2nd Annual Welker/Allen Camping Trip- Jackson Hole

Last weekend we finally got to take our long awaited trip to Jackson Hole with our awesome friends Chance and Anna for the 2^nd Annual Welker/Allen camping trip. (See the 1^st Annual here.)  I started packing for this trip like a month ago because I was so excited to go! Jake had never been, actually neither had Chance or Anna, so I was really excited for them all to go because I love it there! It is so gorgeous up there. Our original plan was for Chance and Anna to come up to our house Thursday night, spend the night, and then head up Friday morning. But they got to our house later than planned, and it was 1 in the morning and we decided that instead of getting a few hours of sleep and then waking up to drive we would rather just get going and take turns sleeping on the way! It turned out perfect except for the only ones who slept were Anna and I…haha.  We pulled into Jackson at about 6:30 in the morning. Anna and I went into Albertson’s to have some breakfast and walk around so the boys could sleep a little but they only slept for about 45 minutes and were ready to go as well! So we did some remaining grocery shopping, ate some breakfast, and headed into town to check it out! 

 Anna with sweet baby Kate. Oh we love that baby. 

She gives me a bad case of I.W.A.N. (I Want A Newborn)

 We spent the morning walking around the shops and stores in downtown Jackson. Anna and I enjoyed all the cute baby clothing stores and the boys enjoyed the Harley Davidson store and searching for a gun store (with no luck). Around noon we had seen most everything and headed to our campground to check in and get set up.

 

The boys set up our tents and we got lunch out and ready then headed to the river to play a little. Emery literally has no fear (or cold sensors in her body apparently) She wanted to play in the river even though it was FREEZING. But she loved it so we let her. We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the river, playing games, and eating dinner. It was so much fun. I love camping trips, and they are even better with such good friends!

Our camp squirrel :) We gave him corn. 

 Saturday we woke up and had breakfast then decided to go to Grand Teton National Park. Once again, it is gorgeous up there. We made a few scenic stops, but our ultimate destination was Jenny Lake.

 

Isn’t it beautiful?

We packed a picnic and ate it on the bank of the river while Emery, once again, played in frozen water. We just spent the afternoon enjoying the beauty up there and spending time together. After a while we decided we wanted to head back to camp, change into our swim gear and go swim in the river again. 

After we got out of the Tetons we saw the set up for the LOTOJA (Logan to Jackson 206 mile bike race). The finish line was there outside Teton Village. Then we also saw lots of smoke in the sky in the distance. As we got closer we realized how close it was to our campground. It was just at the base of Horsethief Canyon and was, at the time, uncontained. There were evacuations in the places, but luckily it was still a few miles from our campground, and on the opposite side of the road. 

As we went around the corner we saw a lot of stopped cars up ahead right outside of our campground around the bridge right there. The traffic was terrible between the fire and this we were hardly moving. As we got closer a guy jumped off of his bike (one of the bikers from the LOTOJA race) and was yelling I’m a doctor and ran down the hill under the bridge. We immediately pulled into our campground jumped out of the car and went over there. Turns out one of the bikers in the race hit a pot hole in the road, over corrected, and went over the bridge. He fell about 40 feet into the river. Right as we got there the ambulance pulled up and EMTs ran down there, and a few bikers that happened to be doctors. We watched them do CPR for about 40 minutes but unfortunately he didn’t make it. It was incredibly sad. After the fire and this we were a little bit sober, but did go back to camp and got changed to swim.

 Emery was immediately in the water again. She can never get enough. And Jake and Chance jumped in the river. After all of the other things that had happened we ended up not having a ton of time to play but it was fun.

 

We got changed again and headed back into Jackson planning to go to a shootout reenactment that was in the town square and then pizza for dinner. But the traffic was so bad with the fire still going that we missed the reenactment. So we just headed out for pizza and followed it up with some delicious Huckleberry Shakes! 

Sunday morning we packed up and began the journey home. We definitely took our time though. Lots of stops including Montpelier and Bear Lake. And since it is raspberry season still we HAD to get some fresh raspberry shakes in Bear Lake. SOOOO good. It was the perfect weekend getaway and we had so much fun with the Allens! Thanks so much guys! We can’t wait until next year’s trip!