Day 2 - we started early (aren't vacations supposed to be relaxing, haha!) - knowing we had a full day ahead. The "direct" route to Jackson from Casper had us continuing on Hwy 26 (Day 1). However, a friend clued us in on another important piece of American history - Independence Rock - which was south of our original route. We decided that morning that we were too close to NOT go south and visit this historical monument. It added 45 minutes of drive time as well as the hour stop...but we knew it would be worth it. This turned out to be one of our favorite stops on the whole trip.
More beautiful scenery as we traveled through Wyoming.
We found the rest stop and monument easily and headed out to see the rock.
Independence Rock is 130 feet tall and 1900 long! It was a big landmark for pioneers traveling on the Oregon Trail. It was said that if you reached Independence Rock by July 4th, you would make it through the Rocky Mountains before winter.
All 6 of us started on the trail that went around the perimeter of the rock. After a while Maddie & I turned around and headed back to the trailhead. We read about the Oregon Trail and explored a bit while we waited for Matt and the other 3 kids to get back.
I don't know what I expected...but soon after this, Maddie says, "Is that them? Up on the rock?" If you look close enough, you can see all 4 of them! They ended up climbing the backside of the rock (Matt said it wasn't any easier than where we were) and walking the full distance to where we were standing.
These pictures were from the camera that Matt took up with him.
Independence Rock is a piece of living history in the fact that it has many engravings from Oregon Trail Pioneers!
I can hear the wagon master sending the message down the wagon line: "Circle the Wagons, we've reached The Rock!"
The (very) steep descent.
We all used the restroom & grabbed water/snacks before hitting the road again. As we started driving, our discussion turned to the rock walls in the rest stop's bathrooms. Come to find out both of us with the cameras took pictures! The walls were filled with rocks - very nicely done and unique.
We continued driving northwest on 287 until we got to Jeffrey City - where we came across some antelope on the side of the road (Maddie called them jackalope the whole trip!). We also noticed a few calves beyond the fence.
A little further up the road we found this herd of horses. Not sure if they were wild or not, but they were cool nonetheless!
Our initial planning for this day had us stopping at Sacajawea's Grave in Fort Washakie. We decided to tentatively scratch this stop from our agenda as it was out of the way. After we added Independence Rock to our day, we added it back on! It was right along the way now!
It was interesting to read a bit more history about Sacajawea. She was such an integral part in Lewis & Clark succeeding in their expedition across the country.
As we turned west on to Hwy 26 (back to the familiar!!), we started catching glimpses of the majestic Tetons. Our route to Jackson actually had us skirting the perimeter of Grand Teton Nat'l Park.
We pulled off at the Snake River Overlook (joining a half dozen tour busses, yikes!) and enjoyed our first full view of the Tetons. Absolutely breathtaking!
Back on the road, we continued south. We stopped along Mormon Row to take some pictures of barns. The kids got to see their first marmots of the trip (many more to come over the next week!). Will especially fell in love with the little rodents and would've stuffed one in his sweatshirt if they'd slow down enough for him to grab one!
While the weather was perfect (mid 60s, sunny, clouds in the sky, nice breeze), there seemed to be a thin cloud layer hovering over the mountains - making it hard to photograph the starkness of the peaks.
There seemed to be a dozen or so marmots living under this bridge (you can see one or two on the edge of the bridge in the picture). Will spent his time beside the bridge - waiting for one to poke his head out. Will didn't realize that 3 or 4 were always on the other side of the bridge - waiting for him to leave!
We were heading back towards the main road through the park when we saw something move in the tall grass - right beside the road. I grabbed the camera and confirmed that it was a badger! He ran alongside the road for the better part of a mile - scurrying up the ditch and back down, all the while jumping and bouncing without a care in the world. He actually had us laughing at his antics!
We pulled over a few miles further south as we saw cars and people out of their vehicles looking at something in the distance (with binoculars). It was overlooking this river. We were hoping for a bear(s), but settled for the ears of a moose! She was laying down in the brush and all we could see was the tip of her head and ears. Oh well, hopefully we will have better luck another day.
We headed out of the park, through Jackson and towards Teton Pass as we had one more stop to make. On our way through Jackson, we (again) noticed people standing on a bike path beside a pond. As we drove by, we could clearly see a moose!!! We parked at the next pull off and ran back to see her!
See the dot between Maddie & Will - it's a MOOSE!!!
Our last planned stop on the day - Idaho and Wyoming signs. While we technically didn't spend any time in Idaho, we were too close to NOT get it! And technically, all but the twins have driven through Idaho. Just a bit late on the signage.
I saw this sign as I was "Google Planning" our trip. What a great view (summit of Teton Pass overlooking Jackson Hole) and a fun sign!
We passed this pull-off (North Fork Trail Creek) on the way up to the summit and made a mental note to stop on the way back to Jackson. It was a beautiful, quick stop. It was pretty steep down to the creek, but Maddie & Matt made their way down to get some pictures.
As I was taking their picture, I hollered..."watch out for the bear!!!" Yeah, kind of freaked them out. Someday they will laugh about it...and forgive me!
We drove back in to Jackson and were super excited to finally meet up with Ken, Connie & John! We found our hotel and knocked on their door - they opened the door to see some "dead squirrels" laying outside their room!
We enjoyed our first evening together - went out for dinner and then Matt hung out with his family in the breakfast room for the rest of the evening, getting caught up. A great way to finish Day #2!
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