Jackson, WY
Friday, October 14, 2022
Our day began at a dispersed camping spot north of Idaho Falls, Idaho. We camped for free there, parked next to Andi’s cousins Laura and Shaun. No services offered at the camping area — just a place to park overnight as we made our way to Jackson, Wyoming.
Laura and Shaun wanted to explore the city of Jackson since they hadn’t visited there before, so they left camp about two hours ahead of us. Meanwhile, Andi, Tory, Aden and I took our time getting the RV packed up and then drove to a nearby grocery store to purchase a few more provisions. Andi and I bought groceries, and then the kids and I did some schoolwork and Andi made a few work calls.
It never fails that all intentions of eating healthy go out the window on the last leg of our travels. Andi and I struggled to find “fast food” for lunch inside the grocery store that sounded appealing to all of us. Of course, we could have purchased ingredients and cooked our own healthy meal, but neither of us felt like doing that. So, he and Aden ended up with Chinese food from the hot deli counter for lunch, and Tory and Aden settled for cups of soup and bread. Aden was thrilled about having egg rolls for lunch — his favorite!
Our family of four continued into the state of Wyoming, making our way to Jenny Lake Visitor Center in Grand Tetons National Park. There, we met up with Laura and Shaun who’d had a great morning sightseeing in Jackson.
The six of us went inside the Jenny Lake Visitor Center to look around and conveniently caught a ranger talk about to take place. We sat outside on the steps of the building and listened to the ranger’s information about sagebrush grouse.
After the visitor’s center, we hopped back in our RVs and drove the Jenny Lake Scenic Drive along the eastern side of the lake. The views of the Tetons are incredibly beautiful. We were surprised they didn’t have snow on them yet! Andi pulled our caravan over at an overlook, and we all got out for a closer view.
There was so much more to do in Grand Tetons National Park, but we needed to get a move on to find camping for the night. There’s nothing worse than rolling into a camping spot in the dark! Andi read about a free camping spot near Heart Six Ranch in the Bridger-Teton Forest. Dispersed camping is always a little unnerving because you never know what condition the roads will be in to get there, but so often the risk is worth the reward. We found a ideal spot to park at the end of a forest service road with epic mountain views.
It took Andi and Shaun about 30 minutes to get the campers set into place. Perched on the side of the hillside, Laura was afraid their camper was going to roll right down the side into the creek!
Once we had camp set up, the adults started making dinner. Andi had two pieces of frozen fish left from our time in Seeley Lake, Montana last week, so he decided to grill those up for dinner while Shaun grilled a pork medallions. In addition, Laura and I made potato and zucchini foil packets. The six of us sat in lawn chairs and watched the sun go down while we enjoyed our very fancy and delicious camp dinner.
We’ve had such a great time traveling with Laura and Shaun! What a totally impromptu gift of quality family time this week has shaped up to be. The amazing free camping spots Andi has found have been icing on the cake. We’re not sure where our travels tomorrow will take us as we start to make our way back to Minnesota and Wisconsin. Stay tuned.
