USA - Grand Teton, Seattle and in between

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.

Tetons as seen when entering the park from Yellowstone

Snake River with Grand Tetons in the back

Tetons on a sunny day

From Jackson Lake, a big plane called Jackson Hole stretches towards Gros Ventre mountains

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.

surprise moose

Tetons from up close

kayaking

mama grizzly with a little one

three little maneaters follow mama into the wild

king of the prairie and king of the forest

We managed to find some great free camping spots with nice views just outside of the park!

camping with a view

Antoine searches for sticks to burn

F-T in the bushes

primitive cooking

Antoine at the Jackson Lake

us at the Jackson Lake

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.

mining town

stay scientific, Dr Pierce

hipster bank robber

growing stages of Triceratops

I am not up to date with modern paleontology anymore

ghost town of Gardner - mining town in the Montana hills from the gold rush epoch

Antoine at the bar, waiting for his sarsaparilla 🍺

Magda in school

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.

west Washington

we were visited by a friendly snake!

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.

Antoine doesn't know if he feels like home or not

almost like in Germany

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 Gosia, Josephine and little Sam along with Antoine next to Franklin Falls

Franklin Falls

we reached the Pacific Ocean! We crossed the whole continent in a bit over 2 months, from the Atlantic to the Pacific

Josephine up to some mischief while we wake up

Magda with little Sam, who is the most chill baby I've ever seen

Antoine with Seattle skyline

Here’s a general view of our route so far: