The Times and Travels of Nolan
Documenting trips I’ve taken and places I’ve seen.
The theory of relativity applies no where more than on vacation. Go back through and look at the “national parks trip” tag on my blog, and this is already my 17th post on the trip. In a way, our night in Laramie felt like it was weeks ago, and yet hadn’t we just gotten to …
Continue reading “National Parks Trip: Final Night in Grand Teton”
If you spend enough time either reading or watching Grand Teton guides, you will eventually see Mormon Row referred to as “one of the most photographed sets of barns in the world”, or something closely related. Settled in the early 1900s by Latter-Day Saints, Mormon Row comprises a small network of homesteads in the Antelope …
Food. At a certain point, even a single-minded national park nut like Elizabeth needs to take a break from rampaging through her itinerary to stop and eat some food. On August 15, we made it well past noon before succumbing to the siren song of food. With such a diverse range of diets in our …
Proof that time is relative: we were just getting started on our second full day in Grand Teton, and it felt like the trip was just beginning, but it was also our last full day in Grand Teton. The entire Meister clan sans myself would be returning home in just 24 hours. And what did …
Continue reading “National Parks Trip: Chapel of the Transfiguration”
A legendary trip was already obviously under way, and it had only been 48 hours. A quick recap: an awesome night in Laramie, a beautiful drive, a proposal in the mountains, and a hike to a glacial lake. One thing I had been clear about when talking to Elizabeth: I would not be going to …
Continue reading “National Parks Trip: Kayaking Jackson Lake”
When I say that I don’t get hungry during hefty exertions, I should mention that that usually presages hunger pangs hours later. This is a fancy way of saying that I was ready for dinner in Jackson. Elizabeth’s plan had called for riding the gondola over at the Jackson Hole ski area, where a restaurant …
Delta Lake was as incredible as the pictures appeared. That was my original thought. Sometimes you go somewhere the and the pictures oversold it – Mount Rushmore or the Grand Canyon North Rim, to name a few examples. Not this. Framed on the left by Disappointment Peak, on the right by Teewinot Mountain, and with …
So we were a little behind schedule. Terri and Garrett needed to get stuff to be able to hike Delta Lake, and while I’d hoped to drive straight there from Oxbow Bend, instead we were waiting for them to finish packing at our campsite. I quietly stewed for the 15 minutes it required them to …
My alarm jolted me awake. Grey dawn light filtered through our un-rain-flapped tent. I lay on a mostly-inflated air mattress, trying to reconcile myself to life. After a few moments, I remembered where I was, why I was up so early, and the fact that I probably had 4 other people to wake up. Or… …
I was newly engaged, surrounded by family, and had a full week ahead to explore two of the world’s most famous national parks. What more could a person want from life? The answer, of course, is food. My family and I had coordinated it so that they would pick up much of the necessary items …
Continue reading “National Parks Trip: Colter Bay Campground, Night One”
