Day 9: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

For our one and only full day in the Grand Teets, we got up at 6:00am in order to get a spot at the Jenny Lake parking lot. Once at the spot, we ate breakfast and gathered our gear. We planned to the Cascade Canyon trail. You can save 2 miles by taking the boat from the dock across Jenny Lake, or you can hike it. The line for the boat was about a 45 minute wait so we decided to hike it out. The entire hike, in the summer heat, was a killer. We saw plenty of bear scat and I had my ear talked off about Big 10 sports from a Hoosier grandpa until his family had to stop for a break. We sent a happy birthday message to our nephew Owen and little did we know that in the background of the video message was Mt. Owen. We saw a female moose resting under a tree and the top of a male moose’s rack along tall marsh near the water. At the end of the hike we had our snacks while we watched the waterfall. When we got done with the hike it had been 12.6 miles so we waited the 45 minutes for the boat back. The smoke from the nearby forest fires had clouded the Tetons when looking at them from afar, but being up inside of them was magnificent and you could see them clearly. Later that night we explored the main lodge (even their bathroom had little bears all over it), got takeout food from their 50’s diner – I had a Cali chicken sandwich with fries and Megan had a black bean burger. We sat in the lodge and watched people for a while then we went back to sit back on our balcony watching the lightning storm in the sky.

Day 10: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming – Casper, Wyoming

We packed up our stuff and checked out of the lodge – heading to Casper, Wyoming for the evening. The drive was mountainous and lovely until it wasn’t….then it became flat and dry with deer everywhere. Casper was surprisingly cute and charming. We had dinner at a horror themed burger joint called Little Shop of Burgers. This place was amazing – horror posters all over the walls, collectibles up on shelves, a menu with b-list movie themed names, a family eating area where they showed rated-R films to your kids called The Morgue. AMAZING! I told the waitress about Zombie Burger in Des Moines and she was into it. We split the Drac Attack (garlic burger) and got parmesan fries. For a cowboy town, Casper is a little cutie.

Day 11: Casper, Wyoming – Lincoln, Nebraska & Day 12: Lincoln, Nebraska – Des Moines, Iowa

We headed out of Casper, Wyoming and made our way to Lincoln, Nebraska. Nothing amazing here since Nebraska and Iowa are pretty similar in terms of landscape, wildlife, and I-80. We dined at a local Mexican restaurant and relaxed for the evening in the hotel.

We made a stop at the Strategic Air Command Museum in Lincoln to see some vintage war planes. I had visited as a kid with my mom and brother and I remember how cool it was to see the stealth jet up close. Megan really enjoyed it since we both love airplanes and aerospace. After that we came home and got to see the kitties.