Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole

We left our hotel in Cody early on Friday morning and started our drive to Grand Teton National Park. We actually had to drive in to Yellowstone National Park to get down to the Tetons and Jackson Hole.

Chris hadn't slept very well that night and had really bad stomach ache but he insisted that he was fine to carry on.  We had only been in Yellowstone a few minutes before we saw our first wildlife spot - a buffalo by the side of the road.  We stopped the car to take a photo and Chris ended up needing to get out of the car to be sick at the side of the road.  Lovely!  We then got all the way down to the Grand Teton Park before Chris decided that he needed to pull over again.  By coincidence we picked a beautiful place to stop on the Oxbow bend but Chris wasn't taking any of the view in, he was being really, really sick!  

While Chris was bent over at the side of the road I noticed just a couple of feet away from where he was that there was a snake in the path.  I kept quiet for a bit hoping that it was dead, then it started moving so I said that I knew this probably wasn't a good time to mention it but there was a snake right next to him!  He slowly moved away from it and luckily it changed direction too. 

After a bit of recovery time Chris insisted that he felt loads better and probably had it all out of his system now.  We had a horse riding trip booked that afternoon and he was sure that he felt well enough for it.  

I was feeling totally fine, I've turned into a bit of a fussy eater particularly at buffets, I had only eaten a bit of salad and mashed potato at the restaurant the night before whereas Chris had been tucking into meatballs, fried chicken and some dodgy looking fish dish.  I kept saying that I didn't like the look of it but he was insisting that it was fine...

Our horse riding adventure was over the state border in Idaho at the Teton Mountain Ranch.  We didn't really know what to expect and when we arrived the place looked deserted.  We were early though and after a few minutes a truck and horse trailer turned up and a cowboy jumped out.  His name was Kent and he owned the ranch.  We got into his truck with him and he drove us up into the Targhee Forest.  After about 10 minutes he stopped the truck and led the horses out of the trailer for us.  It was the first time that Chris had been on a horse so he looked a bit worried especially as he'd been ill all morning.  I used to go riding as a child but I hadn't been on a horse for years.  Luckily the horses were really laid back and just followed our cowboy up the trail into the forest.  

It was without a doubt one of the coolest experiences of my life.  The forest was beautiful and Kent our cowboy was so interesting to listen to.  He told us all about his ranch and I had a million and one questions to ask him about life in Idaho as a cowboy.

When we got off the horses and back in the car Chris admitted that he wasn't feeling that great and would be glad to just get to our hotel in Jackson Hole which was about a 45 minute drive away.  As we were driving back we ended up getting pulled over by a Sheriff!  In Chris' desperation to get to the hotel he had been speeding.  Luckily after about a 10 minute wait he got let off with a warning.  That's the beauty of a diplomatic driving licence - outside of the DC area the law enforcement officers don't know what to do with it.  Our small town Wyoming Sheriff said he'd never seen one before.

As soon as we got to our hotel Chris went straight to bed so I was left to explore Jackson Hole on my own.  I really liked the town, it had some lovely shops but was very expensive, it's definitely where rich Americans vacation.

Friday night was probably the worst night sleep I have ever had.  Chris was ill all night and was constantly up and down to the bathroom every 30 minutes.  We finally got a couple of hours of sleep before it was time to get up.  My packed itinerary had not allowed any time for illness!  Luckily Chris was starting to feel a bit better so we drove back to Grand Teton National Park to check out the famous old barns.

I didn't think it was a good idea to go hiking in Chris' condition so we just had a short walk around one of the lakes instead.  I also had serious bear fear so didn't feel happy about wondering too far into the wild.  I have just about got over my fear of brown bears as I've been assured that they are unlikely to attack but there are grizzlies in Yellowstone who will attack!  The rangers recommend carrying bear spray but it's really expensive so we decided not to but instead didn't wonder too far away from other people!

Later in the morning we continued our drive north back into Yellowstone.  First stop for us was the West Thumb Geyser Basin.  It wasn't as smelly as I was expecting it to be!

Then we drove on to Canyon Falls.  There are loads of different viewpoints for both the lower and upper falls so we drove around to them all.  My photos aren't great, we were there at the wrong time of day when the sun was right behind the falls.  

By the time that we stopped out the final viewpoint, my lack of sleep the previous night had really caught up with me and I couldn't face the walk downhill to the falls because it meant walking back up a pretty steep path on the way back.  I told Chris to go without me and I'd have a little sleep in the nice, warm car.  I was soon fast asleep but was woken up about 20 minutes later by Chris urgently hammering on the car window and shouting at me that there was a bear out there!  

The path back up from the falls snaked up the hill in a zig zag pattern and as Chris was walking back up he noticed something big on the path above him - it was a bear!  The bear was following the path back up the hill and Chris had the choice between heading back down to the falls which was a dead end or following the bear up the path.  It was a black bear so he decided to keep his distance but follow it up.  When it got to the top it walked across the car park which is when Chris ran back to the car to get me.  By the time we got back to it a crowd had gathered to watch him.  

