Roadtrip: Ashland to the Tetons

Bubba sure loves riding in the car

 And we're off!  We started about a week ago in Ashland, OR, and are now relaxing in Grand Teton National Park, WY.  A lot has happened in between there.  We had a quick stopover in Portland to say goodbye to my parents, and then got to spend two nights north of Spokane with my aunt Julie and uncle Scott.  From there we drove down through the Bitteroot Valley to get to Bozeman for a wedding.  Everything is pretty hazy from all the fires going on but the rivers, valleys, and peaks are still unbelievably beautiful.

Once in Bozeman, both to reward the pups for being such good travelers and to celebrate Luna's first birthday, we took a hike up to Lava Lake.  The three mile trail winds up alongside a creek, lush with the last of the fireweed and reams of ripe thimbleberries.  Just when you're wondering if you'll ever get there, the landscape opens up to an amazing mountain lake rimmed with tumbled blocks of granite.  The dogs were in the water instantly, and they spent a good hour frolicking and scaring the fish.  On the hike down we passed 26 other groups that had the same idea.

At Lava Lake

Happy first birthday to the best pup a girl could wish for!

From Bozeman we took the long way to the Tetons, looping around through Red Lodge and over Beartooth Pass.  If you've never been, that drive is one of the most incredible ones in the country.  From Red Lodge the road switchbacks up a sheer mountain side until you reach the top of the world at 11,000 feet.  There are mountains in every direction you look, and miles upon miles of alpine ridges and mountain lakes.  We stopped at one such lake to give the dogs a swim, and then continued down the other side to Cooke City, a place with just as many ATVs as cars.  From there it's a short jaunt to the northeastern entrance to Yellowstone, and a long scenic cruise down to the Tetons.  We got the full Yellowstone experience: bison jams, bubbling pits of sulphur-spewing mud, and silly tourists in giant RVs.

Here in the Tetons the wildlife all seems to be on vacation.  It's smokey here, too, and it even rained on us this morning (first rain we've seen since June!).  Carl's friends from the Wildlife Brigade are throwing him a party tonight, we've got some elk brats to celebrate, and tomorrow we're off to new and exciting locales.  Hooray for road trips!