As promised, the first of the series of posts on our Summer vacation trip.

On the first night of our travels we stopped in the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Jackson, WY and camped in a forest service campground called “Granite Creek Hot Springs”.

The best part of the this location was the natural hot springs in the area which the Civilian Conservation Corps improved upon in the 30’s.  They built a naturally filling swimming pool 10 miles into the woods.

At the end of the day they empty out the pool for cleaning and let it naturally fill overnight but against all logic they let people sit in the river below the pool during the draining process.

This is certainly one of those places we will be going back to as it’s only a 4 1/2 hour drive from home, we could easily leave the office at noon on a Friday and be to the campsite by dinner with plenty of time to play in the hot spring pool.

Amber and I just returned from our annual trip to Minnesota for the Bayfront Blues Festival.  Instead of our usual flying we actually made the drive this time in the scenic fashion, meaning instead of taking I-80 across to I-35 we got to see some of the country’s great national parks, forests and monuments.  I’m hoping I can get myself to write up a bunch of posts about the various places we stopped when I’m home and have access to all of the pictures from our adventure but here are the highlights.

Bridger-Teton National Forest
Grand Teton National Park
Yellowstone
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
The Corn Palace
Wall Drug
Mt. Rushmore
Windcave National Park
Some things we’ll do again (Bridger-Teton NF, Theodore Roosevelt National Park) some things we wont (Yellowstone in summer).  Overall it was a killer trip and I’m sad to be back but looking forward to planning another trip to better appreciate some of the great sites that we didn’t have time to fully enjoy.