grand Teton National park costs $25 for 7 days. We bought a pass, and realized while we were driving through the park that we have a common goal--we want to go to more parks. So we decided that we were going to go ahead and upgrade our pass to an annual parks pass (courtesy of Allison). Now we can travel to more parks and not have to pay the entry fee!!! Thanks Allison!!!


Once we were in the park--we crossed the border into Wyoming and we saw our first wildlife immediately! We saw what we thought was a moose (Irene looked at my pictures when I got home and said she thought it was an Elk--all I know is it was wild life...).

Our first stop in Yellowstone was at the Fountain Paint Pots...they are beautiful, but stinky!!! We stopped to walk around and see how amazing God's creations can be. Here's a picture of one of my favorites...this 0ne was called Leather Pool.


Next we were on to the most famous part of the southwest part of Yellostone--Old Faithful. We got there a little early (about an hour and a half early) so we wandered the stores there. At the info center, we found these great National Park Passport Books -- thus inspiring us to travel to more parks and upgrade our pass.

Old Faithful is still faithful, she was a couple minutes late, but she performed well. Here's a video of it--and a little commentary by Angie and myself...



After Old Faithful, we decided it was time to eat! By this time it was 4:00 in the afternoon--so we found a cute little picnic spot. While we were eating, we saw my Jeep off to the side and she totally looked like she was in her element. There also was a cute little chipmunk hoping we'd spill (which we didn't). Allison and Jaime modeled for us in our picnic area. I love picnics--if anyone ever wanted to impress me--a picnic in the summer would do it!



After lunch, we continued to drive through the park. We found the Continental Divide and we found a pond close by to this marker with lily pads! I don't think I'd ever seen so many real lily pads in my life--but they were beautiful! The Continental Divide is fun lo learn about and we saw it a few more times on our drive.




Next we found a beautiful waterfall! I love waterfalls (I think I just love nature!)


Then it was on to my favorite part of the trip--Grand Teton National Park...this picture was one of my most favoirte from the whole day...we met some older men who took it for us and ironically we kept running into them--even at the visitors center at Grand Teton (where we got more stamps in our passports) and at dinner in Jackson Hole...pretty crazy for a small world.

The Grand Tetons are so majestic and mezmorizing. I have so many pictures of them--I'll pick my favorite to put on here and link the rest--the sun was reflecting sunbeams all around too. It was an amazing sight! I can't believe all the different perspectives of the mountains you get as you drive to our next destination--Jackson Hole.




Next we were on to Jackson--where we planned to celebrate Angie's birthday (her's is on August 5). We wandered Jackson looking for fun souvenirs.

Several shops had great things--funny t-shirts and other things--but we all ended up with a hoodie and charm bracelets. Jaime and I were determined to find us hats--and we did--for 50% off! What a deal--we couldn't just pass it.


We took Angie to dinner and we had Mexican food at a place called the Merry Pigs (or something like that). Then--it was time to head back--because it was almost 10:40 by the time we left the restaurant. We left Jackson around 11:00 that night and it was probably one of the most nerve racking drives of my life because I was tired and it was dark and it was an unfamiliar road that was rumored to be loaded with deer and just scary. But--we made it safe and sound...back to my house in Idaho.

Sleeping never felt so good. I'll continue the story more tomorrow!