The struggle with depression has been very real the last six months. I desperately needed something to look forward to, a reason to get up off the couch and move so, I talked to my husband about going on a "big trip" this year. We haven't been anywhere in what feels like forever. I decided against going to Utah since I have had to cancel that trip twice, although I could use it as a back up plan.
So what is the plan? It is to make my poor husband drive over 2,000 miles to our destination and and another 2,000 miles back. He always says that he needs a vacation from his vacation. I tend to pack a lot to see and do in a vacation. I don't drive anymore and won't get into why. I homeschool our son which gives me a very tiny bit of purpose in life. I can count this vacation time as school work since someone will have two if not three junior ranger badges to earn. In general I feel trapped and suffocated at our apartment and feel like I am about to loose it with the blaring music , cigarette and skunk (pot smokers) smells infiltrating our so called home. If you guessed that we are going to visit some National Parks you would be correct. Second tip would be we should have a fantastic time photographing a wide variety of animals, not just birds! Third tip there will be lots of hot water, beauty and the smell of rotten eggs! Have you guessed it yet? We will be traveling west and will be about seven hours south of my most favorite National Park. Barring any natural disaster or catastrophe we will be going to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks! Sadly I think six days of this two week adventure will be spent on the road getting there and back. We thought about flying or taking the train but not only does that increase risk of Covid exposure it is also expensive. We will also be tent or "SUV camping" the whole time in the parks to make the trip more affordable. Most accommodations in and around the parks are over $200 per night multiply that by 8 and add tax it doesn't work out for us, not to mention hotels along the way. I have spent a lot of time and research planning this trip. It would be nice just to head out into the backcountry and disappear but I'm not in shape for that. I don't think our child is up to that amount of mileage yet either so this time around we will hit up a lot of the touristy places. I could have save myself a lot of time in coming up with an itinerary and just bought one but I actually like to do the research. If you would like a great itinerary for visiting National Parks visit https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/ , she also has a lot of great information even if you want to plan it out yourself. Another good resource is https://wereintherockies.com/blog/, they also have a great You Tube channel. I thought about making up and trying to sell trip itineraries too, however I have not been to many places and you need to constantly correct them. Many of the National Parks are beginning to require reservations in order to just enter them to battle the problem of overcrowding! Sometimes things like road construction or natural disasters can throw monkey wrenches into even the best laid plans. There is a big section of Yellowstone that we will miss out on due to a road closure, I found this out after I had almost the whole trip planned out so I had to go back and rework the whole thing. I try to minimize the amount of driving as much as I can so I had to choose a different entry route to avoid hours of backtracking. Anyway I am very excited to get out there to photograph wolves in the wild, grizzly bears, buffalo, badgers, Mountain goats and sheep, oh my! Not to mention the natural beauty of the Rocky Mountains and all the lakes, meadows and geysers! I just hope we can avoid the crowds as much as possible. To make camping reservation I stalked the reservation site for hours exactly six months before the day we needed and carefully watched the clock for the second the site became available and made the reservation. Competition for reservations is fierce! Anyway we thankfully got all of our reservations made! I left one day unreserved as I thought perhaps if someone is a good boy, we will leave the parks a day early and visit the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis! Hopefully that day goes well and we can find a site or a more affordable hotel once we are out there. Do you think I should delve more into making a vacation planning service. My family sure could use an additional source of income. I am not sure if or how this idea would work yet but let me know if you think it is a good idea or not. I am thinking of sharing our plans for this trip in another blog. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! |
Julie MetottNature Photographer, wife, mother, lover of outdoor adventure! Archives
November 2022
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