We have been full timers for 7+ years. With family in Valley Springs, California (south of Sacramento), Denver, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri, we wear ruts in I-80 and I-70 visiting family. In the fall of '07 I finally said, "We're going to vary our route." From Valley Springs we usually take CA 88 to the Nevada border, then through Carson City and east on US 50 and Alternate 50 to link up with I-80. We stop in Winnemucca at the Wal-Mart and fuel up at Flying J there as well. The second day we drove to Wells and then took off to the north on US 93. In southern Idaho is Craters of the Moon National Monument. There are vast lava fields with many lava caves that can be explored. We climbed cinder cones, enjoyed exploring lava caves and hiked several trails within the park. We stayed at a very nice campground, Landing Zone RV in Arco, Idaho. There is a campground in the National Monument but I don't think they had full hookups.
From there we continued on east to Grand Teton National Park. We stayed at the campground at Coulter Bay Village in the park for one week. It was the end of the season and we had no trouble getting a spot. We were a short walk through the woods to Jackson Lake and enjoyed walking the shore at sunset, looking at the Tetons across the lake. We drove to the Gros Ventre slide one day. This is a rather famous collapse of a mountainside that occurred in 1925. The scar and the jumbled rock and debris are still evident today and you can walk through the debris field right up to the lake that still remains where the slide blocked the Gros Ventre River.
Another day we took a canoe out on Jackson Lake and enjoyed seeing Osprey and Bald Eagles as well as the spectacular view of the Tetons across the lake. We hiked up into the mountains to some of the small lakes formed on glacial moraines and had a nice view of Jackson. We took a horseback ride at a ranch outside the park one day. One day we went to the Grand Teton Lodge. It happened to be when there was a Federal Reserve Meeting at the lodge. We walked in on a media blitz complete with all the financial news people, print, radio and TV. I was outside looking for moose in the meadow below the lodge when I looked to the over to a gathering of people on a patio outside a meeting room and there was Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve! You just never know what you will see when looking for a moose!
From Grand Teton National Park we drove southeast, crossing I-80 and continuing on south to Flaming Gorge Canyon and Dam. We traveled on into Vernal Utah and camped at Fossil Valley RV. We returned to Flaming Gorge for a full day of exploring the scenery and history of the area. We spent some time at the visitors center at the Dam on the Green River. There is a great drive that runs through some absolutely weird geology on the western side of the gorge. The whole area is dinosaur country and we spent a day at the Dinosaur Museum in Vernal. This is a very nice museum, if you are traveling with children, they will love it. We were planning to stop at the quarry in Dinosaur National Monument and were distressed to find that the building covering the quarry had been condemned and couldn't be replaced until Congress authorized the destruction of the old historic/unique architecture building since it was itself a monument. We were glad to hear that the current stimulus package passed by Congress included money for a replacement building at the quarry. In a year or two, this spectacular display of dinosaur bones partially excavated and exposed in the quarry wall will once again be accessible to the public.
We finished our trip to Denver by taking US 40 across western Colorado in what was a beautiful drive on a little traveled road. We stayed overnight in Granby, Colorado. In the morning we tackled Rabbit Ears Pass and then the steep descent into Denver on US 40 and I-70. The scenery along this stretch was spectacular. We had been cautioned to take an alternate route but we were glad we persisted and saw this part of the Rocky Mountains.
This was a two week adventure bypassing a stretch of I-80 that we usually do in two or three days. The adventure of traveling new roads and seeing new scenery made this a very refreshing side trip. We're planning to do the same along other stretches of this frequently traveled route in the future.
We have been full timers for 7+ years. With family in Valley Springs, California (south of Sacramento), Denver, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri, we wear ruts in I-80 and I-70 visiting family. In the fall of '07 I finally said, "We're going to vary our route." From Valley Springs we usually take CA 88 to the Nevada border, then through Carson City and east on US 50 and Alternate 50 to link up with I-80. We stop in Winnemucca at the Wal-Mart and fuel up at Flying J there as well. The second day we drove to Wells and then took off to the north on US 93. In southern Idaho is Craters of the Moon National Monument. There are vast lava fields with many lava caves that can be explored. We climbed cinder cones, enjoyed exploring lava caves and hiked several trails within the park. We stayed at a very nice campground, Landing Zone RV in Arco, Idaho. There is a campground in the National Monument but I don't think they had full hookups.
From there we continued on east to Grand Teton National Park. We stayed at the campground at Coulter Bay Village in the park for one week. It was the end of the season and we had no trouble getting a spot. We were a short walk through the woods to Jackson Lake and enjoyed walking the shore at sunset, looking at the Tetons across the lake. We drove to the Gros Ventre slide one day. This is a rather famous collapse of a mountainside that occurred in 1925. The scar and the jumbled rock and debris are still evident today and you can walk through the debris field right up to the lake that still remains where the slide blocked the Gros Ventre River.
Another day we took a canoe out on Jackson Lake and enjoyed seeing Osprey and Bald Eagles as well as the spectacular view of the Tetons across the lake. We hiked up into the mountains to some of the small lakes formed on glacial moraines and had a nice view of Jackson. We took a horseback ride at a ranch outside the park one day. One day we went to the Grand Teton Lodge. It happened to be when there was a Federal Reserve Meeting at the lodge. We walked in on a media blitz complete with all the financial news people, print, radio and TV. I was outside looking for moose in the meadow below the lodge when I looked to the over to a gathering of people on a patio outside a meeting room and there was Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve! You just never know what you will see when looking for a moose!
From Grand Teton National Park we drove southeast, crossing I-80 and continuing on south to Flaming Gorge Canyon and Dam. We traveled on into Vernal Utah and camped at Fossil Valley RV. We returned to Flaming Gorge for a full day of exploring the scenery and history of the area. We spent some time at the visitors center at the Dam on the Green River. There is a great drive that runs through some absolutely weird geology on the western side of the gorge. The whole area is dinosaur country and we spent a day at the Dinosaur Museum in Vernal. This is a very nice museum, if you are traveling with children, they will love it. We were planning to stop at the quarry in Dinosaur National Monument and were distressed to find that the building covering the quarry had been condemned and couldn't be replaced until Congress authorized the destruction of the old historic/unique architecture building since it was itself a monument. We were glad to hear that the current stimulus package passed by Congress included money for a replacement building at the quarry. In a year or two, this spectacular display of dinosaur bones partially excavated and exposed in the quarry wall will once again be accessible to the public.
We finished our trip to Denver by taking US 40 across western Colorado in what was a beautiful drive on a little traveled road. We stayed overnight in Granby, Colorado. In the morning we tackled Rabbit Ears Pass and then the steep descent into Denver on US 40 and I-70. The scenery along this stretch was spectacular. We had been cautioned to take an alternate route but we were glad we persisted and saw this part of the Rocky Mountains.
This was a two week adventure bypassing a stretch of I-80 that we usually do in two or three days. The adventure of traveling new roads and seeing new scenery made this a very refreshing side trip. We're planning to do the same along other stretches of this frequently traveled route in the future.
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