Mt. Rushmore or Bust!

I picked up a crew on Sunday morning to go adventuring with me.

I've been promising to take my grandsons Nathan (14) and Steven (12) to Mt Rushmore ever since I got my Minnie. I remember my one and only trip to that national park when I was a young teenager. I'll never forget how awe inspiring it was to drive up that road in the park, come around a corner and see those four huge faces carved in the side of the mountain. I'm sure over the years, I've exaggerated the whole thing in my mind's eye, but I'm still looking forward to showing this magnificent wonder to my boys.

We got on the road about 10:30 and drove to Pocatello. We decided to look at a couple of campgrounds just southeast of there, and as luck would have it, we found a beautiful space in the first one.

The boys had a good time building a campfire and roasting hot dogs for dinner, and then marshmallows for S'mores later that evening. I taught them how to patiently wait for the fire to burn down to red hot coals, and spin the marshmallow slowly over those coals until it was toasted golden brown, puffed up, and centerless. Neither had ever done that before (that they could remember) and they both loved them. It became a contest to see who could roast the best marshmallows before they slid off the end of the fork.

Our first night together in the Minnie was cozy, but very doable. The boys went right to bed when I declared it was my bedtime (about 9:30, because I was tired!) and both read for a while. I never heard them turn off the light, but before long, we were all sawing wood.

I woke them up about 7:00 on Monday by making my coffee. (There are no stealth activities in a 27 foot motor home.) They were happy to get up and get dressed when I told them I was making homemade sausage egg McMuffins and juice.

We got on the road toward Grand Teton National Park at exactly 9:00. We arrived at the park entrance at 2:00 and there were signs stating 4 campgrounds had open spaces. By the time we got to Colter Bay an hour later, it was full and the park host said the other campgrounds were filling quickly as well.

So we headed east out of the park to dry camp in the Bridger Teton forest. We lucked out by finding our choice of spaces in Hatchet Campground just a few miles outside GTNP.

The boys are currently attempting to get another fire going tonight, but the wood they found in the camp site was not completely dry, so they have got a real smoker out there. 😁 At least it's keeping the mosquitoes at bay.