Day 5

Day 5

Dan here…

We woke up this morning in the Best Western Lodge in Jackson, WY. The room was nice and it was a decent place to stay for the night. The town looked very cool. It was very much a ski resort town. I can imagine that Jackson would be a fantastic ski destination in the winter. Unfortunately for Kari and I, we never got the chance to walk around downtown as planned because we have had a bit of car trouble the past few days and decided it was time to have it looked at. I took the car to the mechanic after I got up and they seemed to think that there is a problem with the front left wheel bearing. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the part in stock… so… we were just going to have to make it to Colorado until we could get it to a Nissan dealership. Fun times! (said in a very sarcastic tone). So we decided to make the most of our morning considering half of it was already gone. Off to the Tetons!

We decided to drive along the base of the Teton Mountains, which were beautiful. They stand very jagged with more rock than vegetation it seems. They are so tall they were still snow capped in the middle of the summer. We came upon the Teton Village and decided to take the Aerial Tram to the top of the mountain. It was a bit pricey and we considered skipping it, but after summiting, we decided it was well worth it. The view was breathtaking. We were at about 10,000 ft above sea level and looking down about 3000 ft to the ground. We were able to walk around and take in the view and even got to see a paraglider take off. Those people have balls to walk off the side of that mountain and hope you stay afloat. It was pretty cool to see. I have seen them in the air many times, but never had the chance to watch them step off the edge. After heading back down, we grabbed lunch at a beautiful little café at the base of the mountain. Nothing like a chicken sandwich while looking at that view of the Tetons.

Next we took in a scenic drive around Jenny Lake at the base of the mountains. Below is a pic. It was a beautiful view of the Tetons. If you are ever in the area, definitely take in this drive.

We then decided that it was time to make our long drive southwest towards Cheyenne, WY before turning sound into Colorado. This was going to be about an 8 hour drive but quickly turned into a longer drive when we ran into a massive amount of construction in the mountains leaving the Teton and Yellowstone area. I hate construction, especially on mountains with no wireless or 3G signal. I was riding shotgun and didn’t even get to play a game on my phone or iPad. What a raw deal. Luckily for us, Kari had the foresight to bring along a movie trivia game, kind of like trivial pursuit. You basically read a movie trivia question from a card and try to answer it. No board… no pieces… no points… just a good time. I think we played this game for about 4 hours. I am so thankful I am marrying a movie buff. She’s may need to brush up on her movie knowledge a bit, but she is more than willing to do so. Love her!

On the way through Wyoming we approached small town called Dubious, WY that had an entire hillside on fire. We turned the radio over to the traffic info station and they were evacuating the area because it was actually a wildfire. We drove straight through the town with the hillside on fire. The flames were visible and the smoke cloud was already large and growing. Wasn’t expecting to see that when we got up this morning. One we went.

In the southern part of Wyoming, as the sun was setting, we passed the largest windfarm yet. It was amazing to see so many wind turbines lined up on a hill. Below is a picture of just a few… now imagine about 1000.


We reached Cheyenne, WY after 7 ½ hours and headed south into Colorado for another hour and a half. What a long day. Destination Boulder, CO. Headed to bed… its late and we are beat. We’ve got to be up at the crack of dawn to make our car appointment in Denver. More to come soon. Next stop is the Rocky Mountain National Park. I am going to spend all day looking for Tucker and Walker, Rocky Mountain Rescue. Anyone get that movie reference?!? I have to take the car into the Nissan dealership tomorrow morning to have them figure out what is going on. Got to get up just before 6am and its already midnight. Goodnight!