Wow! What a wet night and a cloudy day. Nothing like driving all the way to the Teton's and not being able to see the Teton's. Packing up camp Wednesday morning was wet and messy. This is my wonderful husband at work. Soaked by the time we got the tent down.
There was no point in sticking around and doing anything as it was rainy, cloudy and cold. We packed up and headed south on Highway 89. We enjoyed lots of rain and clouds with absolutely no view of the gorgeous mountains just over there until we hit Jackson. Suddenly the clouds parted and the sun was shining. Although beautiful we drove through Jackson only stopping for gas. The tourists were as thick as mosquitoes at a picnic. We had had enough of crowds. The kids were awesome and napped and played quietly and before we knew it we were halfway down the road and it was time to stop for lunch.
I love eating in local restaurants and discovering local flavor while traveling. My husband isn't usually one to say "hey, let's try something new" and with two littles trying something unknown can usually end up in a overpriced disaster. We drove all the way through Pinedale looking for a good lunch spot. With no chain place in sight we drove back through looking for somewhere that looked family friendly. Can't get more family friendly than a playground out back. This place ended up being the perfect spot for lunch. They were friendly, great service, great atmosphere and bonus: the food was GREAT!
The children's menu was reasonably priced, there was a great pizza buffet for Heath and me and kids under 2 ate for free, AWESOME!
After lunch the kids played on the playground for a long time and Luke got to stretch his legs. So if you are ever traveling through Pinedale, Wyoming stop by and see the nice folks at Wind River Pizza and Pasta.
We continued down highway 191 and joined I-80 at Rock Springs. This had to have been the most unexciting, boring stretch of the whole trip.
We vacillated between staying somewhere overnight or pushing through and driving all the way home (another 4 - 5 hours). As we discussed it Logan made it quiet clear he was done being in the car for the day. I had also semi promised Annabelle a pool on this trip and hadn't made good on that yet. I don't think Heath or myself were quite ready for our vacation to be over.
We did some research this time and found a reasonably priced hotel that allowed dogs, with a hot breakfast and a pool. It was rated "pleasant" on bookit.com so we decided on Days Inn in Rawlins, Wyoming.
I would agree with the ratings. It wasn't anything special but we had a nice night.
The first thing we had to do was rip off our nasty camping clothes and put on our suites.
Heath assured me this is normal male behavior. Apparently no matter how old you are your parts are fascinating, and having cool air conditioned air blowing on them is awesome.
After several days of camping a not much contact with water everybody enjoyed swimming.
The kids loved the featured attraction.
We made a dinner out of the rest of our car snacks as nobody was very hungry after our great lunch. We watched America's Got Talent and called it a night early. Annabelle was so excited to have a queen size bed all to herself, and slept so hard I heard her snoring several times.
Breakfast was indeed hot and a nice treat not to cost anything extra. The highlight was Logan charming the pants off of one of the housekeepers. He is so fun to watch interact with people.
Annabelle asked to go swimming again and since we had a little bit of time to spare I agreed. They were filling the pool with a hose spraying freezing cold water but the kids loved going under the "waterfall". Goofballs.
After we packed up we continued down I-80 back through Cheyenne. We stopped to visit a brand new cousin we hadn't met yet. How sweet it is to hold brand new babies.
We arrived home in enough time to unpack the car and get settled before dinner. We feel so blessed that it was a trip with no excitement and no opportunities for us to overcome adversity. Overall it was a great trip, rainy weather and all. The only real tears were shed as we were less than a mile from our house when Annabelle realized we were headed home. I couldn't have asked for four better travelers and indulging my vacation needs. Thank you guys for being a wonderful family and making some awesome memories!
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