Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Fossil Butte, JC Penny, Jackson Hole
Update on the Amended Grand Circle RV trip posting…Yes I know these posts are about 6 months late. However not a week goes by that we don’t talk about what an amazing trip this was and how much fun we had. Seriously I don’t know how one could do a trip like this without an RV, and if I could I would go back and do it again tomorrow. Since its summer and I’ve got a little more daylight I’m working on slowly getting posts on all of the places we had the privilege to experience put up. Fall was quite a season for us. Who am I kidding? So was winter and spring. I have about 25 separate posts to put up about all we have done in the last 6/7 months. Hopefully I’ll get about one a day done. I’ll try to schedule them to go up every night so it’ll be a little more regular. It’s funny how hard it is to keep up to date with the blog with all the fun we have. As soon as we grabbed our patches etc. from the Canyonlands visitors center (which is extremely small, but has some good interactive games for kiddos) Zippy fell asleep and we headed north to Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest just outside of Salt Lake.
The GPS took us a weird route so we ended up stereotypically eating dinner in a Walmart parking lot and sleeping on the side of the road at around 11p.m. I think what happened is we put in the wrong district of the national forest in. We ended up at a camp ground waaaay past when we were supposed to get there and because Bryan didn’t want to spend the money we found a place just down the road. I know this was not the most ethical thing to do, and Bryan and I definitely disagreed about it. Plus, as a rule follower, I worried about Rangers knocking on our windows and bears all night. So yeah a great time was had by all. The forest looks amazing and the camp ground looked nice when we drove through it at 11 p.m. We’ll have to go back. The next morning we left bright and early and took a beautiful drive up to Wyoming and the Fossil Butte National Monument.
Zippy had been studying dinosaurs at school (Cause she’s in preschool and they need to know how to tell the difference between different species of dinosaur and how to tell if they are carnivorous (sharp claws and teeth) or herbivorous (flat teeth and typically longer necks)) and I thought she might be interested in seeing real live/dead fossils. Side note Utah is a treasure trove for Dinosaur lovers so just Utah would have been an awesome trip that we might try to do next year. After we visit all the state parks in Arizona.....
When we approached Kemmerer Wyoming there was a sign for the 1st J.C. Penny’s and a museum. I was like WE MUST DO THIS! Bryan had doubts. He thought we needed to get to Jackson Hole to set up camp. He is crazy and I won. It’s about the journey and the weird things you can see!!!! Plus when is the next time we’re going to have the chance to be in Kemmerer? We drove up to a pretty square in the middle of town and found not only the 1st,
but the 2nd JC Pennys (closed),
Mr. Penny’s house which serves as a museum from Memorial to Labor Days.
We were there at the end of September so no museum for us. But we did get pictures (it’s a really cute little house) and got to buy a shirt at the 1st Pennys. I wish I could say it is a magical experience that blew us out of the water, but it was a really small typical two story JC Penny’s. The cool part is they had old cash registers and equipment decorating the store, and they gave us our rewards card and wrote 001 on it, because yeah we’re nerds. Totally nice people. Before we hit JC Pennys we visited Fossil Butte. This is known as America’s stone aquarium and is cool because there are fossils of plants, fish, mammals from all around the same period so you get a real idea of what was happening during specific times. However again we came too late in the season. In the summer there is a program where you (kids) can go out to the quarry and dig for fossils with rangers. We were able to see the fossils.
The ones of the predators eating their prey that got caught in their throats because the predator’s eyes were too big for their stomachs were really cool. They also have one of an adult horse that was the size of a dog. We got to watch videos of how they excavate the fossils and they had real life paleontologists cleaning up fossils for display. We don’t think the rangers get much business, because they seemed to be really surprised to see us and were extremely helpful and informative. (Because they were bored?) Zippy had a great time in their kids area, and she even got a coloring book.
Totally worth the side trip and it would be awesome in the summer for bigger kids to get to get to go on a dig!
Most of the drive from Kemmerer to Jackson Hole was flat and desolate,
but that was what made dropping into Jackson Hole valley at sunset so utterly breath taking. The sun shone behind the mountains and cast warm September rays out over the blue green peaks randomly spotted with gold. It was a true joy, even if it would have been much more fun in either a sports car or a bike. Kids and dogs ruin all my two-seater fun.
The KOA in Jackson Hole was more set up for Kabins then RVs, but had a ton of amenities if you were staying for more than a night. The laundry center was great since we had a toddler being potty trained, but the Wi-Fi is crappy where we were located. It forced us to go outside and enjoy nature.
How dare they force us to spend time on an amazing river as the leaves were changing?!? It was a climb down to the banks of the river, but once you got there we found a nice rocky beach that was set up for fishing, and launching kayaks. The playground, and a dog park next to the river.
Zippy, Grace, and I played along the beach waving to kayakers, throwing rocks, and getting dirty that evening and then again the next morning before we headed out to Grand Teton National Park. Bryan pulled the short straw and did laundry and RV maintenance. Poor guy.