On our way to our hotel we saw another animal by the side of the road.  We weren't sure what it was at the time but after a bit of research we've decided it was a coyote.

Hotel accomodation in Yellowstone is in short supply, a lot of people book a year in advance. We booked quite a few months ago and it was right at the end of the season but we got one of the last rooms available.  So for our first night in the park we ended up staying in a cabin at the Lake Hotel. It was very basic but was only cheap so it was fine for one night.

North Dakota and Montana

When researching our trip I had really struggled to find something to do in North Dakota, it's not exactly a top tourist destination!  I lined up a few random roadside attractions to see - firstly Dakota Thunder, the world's largest buffalo!

Then breakfast at Kroll's Diner.

And a trip to see the world's largest holstein cow Salem Sue!

Then we had a brief stop at the painted canyons in Theodore Roosevelt Park.

We couldn't stay too long in the national park as we were racing against time to make it to Little Bighorn in Montana before it closed for the day so it was a welcome surprise when we remembered that we had gained an hour going through North Dakota as we switched to mountain time, that meant we made it to Little Bighorn with plenty of time to look around.

Later that evening we passed over the state border into Wyoming and booked into a hotel in Cody.  We were really tired so just decided to eat in the hotel restaurant buffet.  This was a decision that would come back to haunt us over the next couple of days...

Wisconsin and Minnesota

After leaving Chicago we drove north to Minnesota.  Someone that we met in Chicago had recommended a good route to us which was off the interstate.  It was a beautiful drive through lots of small towns and autumn colours.

We had been told that we had to stop for cheese curds in Wisconsin and that there would be loads of places selling them.  We drove past a couple of cheese shops then decided to stop at the third one that we passed.  They had some huge sacks of cheese curds but we only wanted a small bag so we decided to wait and stop somewhere else for them.  Of course we then managed to then drive across Wisconsin without seeing anywhere else selling them!

We stopped for dinner in a little town called LaCrosse.  We found a little Chinese tea shop that served dim sum which was a perfect light meal for us after all the food that we had eaten in Chicago.  Although we did also find an old fashioned ice cream parlour and couldn't resist having some.  We had originally thought we might spend the night in LaCrosse but then decided to push on to make it to Minneapolis for bed time.

I wasn't expecting much from Minneapolis, we had only planned to go there to see a baseball game so I hadn't really planned anything else to see there.  It was actually a really nice city and Chris did a bit of research in the hotel room and found us a few sights to see.

The first was a sculpture garden with a giant cherry on a spoon!

As we wondered around the city we passed a hotel with a load of people queued up outside.  As we got closer we realised that they were all Yankees fans and that the team must have been staying there.  There were only a handful of people around so we considered standing with them but then decided that would be a really sad way to spend the little time that we had in the city.  We walked around a bit more then as we walked back past the hotel we noticed that there was now a coach parked outside so we thought we might as well stop for a bit to see if we could see anyone.  I think by the time that we got there most of the team must have been on the coach, we saw a couple of players board but we didn't recognise either of them.  

We only had a few hours to look around the city, if we had more time we would have liked to have visited the Mill City museum.  We had to settle for a quick look around outside but if we ever find ourselves back in the city we'll try to go inside.

We had booked club level seats at the Minnesota Twins baseball game just in case it got a bit chilly we'd be able to go inside.  I'm glad we did, it wasn't freezing but we were sat in the shade so it was good to pop inside every so often to warm up.

On one of our trips inside we went to have a look at the shop.  As we were walking back towards the area that our seats were in, I noticed a really tall guy walk through the doors at the end of the corridor.  He was coming towards us with 2 girls and another guy.  He was a long way away so I couldn't see his face, just that he was tall with dark hair.  I was mucking around and joked to Chris that Ashton Kutcher was walking towards us.  He just laughed at me but the guy got closer and closer to us and just as we got right up to him Chris and I both looked at each other and said 'that's Josh Harnett'!  I used to be totally in love with him when I was at university so I then became a complete excited mess.  I'm kicking myself now for not pulling myself together and taking a photo.  Although my last words as we left our hotel room that morning were that I looked a complete mess but oh well it didn't matter, it wasn't like we were going to see anyone worth looking nice for in Minneapolis!  Famous last words!

We noticed cheese curds on the menu at one of the fast food places so we thought we'd better try them. They were deep fried so I'm not sure they were quite like our friends told us to try and they definitely weren't very healthy but they tasted good!

After the game we headed over to St Paul to look at Peanuts Park, it was so cute!

We couldn't come all the way to Minneapolis and not stop at the Mall of America!  I thought it was the largest mall in the US but apparently it's the second largest.  It is ridiculous, it has a fairground in it!

