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It’s been a minute since I’ve sat in a busy cafe like I am now, putting my experiences in writing. As I write this, I’m currently at the Windy Saddle Cafe in Golden, Colorado, where all sorts of people fill the streets. Passerby’s stroll through taking in the scenery, athletes on their post bike ride pop in for a pick-me-up, and friends and family alike are filling the tables around me swapping stories and laughs. I have my headphones in listening to my favorite playlist, ready to invoke all the feelings from my visit to the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. If you’re only here to read about how to plan a trip to these places and not my personal recounts, I would usually instruct you to scroll to the bottom but this time you’d be disappointed! It’s hard to suggest how to plan a trip like this – but I’m happy to answer specific questions just message me on Instagram. 🙂Â
As some of you may know already, one of the main reasons I moved to Colorado was to uncover more beauty of the United States. What better way than to go to two of the most beautiful National Parks within driving distance? Fortunately for us, my family from Sweden came with us, and the four of us along with our seven month old puppy loaded up my Jeep Renegade and headed to Wyoming.
We arrived in Jackson, Wyoming around lunchtime on the first Saturday of our trip. If you are looking to plan a similar trip, I recommend arriving on Saturday, anytime would do! We had plenty of options for lunch, but after being in the car for over eight hours, we grabbed a coffee and snacks to go and wandered around to stretch our legs, until we could check into our Airbnb. The few highlights from the day were visiting Cowboy Coffee, and snapping a pic in front of Jackson’s Antler Arch!
We loaded up on groceries (overpriced in Jackson by the way – try and get them before you’re there if you can!) and then we headed to our Airbnb, which was a cozy little cabin up a mountain. The heat for the cabin was by the woodstove, which our host had a whole shed full of chopped wood at our disposal. We were able to settle in, play Yahtzee, Rummikub, and whip up something warm in the kitchen, before watching a spooky movie and catching some sleep.
Now, Sunday would turn out to be our only full free day to explore around Jackson/the Tetons since Justin and I were working remotely all week except for Wednesday. As fate would have it, there was an overcast snow storm that created the clouds to be so low, you actually couldn’t see the Tetons! This wouldn’t stop us from a wonderful day, so we improvised our plans. To prove how small this world is, two of my college friends actually live in Jackson, so we met up, let our dogs play together, and visited my friend’s horses. I wrote down a ton of their recommendations, and we immediately took their advice and headed to one of the local restaurants for a warm bite to eat. At the Roadhouse Pub, they have a menu that includes bison, elk, and more. My two Swedish relatives ended up going there back to back days on our trip! After filling our bellies, I went to Cowboy Coffee for a second time before we headed towards the National Park, juuuuust in case the clouds decided to go away so we could take in the views. (The clouds did no such thing) So we drove a bit before heading to our cozy cabin to start a fire and be safe out of the snowfall that was to be expected that evening through the night.
Monday was a work day for both Justin and I, so we got up early and started meetings right at 8am. I personally had meetings back to back until lunch, so it went by extremely quick! I peaked out the window and couldn’t believe how perfectly blue and bright the sky was, and we knew after work we must head inside the park immediately. We then used our lunch breaks to drive into town, bring our puppy to her first ever Doggy Day Care, and my relatives wandered why Justin and I finished working the afternoon at Cowboy Coffee. We decided to pay for our pup to go to Doggy Day Care because even though Grand Teton National Park is dog friendly, the trails themselves aren’t and we wanted to be able to focus on work so when we finished we could go immediately to the NP (National Park) and take in all the views.
This plan worked well, and come 16:15 we were in the car and the whole drive into the park was breathtaking. We saw a few deer and even a fox on the way in, which just made for a surreal day. We didn’t see as much as the park as we would’ve liked, as we didn’t hike due to the unexpected temperature drops and we weren’t well prepared for the climate. We drove around Jenny Lake, which is where these vibrant photo I’ve included below is from.
Now Monday night was a calm evening. We left the national park, scooped up our happy and sleepy pup from the doggy day care facility, and headed to the cabin for a home cooked meal, nightcap, and movie.
