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Good info. I’ve been trying to get my kids more interested in stuff that doesn’t run on batteries. I just bought an America the Beautiful pass tonight and submitted my vacation leave. The kids get out of school on a Thursday. Saturday morning I throw breakfast burritos at them and we’re off. Basically it’s travel travel Yellowstone, Grand Teton, travel, ft Collins, ft Collins, Rocky Mountain np, ft Collins, Salt Lake City, Reno, home. Is there neat stuff to check out near slc/ Reno that doesn’t add a ton of time to the travel? The idea is that the kids are going to be primarily focused on playing video games** except when we force them to do nature stuff. My little one has some sensory sensitivities. We aren’t doing mud volcano or dragons breath because of the sulfur smells. I’m hoping he grows out of it before our next big trip. Any suggestions for things to modify / avoid? **When I was a kid (6) we went to the Grand Canyon. My brother (8) looked and said, ”oh. Ok. Where are the video games?” Fortunately my boys are... ah crap. 6 and 8.
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May 24, 2021 08:59
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 15:41 |
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all of that looks rad. I let the wife know and she is checking out our timeline to see what we can squeeze in. I wish we had 10 extra days to make it the trip of a lifetime, but we will have to do some of it next year I think. Or at least different seasons. I'm definitely going to get my $85 worth from the parks pass. Now I just need a couple more camera batteries
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May 25, 2021 19:40
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xzzy posted:If great basin doesn't work for whatever reason, pull up a dark sky map and find a campsite somewhere along the route: my 6 year old gets bored of playing games, however we will be in the first couple of weeks of the new fortnite season so he might be hypnotized. He likes hiking and stuff. My 8 year old just whines a lot when he cant play. Living in Oregon sorta rules. we have some cool stuff out here. They did both enjoy watching the eclipse in totality (what up Corvallis, Go Beavs!) so they could probably be ployed with chocolate to look up at the sky. It helps that my Explorer has a huge moonroof so they can sit all warm and still see things above.
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May 27, 2021 19:42
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also a good excuse to go to Eagle Crest for some golf... I think we are doing a cub scout trip to the high desert museum at some point this summer so that would be a fun tie in.
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May 28, 2021 01:07
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xzzy posted:Just look at that fold! Meryl Streep thinks the tour guide is sus (is this the joke the kids make these days? am I doing this right?)
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May 28, 2021 20:23
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Oregon trail in reverse day 1: about 2 1/2 hours in an oxen has died. Made it uphill to Sisters, OR and the car is shuddering hard when braking downhill. Probably a rotor. Sisters has a lot of their businesses set up to look like Old West type towns. So Les Schwab and Bi-Mart are dressed up as saloons. There is a really good pizza place here that my kids embarrassed the poo poo out of us at a couple of years ago. Edit: fun stuff. So Les Schwab doesn’t “do brakes” on the weekends. The guy said it’s my rear brakes going bad and I will have to replace them when I get to Colorado. Oxen has been upgraded to “broken leg” and didn’t love the 102 degree heat. Tomorrow we reach Yellowstone! otter fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Jun 20, 2021 |
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Jun 19, 2021 19:29
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Oregon trail in reverse day 3: Rations set to expensive, pace set to grueling. West Yellowstone, Montana was fairly nice except my 6-year-old had a meltdown when mama wanted to look around at stores and demanded instant dinner. There is a McDonald’s right down the street but mama nixed that and we ate at a diner on the main strip. It wasn’t horribly priced but it wrecked my digestive system. Breakfast at the hotel was definitely a grade above that at Red Lion the morning before. We drove around the southwestern quarter of the park and saw Old Faithful. Despite sitting in the sun for an hour and a half it was worthwhile to see the geyser blow. I got a couple pictures that looked pretty good. There were too many people overall and we couldn’t have lunch at the grill / gift shop though people had some kind of bbq sandwich that smelled really good. Wife started having a panic attack over the crowd so we went on to Grant Village which was fantastic because there was practically nobody there. The food option was a hot dog. I ordered one and my 8-year-old had one. My 6-year-old had some of my chips but for some reason (too much salt?) he spat his chewed up chips into my uneaten chips and completely ruined my lunch. Went on to Grand Teton which was fully majestic. I might have enjoyed that drive through to Jackson Hole even more than Yellowstone. Stopped in many places to take pictures. I wish my kids and wife wanted to hike but alas, they all gave up after a few steps. We drove along the trails and it was lovely. I definitely agree with everyone who endorsed the pizzeria at Leeks by the boat landing. Super good food and really reasonable considering. Pizza and the Teton Garlic Bread was less than Wendys in Jackson Hole. Right about when we got to Jackson Hole my kids became absolutely insane poo poo-fit throwing monsters. They ruined the experience which led to Wendy’s for dinner and arguing in the hotel room. Also, Under Armor’s hiking shoes are horrible and they gave me monster painful blisters on the backs of my heels. So after one day they are going to goodwill. I need something more comfortable for Rocky Mountain since there seem to be easy trails there. Recommendations?