Chicago

Two years ago we went to Chicago with our friend Matt for the wedding of his friend's Matt and Melissa.  We had never met Matt and Melissa until their wedding but now we've become good friends so we all decided to take a trip together back to their home town of Chicago for the locals tour.

We arrived late on Friday morning and went straight into the city for lunch.  Matt took us to his favourite sandwich shop Perry's. The sandwiches were ridiculously big but very good.

On Friday night we went to a high school football game.  Our friend Matt is a bit of a high school football nerd and follows his old high school team really closely.  Unfortunately they weren't playing at home but we went to their away game which wasn't too far away.  It was so strange to us to see such huge support for high school sport.  It was easy to forget that they were school boys, some of them were huge!  Unfortunately 'our' team lost but it was definitely an interesting experience.

Saturday morning started with breakfast at The Bongo Room.  I had raspberry oreo pancakes.  They had oreo crumbled into the pancakes and were covered in vanilla, raspberry and chocolate sauce.  They were amazing, my kind of breakfast!

Saturday afternoon we spent at Wrigley Field watching the Chicago Cubs play the St Louis Cardinals.  We had been outside Wrigley Field before but had never been inside.  It was quite different to how I imagined it to be.  It's so small.  It was built in 1914 so it's one of the oldest ballparks and it really felt like it.  I liked the history of the place but it felt a little claustrophobic at times.  

The streets surrounding the ball park all have roof terraces on the top of the buildings providing a little more seating and a fun place to watch the game!

Our next Chicago experience was a trip to The Wieners Circle.  The lovely ladies that work in there have really foul mouths and verbally abuse the customers at every opportunity.  Quite a unique experience!  Our friends hadn't warned us about this and tried to set up Chris for a mouthful of abuse, it didn't quite work, although he did get one hell of a 'are you stupid' type look when he asked what something on the menu was!

On Sunday Chris, Matt and Melissa went to watch a Chicago Bears game.  I'm not a football fan so I decided to have a shopping day while they were there.  They ended up with some free tickets and had a great time.

Meanwhile I had a successful shopping trip and even came across a flash mob while at the Bean!

After the game we met up again and went for dinner with a Chicago police detective friend of Matt's dad.  He was such an interesting guy and I was totally shocked by the stories that he told us.  I felt like I was in a movie, he seemed to know everyone and people kept coming up to him and shaking his hand. We were treated like celebrities in the restaurant and what should have been a huge bill for the amount of food we all ate was tiny.

Monday brunch was at Matt's favourite breakfast place - Sweet Maple.  Chicago really knows how to do a good breakfast!  I had some delicious homefries with ham and red pepper while Chris had lemon and raspberry pancakes which he said were one of the best breakfasts that he had ever had.

After breakfast we spent a few hours walking around the city.  The Ryder Cup was due to be held in Chicago the following weekend so the 'Magnificant Mile' Michigan Avenue was lined with huge golf balls all decorated differently.  We all chose our favourite for a photo.

The last time that we were in Chicago we didn't manage to try any Chicago deep dish pizza so that was a definite 'must do' this time.  Matt took us to his favourite pizza restaurant Pizzeria Due.  It was absolutely delicious!  I have never tasted pizza like it, the crust was so different but so good.

After pizza we drove to the White Sox stadium to meet up with the detective friend that we had met yesterday.  He took us to District 9 Police Station to meet the Commander who gave us a personal tour of the station and presented us all with police caps!  It was so interesting, the night shift were just starting to arrive for another night fighting gang crime.  I was fascinated by it all, I've obviously lived such a sheltered life so far and how no idea that police officers in cities like Chicago were going out and being shot at every night.  

After our tour we were driven back to the White Sox stadium and whisked inside by our new detective friend who also works security at the stadium.  He took us into the trophy room where we saw their 2005 world series trophy.  We were then taken into the Scouts Club which is the 'all you can eat and drink' area and told just to help ourselves!  We were all still full from our afternoon pizza but managed to find room for a little bit of food and as many drinks that we could manage.  I downed about 3 glasses of wine in about 30 mins so the next hour was a little bit of a blur but it basically felt like we were led 'behind the scenes' through all sorts of doors and corridors to different areas of the stadium.  We seemed to stop every few minutes so that we could be introduced to different people, I have no idea who they were but they all seemed excited to meet us, I felt like royalty!  We were introduced to a woman who was instructed to find us some good seats and help us with anything that we wanted.  What a perfect way to end our sports weekend in Chicago!

On Tuesday morning it was time for Matt and Melissa to fly back to DC so we dropped them off at the airport then drove to Oak Park, Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio.  

The tour was interesting and the building was beautiful.  I'd read a book all about Frank's life so it was really interesting for me to actually see inside one of the buildings that I had read about.

After the tour it was time to get on the road and on to our next destination - Wisconsin.