Mr. Bullington woke bright and early to go retrieve the
rental car. And, all our people and all our luggage fit! Whoot! This had been a
great source of anxiety for me, prompting me to do dry-runs in my friend’s
mid-sized SUVs before we left. We were hoping for an Enclave, but an Explorer fit like a glove! A victorian lady-glove on gigantic man hands.
Mile 1968- Antelope Island- Island time, mon! This Island was not quite what I was used to.
There were no steel drums or umbrella drinks, in fact there probably isn’t
anything that even resembles an umbrella drink or any drink for miles.
#bookofmormon
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| Buffalos Roaming |
We walked a quarter mile through the sand to dip our toes
into The Great Salt Lake! It was
refreshing and John and the girls tested their buoyancy. Our salt encrusted selves walked back to the
public showers and paid a dollar for 4 minutes.
Mmmm. Public showers…..
Mile 2161- Blackfoot, Idaho- Idaho Potato Museum and Potato
Stop Café! And HOME OF THE WORLD’S
LARGEST POTATO CHIP!! And Mr. Potato
Head Collection, and Potato Masher Collection and don’t get me started on that
feat of modern technology that is the Potato peeler! They had a whole display
of those babies too!
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| Tater Sack Haute Couture! I must have that bedazzled vest! #saidnooneever |
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| Props to my favorite potato product! |
And, I hope you’re hungry because they have
baked potatoes, fries, chocolate dipped potato chips, potato cupcakes and “Fish
and Fries”!
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| French fries mysteriously affixed to fish that's then affixed to a stick, fried, and then dipped in malt vinegar! Mr. Bullington said it was the next big fair food. You heard it here first! |
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| My girl loves some baked potatoes, she said it wasn't as good as Mama K's! |
The young lady who
worked there must have had higher aspirations for herself because when Mr.
Bullington joked, “Do you have any potatoes?” she rolled her eyes at him and
muttered something under her breath. The
lady in the gift shop was sweet though and she happily sold me a potato
Christmas tree ornament!
Mile 2165- We had to hit the Wal-Marts before we left
Blackfoot to procure all of the camping supplies we would need for the next two
days, camp stoves, and chairs, and little mats for in front of the tent, a hot
pad so I wouldn’t burn my hand on the coffee pot, ice, etc. We had to unpack
the entire car in the parking lot just
to get it all to fit!
“Sarah”, you might say. “Why in the seven layers of hell are
you camping?”
Gather ‘round my petticoat children, let me tell you some
backstory….
This trip has been in the works since the day after we
returned from our last summer excursion. I had heard, and I knew to be true, that
you must book National park lodging a year in advance. And, since we have our
state itineraries planned through state #50, I knew that summer 2016 would take
much advanced planning. And, planning these trips is my jam. Many a morning Mr. Bullington will clear the
sleep from his eyes and ask me what time I went to bed. 2:45 am, 3:15 am, 1:15
am….”What the Holy Mother of Gosh Almighty were you doing up at that hour?” He
exclaims. (paraphrased). Trip research is often my reply. With a solid
side-order of Facebook (said to myself in my head where he can’t hear me.)
So anywhooo, John lived in Glacier as a strapping young buck
and he fancies himself quite the expert on that part of the country. Thus, he had many an opinion to impart upon
my travel planning. I might not have mentioned that I’m not always amiable to
input.
Knowing is half the battle, y’all.
When trip preparation started in the fall for this trip, I
fully intended to let Mr. Bullington own the road. I cared not but for one thing. I wanted to
sit in on the Thursday night choir rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
It’s free and open to the public and choir is my love language. I painstakingly began making 12-month, in advance hotel reservations in such quaint National Park locales for
bathroom-not- included “cabins” because that is all that was left. lowercase
yay. All of this so The Family
Bullington could be firmly planted in SLC on a Thursday night. Months passed and I decided to confirm a few
things. First stop, obviously, was the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir schedule. Those little tweedy birds decided to embark
on a European tour for most of July. WITHOUT TELLING ME! Traitors. I think I’ll stick with John Wesley….Mr.
Bullington suggested that since there was really no reason to stick around SLC
now that the choir was going to be off galavanting in some chic European city
not drinking caffeine, We should just move in our NORTHERN TRAJECTORY towards Jackson/Grand Tetons!
‘Member when I mentioned that National Park lodging
reservations must be made many months in advance? You shouldn’t be shocked to
learn that there was nothing available in the national park on such short
notice after our last minute itinerary change.
I saw the idea light bulb
flicker ‘bout the same time Mr. Bullington exclaimed, We could always camp.
.......crickets…..
I
tried to change the subject. Hillary or Trump, should we opt out or write in
Thunder Tumlin?
Wow, gas prices have really surged like 4 cents this week...
Do
you think this mole looks weird?....
"No, Camping would be an awesome experience for the kids, we
could wake up and see the mountains”, he said. I pretended to check email and
then I peeked up at him and then his little twinkling eyes sparkled at me…..I
am a sucker for Mr. Bullington, y’all.
In the next few moments he straight-up convinced me that
camping was a viable option. (it’s not) I shop at the Aldi and the Wal-marts so
he hooked me on the price discrepancy between a $25 campground Vs. a Motel 6 @ $400 in Jackson, Wy. (okay, that was actually the cost for two
nights and I read it wrong, but whateves) What Mr. Doe-Eyes failed to mention
were the coins he intended to spend on Schweet new camping equipment that we
could conveniently haul all over tarnation for 2 weeks! Such the adventurer,
that Mr. Bullington.
Our story picks up at Mile 2291- Gros Ventre Campground…So
campgrounds don’t let you reserve spots, and since I knew we’d be getting in
late in the day according to my painstakingly thought out itinerary, we chose
this one because “It hardly ever fills up”.
.
Life is what happens when you have other plans… I kept it
cool for the kids, but I thought I might lose it! The campground manager
actually suggested that we just find some public land, pull off the road and
hike into the forest a bit until we found a camp sight.
Whilst, I pride myself on being a groundhog-fed country girl
from Talking Rock, Georgia, city living has softened me a bit and I know enough
to know we weren’t prepared for forest camping. We left the campground as
darkness fell and started to call hotels on both of our phones. The first 5
were totally booked. I laughed to myself
and thought, I should try the Motel 6 just for giggles. Guess who had just had a cancellation….. They
left the light on for us…
Mile 2299-After dropping our stuff at our sweet new digs we headed
into Jackson Hole! It was so cute! We had some great pizza at Pinky G’s and
yummy ice cream at Moo’s (Thanks for the rec, Allison Gruehn!)
Jesus loves me, this I know.
Look where we ended up after dinner? Whimsically posed taxidermy! My Fav! FOR SALE!
I would’ve loved the one with the chipmunks, but we hardly have room for
ourselves with all of this GOD FORSAKEN CAMPING GEAR!!
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| Safety First! |
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| Like a teeny-tiny Lewis and Clark! |
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| I mean, who doesn't love Cracker Jacks? |
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| Look, Ma! No Hands! |
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| Just got real. |
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| Oar on the other side, Bro! We're going in circles! |
Tomorrow is another day!!!
And in the meantime I leave you this. I think I will call it, Brother Sandwich at the Motel 6!
