Day 6 – 11 : Yellowstone, Montana, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Salt Lake City, MOAB!

 

These few days were a blur…

After departing Gillette, WY we camped inside Yellowstone the first night.

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Odie met a cute bulldog puppy as well.

We were lucky because it was the last night all but ONE campground was closed, and we were able to snag a site without a reservation. It was the typical campground shenanigans, dogs running around, car alarms going off at all hours, Asian tourists huddled in the bathroom around the only 2 electrical outlets within 100 miles charging their I-devices (priceless). While on the topic of Asian tourists, i have to point out that they have a strange obsession with Odin. EVERY single time we pass a group of tourists with cameras out, once they spot him they immediately start snapping pictures, come over and ask if they can pet him and if he will attack them, its pretty comical at this point, he’s going to be a super star in Asia within 2 weeks time.

Here is his head-shot collection for any Asian Dog Modeling Agencies looking for new talent (because that must be a real thing…. hahah). These were all taken at the campsite in Moab, UT.

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Yellowstone is HUGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, you really need a week to see it all. We were able to travel pretty much all of the park but we were constantly moving.

Some highlights:

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Following pics are old faithful erupting, more dumb luck….. happend to time this perfectly as it went off just as we got to the top of a view point that was about a 1.5mile hike.

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Quick lunch in the parking lot, the JetBoil was one of the best purchases on the trip! Can cook up a pot of coffee in about 2 minutes which is wayyyyyyyyyyyy faster than boiling water on the coleman stove.

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A cool gorge and waterfall in Yellowstone:

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Our Campsite at Rainbow Point in Montana. After the BS at the “real campground” inside Yellowstone we made the smart move to go outside the park in one of the National Forest Campgrounds, another amazing site!

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A cool converted Unimog expedition vehicle that we had seen around Yellowstone, they happened to camp right next to us 🙂

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Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone:

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The next 2 pictures are a “photoshere” 360 image, if you open on android phone you should be able to get a 360* view of where i was standing at, it’s really cool.

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The Ravens here were huge and creepy, they would look you right in the eye as they walked around on the ground circling you trying to figure out what you were up to. You can see the wheels turning in their head as they creep walk around you, hahaha. Still can’t get over how damn big they are!

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Grand Teton:

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After Grand Teton we stayed in Salt Lake City in University park. Had dinner at a cool local brewery then headed out for Moab, UT the next day! While on a walk after dinner with Odie we stumbled upon a cool company that makes robots that look like they came out of the Halo video game (www.sarcos.com).

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I was waiting for armed guard to come out and tackle me for taking a picture of this from outside the building late at night, but i guess it’s not that top secret after all 🙁

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MOAB, UT and Arches National Park:

We arrived in Moab, UT in the afternoon and needed to restock on food so we stopped at the grocery store downtown first. After our resupply we got a pass and went into Arches National Park. We snapped a few pics and did some off-roading then left around 5pm to secure a campsite on some BLM land up the road. We found a nice little spot off a dirt road, and woke up to some amazing views! Had to deal with a little rain and wind so sleep was minimal but it was all worth it when we saw the sunrise!

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Prickly pear cactus everywhere, Odie was forced to wear his boots when we were out in the desert.

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Stacked rocks all over the parks! We always did our part to help build one taller or make a new tower 🙂

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The wood out in the desert was incredibly unique, you could peel the bark off with your hands and rub  it basically into a power that sparked with ease. (not sure what type it is, but it smelled amazing like a good BBQ smoke) After i got a little coal base i tossed on some bigger logs from fallen trees that stayed lit into the morning, i had to finally pour water on it as the thing would not go out on its own!!!

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The most amazing wrap ever: Fajita spiced steak meat, basmati rice, cheeseeeeeee, YUM!

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Sunrise in Moab, UT.

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Bears

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Elk

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Mountain Goat Things? (no clue what these were)

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Grand Tetons we breezed through pretty fast, but went on a short hike and yet again were very lucky, a Dad, Mom, and Baby Moose walked by!

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Spent today seeing the rest of Arches National Park and then headed to Colorado. Currently in a hotel in Glenwood Springs which is on the way towards Denver. Current plan is to check out Aspen tomorrow, then head south towards Canon City where there is a huge suspension bridge over a gorge, then make our way back up north to Denver for a spa day at a nice hotel before the dreaded 3 day drive home 🙁

 

2 thoughts on “Day 6 – 11 : Yellowstone, Montana, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Salt Lake City, MOAB!

  1. Odie is a star, better double watch him, somebody might like him little to much. I can’t tell you how wonderful your pictures are and how I enjoy looking at them. Love you both, safe trip home, you look like you are so enjoying your trip.

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