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Jun 22, 2021 04:34
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I think the combination of too little sleep, too much time playing video games, too much sugar and not enough time running around caused them to go insane. Today was only about 7 1/2 hours in the car from Jackson to Fort Collins. The kids met family members of mine they have never met or in the case of my 8 year old met once 7 years ago. They got to watch We Bare Bears the movie on a 100+” projector screen and from the sound of it, that was the best. Even though they watched it no less than 5 times on the trip so far. I think Thursday is RMNP and we might take the boys fishing tomorrow.
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Jun 23, 2021 05:26
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Trip complete! 2880 miles between destinations over 9 days. Fiascos: - rear brakes: 450 in Colorado. Car still shakes; needs new front brakes too. I’m thinking Les Schwab never did the 4 wheel alignment they charged me for. - Reno. Just what a hot mess. Should have just stayed at the Marriott, so they could play in the pool. gently caress Travelocity so hard, but that’s not a national park issue. - kids being turds. They threw such fits over not wanting to share Switch Games. Big Wins: - Grans Teton was the poo poo. - Yellowstone was pretty dope. - Estes Park (gateway to RMNP) was a very pretty drive - Craters of the Moon was really neat. Disappointments: - Rocky Mountain National Park has a timed entry pass system. They release them at 5pm for the following day. Could t make it work to get in which was a bummer. - too many people at Yellowstone made for some cramped hang outs. - everyone who openly admit to being unvaccinated and going maskless everywhere.
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Jun 30, 2021 09:19
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Rick posted:Yellowstone to Jackson Hole is definitely a great part of the experience. I hope to do it again some day when I have slept for more than an hour at some point over the last 48 hours. This is so true. The mountain views took my breath away, which is hard because living in Oregon is a lot like Yellowstone without the geysers and sales tax. I wasn't blown away by much of Yellowstone because we already live in a mountain-and-river filled valley area which is very accessible. Jackson Hole was not my favorite, in part due to the fact that it is really no different than Estes Park or any other mountain pass ski resort town. They all have the same everything and it's fairly generic. The hotel was neat because it had bunk beds for the kids (Pony Express) but everything was very overpriced. We also didn't get to see Dinosaur Monument due to the travel time. I think we are going to go to Olympic NP later this summer and probably Crater Lake again. Gotta get some use out of our annual pass. We have also discussed doing Vegas/ Hoover Dam / Grand Canyon / etc as a trip in a couple of years.
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Jun 30, 2021 19:05
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The Tetons are amazing. (A picture I shot on the road in June is my left-monitor wallpaper). Jackson Hole is really the same generic mountain tourist town with the same unmemorable souvenirs etc as all the others but even more expensive. Pretty much nobody was following any kind of covid prevention methods when I was there.
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Sep 20, 2021 16:14
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Gunshow Poophole posted:oh my god lmao it's almost October. I just checked the forecast, that rules. I don't know why my brain (it's March 561st 2020) didn't quite put this together but gently caress yes, I'm taking my base layers and 3 in 1. i think im still irritated that the ice cream place had closed while we were trying to find it, and the kids had an absolute meltdown since my wife HAD TO buy a ball shaped candle for 30 minutes and they had not eaten since 4 (it was close to 9?)
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Sep 20, 2021 17:57
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GrandTetons we’re mind blowingly majestic. The pizza place there is pretty good too. For whatever reason (altitude? Bison milk?) the McDonald’s ice cream is fluffy in Wyoming in a way it isn’t elsewhere. That’s most of the good things I have to say about Wyoming. We went mid June last year and it was really hot. Didn’t see a single live buffalo.
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Jun 14, 2022 08:54
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 15:41 |
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I got a chuckle from the video of glacier. My wife and her mother are going on a trip there in a few weeks. It's going to be awesome! (10 days without the wife around = more grilling, less yelling) There was already an incident in which my wife mentioned being able to "just turn on the tv and zone out at the end of the day" and I noted "yeah, there are no tvs in the lodge bedrooms". Cue the wife and her mom calling the lodge to confirm their sad fate of having to talk to one another.
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Jun 18, 2022 21:36
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