The Adventures of Mark & Sam: Pt. 1

So...here I am...sitting in my living room staring at laundry...the last remnants from our two week journey. Before I begin writing, I have to put it out to the universe that I am so so incredibly thankful that I had the opportunity to take this adventure. I also have to give my husband a huge shoutout for putting this dream into reality. If I haven’t explained this in the past...our trips are planned like this: We loosely discuss where our next vacation will be….I kind of forget about it and move on with life….Mark gets on the itinerary. He essentially decides where we will go then books our flights, our accommodations, and anything else, such as a rental car, that we may need for our trips. He planned out how many days we were staying at each spot, how much time it would take to travel to each destination, and many other really big parts of our trip that I don’t think I give him enough credit for. After he creates the skeleton of our trip, I fill in the intricate details.

The Details:

Our trip lasted 14 nights (including the red eye we took home from). I am going to split this blog up into each area we stayed and release a new post for each one over the next month or so. So many people have asked what our itinerary was for this trip, so I will start with that:

1. Fly out of Philadelphia into Jackson. Our flight left at around 7 AM and we landed in Jackson about 12:15 PM.

2. Stay in Grand Tetons National Park at Headwaters Lodge (in the Camper Cabins)

3. Move onto Yellowstone-two nights on the East Side of Yellowstone at the Pahaska TeePee Resort

4. Two more nights in Yellowstone on the North End at Yellowstone Village Inn

5. Drive 7 hours to Glacier National Park-Stayed on the West End at Glacier General Store and Cabins for three nights

6. Drive 7.5 hours to Walla Walla, Washington for 3 nights for some much needed relaxation & wine tasting. We stayed at an AirBnB near the center of town

7. Drive 4ish hours to Mount Rainier-Stayed one night at Crystal Mountain Resort

8. Head to Seattle (2.5 hours) and stayed at the Mediterranean Inn located in Queen Ann Village for one night

9. Take the Red Eye Home (10:57 departure--landed about 7AM in Philly)

Prior to our trip, I spent hours upon hours researching each spot we stayed in and creating a tentative itinerary. I actually kept everything in a notebook so I could reference back to it---as our journey started, I used that more of a guide and documented everything we actually did in real time. A few other really important things that I did before I left was that I pinned all of the places that I wanted to go to on my Google Maps App on my phone (and created categories based on each place we were going)….then I downloaded the maps so I could use them offline. I was expecting minimal service, but I was really shocked (and happy) that the first few days of the trip there was pretty much zero service.

Another really cool thing I ended up doing was downloading an App called : GyPSy Guide. There was a joint purchase for Yellowstone & Tetons for $9.99 and one for Glacier for $4.99. The Yellowstone and Tetons version was AMAZING. Literally it helped us with history, hidden spots, and tips for getting around the park.

The Beginning Things:

Now, onto the first part of our journey. We started our day around 3AM...got to the airport at about 5 AM and headed right for the AMEX lounge where we grabbed some food. Our flight was on time and an easy ride. We landed in Jackson around 12:15 and WOW what an insane first taste of what this trip was going to bring. As we descended, we had an insane aerial view of the Grand Tetons….when we landed, we walked right out onto the Tarmac to spectacular views of the mountains and fresh air.

We grabbed our luggage & headed to our car rental. Mark had opted for us to get a compact car for our trip, but they had ran out of those cars so we were “upgraded” to choose a MiniVan, a Tahoe, or a Camaro. Ideally we would have loved to take the Camaro, but traveling for that long with the amount of luggage we had would never work...the Tahoe is a gas guzzler...so we opted for the MINIVAN. Mark constantly makes fun of me because of my hatred towards these care...but, I must say, it was a blessing in disguise that we were given this car. It was spacious, great on gas, and really just an overall good ride for our trip.

The Grand Tetons

We went right into Jackson for lunch (on the southern end) to a place called the Handle Bar in the Four Seasons. We ordered a beer and some truffle tater tots along with a burger to split. I can only imagine how cool this place is during the winter season.

As we headed into the park, we started using the GyPSy App and were greeted with an amazing option to do the Laurance S. Rockefeller preserve trail which has limited parking in order to ensure a “serene” feel.

Our second hike was the Taggart Lake Trail which was a great little stop before we grabbed dinner.

For sunset, we stopped for dinner at Dornan’s Pizza & Pasta before heading to our lodging for the night. On the way to Headwaters Lodge, we got to see a few more stops that were on my list but did miss Jenny Lake, which we opted to do the next morning.

When we arrived at Headwaters Lodge, at around 9:45 PM, I was EXHAUSTED & in dire need of a shower and a comfy bed….sadly that was really not in the cards as our “cabin” was essentially a really cool wooden tent with a bed and no electricity….oh...and a communal shower/bathroom area lol. I am certainly not complaining as this place really truly did give us an amazing idea of “glamping”, but I will say I am glad we only stayed one night….and I was happy I was so exhausted from traveling that day!

Total Mileage: 11.6

Total Altitude climbed: 630 ft

Day 2 // Part 1: Jenny Lake

We were up and out by 7AM and started our morning to complete our Tetons part. We stopped at Jackson Lake and a few other really cool turnouts along the way.

The Jenny Lake Scenic Drive included an overlook and a walk to the lake which both included breathtaking views.

Once we were done with Jenny Lake area, we headed back up north towards Yellowstone...which is where I will start my next post!