After Yellowstone, we visited the adjacent Grand Teton National Park - a smaller park that is less popular than its neighbour. It’s basically a short range of peaks that XIX century French trappers confused with nipples (Antoine couldn’t get his fill of jokes about this). They tower over several lakes, the biggest of which is Jackson Lake.
We did some hikes, although most of the better trails were still covered in snow. On one hike, we stumbled upon a moose sitting in the bushes just next to the path. We also had some good time kayaking on the Snake River, where the strong current did half of the job.
We managed to find some great free camping spots with nice views just outside of the park!
We didn’t stay very long in Grand Teton NP and soon left northwest, passing once again through Yellowstone and exiting into Montana. We finally took a direction to Seattle, to visit my friend Gosia. We still had a thousand kilometers to go, so on the way we stopped in several fun places, e.g. XIX/XX century mining town in Butte, Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman (which has an amazing paleontological exposition), or the ghost town of Gardner.
We crossed Idaho in its narrowest part (so-called panhandle) and the only attraction there was the Pride Parade in Coeur d’Alene surrounded by gunned and masked complotists 🔫! We even witnessed an arrest of a bigger group of extremists who came there crowded in a truck to cause trouble. West Washington didn’t have such entertainement, but it still surpised us with its landscapes - cold but arid plains filled with sagebush and tumbling tumbleweed.
Last stop before Seattle was this charming little town of Leavenworth, where somebody had a great idea of attracting tourists by pretending to be a Bavarian town.
We spent a week staying at Gosia’s place. We haven’t seen her and Frank (her husband) in over 3 years so it was great to catch up! This was also the first time we saw in person her two kids, little Josephine and Sam. We did a couple of short excursions in and around the city.
Here’s a general view of our route so far: