June 14th - Day 2 — Snyder Family Road Trip

Today was the longest day driving on our entire trip. Approximately 500 miles. We started the day at Fairwell Bend State Park in Oregon, crossed the entire state of Idaho, and ended the day in Wyoming at Colter Bay Campground in the Grand Teton Nation Park. We are happy to get this longggg day behind us!

While we spent nearly the entire day in the RV driving, it was a day of learning. We will be hopefully putting in to practice throughout the summer. Not only were we were able to work on learning how we will function well in close quarters over the summer, we also had the opportunity to learn to better extend grace to each other (and our kids) as we journey. The optimist in me would call this a good day (yes, it is much easier to say this after the fact).

Now a few highlights from the day:

We successfully packed up, emptied the tanks on the RV, and left the campground only 20 minutes later than we had planned. Considering it is only the second day, we’ll call this a success.
For lunch, we had planned on eating leftovers at a park, somewhere in the Twin Falls, ID area. Not knowing where we were going to stop, we saw a sign on the freeway for Shoshone Falls Scenic Attraction and thought this would be a great place to stop, so that is what we did. We were completely surprised by the beauty of these falls and would highly suggest this stop to anyone passing through Twin Falls. It is apparently referred to as the Niagara of the West. We’ll compare it to the real Niagara in a few weeks and make our own determination as to what is best. Stay tuned.
As we continued our way through Idaho, Becca had been texting with one of her best friends from College. As it turned out, they were on their way back from Montana and we were going to pass through Idaho Falls at approximately the same time. We quickly made plans for a quick visit at a gas station. It is always great when you’re able to see great friends, especially on a whim and so far from home. Unfortunately, the visit had to be quick so we both could get back on the road.
The gas light on the RV came on during our drive, but we weren’t worried. We had 20 miles left on the tank. We would have stopped sooner but the kids were quite at the time and we did not want to disrupt them. The risk was worth the peace and quite. For anyone who is curious, it took 65 gallons.
On our way to Jackson Hole, WY, we drove over Teton Pass. It is very steep and curvy. While we navigated it just fine in the RV, some of the food containers in a cupboard were not packed tightly and did not navigate it so well (ie a container of sugar fell, the lid popped off, and sugar went everywhere). Again, a learning opportunity…
We arrived in Grand Teton National Park as the sun was setting and were gifted with the beauty of the sunsetting over the mountains. We also saw on the drive in, a herd of buffalo, a bear, and a herd of elk. We’re looking forward to what we will see tomorrow.

Also, it looks like we will not be able to visit Yellowstone on this trip. The entire park is now closed and they have cancelled all reservations through Sunday. The closure may extend beyond Sunday though as their was considerable road damage. Tomorrow we’ll be making alternative plans for the rest of this week.

Pictures from the day: