Day 11: Rock Springs, WY to Denver, CO

We woke up and went down the four or so steps to the breakfast, at which you have a menu of items from which to select three. Abe got scrambled eggs, potatoes, and a fruit cocktail, and Arielle got scrambled eggs, a muffin, and a fruit cocktail. The eggs and potatoes were particularly good, accompanied by less-than-terrific orange juice for Abe and a more satisfying apple-cranberry blend for Arielle.

We left one of our favorite hotels yet for the relatively low-key five-hour drive to Denver. We stopped three hours in at a restaurant in Laramie, WY called Jeffrey’s Bistro. The (vegetarian!) Hungarian mushroom soup we got to start was delicious, and Arielle liked her half (grilled) avocado sandwich much more than Abe enjoyed his tofu stir fry which wasn’t all that flavorful, nor did it settle well in his stomach.

It only took us about half an hour to get to Colorado, a state we had both already been to but were nonetheless excited to cross into since it represented the midpoint of our first big trip.

We celebrated by stopping at Mountain States Toyota to pick up the New York license plates that had been sent there for us. Melissa was very nice and even took our car through the car wash before we drove away. Our next stop was at East Side Kosher Deli to pick up dinner. Arielle got oven fried chicken, Abe got barbecue chicken, and we shared a piece of butternut squash kugel. We drove to our friends Jeff, Talia, and Yona’s home just a few minutes away and enjoyed our delicious dinner outside in their backyard in the perfect Denver air. We also gave them the box of dishes we had been transporting for them in our car from Westchester, where Jeff’s parents, who are friendly with Abe’s parents from synagogue, had given them to us to bring.

We drove about fifteen minutes into downtown Denver, where we pulled up to what ranks as our absolute favorite hotel yet, the Homewood Suites Denver Downtown. Cousin Kenny from Indiana had recommended it highly (and got us a great deal), and it did not disappoint. The building is shared with a Hampton Inn, with adjacent check-in counters on the ground floor. We unloaded so much of what was in our car and took it upstairs, opting to forgo the $42 nightly valet and park the car one block away in the Tremont Garage using SpotHero for just $19 for the first night. We made it down to the pool just minutes before it closed at 11pm and settled in to our massive suite.

Approximate number of miles covered: 349

Day 10: Jackson, WY to Rock Springs, WY

We woke up and got a bit of a late start thanks to having to deal with some issues related to our license plate and car registration from the dealership we used while eating breakfast in our car in the Motel 6 parking lot. Once that was resolved, we drove about twenty minutes to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village. Our friend Josh raves about this place and the tram that travels up nearly 4000 feet to the top of the mountain to provide panoramic views of the valley below and mountains across. We purchased $35 tram tickets online ($8 cheaper than buying it at the ticket window), filled up our water bottles, and set out to hike up the entire mountain on the Wildflower Trail, with bear spray obtained from a nearby hotel in hand. After realizing that we didn’t see anyone else on the trail and that we were probably in over our heads, we turned back and took a gondola up to Rendezvous Lodge, which is about 9000 feet up.

We admired the views and decided to take what looked like a relatively flat 3.5 mile hike up to the summit. We quickly realized how wrong we are, as we went downhill for the first 500 feet or so and then snaked uphill for the remaining 1000 feet. Throughout the hike, it seemed impossible to finish, especially as we dealt with the effects of the altitude. We also noticed many people hiking the other direction, which was likely easier, though it hadn’t been recommended to us. We tried to take an offshoot that would have taken longer but given a more scenic and potentially flatter route, but within about ten minutes, returned to where we had started, which suggested that we should rejoin the main path. Though this was easily the hardest hike we’ve early done, likely because of the altitude and not the length, the images we were able to see and try to capture were breathtaking.

Arriving at the top, we marveled at everything below and our 360-degree view of the mountains around us, some of which still had snow on them. We stepped inside to the restaurant at the top to try the legendary “Top of the World Waffle” (also recommended by Josh). While it may not have been worth the $7.75 plus tax, the fresh-made brown sugar butter waffle was perfectly satisfying, especially since it was almost 3:30pm and we hadn’t eaten lunch. What we did not know is that there was no running water at the top of the mountain, and therefore we probably should have brought more water, since we were not willing to pay $5 for a small bottle of water.

We got on the tram going all the way back down, at which point we celebrated our accomplishments - and exhaustion - by refilling our water bottles. We drove the twenty minutes back into Jackson Hole, found a parking spot downtown, and went to try The Merry Piglets, a Mexican restaurant connected to Liberty Burger that we had wanted to dine at the night before only to be told there was too long a wait. Arriving at 4:15pm meant that we beat the dinner rush, allowing us to have a pretty quick and delicious meal. Arielle ordered the small (but huge) cheese crisp, which was a fried tortilla with refried beans, cheddar cheese, and salsa, and her $4 addition of mahi-mahi was quite plentiful. Abe started with some decent guacamole to go with the complimentary chips, and ordered two tacos: grilled mahi-mahi (with nothing on it) and the veggie, with sweet potato, black beans, corn, cilantro, and avocado, queso fresco on the side, of course.

