Absaroka Bay RV, Cody, WY

Absaroka Bay is a full-hook up RV park in Cody, WY.  Cody is 50 miles from the east entrance to Yellowstone.  I didn't think this would be a problem, but I had no idea how huge Yellowstone is so the driving became a bit tiresome during the week we were there.  I think this might be the biggest drawback, but we chose this RV park because it was in a city and Verizon claimed there was 4G coverage, which turned out to be true.  Husband was able to work from Cody.

Coming from Gros Ventre Campground in Grand Teton where the sites were so spacious it was a bit of a disappointment when we arrived here.  Though the sites were all pull-through there were trucks parked behind the trailers (like ours) and this made the turn too sharp to get a good angle on the spot.  We ended up having to back it in to get it centered in the spot and not park on the grass, which was explicitly prohibited.  We arrived before my parents and had two days to explore as they arrive at dinner time on the second day.  The park was very busy RVs coming and going every day.

I felt the price was reasonable, we paid a weekly rate of $257.83 which is $36.83 per night.  This is another RV park that did not take any additional discount for the Good Sam membership when we were already getting the weekly rate.  This is a pet peeve of mine - I think if they say they give a Good Sam discount it should be above and beyond their published rates.  Oh well, I am not going to win this argument with anyone - but it annoys me.

The park had nice public restrooms and showers as well as a very clean, but small laundry room.  It was small for the number of sites they have (81) and when I did my laundry I went into town to a laundromat so that I didn't take up every single washer.  It was time to wash all the blankets and bedding so I had a number of extra loads above my weekly three load average. 

The RV park did not have any kid-friendly activities - no playground, no pool, and the little grassy area by the trailer was rather inadequate for getting all their wiggles out.  There was a strip of grass along the road that was considered the dog area - it was a pretty sad little dog area without any fencing so the dogs still had to be on a leash the whole time.  My parents have a dog so we walked with them and observed. 

The town of Cody is busy and has a cute downtown.  We weren't very excited about the restaurants we ate at.  I am not sure there is a great place to eat there.  There is a continuous rodeo going every night, but we didn't attend.  The one attraction we did see was the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.  This is a huge facility with diverse galleries/museums.  First we visited the Draper Natural History Museum. Here Sister and I learned what it was that crossed our path on the trail at Jenny Lake in Grand Teton - we saw a yellow-bellied marmot up close!  A sign in the facility said that most of the specimens in the museum were donated after being hit by a car or injured and unable to be saved.  They had an amazing collection and the specimens were arranged in terms of their habitats/ecosystems/climate zones.  In each zone there was a stamp that the kids could collect in a little booklet provided at the beginning so it kept their interest all the way through. 

In the middle of this visit there was a loudspeaker announcement that a U.S. forest ranger was giving a talk about bears so we took a break from the museum and stopped to attend.  There we learned the difference between a black bear and grizzly bear.  We also saw a number of examples of these bears in the museum.  We also got to get close to a moose!

Next we visited the Buffalo Bill Museum...I did not know how far and wide the show traveled.  This is a strange piece of American history.

By this time the kids had seen enough, but I was not done.  Thankfully, in the Whitney Western Art Museum there were drawing tables encouraging you to try your hand at a sketch.  Both kids loved that and they sat there drawing while I enjoyed the art museum.  Here are just a few of the best pieces in my humble opinion.

First, on two prominent walls there were two huge paintings depicting the Battle of Greasy Grass AKA The Battle of Little Big Horn. Here is a picture to show how they were displayed in the museum.

Each told a different story - one from the Native perspective and one from the American perspective.  There were computers with information to help direct your attention to different parts of the pieces.  It was really informative.  I spent a long time looking at these and considering them.  Here they are up close.  First "Custer's Last Stand" by Edgar S Paxson.

