2017 Summer Road Trip Home:

Montana, Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Teton National Park

There’s nothing like an epic road trip when moving from one state to another! Since Ellen was between 36-37 weeks pregnant, we thought it would be a great idea to invite Steve’s parents to join us in order to add little man-power insurance should the trip be more fatiguing than planned, as well as to give them the opportunity to see a part of the country they have never seen before.

Day 1

We started our trip at 6pm on Friday after finishing our last day of work. Steve’s parents did a great job finishing some last minute cleaning of the apartment and entertaining the dogs while we saw our final patients and turned in our equipment that day.

Our first rather un-ceremonial stop was Spokane, WA – about a 5-hour drive from Tacoma, where we grabbed our first hotel room for the night.

Day 2

Feeling somewhat rejuvenated after a good night’s sleep, we set out for our destination of Bozeman, MT.

We found the perfect deserted local campground with a picnic table where the dogs could play along the Clark Fork River, just East of Missoula, and took advantage of the chance to stretch our legs.

As we rolled into Bozeman, a quick search for “trailheads near Bozeman” on Google Maps, along with a stellar trail review landed us at the Middle Cottonwood Creek trail for a lovely hike along a stream bed leading to an Instagram worthy view in the middle of a bowl in the Bridger Range to the north of town.

When you’re staying in Bozeman, there’s no sense in settling for the mundane “Quality Inn” or “Holiday Inn”, and we opted for the more adventurous “Lewis and Clark Motel”, just a short walk from the downtown area where we found some fabulous post-hike burgers at Backcountry Burger Bar which boasted locally raised beef and bison burgers.

Day 3

In the morning, we found another great local joint serving breakfast cuisine – The Feed -before we hit the road towards Yellowstone National Park.

One thing we have learned while traveling with dogs, is that until they are certified rescue or emotional support dogs, they are unwanted on National Parks trails! With this in mind, we returned to one of our favorite hikes in the Absoroka-Beartooth Wilderness and gave the dogs a chance to stretch out their legs while we checked out a sweet waterfall in the mountains. The dogs were in pure heaven!

Finding first-come-first-served camping in Yellowstone National Park during the busy summer months is a sporting event in itself, but luckily we arrived at the park early enough to snag a campsite at our favorite campground in Mammoth Hot Springs.

Somehow we also found time to see the entire Northern loop of the park, complete with a drive into Hayden Valley to see Yellowstone’s famous bison herd before returning to our campsite for a steak dinner while watching a glorious sunset over Montana’s Paradise Valley.

Day 4

The best part about waking up at a campground in Yellowstone was discovering that Steve’s mom had a warm and restful night sleeping in our tent – pretty good for a city girl!

We set out after a camping breakfast of coffee, eggs, and bacon to explore the Biolling River, Mammoth Hot Springs, and the lower half of Yellowstone including stops at Artist Paint Pots and Old Faithful.

Despite long traffic delays, we finally made it to see our friends the Rods and the Kellers at their campsite at Colter Bay Campground, in Grand Teton National Park, before stopping in Jackson Hole for dinner.  We pushed through driving into the evening and stayed in Rock Springs, WY which set us up nicely for the final day push from Southern WY to Durango, CO.

 

Day 5

No time to waste today during our final 11 hour push to Durango other than a quick run for the dogs in Ashley National Forest and a fantastic lunch in Fruita at Hot Tomatoes Pizza! We enjoyed the views from the car as we drove past Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Dinosaur National Monument, and Moab, Utah.  Thankful to arrive back home, we celebrated a successful road trip at Steamworks Brewing in Durango!

Written by: Ellen Stockhausen