July 19...Grand Tetons NP

(Kim's Perspective)
We were both tired when we woke up today. Nature called Merlin around 5 am this morning and Bill was good enough to take him out and left me in bed to rest awhile. Neither one of us slept well because the new site we had to move to was small and therefore, the sprinklers were located directly under our rig.



This really wouldn’t have been a big deal had they not gone off at 1 am and again at 4. We were told that all the sprinklers were manual and we didn’t need to worry that our stuff would get wet by them going off at some disastrous time (like while sitting in our chairs reading or eating dinner outside for example). Needless to say, we were told wrong. These things were so powerful, it sounded like the jaws of life were being used to peel back the trailer to rescue us from the deep, coma-inducing sleep that we would have had otherwise. Grrr….not a happy camper.

We were supposed to be out of the site by 11am. We left at 11:30. Not entirely our fault – we couldn’t pull away because of the folks in the sight opposite us who were unsuccessfully trying to hitch their teeny little pop up. You could have pulled this thing around on your back – not sure what the major malfunction was.


We headed south through Yellowstone...



...and in to the Tetons.






We hit some construction traffic along the way.



While construction delays can be annoying, I look at it as an excuse to take more pictures.






My biggest stress of the day was watching this...


I suppose this is a means of traveling with your dog, but I much prefer this means of transport...


At one of the stops, I spotted two bald eagles flying overhead.


Those who know me well know that I'm a complete and total birds of prey freak. Right, Kathleen? :P I'm totally fascinated by them and miss the days when I sometimes got the opportunity to handle and feed them at one of the vet hospitals I worked at. I don't miss the bird lice, but the birds were totally cool. You gotta watch out for your eyes though... ;)

It’s so beautiful here. This is our third trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons, and the sights are just as spectacular as the first time. If you’ve never been, you should make every attempt to visit.

We stopped at various places along the way and bought ice cream for the Boys (their special camping treat each time we take them camping). They prefer soft serve, but a pint of Huckleberry ice cream seemed to suffice. Merlin decided licking it was taking too long so he took a huge bite from his bowl and immediately regretted it. Dogs can't speak, but based on his reaction, freeze brain apparently occurs in other species as well. Dog lesson #48…one that will not be soon forgotten.

By 4 pm we still didn’t have any idea of where we’d be staying. As we drove by Colter Bay Campground (in GTNP), we decided to pull in and see if they had any openings. The sign read FULL, but the kid at the kiosk said they had several openings. Well, which is it? Are you full or do you have openings?!??

The parking area for the campsite was, uh, challenging to level and not the best we’ve seen, but it was manageable and Bill has gotten really good at maneuvering the trailer and I’ve gotten pretty good at leveling it, so it worked out.
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Neither the truck nor the trailer was damaged camping here...which could not be said for our neighbor who somehow managed to jam his fifth wheel onto the bed rails of his truck. Poor guy.

Dirt, however, was another story.



And to think we were considering paying extra for the two-toned paint... ;P

We took the Boys down to the visitor center and the marina and walked for quite some time.





The temperature was dropping quickly and by nightfall, it was downright chilly.

We didn’t do much while there – it was simply a stop over en route to our next destination…wherever that will be. ;P