Jackson, WY to Twin Falls, ID
Today we start our journey back to the west. After a breakfast at the hotel we will head towards Idaho Falls, ID, where we will stop by the river for a picnic lunch of leftovers. In the afternoon, we will be visiting our first volcanic site at Craters of the Moon National Volcanic Monument.
We will be ending our day in Twin Falls, ID and having dinner at Idaho Joe’s. All in all, a simple day.
Talk to you soon.
L
What an exciting day! Not only did I take another state off my to-do list, but I was able to get so close to a Bison that I could have almost reached out an touched it. After a quick breakfast at the hotel we headed to Walmart to grab some picnic supplies, and then we were off towards Yellowstone. Before too long we left the flat plains of Bozeman and entered the Gallatin River Valley (as shown below).
The Gallatin River is one of the three rivers that converge in Three Forks, MT to form the Missouri River. The weird thing about the river is that it flows northwest, so as we traveled south beside the river, it seemed to flow “uphill”. Before long, we arrived in West Yellowstone and headed into Yellowstone Park. It wasn’t long before we were greeted by our first Bison – man they are HUGE!
After taking a few pictures, we continued on, stopping occasionally for photo ops and also because of wildlife on the road. For lunch we stopped at Canyon Village and had a picnic of last night’s steak frites and some fresh bread we had picked up. Then, we were off again…on a mission to see if we could find a bear or elk to photograph. We stopped at the Mud Volcano, and despite the strong sulphur smell, decided to walk around and take some pictures. The pictures below are of Mud Volcano and Dragon’s Mouth Spring.
After we left Yellowstone, we entered Grand Teton National Park. It is quite a drastic change in topography; with Grand Teton soaring almost 14,000 feet in the air. Although we arrived in the afternoon when the sun was directly behind the mountains, I was still able to get a couple of good pictures of the trio of mountains (Grand Teton, Mount Moran and South Teton).
Part of the reason that I was able to get pictures was because of the clouds that rolled in bringing some drizzle; and in turn, a double rainbow.
Before we knew it we were in Jackson. Jackson, is the epitome of a touristy ski resort town. The downtown streets are laden with outdoorsy shops and resorts line the highway. The hotel we are staying in was a tad difficult to find, but eventually we found it and brought in our bags, quickly freshened up, and headed off to dinner. Sidewinder’s Tavern was our Food Network stop for today and unfortunately it was a disaster. The service was sub-par and the food was mediocre at best – definitely not a place that I will ever recommend. I guess after visiting over 30 restaurants thus far, we were bound to find a dud. Maybe, on a different night, with a different waitress, and a different order of food it could be good. But, as it stands, I have to give it thumbs down.
Well it has been a long day, and my intermittent WiFi has made this blog take longer than normal to write (I can’t complain though, the front desk had a sign that warned of sketchy WiFi because it is, Wyoming of course).
Thank you for putting up with my rant and I will talk to you tomorrow.
L
Bozeman, MT to Jackson, WY
Today is going to be such an exciting day. We will be grabbing donuts at Granny’s Gourmet Donuts (rated the #1 restaurant in Bozeman on Trip Advisor) and then heading south toward the west gate of Yellowstone National Park. Old Faithful is an unlikely stop as I believe the highway connecting US-191 to US-189 is closed at the pass, but if it isn’t we will probably drive by it and stop if there aren’t ridiculous hordes of people. If not, we will stop by Fishing Bridge in the Park (#3 on the map) for our picnic.
After we leave Yellowstone, we almost immediately enter Grand Teton National Park. As most of you know, I love to take pictures. From what I have seen from pictures of the Teton Range, I can’t wait to have some fun using, not only my Nikon, but my iPhone, camcorder and point&shoot (that K loaned me). We will then continue on to Jackson, WY where we will stop for the day.
Dinner will be at Sidewinder’s Tavern in Jackson Hole, which was featured on Diners Drive-Ins & Dives. Mum is stoked for this dinner as they serve soft pretzels – she fell in love with them in 2012 at the Lost Coast Brewery Pub in Eureka, CA and insists on them at least once on each trip. We still haven’t found a replacement for Eureka’s pretzels, but I hope this does it as Eureka is a very inconvenient town to get to :).
Talk to you soon.
L
Last night I had remarked that I hoped we would run into fewer wrinkles…well we did, sort of. After my shower this morning I turned on the Weather Channel just in time to see that there was a freak snowfall in Bozeman last night. Then, as I was checking out, I heard that the I-90 had been closed around 1PM yesterday near the WA-ID border due to a chemical spill and was not expected to reopen until noon today. As the desk clerk was explaining how I should detour around it, another guest came by and told us that they had ‘just’ reopened it. That was awesome news as the detour would have added at least an hour, if not more, to our day’s drive. With that we were off towards Coeur d’Alene and a late breakfast at Jimmy’s Down the Street.
