We're Home!

We've been back for a while now (a couple weeks), but I just realized that I never posted that we made it back home safe and sound! The drive was long (three days of 8+ hours), so we were very excited when we finally approached Chicago... though we certainly weren't used to the Chicago traffic that awaited us! It was great to be back home and we're all settled and enjoying seeing everyone we missed while away.

One last travel-related post... Before we left Jackson Hole we took a whitewater rafting trip down the Snake River. It was tons of fun... and we have the pictures to prove it:

Jason was one of our main paddlers, helping to set the pace


Thank you to everyone for reading along as we enjoyed our adventure!

Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park

Though I'm behind on the posting, we had a wonderful day in Jackson Hole a few days ago... the town is super cute and we really liked Grand Teton National Park. A friend of ours lived in Jackson Hole for six months and gave us some great suggestions, including the first hike of the day: Taggart Lake.

How gorgeous is the view?!
We followed the loop trail around, and halfway through enjoyed some time along the beautiful Taggart Lake:

Next we headed over to Jenny Lake, where we took a ferry across the lake. From there it was just a short hike up to see Hidden Falls:

Rather than riding the ferry back, we decided to take the path around the lake back to our starting point. The craziest part of the trip is when we crossed paths with a man who warned us that there was a moose on the trail up ahead. Though a bit scared ~ we had heard that they're very protective of their space ~ we were also excited, since we hadn't seen a moose yet. We were looking around as we walked, thinking it might be in the woods, but we turned a corner and HOLY COW there was an enormous moose head in the middle of the trail. Bigger than I would have imagined it would be: as a sense of scale, according to Wikipedia, a male moose stands 6-7 feet tall at the shoulder. Unfortunately, the only picture we got was of its backside as it walked into the woods while we passed, so sorry we have nothing to share!

Jenny Lake
The full set of Grand Teton National Park pictures are below:

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On to Jackson Hole

We're now in Jackson Hole, a 3-hour drive from West Yellowstone, where we had been staying. As seems to be the norm lately, the drive was gorgeous... now we're looking forward to seeing Grand Teton National Park and exploring the town!



First View of the Tetons


Photographer's Audience

Yellowstone - Hiking and Elk Sightings

On Sunday, our second day in Yellowstone National Park, we started the day off with another Geyser Loop, the Fountain Paint Pot Nature Trail. While many of the Geysers and Springs look the same after a while, this path had some cool bubbling mud pots, which we hadn't seen before.


A bubbling Mud Pot
The main roads of Yellowstone form a figure eight, so are commonly referred to as the Upper and Lower Loops. On Sunday we drove around the entire Lower Loop, which really gives you a sense of just how big the park is - the Lower Loop road alone is 105 miles long! We got great views of Yellowstone Lake and even stopped off for a picnic lunch with a view.

Lunch with a View

We hiked the Elephant Back Trail, a 3.5 mile path with an 800 foot increase in elevation. Though the trail was muddy from recent rains and very steep in places, we took our time and enjoyed the gorgeous view from the top.

Jason and Nicki at the top of Elephant Back


View from the Top, Elephant Back Trail
We continued our drive around the loop and finally spotted some Elk!


Then off to Artist's Point overlooking the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Here you have an amazing view of the Lower Yellowstone Falls.

Yellowstone Lower Falls, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
We were also amused by the 'No Hiking' signs, since 2 feet behind the sign is a rocky cliff into the canyon. Seems as though no hiking would go without saying...


The rest of our shots from Sunday are below:

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We really just scratched the surface of this enormous park, so we already know we'll be back some day!

Yellowstone - land of Geysers and Buffalo

We spent the last few days exploring Yelowstone National Park, which was truly gorgeous. One of the first things you notice when you enter the park are the BUFFALO!

They are everywhere and are so close to the road... they seem to have no fear of cars and even caused a couple of traffic jams during our visit.

A buffalo takes a stroll in the road
On Saturday we started our visit at the famous Old Faithful Geyser, then walked the closeby Upper Geyser Basin path to see several other Geysers and Springs. The smell of sulfur is in the air and its just incredible how the heat of the earth creates these amazing displays. My favorites are the Springs, which look like little pools and are these gorgeous shades of blue and green. Everywhere you look the earth is giving off steam and water is boiling - its just amazing!

Old Faithful Erupting
Next we headed out on a hike to Fairy Falls... there was a forest fire in 1988 and you can still see the effects everywhere you look in this area.

