Jackson WY & Townsend MT - July 27 - August 5, 2024

 As always, I am a month late posting...

Jackson WY 

July 27 - 31, 2024

In July we went to Jackson Wyoming for a Scoffield Family reunion.  We drove this time and left home on Saturday, July 27th.  Our first destination was Buc-ee's that recently opened north of Denver.  We had heard all the hype about this Texas gas station/convenience store so we decided to stop.  Yes, this is a destination.

This place is Texas sized.  100 gas pumps and the store is HUGE.  With EVERYTHING you could ever want/need.   Was it worth it?  Yes.  We got sandwiches and the snacks everyone talks about:  Beaver Nuggets, jerky, candied nuts.  Does it live up to the hype?  I would say maybe but I think my kids disagree. They even bought a t-shirt.

Back on the road we drove and drove and drove and drove through the "beautiful" scenery of Wyoming.  The road looks like this for hundreds of miles

Since it is a 9 ish hour drive from Colorado Springs to Jackson, we decided to stay overnight in a little place called Thermopolis Wyoming which was 6 hours from home.  Thermopolis has the worlds largest natural hot springs, we learned from google.  So why not try it?   We booked an Airbnb that included passes to the hot springs and meal vouchers.  Our little cabin looked like this.

Perfect for a quick one night stay over.  The food vouchers were for a food truck kind of place.  The kids were less than excited when I showed them where we were eating (it was free with our cabin). We got navajo tacos and chicken strips. It was fine. We had a pretty view from our picnic table.

Then on to the hot springs which was also free.   It was.......... well......interesting..... The place was old and not well maintained and it SMELLED like rotten eggs...the usual hot springs smell but really strong. We did stay, but only for an hour.

Would I stop there again.  Nope.  I would call that a skip.  But it was a pretty drive through the Wind River Canyon coming into town.

Sunday, July 28.  Back on the road headed to Jackson.  We stopped for a few fun photos in Dubois WY (we should have stayed the night there), 

then across a pass with beautiful views,

before having lunch just outside Grand Teton National Park. Elin was celebrating that it was one more  day until her birthday.

After lunch we drove into Grand Teton National Park.  The smoke was not great that day so the view was a little hazy.  It is still spectacular though.

We met up with the rest of the Scoffield family and checked into our cabins at the Cowboy Village Resort.

Then walked into town for dinner and ice cream.

Monday, July 29.  

...HAPPY 14TH BIRTHDAY ELIN!..

We started the day with presents for the birthday girl and a pastry for breakfast.  One of her favorite gifts was a pepper grinder.  This girl smothers everything in pepper.  

Mid morning we went into Grand Tetons National Park to collect our passport stamps and do a hike at Jenny lake.

Elin requested Thai for lunch so we picked it up on our way back through town and had a picnic by our cabin.

We had professional photos taken in the late afternoon.  We were only missing 3 of the Scoffield boys (Hayden, Hunter and Trevor).  The pictures turned out great.

Back at our cabins we did a quick photo shoot of the birthday girl

then pizza dinner and cake for Elin's "family" party. 

We also walked around downtown Jackson

before going to Target to get supplies for GG (Sherry) whose 80th birthday was the next day.  My girls love a reason to decorate so they bought lots of things to decorate GG cabin (as a surprise) and talked all their cousins into helping set it up. We had way too many people in our tiny cabin helping set up the balloon arch...

but it worked out to be amazing and we secretly installed it all without getting caught.

Tuesday, July 30th.

Happy 80th Birthday to GG.  She woke up to a very fun surprise.

My family, along with GG and Papa went on a scenic river float while everyone else sent white water rafting.

It was a nice relaxing 2 hour float.  Back in town we took Sherry to lunch for her birthday

then in the evening we all went to dinner at a chuckwagon dinner and show.

Sherry, Olivia and Kiely got to participate in the show.

Back at our cabins, we had birthday cake for GG.

Wednesday, July 31

Jackson WY to Townsend MT

Everyone traveled home today.  James drove his parents to Townsend while I drove our car.  The girls and I needed to make a quick stop in the park for their junior rangers badges so I took a few more pictures. The smoke from the wildfires was gone and the mountains were amazing.

Because it was such a beautiful day we decided at the last minute to go up through Yellowstone Park to get to Townsend.  We were glad we did. We saw a heard of buffalo on the side of the road

and stayed to watch them for a few mintues. Eventually they crossed the road in front of us.

We drove north, had lunch from a grocery store in Grand Teton National Park ...

 

...and soon we were in Yellowstone.

We stopped at Old Faithful to get junior ranger badges and it was only 20 minutes until Old Faithful would erupt so we stayed to watch that too.

Yellowstone is always amazing.  It was a longer drive but it wasn't too far out the way so it was kind of a must do.

We were at the farm in Townsend in time for dinner.

After dinner James taught the girls how to drive the lawnmowers to help cut the lawn.  I called this driving lesson #1.

When the lawn was finished they had driving lesson #2 , the four wheeler.  

Thursday, August 1

We spent the day on the farm.  The girls picked lots of fresh peas and went into town with GG. 

They also practiced driving the four wheeler...

...then onto driving lesson #3 --- the farm truck.  James took them driving around the dirt roads near the farm.  Apparently all the grandchildren learn to drive on the farm truck.

Friday, Aug 2

It was such a hot day (almost 100 degrees).  We took the girls swimming at the Townsend pool

and enjoyed a relaxing day.

Saturday, August 3

The morning was spent harvesting

and practicing driving.

James had a 40th high school reunion lunch at the park

and we went to the rodeo.

Sunday, Aug 4

We went to church in the morning 

then after lunch we went to the parade in town where the girls collected candy.  The parade route was about 5 blocks long so the parade turned around at the end and looped back down the main street.  First time I had experienced that.

We had Sunday dinner in the afternoon...

...then a nap and a walk

Monday, Aug 5

Travel day.  Anikka REALLY wanted to be home for her birthday on Tuesday so we left extra early for the 12 hour drive home to Colorado. It ended up taking us 14 hours with stops. I only took one  picture the whole day....at Buc-cee's on our way home.  Long day, long drive.

We had a great time at the Scoffield reunion and a nice relaxing few days on the farm. It was a great way to end summer,

Maija