I ordered the same thing as I did last year which was the Chicken Fried Steak Skillet and Mum got a poached egg with bacon and hash browns. Although the food was superb, the service was lacking a bit compared to last year – they were quite friendly, but we had to wait a while for a coffee refill and also to pay our bill. I did, however, get to leave a license plate for them that they are going to put on the wall near their picture of Guy Fieri (I feel privileged). We left Coeur d’Alene around eleven, quite a bit later than planned, and continued on eastward to Montana.
Since today was a driving day, we didn’t make very many stops. We stopped in Wallace, ID (Silver Capital of the World) for a pitstop and also Missoula for a quick lunch of leftovers in McCormick Park on the banks of the Clark Fork of the Missoula River. While there we saw a Northern Flicker and a huge osprey nest. (I forgot to mention yesterday that we saw a Magpie and also some White-tailed Deer).
After lunch we continued on our way, watching the ever-changing scenery. In Butte we noticed a huge white statue on the top of a hill; our nightly research informed us that it was “Our Lady of the Rockies” and it was set atop the Continental Divide. We also passed through the headlands of the Missouri River (the longest river in North America), and not far from there, Mum espied a couple of young female Rocky Mountain Elk grazing near the Interstate.
We finally reached Bozeman around seven o’clock MDT, and not long after checking in, headed to dinner. As planned, we went to the Copper Whiskey Bar & Grille. We both ordered the Irish-style Potato Soup to start and I had Steak Frites (rare) and Mum had the Avocado Caprese Salad. That was the best steak I’ve had in years (probably since Mum and I stopped in Moose Jaw on our Cross-Canada trip in 2010), and I look forward to having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
I think that pretty much covers our day, though if I forgot to mention something, I can blame my fatigue – that was a long drive today.
I’m leaving you with some pictures from Jimmy’s, and a couple from our stop in Wallace (I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to take many today).
Talk to you soon.
L
Spokane, WA to Bozeman, MT
Today we have a long day ahead of us. We will start of the morning by driving to Coeur d’Alene, ID where we will have breakfast at Jimmy’s Down the Street. We went here for breakfast last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. This will be our third Food Network stop as it appeared on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.
After breakfast we will continue across Idaho’s Panhandle, stopping for a picnic lunch of leftovers by the river in Missoula, MT. We will then continue on to Bozeman, MT where we will stop for the night.
Dinner plans are the Copper Whiskey Bar & Grille as they are rated the best steakhouse in Missoula. My mum and I always try to get a good steak when we are in cattle country, and the leftovers will make a great picnic for tomorrow’s big day.
Talk to you soon.
L
Today was a very, very long day. We started the day by having our GPS take us on a ridiculous tour of Everett suburbia. Once we finally reached US-2, we were on our way to Leavenworth. It was a nice leisurely drive until just before we entered Leavenworth when we encountered this…
Water bombing helicopter outside of Leavenworth
After talking to a very cute State Patrol officer, we found out it was not a huge concern and that there was no evacuation eminent. Thankful for that, we went looking for parking. The parking was almost as bad as it was last year when we were there on Memorial Day weekend, but luckily we found a spot near Riverside Park. We parked and then headed up to explore the quaint little Bavarian-like village. It is definitely a town that we want to visit again but next time we think we’ll stay there overnight so we don’t feel rushed.
We walked around most of the village, but decided against going to the Nutcracker Museum because it didn’t open until 2. Mum was fine with a stop in the nutcracker gift shop instead. We also stopped in the bookstore for a book on the founding of Leavenworth and also stopped in a clothing store where I was able to pick up two skirts for a very good price.
After Leavenworth we headed east, stopping in a park next to the Wenatchee River for lunch and then we headed towards Spokane. Again, my GPS let me down and it ended up sending us on US-2 over to Spokane, instead of across I-90. Oh well, we made it…eventually. We then proceeded to miss our street and had to drive around the block a couple of times until we found the hotel.
Then we decided to head out for dinner. Again, my GPS went squirrelly and we ended up on the wrong side of Spokane. I entered it into Google Maps and we finally arrived 25 minutes later. Waddell’s Pub & Grille was a very good a very nice, and not too loud, sports bar. Mum and I, being still full from our lunch decided to share the sampler platter that came with wings, onion rings, poppers and cheese sticks. It was quite good but we still ended up needing a doggy bag.
Hopefully tomorrow we will run into fewer wrinkles, and hopefully tonight I can get some sleep. I will leave you with some pictures from Leavenworth and also one from the Moses Coulee near Waterville, WA.
Talk to you soon.
L
Everett, WA to Spokane, WA
Today we will be heading east. We will have a leisurely drive along US-2 to Leavenworth; there we will spend a few hours poking around the quaint Bavarian-like town. After a picnic lunch of last night’s leftovers, we look around the Nutcracker Museum before heading east towards I-90 and eventually, Spokane.
