Wild Wild West Vacation Part 1

We are back!  Our family, along with some extended family, took off out west on an 8 day long journey.  It was definitely a trip we will remember for a long time because of the beautiful scenery we saw along the way.

Our departing flights left RDU at 6:15 am on Saturday.  That made for an early wake up call to make sure we were prepared for the 4 am shuttle ride to the airport.

I think I got up at 2:30 am after finally falling asleep around 10 pm.  Ouch.

We all arrived at the airport on time and got checked in successfully.  Score!  We then waited to board.  Coffee and breakfast for all while we waited.  Thank goodness for Starbucks opening at 4:30 am! 

Our flight from RDU  took us to DFW, where we had a 3 hour layover before continuing on to SLC.  Once in SLC, we would be driving 5 hours to Jackson Hole, Wyoming after a 1 night stay in  Park City, UT.

Crazy right?  Totally worth it.

Our flights went off without a hitch.  4 adults and 3 kids ranging from 16 months to 12 years old.  They were all very well behaved, especially considering how long of a day it would be for all of us.  When it was all said and done, we arrived at our Park City hotel for the night after being up and on the move for 12+ hours.  It was a lot for the adults but the kids....they rocked it!

Nonetheless, we made all of our flights on time and arrived in SLC just in time for the beginning of a massive snowstorm to surprise the city with blankets of snow.  When I say just in time, I mean it was raining when we arrived and snowing as we pulled the rental car out of the parking garage.  Mother Nature flipped a switch.  Driving up the mountain to Park City was one the 2 most challenging parts of our trip.  Incidentally, the other also occurred in Park City on way back.  More on that later.

Finally, we arrived at our hotel where we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then hung out for the night before setting out on the drive to JH the next morning.

The next morning we all got up, grabbed breakfast, and got ready.

Time to drive!

Sunrise over Park City as we were loading up to begin our drive.

These were just so gorgeous in the morning sunlight.  They look like corn dogs to me :)

This appears to be a church next door to the hotel.  Again, I just thought it was pretty.

Snow covered mountains as we left town. 

We spent some time looking at these on the way back as we sat on the closed highway (more on that later) and now that I think about it, I'm thinking all of the snow was gone.

More pretty snow.  I just love how it hasn't been touched.  Mother Nature at her finest.

A frozen lake.  You see that crack right at the bottom edge of the picture?  On the way back through Park City, there were people sitting out on this lake fishing.  I'm assuming they were crazy because that just has BAD IDEA written all over it.

This was where we were headed if we had decided to do the whole cross country drive like my husband suggested.  Again, BAD IDEA.

One of my favorite images from the entire trip.  This will be one of the ones that gets framed.

 Daniel, WY.  Population = 89.

The entrance to Grand Teton National Park.  I'd say this section of the drive was the most beautiful.  There was a river that wound through a lot of the parts we drove though that just made the scenery amazing!

 You can kind of see where the snow was sliding a bit on the bottom edge of this one, through the center of the photo.  We also drove through another section of GTNP where they had cleared the road after the snow had slid down making the road impassable.

Breathtaking.

 Snow clouds over the mountains.

Finally, in our neighborhood.  This is how tall the snow banks are from where they have to clear the roadway each day.

And finally, time to burn off some energy and decompress from 2 days of travel!