Jason and Nicki at Fairy Falls


Remnants of the 1988 Forest Fire, Fairy Falls Trail
On Monday we took a quick visit to the Norris Geyser Basin and the surrounding spots before heading out of town to Jackson Hole. Though our cool weather contributed, we were constantly amazed by how the earth is literally giving off steam everywhere you look!



Cistern Spring on the Norris Geyser Basin Loop
If you're interested, see all the pictures below:

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Big Sky Country

Yesterday we left Boise and drove to West Yellowstone, Montana. Some Boise locals advised that we take a route through Stanley, Idaho rather than the all-highway path and promised beautiful scenery... and they were right - the drive was gorgeous!



Today we're off to explore Yellowstone National Park for the first of a few days... pictures of course to come!

Best of Boise

Before we leave town, we of course need to share our favorite Boise spots!


The Red Feather Lounge (obviously!)

Red Feather sister restaurant/ bar, the Bittercreek Alehouse

Capitol Park - we often walked through here on our way to 8th street

Idaho Indie Works, a co-op of local artistans selling their handmade work

8th Street

Grape Escape, a favorite spot to enjoy wine and cheese outside

There are murals and great signage all over the town


Above and below, The Flying M, a really cool local coffee shop

Eating Local in Boise

For one of our final nights in Boise we walked over to 8th street, where many of the popular places to eat and drink are located. We ended up at the fabulous Red Feather Lounge, a restaurant whose focus is on eating locally. It was such an inspiring place - all the ingredients are grown locally- they even helped to fund local livestock farms when they couldn't find them. Their goal is to produce no waste, so they limit the products that come in packaging, ensuring that just about everything is created in-house (including all condiments!). They have two enormous composting bins on the roof for all food and paper waste and their glasses are made from old wine bottles.

On top of feeling good about where we were eating, it was super yummy. Its probably a good thing we didn't find this place earlier, or we would have been over there way too much!

Table Rock

Boise is relatively flat, but is surrounded by mountains, so there are lots of paths up and around the foothills. Yesterday we went out to experience one of the most famous local hikes, Table Rock, one of the highest points in the city. The path up to the Table Rock itself was pretty steep in places, climbing 900 feet in 1.6 miles... while we just walked (slowly!), there were many people out jogging up and down the path and there were several mountain biking paths.

Jason at the start of the trail


Partway up - look closely and you can see street level where we started!




We passed some gorgeous homes and this vineyard


The View


Looking down on Boise

Capital City Market

Boise has an active Farmer's Market, the cornerstone of which is the Capital City Market, held each Saturday morning. The Market covers over 4 blocks and is full of all sorts of food, locally-produced items and art. We visited this past weekend and it was pretty amazing how large it was and how many people were out wandering around.

Some shots of the scene:



I also realized that we havent been taking very many shots of the town, which we'll need to remedy in the next few days! In the meantime, a shot of the very pretty Idaho State Capitol Building:

Weekend Trip to Seattle

Over the Memorial Day weekend we took a quick trip to visit friends Mike and Marissa (and their cute daughter, Hazel) who live in Seattle. The weather didn't cooperate (though rainy in Seattle seemed appropriate!), but we still had a great time. A few highlights from the trip:


Outside Pike's Place Market
On Saturday we went to the famous Pikes Place Market and took in the displays of fresh seafood, flowers, and pretty much anything else you can think of! We saw the original Starbucks and had lunch downtown before heading back to Everett, WA where Mike and Marissa live.

Hazel and Marissa pretending to be tourists
(see the full album below for the N+J version)

Saturday night they had gotten a babysitter so we enjoyed a night out... dinner on the water at Ivan's, then a stop at McCabe's. Seriously. The bar had line dancing lessons going on, but we opted for a boys vs. girls game of darts. (Which the girls won!) The final stop of the night was a dueling piano bar, where we sang along very loudly.

Jason outside McCabe's

Sunday we took the Ferry over to Whidbey Island and the town of Langley. Even in the not-so-wonderful weather we enjoyed exploring the adorable little town.

The view from the Ferry
Thanks to Mike, Marissa, and Hazel for such a fun weekend!

The full set of pictures from the trip is below:

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Boise River Greenbelt

On Tuesday night we caught a break in the weather and went for a long walk along the Boise River Greenbelt, a 20-mile long path that runs along the Boise River through town. Its like Boise's version of the Lakeshore Path in Chicago and winds along Boise State University's campus and through several parks and wildlife preserves.

More pictures from our visit are below:

The Boise River


The Greenbelt Path


Boise State Football Stadium


Boise State Football Stadium... and its blue field!