We left Jackson Hole to head towards Rock Springs, WY. This was by far our most boring drive of the last three days, staying literally on the same road the Motel 6 was on for 170 miles. We were treated to forests of completely bare trees (surprisingly beautiful), cows, horses, and deer on the side of the road, and a gorgeous sunset to enliven an otherwise bland nearly three-hour drive. We arrived at That Yogurt Place in Rock Springs, WY fifteen minutes before they closed, and though they didn’t have the Passion Orange Guava Sorbet advertised online, it was a decent stop, and the total cost for both of us was only $4.40.

We drove the six minutes back to the Best Western Outlaw Inn, a really nice hotel that Arielle immediately rated #2 of the trip so far (behind the Sheraton Sioux Falls). There are rooms that open to the outside, but also a bunch that face inside. We got one that was right through the open air meeting space and up four steps. We walked down those same steps to dip in the pool for a few minutes before turning in for the night in anticipation of our last big drive for a few days.

Approximate number of miles covered: 199

Day 9: West Yellowstone, MT to Jackson, WY

We tried to make an early start of it with a 7am wakeup. We enjoyed the relatively standard complimentary hotel breakfast, which included a waffle maker and a hot chocolate as highlights. We packed our car and drove the three minutes back into Yellowstone, breezing through the entrance with our annual pass. Traffic slowed down almost immediately - we believe because of a bison on the side of the road - and we crawled for a while.

Our first stop was at the Prismatic Spring, a rainbow-colored gem-looking hydrothermal pool of acidic water which was far nicer to look at than this description makes it sound. We then drove to the big ticket, Old Faithful, which had several parking lots easily hundreds of times bigger than any of the other places we had visited in the park. Arielle has always remembered learning about Old Faithful in Walk Two Moons as a fifth grader and has wanted to visit since. We sat right on the edge of the platform with hundreds of people eagerly awaiting the eruption that was predicted for 11:09am. Around that time, as the billowing steam increased, we knew the water was not far behind. It was quite a sight, and lived up to twenty years of expectations for Arielle.

We drove the remaining hour or so out of Yellowstone via the South entrance, traveling another seven miles to Grand Teton National Park. We were immediately entranced by the majesty of Jackson Lake and the Teton Mountain Range and pulled over to have the sandwiches we had made at breakfast for lunch, not realizing there was a picnic area that would have provided the same view about 100 feet down the road.

We kept driving - and staring - and stopped for gas and at the visitor center to get our itinerary for the day. We decided we would focus on scenic drives, the highlight of which was a 5-mile route called Signal Mountain Road because we saw a bear on the side of the road! It was black, since that seems to be the main question everyone was asking.

Jenny Lake was particularly stunning, and we were very impressed with this underadvertised park.

For the first time possibly since we left, we arrived at our hotel before 6pm. Unfortunately, the Motel 6 in Jackson, WY, which was a staggering $200 per night since everything in Jackson Hole is crazy expensive, didn’t give us the best vibe. We somewhat nervously left our car and our main road-facing first-floor room to take the free shuttle into town. Our bus provided an extended tour of the area since it was far from the most direct bus we could have taken, but we made it downtown and asked the friendly bus driver for recommendations for dinner. Everything was extremely busy, but we were able to get seated right away at Liberty Burger, rated the #5 restaurant in Jackson. We both ordered the basic burger, but Arielle got an Impossible meatless patty and Abe got the bison burger, with sweet potato fries on the side. Both were delicious, and we scarfed down after waiting about forty minutes for them to come, apparently because their kitchen isn’t nearly big enough to handle its customer base, according to our waiter. Arielle was thrilled to run into her pediatrician, Dr. Biederman, who was in town with her family and spotted her walking past the restaurant.

We strolled around the main area of downtown in Jackson Hole, stopping in to look at menus and clothing stores and anything else we passed. We ended up at Moo’s Ice Cream, a very popular joint with a long line that went fast. They were surprisingly willing to let us sample multiple flavors. Arielle got the local speciality, wild huckleberry, and Abe opted for cinnamon.

We ate outside and then walked about a block to the bus, which was a bit quicker getting back. We were relieved to find that our belongings were safe but still decided to change hotels for the next night, driving three hours towards Denver, our upcoming destination, to a hotel Abe knew about from almost booking it for USY on Wheels. The receptionist, who had already been inflexible about moving our room because it was booked through Hotels.com, was perfectly happy to refund us the entire cost of the second night. We went to sleep in our teeny little double bed to prepare for the next day’s adventures.

Approximate number of miles covered: 146