Day 6...

Wrote the 13th...

Our hotel in Pinedale was perfect! We stayed at Hampton Inn, very nice and good value for the money. ( 130 USD)... During our roadtrip we've had double rooms..usually you can pick between two queensize (ca 160 cm) or 2 kingsize (ca180 cm), which is enough for 3 adults and a child. Jamie has her own travelbed. We try to put both kids to sleep around 7.30...then we have a couple of hours to relax a little... I guess thats the biggest difference to travel with two small kids, no late bar nights here
...

Anyway last night we ate one of the best pizzas I' ve ever had! It was a stonebaked oven pizza made with a bbq sauce over the crust instead of tomato based. And then all fresh cut chicken file, pineapple, bacon, red bell peppers, and good mozzarella cheese..mmm..and a good local brewery "5 barrel pale Ale" to that... Mom and me also tried a good Merlot from Bogle winery...really good wine!

In the morning we walked around downtown Pinedale. A gorgeous little town! Small shops with local products, outdoorgear, Western and mountain style shops..We could visited here for hours but we were eager to go to Jackson Hole and Teton National Park! The weather looked more promising today..litte scattered clouds but no rain..

We had a short very beautiful and scenic road up to Jackson. That road 191 must be one of my favourites...amazing nature and surrounded by mountains most of the way...Jackson Hole is a very hip skiresort and you could feel the atmosphere even in the summertime.. we stopped for ribs at Bubba's place..not the best ribs but they had a big salladsbar. In Jackson Mom wanted to go river rafting but I guess she has to do that another time...This whole area is an outdoors paradise you'll find it all! We drove north up to Grand Teton national park. Sunshine and warm outside, we have been a little spoiled with not having so much other cars and people around us in northern Colorado and Wyoming but here it felt crowded... I know me and Carolina felt the same after been to many "empty" np when we came to Yosemite.. Teton is a park you need to hike or bike in to really see...  We walked to Jenny Lake and slowly cruised besides the mountain range. Highest peak here is the Grand Teton with 13770 ft..and again breathtaking views...

This night we had a little trouble to find somewhere to sleep without paying a fortune.. almost all accomodation around the tetons were fullbooked and what was left at least 280 usd per room.. we didnt expect so much people here in early september but on a friday...The thing is that in this area it takes long time to drive to the parks..so even if its not so many miles on the map it takes.several hours to nearby cities cause you have to drive in the Tetons or Yellowstone to get anywhere ( like to West Yellowstone, a town with plenty of hotels..) Well we decided not to take a big risk of possibly end up with no food ( almost out in our cooler) ..or beds. So we stopped right before the southern entrance of Yellowstone and stayed at Flaggranch in one nice cabin for 159 usd. ( they only had two left..) Kinda expensive for that but charming and better than other options..and we had a nice cabin with showers and so. In the restaurant they offered locally produced food from the region..like trout, burgers made of bison, buffalo chilli... I had the chilli, delicious..
After the girls feel a sleep me,mama and Jared sat outside in three rocking chairs, looked for wildlife and finished the wine, a perfect way to end the day!

Today we didn't drive so many miles but from Pinedale to Southern entrance of Yellowstone it was still 190 km..

Yellowstone tomorrow!

Day 4...

Sorry I haven't been able to write for a while.. so now I'll update for several days..

Anyway day 4 we woke up in beautiful Estes Park. Our room here was really good at Estes Hotel. But this morning it was raining...for the first time since we came...We were gonna drive over the Rockies, cross the continetal divide,  and elevations close to 12000 ft..( around 3700 m), on the highest main road in the States. It's amazing nature here! Unfortunately it was very foggy up over the mountains so we couldn't get any pictures of the peaks at all... In higher elevations like this its common with high altitude sickness and I can say I felt little weird up high..dizzy and like you have very low blood pressure. I don't know how the kids felt, but I kept an extra eye especially on Jamie,  but she was happy and played around so I guess she wasn't so affected. Mom didnt like it up there...but as soon as we got down to around 3000 m or lower it felt better!

We packed food with us and had lunch close to Irene Lake inside the National park. Sooo beautiful.. pics can't describe it.. Since the weather was bad ( even though it cleared up after lunch) we didnt walk around so much. Instead we took a backroad to Walden ( very scenic rd 125). In Walden we had a nice coffe break "fika" at a very cool place. Their chocolate cake was so huge we didnt even finished it between me, mom and Jared. Walden itself was a typical small western mountain town.. very charming!

Shortly after we reached the state of Wyoming! Around 5 o'clock the girls usually starts to be tired of driving so we've tried to stop and find somewhere to sleep before dinner. ( those fruit smoothies for babies like Ella's kitchen are important to always have handy!) ...