Unfortunately we do not have as much time in Spokane as we did last year, so all we will be able to do is add our second Food Network stop. This trip we decided to try Waddell’s Pub & Grille as featured on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. I’ll let you know if it’s better than the Elk Public House was.
Talk to you soon.
L
Hi All
We have finally finished our first day. Mum made it to Peach Arch Park with no issues and met us exactly at 3:30 as planned. F helped us transfer my things from our car to Mum’s and with a quick hug, we were off.
When we had first arrived at the park there was a reported hour wait for crossing the border, but when we headed towards customs it was quite a bit quieter.
After a quick conversation with Customs about our trip and how fun that sounded, we were heading down the I-5. Mount Baker was absolutely beautiful as we drove through Skagit County, and we were quite pleased to see the Mount Vernon bridge rebuilt after last year’s collapse. We ran into a small amount of traffic coming into Everett, but that quickly dissipated and before we knew it, we were at the hotel.
Dinner was at Goldberg’s Deli, which was featured on Food Paradise. We started with the potato latkes as an appy and then Mum got the Godfather sandwich and I got a Corned Beef & Pastrami Reuben. Mum finished half her sandwich and I finished about a third, plus we have half the latkes leftover (they gave us a side instead of the appy size so we had 6 of them). Definitely a great start to the Food Network trip, but a very long first day.
I will leave you now with pics of our dinner.
Talk to you soon.
L
Peace Arch Park to Everett, WA
Mum and I will be meeting up at the Canadian parking lot of Peace Arch Park and heading across the border around 4 in the afternoon. Since we have such a late start (I have a wedding to go to @ Peace Arch Park that I wouldn’t miss for the world), we are only driving about 164 km.
We will be having dinner (with leftovers for tomorrow’s picnic lunch) at Goldberg’s Deli in Bellevue. This is our first Food Network stop, as seen on Food Paradise.
Talk to you soon.
L
4th Annual Food Network Tour
It’s that time of year again. The time of year when I head south of the border with my Mum, in search of good food and new adventures. To date, we have visited 28 Food Network Restaurants and I plan on us visiting at least 18 on this trip, although 4 of them are repeat visits. Last year I said that I was planning less “windshield” time and more time for poking around – I didn’t succeed as well as planned, but I hope to do better this year. I do have a few days that are over 500 km, but I have organized them at the beginning of the trip this time…I found that long driving days at the end of a vacation are a bad idea.
We will be leaving Saturday afternoon (13th) from Peace Arch Park and travelling as far south as Everett before stopping for the night. The next day we will head east, stopping for the night in Spokane, WA and Bozeman, MT. We then will be heading south through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, stopping for the night in Jackson, WY. This will also take two states off my “to-do” list (Montana & Wyoming).
We head back west from Jackson, stopping for the night in Twin Falls, ID; Burns, OR; Bend, OR; and finally Eugene, OR where we end our westward trek. We then head up to Salem, OR for the night and then on to Portland, OR where we will be staying for three nights. After Portland we again head north, stopping for the night in Olympia, WA and finally for two nights in Vancouver, BC before we return to the Island.
As always, we will be visiting at least one Garden; Mum does love her seed hunting. We are also visiting several “volcanic” sites, including Craters of the Moon in Idaho, Crater Lake and Newberry Volcanic Monuments in Oregon, and, fingers-crossed, Mount St. Helens. Mount St. Helens has been on my to-do list since I read the National Geographic article about the 1980 eruption when I was a kid. It has also been on the to-do list for each of our trips, but we have been rained out each year. I did manage to catch a glimpse of it from US-26 on our first trip, but was too far away for a photo. Yellowstone is also “technically” volcanic, so I guess it would qualify as well.
Like last year, I will be posting our upcoming day’s travels in the morning, followed by a recap (with pictures, hopefully) at the end of each day. I have learned several things over the last three Food Network trips and also on our Cross-Canada adventure. I now know what to pack and what not to pack – and have downsized to a 25″ suitcase, 21″ electronics bag and my camera backpack (of course). I still have a few sundries that I throw in the trunk such as my coats, extra shoes and tripod, but overall, I’m doing quite well. This year, I have also found an app that allows my Dad to locate us (well, my iPhone) at all times, which will make him happy and less annoyed if we check-in with him later than normal on a particular day. I also gave him a complete itinerary for the trip which shows him our approximate arrival time as well. I am also setting up my day overviews to auto-post for me each morning – it’s one less thing to worry about on what is supposed to be a relaxing vacation. 🙂
All in all, it should be another fun- and food-filled adventure, that my Mum and I will remember for years. I hope you enjoy following along with my Food Network adventure.
Talk to you soon.
L