Next "The Battle of Greasy Grass" by Allan Mardon

Other notable works:

With these final oil on paperboard works (details on the right if you zoom in) there is so much detail in each one.  They really tell a story of a time forgotten.  I think they are great.

So there were other museums to explore but at this point we didn't have the attention for anymore.  The ticket gets you in for two days, but we were off to Yellowstone the rest of the time so we didn't go back, but the place is very cool and well worth the admission. 

Summary of Absaroka Bay RV park.

Pros:

• In the city near shopping, laundry, & attractions such as the museum and rodeo
• laundry on site
• clean public restrooms and showers
• decent price
• good Verizon signal

Cons:

• Too far from Yellowstone (would have loved to stay in the state park west of Cody, but no Verizon)
• nothing for kids
• small sites packed together
• busy park lots of coming and going
• tiny dog grass area

Gros Ventre Campground Grand Teton, Kelley, WY

I hardly want to write about this place because it is so amazing.  My small comfort is that my audience is rather small and I know that you will benefit from this information and not let too many people in on this secret!

First thing you need to know - Gros Ventre is a first-come-first serve place (no reservations).  Best chance of getting a spot is at 11 am right after check out.  My parents arrived first and found a spot.  They reserved us a spot.  Both of my parents have the Senior passes and so they used one for their spot and the other for our spot - that save us $15/night.  Usual cost is $30/night.

Here is the view looking behind the trailer.

There are no hook-ups - this is a dry camping or boondocking situation.  There is potable water and there is a dump station.  There are parts of the campground that allow generators and other parts that do not.  This campground has tent sites in one loop and RV sites in other loops.  It is very large.

This was our first time using our solar setup in this rig.  For those of you following us for a while, we had a solar setup in our previous rig and we moved it to this one with some modifications.  This was our first time using it.  Unfortunately one of our solar panels took a crap and since then we are down to one panel (which has served us well - more on this later).  We also had problems with our charge controller properly reading the battery voltage.  We didn't figure out the resolution when we were at Gros Ventre...but we did eventually figure it out (it had to do with the fact that our charge controller is hard wired to the battery and is always on even when the rig is connected to shore or the truck.  To get it to work properly Husband disconnected it from the battery when we were dry camping and it reset the controller.  After that it was able to function properly.)

To give you an idea of the space at this campground check out these two pictures...

The sites on both sides of us are occupied and you can't even see them in the pictures because there is so much space between them. Contrast this to Sand Creek RV park and others I will review later where the RVs are tight together - this is really nice.  I used my outdoor kitchen and made my vegan corn chowder, mom through elk burgers on the grill, and we had us a very nice picnic and fire complete with s'mores.

Here is a picture of my mom and dad's site.

The campground is located immediately outside the National Park boundaries in the National Forest.  It is also very close to Jackson Hole, WY.  I have to share this picture taken in Jackson Hole because it blew me away when I saw it!

Jackson Hole is a touristy town if you are into that sort of thing...we aren't, but we do like a good restaurant and we enjoyed The Merry Piglets Mexican Grill.  It is an unfortunate name in my opinion, but if you want a really good veggie burrito this is your place.  They have really good salsa too. Others in my group were happy with their meaty things as well!

Ok, summary of pros and cons of Gros Ventre Campground.

Pros:

• rural feeling when camping 
• moose visit the campground
• clean public flush toilets
• potable water and dump station
• very reasonable price with senior discount
• campsites spread out
• beautiful
• good dry camping spot
• staff in office are super friendly and helpful
• no reservations (I would normally say no reservations is a con, but I really liked their system and it seemed to work.  I like to be sure about my plans, but I would be willing to attempt to stay here again because it was so wonderful.)

Cons:

• if you need full hook-ups this is not your place
• $30 for dry camping is a little high, but when you consider what full hook-ups in this area cost you realize that this acceptable
• public showers would be nice
• NO Verizon or WiFi 

This last bullet is the big one - we would have stayed here longer and changed our plans, but Husband couldn't work from here.  So...two and a half nights and two full days of exploring were the extent of our visit.  The kids got their Junior Ranger badges and we did some awesome hikes, but I wish we could have stayed a few more days.

