Wedding Day!

Eric and Noelle both woke up early and ended up meeting for breakfast before splitting up for the rest of the day before the wedding. Eric spent his pre-wedding time with his friends Mike, Dan, Tracy, and Staci.

They walked a nice level trail to Lonestar Geyser. Along the way they were treated to beautiful scenery and a glimpse of some wildlife; a closeup view of some elk. They arrived at Lonestar just after it had erupted, but they were luckily able to at least see Lonestar in its "steam phase".

After spending time at the geyser and hiking back to the car, Eric was running seriously low on time, so he changed into his wedding suit in the Lonestar Geyser trailhead parking lot. Noelle spent the day with her family exploring the Midway Geyser Basin, Fountain Paint Pots, and Firehole Lake Drive.

Eric hiked up to Observation Point with his family at about 4 o'clock and Noelle followed with her family shortly after.

The ceremony was amazing and Noelle looked beautiful. It was a short ceremony performed by the Yellowstone National Park chaplain, Bill Young.

After the ceremony and some photos we headed down to the geyser basin. On the way we were treated by an eruption of Beehive Geyser.

After watching Old Faithful erupt, Eric and Noelle spent some time alone hiking around the Upper Geyser Basin.
At about 8 that evening everyone met at the Old Faithful Inn for a delicious dinner. After dinner a tired group of revelers headed back to Grant Village where most of us headed straight to bed.

Into Yellowstone!

We packed up our campsite at South Jenny Lake and took a short drive in the Civic to the trailhead for our day's hike of Leigh and Bearpaw Lakes. We were supposed to meet some of Noelle's family for this hike but they were running way behind schedule so we started it without them, with the intention that we would meet on the trail. The scenery was amazing. We had great views of the Teton Range from Leigh Lake.

The trail was level and offered easy hiking. We made it to Bearpaw Lake in what seemed like no time.

After a snack we started our way back to the trailhead. We met up with Noelle's mom, brother Kyle, and Aunt Lisa about a mile from Bearpaw Lake. It was great to hike with everyone. After the hike we all headed to Signal Mountain Lodge for nachos the size of Brazil and Blackberry Margaritas. Eric is not a margarita drinker, but even he enjoyed the ones we had at Signal Mountain.

After lunch we headed our own way, driving north past Jackson Lake and into Yellowstone National Park.

We set up the tripod to take our picture at the entrance sign and then excitedly headed into the interior of the park. Our first stop was at Lewis Falls where we strolled around and took a few photos.

Then we headed to Grant Village where we would spend the next two nights. After getting organized at Grant Village a group of us headed a few miles away to the West Thumb Geyser Basin.

It was Eric's first time seeing (and smelling) geothermal features, and although we didn't see any geysers erupt, it was a thrilling experience.

When we headed back to Grant Village, Noelle and Eric went their respective ways to spend the night with their families. Tomorrow would be the big day!

Into the Tetons..... Eventually

We woke up early in a sea of half-dead bodies at the Best Western and went downstairs to try to eat $300 worth of breakfast buffet. Then we headed back to our room to pack up our stuff and get an early start on our planned 14 mile hike in the Tetons. The problem was Eric couldn't find his car keys anywhere. He checked his duffle bag three times, looked under the sleeper sofa, checked the bathroom,scoured the room, and even searched through other peoples' luggage in case he accidentally put his keys in with someone else's belongings. The keys were still nowhere to be found, so the front desk was checked and Eric even looked inside the locked Civic just in case he could see the keys inside. Still no sign of the car keys. Out of options, it was finally decided that the keys must be locked inside the car somewhere where they couldn't be seen. Reluctantly, a locksmith was called. About an hour later, when the locksmith finally showed up Eric's mom ran out of the front door of the hotel with the misplaced car keys.

