Wedding Bells and Magical Elk

It's Rob's wedding day!

Today, Rob and Allison got married.  We took this semi-paved, semi-dirt road to get to the chapel. Along the way, we passed a protected migratory route with moose (?) or bison (?) eating along the side of the road.  We are definitely in a national park now.

The weather was unfortunately very uncooperative and totally blocked the view of the mountains from the chapel.  However, the bride and groom were quite exuberant and everything went perfectly. The wedding took place in this tiny little log chapel.  Afterwards, they got to ring a bell right outside in celebration. We had a delicious brunch at the (only?) local restaurant in Moose, Wyoming.  The cloudy drizzle refused to let up for pictures, but the tent had space heaters so everyone was warm and happy.  We have yet to see the Grand Teton mountain. I am starting to doubt their existence, but Allison swears they are there.

   

Afterwards, Nick and I rented bikes from the hotel and went for an 8 mile ride. It had stopped raining, so we were ready to get outside It was an awesome way to really take in the area.  We had just enough sun to stay warm and highlight the snow on top of the mountains we could see. (The really tall ones remained obscured by clouds.)

   

Along the way, we saw an Elk in the field next to the road. I tried to take a picture, but all that came out was white. I have decided it was a magical Elk.  Unlike in New England, the animals don't seem afraid of people out here. The Elk just watched as we rode by.

We said hi to the cows in a nearby field and got to stop and see the horses across the street from the hotel. We can see them out of our window. They have been a blast to watch in the morning while eating breakfast.

After the ride, we went back to the hotel for happy hour (They provide free food and cookies!) and to rest up before going out to dinner with Rob's family. We met some really awesome  people and once again had a surprisingly good meal for the middle of nowhere. 

The Journey to the Middle of the Country

Hello everyone!    Nick and I are once again on a fabulous adventure!  

Today's journey began in one state, crossed through another and ended in a third. I bring to you the journey to Rob's Wedding.

We flew into Salt Lake City last night. Our plane landed late (because I was on it, of course.) And it was pouring rain. We apparently missed some crazy weather that passed by just before we landed which I totally believe since our flight was so turbulent.

When we woke up this morning, it was still raining. And the forecast for Wyoming looked similar. So, instead of heading up on our journey early, we decided to stick around Salt Lake City for a bit. We ventured downtown, saw the Mormon Tabernacle and the Temple. Both very impressive buildings. We didn't go inside either, but did talk to a nice couple who was handing out maps who also happened to be from the Boston area. Small world. (We have actually been running into a lot of people from our neck of the woods this trip already.)  Then we grabbed coffee/tea, asked a local where to grocery shop and started our journey North.

We didn't end up going to the Great Salt Lake, but we did drive past it.  If you can squint you can kind of see it.

The whole drive was super rainy. The clouds were eating the mountains and the trees.  

We finally made it to Idaho!!!  We stopped to use the bathroom and have lunch. So that totally counts as being there, right?

After what felt like the longest drive ever, past 100,000,000,000,000 potato fields  (Seriously. That's all Idaho was. Potato fields. And they are not even that interesting to look at since they GROW UNDER GROUND), and maybe a couple of cows, we finally made it to Wyoming.  It's fall there now. Very pretty. 

 

Wyoming was pretty, since there were trees. Also, our first experience was driving on a road that all but said Turn back, don't come this way, dangerous road ahead. Something about 10% grade ahead. But, Nick pulled through and we made it down the mountain pass unscathed. And I didn't even get that car sick  (Pro-tip: Sea bands, peppermint and looking straight out the window and not anywhere else. One look at a map and it was almost all over.) Beautiful view at the bottom though.   We made it to the hotel, which is just like a ski resort hotel from the movies. I have a view out my window of horses and the mountains. There are fire places everywhere and an indoor/outdoor heated pool. We even saw our first (of hopefully many) animals run across the road driving to dinner. Overall a great journey to the middle of the country. And tomorrow, its wedding time!