Tuesday – we worked. My Swedish family went into town for a little bit of the day, but for Justin and I, we worked all day at the cabin. This was actually one of my favorite days, because we got to just be at the Airbnb getting work done and enjoying the space we’ve paid to be at. There was no pressure to feel like we needed to be anywhere else except for where we were, which was a change of pace for me. As someone who loves to travel and tries to openly share those experiences, I place a bit of unnecessary pressure of myself to do more than what I actually am feeling in the moment. All that to say, it was calming to have a day where all I had to do was be present in my work and that was fulfilling enough!
Wednesday – the big day arrives! Wednesday is the day we go from staying near the Tetons, to head to Yellowstone. Originally, we planned on driving through the Grand Tetons NP through Yellowstone, stopping at sights along the way. Unlucky for us, one of the roads connecting the two to get us through and to our airbnb, was closed due to the winter weather. We didn’t let this shake us one bit! We improvised like we did with the cloudy Tetons, and made adjustments. We changed our path and got to drive through Idaho into Montana, which created some excitement taking in the views of another state.
I will be honest, I think we were all a bit worried that our second Airbnb wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to our first Airbnb. Our first Airbnb was just a picturesque cabin with fall leaves (then snow), and everything we needed. I am so happy to share that our second Airbnb was amazing in it’s own way! Situated right on a lake with a dock, this cabin was bigger, brighter, and an ideal place for us to finish our week long trip. With us changing our route to Montana, we decided to just grab groceries and have an easy evening filled with more games, home cooked dinner, and movies.
Thursday was another work day for us, and a bit of a recovery day as well. Wednesday was a long day on the road, and my inbox was flooded with emails for me to play catchup. The day flew by for work wise, and after work we headed into Yellowstone NP. Yellowstone is bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined, so we knew we wouldn’t be able to see it all. With that, we had one goal, and one goal only: to see bison!
Not even 20 minutes into the drive, we had already stopped for elk and bison. We continued on, making stops for the hot springs, Old Faithful, and Bison on the road. If you’ve ever thought about going to Yellowstone, stop thinking and just book the trip. We went in the off season, so it was less busy but of course colder, so plan accordingly. The reason I say just come here already, is because out of the places I’ve been fortunate enough to see, visiting Yellowstone is one of the most unique experiences I’ve had. It has so much wildlife, and endless road to take in the sights and be present. Yellowstone is also dog friendly, in reference that you can have a dog go wherever your car goes. Whenever we stopped to check things out, we just left our pup in the car while she napped and we ventured off onto the paths.
As for Friday, it was our last day. Our relatives explored the small town of West Yellowstone, while we worked and again, just spent the day in our cabin in our sweatpants being present where we were. When the work wrapped up, we explored the town and found a retro diner to grab a bite! We were lucky that somewhere was even open, as most places had already closed down for the winter and the diner itself had only three more days before they did the same. This is definitely one of the pros vs cons items to add to your list on deciding when to come! With us staying in a cabin, we weren’t really affected by any of this as we cooked most of our meals, but if you want to take in more of the town, you may want to come in the peak season! Anyways after our bite, we got the only coffee that was available (McDonalds) and headed back into the NP to see if we could take some shots of the views and hopefully more Bison. I kid you not it was ten minutes in where there were about 25 Bison right on the road! I’ve got videos shared on my Instagram, but these photos I’ll include below are just examples of how fearless and majestic these animals are. In these moments, I felt so small and so blown away that I got to be where I was and soak in the beauty that was all around me.
Our last evening, we had another delicious home cooked meal, played games, had a nightcap, and reminisced on the whirlwind of the week. If we could do it all over, I personally wouldn’t change a single thing. Even with working, we were able to create special moments each and everyday, and the accommodations, towns, and views were more than we could’ve asked for. Justin and I think that annually we would like to do a trip like this – where we take our pup and get an Airbnb in beautiful corners of the U.S. for a week and explore in the evenings after work.
Always, always a pleasure to read your posts! In many cases, we definitely live vicariously through your adventures!