Great Northwestern Loop

Finals week wasn’t even over yet, but our little sedan was packed to the gills with camping gear and we were on the road at dawn, heading for Josef’s biggest adventure yet.  With two weeks of no work and no school, we were bound for Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and points in between!

We made our way east over the mountains, all the way to Hampton Station, before our first real pit stop.  We had a pretty tasty and enormous feast of classic American road food: burgers and onion rings.  Then we headed on to Hines and stopped at a playground which was hosting some kind of gem and rock fair.  The playground was remarkable and esteemable for having the tallest, most rickety and risky slide I have ever seen open to the public.  I guess folks like to raise their kids with some grit out in Hines.

We tried to stop in quaint Frenchglen, but the mosquitoes were out in force so we made haste to Fields.  At this point Josef was about to lose his mind with boredom, but Rachael saved the day by reading book after book to keep him amused.  It’s long lonely stretch of desert from Frenchglen down to I-80; I think we maybe saw 2 cars the whole time, and I loved every minute of it.  We made it to Winnemucca and a little family-owned motel just near sunset; 500+ miles and dusk til dawn travel was not too shabby for our first day!  Spirits were high, but energy was low and we decided to skip the Basque festival in town and just go to sleep.

The next day we traveled east on I-80 across the eerie Bonneville Flats, thru Salt Lake City, and then up and into the Wasatch Range, where we were delighted to see some green for the first time since leaving Sisters.  From here on out it would be all new territory for me, and that was an exctiing feeling.  Our destination was a secluded lush retreat hidden in the red mountains of Utah where upwards of 50 of Rachael’s Orrock Family relatives were gathered for a four day reunion.

It really could not have been more wonderful.  We had the place all to ourselves, were surrounded by stunning rock formations, and had a gentle looping creek to float on.  We feasted like kings, played volleyball and basketball, went on some amazing hikes and swapped a lot of tales.  There were about 20 youngsters and they all got along famously, keeping tabs on each other, playing on the rope swing, and taking Gramnette’s art classes.  Lovely people every one of them and I feel quite blessed that I get to be a part of this family.

After the reunion, the three of us struck out North through the Uintah Mountains and found a wonderful secluded little camp among aspens along the Bear River.  After all the fun of the big gathering it was nice to have a spot in the wilderness all to ourselves.  From there we cruised into Wyoming and visited the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, before landing at the Teton Canyon Campground, on the backside of the National Park.

We spent a couple days there hiking and exploring the Tetons, and then cruised north into Yellowstone, which was sadly a little lackluster after the majesty of the Tetons.  I have no doubt the park has much to offer, and it is probably worth a week all by itself but we were eager to reach Glacier so we kind of gave it the short shrift…  We put on a lot of miles that day, and finally called it quits at a Motel 6 in Helena.

The next day we made it to Glacier at last.  Rachael spent two summers working at the Many Glacier Lodge back in college, so the park was very familiar and dear to her.  It was fun to get to revisit such a special place and share it as a family.  The lodge was incredible and we hope to go back and stay there sometime.

We left Glacier by driving through the heart of the park on the fabled “Going To The Sun Road,” which was nothing but a series of eye-popping vistas around every bend as you wind your way across the continental divide.  From here on out we were pretty much just making a beeline for home, but we did stop for an hour or two to explore Spokane, where I got to have my first iconic fatherhood experience of slinging a kicking and screaming two-year-old over my shoulder who was devastated that he couldn’t ride the Ferris wheel again.

Other than a brief early morning exploration of Sacagawea State Park in Washington, we pretty much made haste to return home.  In the end, we covered over 2,800 miles and six states, two of which I’d never visited before.  Josef was an absolute champ, handling long car rides and cramped tents with good humor and patience, and we in turn handled Josef’s endless requests for the same stories and songs over and over with munificence.  It truly couldn’t have been a more magical adventure, and I feel we were rewarded for our ambition with warm memories that have already become stuff of family legend.