We slept in Saratoga..(Riviera Inn) not such a pretty town.. but you could see that they tried to make the downtown area prettier with small shops and a few restaurants..

Totally driving Estes Park (CO)- Saratoga (Wy)...280 km.

Pics Colorado...

Just a few...will write more and put up pics from my real camera later...little rain yesterday when we drove over the Rockies... but still amazing nature!!

Day 3...

We started early morning i Colby, Kansas,and today we had a long drove ahead (to Estes Park, Colorado).  Northwestern corner of Kansas didn't surprise us so much. The scenery changed a little bit with more hills and rougher ground with Sagebrushes. First stop was a little town, Haigler, (Nebraska) so we could let the girls run around. The town only had a postoffice, a family market and a café. Different little mini town.. Unfortunately the owner of both the market and the café was on vacation.hehe..but we had brought food with us!  We only drove 10 km in southwest NE before we reached Colorado and a new timezone!

In CO we tried to drive smaller roads to avoid the Denver met. area, so we stayed on highway 34. The roads in the States are named odd numbers goes north/south starting with Highway 1 in California, and even numbers goes West/East. That way ita easy to tell your direction.

Colorado scenery changed pretty quick. The easter parts still has big plains, and we passed several huge feedlots for cows. It started to rain alittle when we got closer to the frontrange so we couldnt see the mountains from far away. A clear day you can see the Rockies from Kansas!
We were trying to reach Estes Park in the afternoon so we drove as much as we could, had a quick lunch at Pizza Hut, Yuma. And then drove to Loveland right at the front of the mountains.  Loveland is a big city with everything you can wish for and a lot of "money", with nice houses... We had a coffe and homemade Peach cobbler (smulpaj) at Cracker Barrel. It's a national food chain with country cooked food and the also have a store with very pretty things, alot of small decoration and kids stuff. I bought two new Yankee Candles from their fall collection. "Harvest" and " Apple Pumpkin".. I know they are alittle more expensive at Cracker Barrel but total 40 dollars for two large candles.. I think that's what I paid for one medium in Sweden..Anyway, before we reached Estes Park, we drove into the mountain and the truly amazing Big Thompson Canyon. I hope to show pics soon, but it cannot be described with pictures-you are really driving in to the Rockies...an amazing drive up to our goal for today!

Around 5 we reached Estes Park. It is a beautiful place for all outdoors lovers,right by Rocky Mountain National Park entrance.  We stayed in a very nice room at the Estes Hotel. Good place for kids with nice views and a pool. For dinner we bought home deli food from the nicest grocery store I've been to over here, Safeway. All fresh, very good selection of ecofriendly food. A couple of beers later it was time to sleep and get ready for tomorrows adventures!

.. Totally we drove about 600 km today..

Great Plains...10/9 2013

Woke up early at the motel, getting ready to leave Salina. Natalie and Mom took a quick swim so she could get rid of some energy.. Time to cross the great plains..this part of Kansas ( central▶ west) is only fields, miles and miles and miles of corn, wheat...some already harvested so yellow/brown.. as far as you can see. Sometimes you'll see a farm and some trees in the middle of a field and yes many have the typical windmill to pump up water...

A big field in Skåne is tiny compared with this.. It is interesting and pretty in a different way to see, but a whole lot of nothing. Then add no shade and 100 degrees F (around 39 C) plus a little dust.. then you get the feeling. Anyway we drove by Hays, KS, and visited Sternberg museum of Natural History. And that my dear colleagues of Bokelund that is a perfect educational museum!!  Built in a dome in 2009 with a mix of interactive learning classrooms, fossils a dig pit, walk path with extinct animals through history that moved, looked and sounded alive.. I guess a newly built museum has access to all technology needed for that. The t- rex in the "Colorado 70 mil. Years ago part" even scared me alittle... And all this in the middle of Kansas. I wish we had more time but this was a really good stop for all of us! Both girls walked around and played alot. We were alone in the whole museum! That's why september is the best month to travel in the states..

In the afternoon we visited a cattleman and his wife up in north west corner of Kansas. They had a beautiful cattlefarm and house with a nice roping arena and really good looking horses. Natalie got to ride a little and we had homemade delicious choclate ship cookies.. Earlier this summer before we decided for Montana, that family showed interest in hiring Jared so now we just stopped by and said hi. That place would be lovely to work and live at but it is located in the flat fields of Kansas and that's not where we want to be.. The night we spent at a cheap Motel 6 in Colby.

Today we drove about 400 km.. and tomorrow we will reach the mountains! Heading to Rocky Mountain National park!
I will put up more pics later when I have a computer. .