After paying $50 for nothing, we finally got the car packed up and headed into Grand Teton National Park. The views were amazing and we were feeling quite relieved that our ordeal was over. We arrived at Jenny Lake around 11 o'clock and took the ferry across the lake to the Cascade Canyon Trail. The beginning of the hike was crowded. Lots of people making the short trek to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point.

Just after Inspiration Point, however, the foot traffic started to get sparse.

Soon it was just Noelle, Eric, a smattering of other hikers, and some moose! That's right, we saw three moose on our hike.

As we made our way farther along the trail, the views just kept getting better and the people fewer. When we arrived at Lake Solitude, we surprisingly actually found a bit of solitude.

It was just the two of us and a curious marmot. After eating a snack and relaxing for a few minutes we headed back down the trail.

We moved pretty fast because we wanted to make it back to the dock before the ferry stopped running at six o'clock. Since the hike back to the dock was almost all downhill, however, it was a pleasantly brisk walk, and we did made it back with plenty of time to spare.

After getting back to our car we drove to the South Jenny Lake Campground where our Ranger friend Maureen had reserved us a campsite. (The campground usually fills by about 8 am. We never would have gotten a site after our car keys ordeal if it wasn't for Maureen.) We set up our camping gear and got a visit from our good friends Dan and Staci Pluta. Then we headed over to Maureen's where we spent some time talking and reminiscing before headed back to the campground for some much needed sleep.

Ah, Wyoming!

After a refreshing night of sleep at Vedauwoo, it was back on the road. We took I-25 west to route US-30 and then headed into Kemmerer, Wyoming to pick up our marriage license.

After getting that task behind us, we drove a little further west to Fossil Butte National Monument where we ate a picnic lunch, checked out some interesting fossil fish, and hiked around a bit.

A nice little place to visit. After our visit at Fossil Butte we headed north towards Jackson. Along the way we stopped off at a place that Eric had seen marked on the Wyoming map called "Names Hill".

It turned out to be a stop on the Oregon Trail where westbound settlers often carved their names in the soft sandstone.

There is also a carving that was supposedly done by Jim Bridger in 1844, but its authenticity is in question.

After our little it stop it was a beautiful drive into Jackson where we met Eric's family at the Best Western Lodge. After about three hours of procrastinating at the Best Western we finally went out for some much needed food across the street at "The SIdewinder" and eventually we made it over to "The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar", where we all had a drink and then headed back to the cramped quarters of the hotel.

The first full day!

A long day of driving. We woke up after a night of little sleep at Graham Cave State Park, took a quick walk to the cave, 

and then got back on the road. We drove around the Kansas City area and north into Iowa for a short time. Then it was a long and somewhat monotonous drive through Nebraska. As if driving through Nebraska wasn't bad enough by itself, the car stereo decided to quit shortly after we entered the state. We survived the Cornhusker State though, and before we knew it we were in Wonderful Wyoming! We stopped to get gas in Cheyenne and then drove through a little bit of rain to arrive at the Ames Brothers Monument.

Then it was a short trip to our campsite for the night: Vedauwoo, 

an area of interestingly shaped rock formations. It was a much cooler night of sleep compared to the first.

The Trip Begins

After a long hot day of work, Eric rode his bicycle home to an anxious Noelle who had used her expert car packing skills in getting the ol' Civic ready for our long drive to Wyoming. After a quick shower, they were off. They made their way out of Lexington at about 5:30 and were soon cruising on to Louisville and beyond. They drove through Indiana, Illinois and into Missouri for the night where they camped at Graham Cave State Park west of St. Louis. It was tough sleeping that first night because of the heat and anxiousness, but the dynamic duo survived.

Eric at the entrance to Graham Cave

The Bachelor Party

This past weekend (June 29th to July 1st), Eric spent his time hanging out with his brothers (minus Kurt) and some of his closest friends in Morgantown, West Virginia. They played cards, golf, Nintendo Wii, wiffleball, ate, drank beer, and just had a generally good time. Eric would like to thank everyone who attended for making the trip.