Road Trip: Days 4 and 5 (or, The Mountain Debacle)

So you see, our mountain vacation just wasn't in the stars for this year.

First, a lot of schedule changes took our planned Warm Springs Reunion from 10 participants down to 5.  But we were undeterred.

Then, Anna/Vovo had an arthritis flare up that left her unable to travel.  Down to 4 now, we were still undeterred.

We left early on Monday for our 5 hour drive to Dubois, ready to meet friends in town then make the most of our mountain time with just our little troupe.

Then, there was a forest fire.  In the EXACT location of our planned stay.

Of course.

We tried to be undeterred!  We heard from our rental owners that there was a fire "to the west" but no big deal...  we carried on.  We saw the smoke from 40 miles away, en route.  We carried on.   We met with our friends for ice cream, amidst falling ash from the fire, and heard that they'd talked their way past 3 forest service trucks to get to the campground for a visit that morning.  We carried on, and headed for Union Pass Road, just to see how smoky it was by our rental.

This is the scene that greeted us:

Union Pass was closed to traffic and we could see helicopters dropping buckets of water and emergency vehicles streaming by... It would have been extremely interesting had it not been so very heartbreaking.  This was supposed to be our reunion/ memorial trip, for my dad and for the mom of our camping friends.  We were supposed to have 4 beautiful days in the perfection of my mountains, experiencing a blend of comfort and convenience alongside natural beauty, thanks to the big, expensive rental house.  It was supposed to be a trip of memories-- reliving the old and making new...

Instead, we watched our mountains burn.

We turned back.

After a period of ennui brought on by disappointment and low blood sugar, during which time we explored the possibility of last minute accommodations at Yellowstone or Jackson (egad! Expensive!), we happened into one of the last available rooms in Dubois, and decided to just stay the night in town.

Here is a photo of the little motel that saved the day.  Cute as can be, even in a haze of smoke. 

 The motel backed right up to the Wind River, where they offered a campfire and s'mores every evening at 8.

Note the flashes of red sunlight on the water, not from sunset but from the high-in-the-sky sun at 5 pm.  It shone brilliant red through the cloud of smoke.

 We spent some time wandering and exploring in Dubois over the course of the day....

Hanging out and having ice cream with Charlie, Jason, Collis and Elle...

Dubois is too stinking adorable...

 How can you not love a place that has a giant, really creepy jackalope in a gas station gift shop?

Back at the hotel-- time for relaxing by the river with a book!  Almost feels like vacation around here!

At the recommendation of the adorable young guys who ran the Black Bear Motel, we took a sunset trip up to the Dubois Scenic overlook...

The kids were pretty convinced that our Motel was the BEST ONE EVER.  They spent an exceedingly long time jumping on the beds, pretending to be diving cats.  Also, the black bear statue outside was a Pokestop, so Jack could just sit on the bed and collect Pokeballs.  What's not to love?

Watching TV on the motel bed in your undies.... does it get ANY better???

 Also they had this great dog, Teemo.  And (not pictured) those adorable young guys who were super chatty and helpful and recommended a great spot for a "replacement" mountain adventure the next day (and they even loaned us bear spray!)

Here we are at the Double Cabin Campground, to the south and East of Dubois, up Horse Creek Road.   Stunning views, great rock collecting.  A really special spot.  Not MY special spot.  But it will do in a pinch.

We even saw authentic cowboys putting authentic cattle in the "public corrals" near the campground.

 Mountain picnic!

 We lingered as long as we could before heading back out of the mountains (too soon! Someday I want to give my children the experience of STAYING there...) to begin our trip back to Guernsey.

We made a stop near Lander to see Sinks Canyon.  Here is the Popo Agie River disappearing underground at the back of this cave...

.... and here it is rising up through fissures in the rock about 1/4 mile away.  The sandbank formation from the rise of the water was really interesting.  As were ALL those fish-- the biggest Brook and Rainbow trout I've ever seen!  The kids enjoyed feeding them tremendously.

 From there, we headed north to Hudson, where we had steak at Svilar's. It is definitely the restaurant that time forgot-- hasn't changed a bit since I went there as a child.  Best filet in the West!  Jack and Ivy even enjoyed their meals!  Ivy loved the ravioli, Jack ate a TON of steak. I remain the only one to enjoy the cabbage rolls that come with every meal...

As is our norm, we arrived back to Guernsey well after dark, bundling our sleepy littles back into the house.  A very different mountain adventure than we'd planned, with far more driving than we'd planned to put into just two days.  Everyone was looking forward to a break from the road.