Grand Teton National Park

Because Husband is working as we travel I wasn't sure (when planning) if we would be able to see Grand Teton National Park.  Thankfully my mom was uncompromising on this.  She and my dad drove all the way from Michigan and they wanted to see this park.  Because our experience in Willard Bay was so terrible we decided to leave on Friday after Husband got off of work instead of waiting until Saturday morning.  Because of that decision we ended up driving 250 miles starting at 6:30 p.m. and ending at 2:00 a.m.  I know that it doesn't seem like 250 miles is that many...but these are back roads-curves-35 mph-deer & elk around every turn-miles.  It was SLOW going in the dark.  I really don't recommend driving late at night when pulling a rig.  We've done it, but it's not fun.

However, there is nothing like waking up with this view in this wilderness.  We were there from June 21-24.  It was cool - even cold at night (in the 40s).  There are many wonderful adventures and hikes to do and we could only pick a couple.  Our first, and most ambitious, was hiking the southern part of Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls.  This hike was about 3.5 miles and had significant elevation change.  I think it took all of us to our limits - especially Sister (4).  It was amazing and beautiful.  Here is just a sample of the amazing nature that was all around us.

At one point we were walking up a trail and my dad spotted this beautiful deer laying the the grass next to the path.  Many people stopped to take pictures and it just laid there posing for us.  Here I am borrowing my mom's picture because she really captures the animals better than I with her zoom lens.  

Somehow, against the advice of National Park brochures, our party became separated.  Brother and Husband went on ahead.  Sister and I were in the middle and my mom and dad were in the rear.  Looking back I don't think this is a good practice, but we were all going at our own paces (or at least I was going with Sister's pace).  While Sister and I were alone a yellow-bellied marmot crossed the path right in front of us and scurried up the hill on the other side.  It was no more than 5 feet from us.  At the time we didn't know what it was, but we later found a taxidermy example of one in a museum. Regarding our group being separated - thankfully I had a walkie talkie and my mom had the other one.  Husband and Brother waited for us at the waterfall and then we all waited for mom and dad and communicated via walkie.  The waterfall was a wonderful place to sit, relax, and look at the view.

From the falls we "only" had to walk a half of a mile to a boat that took us back across the lake.  That last part of the walk was notable because of the river by the path.

The boat ride was enjoyable and welcome after such a long hike!

The second day we opted for a much less strenuous adventure and walked the Lakeshore Trail at Colter Bay.  This is a 2 mile hike on fairly level ground with amazing views of the lake and the Teton Range.  Oh! Look a picture of me in profile!  I'm always the one taking the pictures, but this time my mom was there too!

I think this is funny - this is me taking a picture of my mom (left) taking this picture (above)!  It is fun to have two sets of pictures to look through!



It was an overcast day and we even had a few sprinkles, but it was a beautiful walk and much of it was in the woods.

We saw one deer on this hike as well, though I was too slow with the camera and only got it's rear as it walked behind a tree.  We also saw bear sign!  I later showed this picture to a ranger who confirmed that it was probably black bear claw marks. We also found fur nearby, but we didn't actually see any bears in Grand Teton.

And we saw beaver sign! (thanks for the good pic mom!)

I will share some final pictures.  As a group we did see one moose, but it was quite a distance and we couldn't get a good picture.  My mom and dad however had two sightings of this cow and calf!

I really wish we would have had more time to explore this amazing place.  I will talk more about this when I review the campground in my next post.  Any trip back to Wyoming must include a stop at Grand Teton National Park.  I did not get enough of it!

Willard Bay State Park South Marina, Willard, UT

NEVER GO HERE.

Let me start by saying that there are downsides of booking in advance - that is you may be tied to a place that sucks for a week.  Such was the case with this dud of a "campground."  In reality it is a large parking lot with full hook-up stations for RVs and a poorly maintained pit toilet.  Oh, and it comes with millions of bugs that swarm and if you are lucky they will decided to use your trailer as their home and they will breed and swarm and follow you for a week after you leave.  Yes.  That is what happened.  We are damn lucky we headed to higher elevations with cold nights because I am quite confident that if we would have stayed in warmer temps we would still have our stowaways. 

My parents met us here and we stayed together for the better part of three weeks.  Luckily for them they did not stay for the entire week (we did so Husband and I could work).  Let me give credit - that this place has Verizon 4G coverage.  My parents wisely moved on to the Grand Teton NP before us....but I get ahead of myself.  The website says that this place has a beach - yes, it does at the campgrounds in the north part of the park - just jump back on the freeway and travel north some 7 miles.  Then re-enter the park in the north where there are lovely campgrounds and you will find the beach.  The South Marina is meant for people who have boats.  And who love bugs - little white fly, knat-like things that swarm in the air like a cloud.  By the time we left our trailer was COVERED in them.  They were also attached to the bottom of our slides so when we brought in the slides (when we left) we brought them inside the trailer.  Oh, and we left one night early.  We were scheduled to leave on a Saturday, but instead we left on Friday night after Husband got off of work and we drove until 2:00 a.m. just to avoid staying there another night.  

When we left we drove an hour then stopped to gas up and grab dinner.  When we got out of the truck the swarm was still swarming all around the trailer - we looked like Pig-Pen from the old Charlie Brown/Peanuts cartoon.  It was unreal.  We were killing those bugs for a week...I actually think that the birds, robins, in Cody, WY finally got rid of them for us.  The robins were always under our trailer and I think they were eating them.  

Getting back to the Greater Salt Lake City area - While in the area we did visit a very nice Children's Museum in Salt Lake City as well as the grounds of the Salt Lake City Temple in order to see the gardens that I had heard much about.  However, I had some meetings and was wrapping up teaching my summer class so we didn't get to do much more.  This was a very disappointing "campground."  The Children's Museum was 5-star and the gardens at the temple were very pretty. 

Sand Creek RV Park, Torrey UT

Sand Creek RV Park is a fantastic campground six miles from the West entrance of Capitol Reef National Park.  The owner, Harry is friendly and accommodating.  He takes you to your site on his bicycle.  He offered us the use of a collection of bikes behind the office and the kids really enjoyed riding around the park.  I was sorry we only stayed for two days, but the Verizon signal was terrible and Husband would not have been able to work.  We stayed over the weekend just long enough to spend one day at Capitol Reef.

It's a small park with an amazing view.

There are hammocks in trees, community fire pits, a group shelter, wildflowers, flowers, a vegetable garden, the view, and the bikes for loan.  The park has showers and restrooms that are clean and well maintained.  Harry encouraged us to walk anywhere on the property and explore and enjoy our stay.  There was a very friendly atmosphere.

Pros:

• Price was good at $44/night for full hook-ups
• Pull-through sites
• Amenities
• Views
• Vibe

The downsides include the width of the sites and the lack of cell coverage (Verizon).  We have two deep slides and when we extended them one was practically over the firepit of our neighbors.  If they would have lit a fire they would have burned our trailer down.  I think they realized that and either graciously or begrudgingly did not build a fire.  Here is a view of the slide side of our trailer nearly over the neighbor's firepit.

I didn't feel we were taking up too much room on the other side either...the sites were just narrow.

One last picture to get the full picture from the other side...

We enjoyed our time there and would recommend this park for anyone visiting Capitol Reef.

Capitol Reef National Park

We visited Capitol Reef National Park over Father's Day weekend.  Husband is off work Sat through Monday so we booked two nights in an RV space near the National Park and spent the whole day Sunday exploring the place. 

It was an overcast day with scattered showers.  The clouds made it a nice day to be outside and a beautiful sky, but hiking was a bit troublesome (which I will come to in a bit).  The park made up of beautiful rock formations rising on either side of the main road.  In some places there are beautiful red rocks that rival those in Sedona, AZ. 

Elsewhere you see white domed shaped rocks that look like capitol buildings - part of the inspiration for the park's name.  Early explorers called it a reef because it was hard to cross - as a reef is to sailors....I think this is a strange name for the park, but at least it is not named after the first settlers. 

We opted for the Hickman Bridge hike ranked "moderate" with a 400 foot elevation change and nearly 2 miles round-trip.  It put Sister to the test as the majority of the climb came at the beginning of the hike.  First to hike out of the canyon and then up and across the rugged, rocky terrain above.

It started out alright in terms of the weather - it was cloudy as you can see but it didn't start raining until we were getting really close to the bridge.  Additionally Brother and Husband went way ahead of Sister and I which made me anxious.  At some point Sister decided she was going to catch up and she started practically running uphill and I could barely keep up with her!  When I look back on my pictures I am stunned how few I took because I was too busy going!  At one point the trail goes along a wash and it was there that I panicked about the oncoming rain.  Of course if you live in the west you hear about flash floods all of the time.  Additionally at the Visitor's Center there are notices about being under cover when storms come and to be aware of flash floods.  When we walked along the dry wash with the threat of rain looming I became concerned about be separated from Husband and Brother and whether we should turn back.  So with Sister as my guide we speed-walked in order to catch up with the boys.  We did so as the rain began and we were very near the natural bridge.  The boys were not concerned at all and I was the only worried one in the group.  I agreed to hike on until we could see the bridge but when it was visible I took one picture and said that we had to head back now in the most motherly tone possible.  The rest agreed with the rain now falling steadily and Husband and I both in only t-shirts and shorts.  Thankfully both kids wore their jackets - though none of us own any rain gear!

This is the one picture I took as I insisted we turn back.  Follow the trees back to the smallest...The smallest trees in this picture are behind the bridge, the opening or arch in the rock is why you can see the smallest trees.  The bridge is center in the photo.  It is a terrible picture for all the work it took us to get there.  But at that point I think I had convinced Husband we were facing flash flood conditions and he and I were very cold so we hiked out, in the steady drizzle.  No, no flash flood.  We were perfectly safe, albeit wet.  When we got back to the truck, our safety assured, Husband pointed out that we didn't even really see the bridge.  The three of them were disappointed and then I felt badly about worrying so much.  Being the mama is a difficult job.  So it was not a very satisfying hike in that respect.

A second disappointing aspect of our visit was that none of the orchards were open.  This park maintains the historic orchards of the settlers and allows visitors to pick from the trees when they are ready.  A ranger told us that cherries would be available "tomorrow" !?!?  Are you kidding me?  We are only there for one day and we miss cherries by a day!!?? Cherries are one of our favorite fruits, I wish he would just said "no the orchards are closed" why even tell us how close we were to enjoying heritage varieties of cherries?  Brother was really bummed because I read the website to him before we visited and it seemed to promise access to one or more orchards at that time of year.

Finally we attended a Ranger talk about the ancient people of the area and the petroglyphs they left behind on the rocks.  I have a pretty decent picture of these petroglyphs.  Starting at the bottom left of the picture, notice the brick-like rocks, above that some lighter colored larger boulders, then in the backwards J formed by the lighter rocks on the left side of the photo notice the petroglyphs on the red rock.

The kids got to volunteer to be a part of the talk so they were happy, however the information presented was rather general to many ancient peoples of the Southwest. 

So that was Capitol Reef.  There are many other hikes to do, but I felt like we got a good sense of the place, the history, the people, and the geology through the Junior Ranger activities.  One day was adequate for a visit, two would have been nice especially to deal with different weather.  We really liked our campground - so I will review that next.