Son of a Sailor

Flagg Ranch Campground through Grand Tetons National Park, on through Jackson Hole then into Montpelier and the final push into Logan (Ut). Three state day-

This drive through three states turned out to be longer and more tiring than we figured, so I’m glad we stopped for a hot meal and a shower (hotel) in Logan instead of trying to push on. This is the story of our drive through Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole (Wy) then on to Montpelier and finally through the mountains to Logan. Here we go-

We got up early and packed up our camp at Flagg Ranch Campground, knowing we had some ground to cover. On the way out of the area, we stopped at the restaurant and gift shop for a quick meal, but the prices were high so we decided on some grab-n-go instead and took off south…toward our final national park on this particular road trip, Grand Teton’s National Park.

Grand Tetons National Park

This park is probably the most picturesque and awe inspiring park we came across…and the one we would spend the least amount of time in as we drove through. After getting into the park, we did the drive south still, pausing for family pictures, to take pics of the steep Tetons in front of us and to make sure we didn’t come close to hitting the bull elk standing near the road. There’s few words I can type in here to properly describe the majesty of what we saw that day, I’ll let the pictures do the talking now:

The rest of the drive

Soon after we made it through the park, we drove into and through the ultra lux enclave known as Jackson Hole. This place was nice and it was obvious there’s money here, but we would only drive through, not getting to see much of the town.

Out of town, the road took a downward turn, obviously starting to drop altitude as we started a long drive down the 89 through a steep valley to end up in Alpine/Alpine Junction. Then we started the drive through very small towns as we made our way south….along the smooth flat valley surrounded by hills and mountains.

**Largest Elkhorn Arch in the world, in Afton, Wy.**

Once again starting downward, we would come into Idaho and have lunch in Montpelier. This small town is at the bottom of mountain valleys after coming down long, windy roads to get to it. It’s also a very prominent town along the old Oregon-California Trail (one branch) and has a pioneer feel to it. Located at the four way stop coming into and out of town is the National Oregon-California Trail Center, which of course we could not pass up. I can’t do justice to the place without a separate post, so I’ll write about the National Trail Center next week for my story.

Moving on from Montpelier, we started the final push to Logan, Utah with a final piece of driving. This drive turned out to be the most challenging of the day, as it’s longer and much steeper mountain driving than it looks like. Much the same way as we came down a decent canyon to get to Montpelier, we came down a really good canyon coming into Logan, which is also situated at the bottom of the mountains than surround it on several sides. But at the end of the driving day, we were in Utah and in position to do the drive the next day to our final campsite in Utah before we hit Vegas for father’s day!

With only three more posts about this epic road trip with kids, I sincerely hope you are having a good time reading these and realizing how much ground we covered in a short time, much of it tent camping and cooking our own food as much as possible. We LOVE to camp and I’ve enjoyed writing these posts to share some of this knowledge with you, hope you’ve enjoyed too-

Here’s the rest of the series in case you want to read them too:

Roadtripping and Camping In The West W/ Kids: Spire Rock Campground Through Yellowstone To Flagg Ranch Campground-(12)

Best Pics: Roadtripping and Camping In The West With Kids

Roadtripping and Camping In The West W/Kids: Billings To Bozeman-Our Visit to Mystery Ranch & Camping At Spire Rock Campground-(11)

RoadTripping And Camping In The West W/ Kids: Black Hills (SD) To Billings (MT) & Our Visit To Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument- (10)

Exploring Wind Cave And The Mammoth Site At Hot Springs, SD – (9)

Roadtripping And Camping In The West With Kids: Mt Rushmore, Seeing History For Ourselves-(8)

Roadtripping And Camping In The West With Kids: Cheyenne To The Black Hills- (7)

Roadtripping and Camping In The West W/ Kids: “Hell On Wheels” Rodeo- 6

Roadtripping and Tent Camping In the West W/Kids- Dinosaur To Cheyenne-(5)

Roadtripping And Camping With Kids- Dinosaur National Monument- 4

Roadtripping and Camping In The West With Kids- The Road To Dinosaur-3