Our next stop on our road trip!

After taking a few days off from running it felt so good to hit the dirt for 8 miles @ 9:29 average on Saturday.  We stayed in Ashton, Idaho for the days we went to Yellowstone and it was really beautiful there.  Ashton is about an hour outside of Yellowstone and the prices were WAY cheaper there compared to staying close to Yellowstone and we were able to steer clear of any crowds.   The drive from Ashton to Yellowstone was also gorgeous so we didn’t mind going back and forth for two days.

The Airbnb that we were staying at had a dirt loop in the neighborhood that was about 1.4 miles so I just kept doing that loop for my run until I hit 8 miles.  It was either a loop or running on a highway for a bit so I gladly welcomed the dirt loop.  The loop meant that I also got in more elevation gain than I usually do because it was hilly so I had about 650 ft of elevation gain.  I listened to Ali’s episode with Jenny Simpson and loved the 45 degree weather.  I feel like for the last few years whenever I’ve traveled I was training for a race so it has been nice to not have a schedule and run when I want and take days off when I want.

Then we made our way to our next stop.  We aren’t staying in Jackson Hole but we spent some time there on Saturday and Sunday!

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We did something that I did when I was a little girl with my family.  You take a chuckwagon pulled by horses up a canyon (we had our own wagon) to an outdoor eating area with a band playing and then we took the wagon back down to our cars after.  The kids loved it.

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Not sure why the pictures are so tiny:)

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Our Sunday was a gorgeous one.  I am definitely a mountain person if I had to choose between mountains or the beach.

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We had an entire pool to ourselves!

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And then the kids experienced their highlight of the trip.  They went horseback riding!  With Skye I was able to just walk her around on a pony and she kept calling herself a cowgirl for the rest of the day.

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Brooke’s post-horseback riding glow.  She just laid there in the grass thinking about her horse.

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Our last stop for the day was another amazing recommendation from you guys.  We went to Teton Village to ride the gondola up the mountain.  If you go after 5 pm it is free and that is exactly what we did.

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You guys told me about these heavenly waffles (mine had brown sugar and butter in the middle) at the top and I’m once again, very grateful that you guys share these things with me.   PS every activity we’ve been able to do while on this trip we did because we were able to completely social distance and follow each state’s guidelines while at the same time enjoy these insanely gorgeous mountains!

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Andrew and I decided that we want Jackson Hole to be our family’s goto spot now because it is just so close to our house and we’ve loved it so much.

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Like my sister always says, going places with kids is not a vacation, it is a trip ha but it has definitely been a great trip so far and it’s weird to think that our next ‘trip’ will include FOUR little ones.

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One last random thing… BROOKE TURNS 8 THIS WEEK.  HOW?!?

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If you could get a free cabin anywhere in the world, where would you get it?  

Have any goals for this week?  Running or life?

Last podcast you listened to?

Question from Andrew—> Do you have any vacation horror stories?

-The first one that comes to mind for me was when we were flying out east and Frontier kept delaying our flight for 13 hours until they finally cancelled it.  Three little ones + I had a bad case of mastitis = I was losing it at the airport!

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44 comments

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Wondering where that pool is? Can you share what hotel if it is a hotel? Looks like an awesome trip

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Hey Allison! I will for sure tomorrow! We are here for one more night so I’ll link it in tomorrow’s post. I hope you have a beautiful day!

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The views on your trip look lovely. We are currently visiting family in Montana and I am blown away by the sheer beauty of the mountains. This is our first trip here. I can’t believe Brooke will be eight!!! Time sure does fly. Hope your Monday is good.

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Kimberly, I am so happy you are able to get away to Montana! I bet it is gorgeous! Enjoy every second and thank you.

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Vermont in the fall to see the changing leaves! Or the Alps.

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I need to see both of those places! Have a great day Mariah!

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Ashton is a pretty city! You should think about running the Mesa Falls Marathon. Spaghetti dinner the night before, they have a free breakfast the morning of the race too. Start up in the Forrest, run down the mountain right by Mesa Falls, (Must stop for a quick photo), then run to the finish in Ashton. All runners get a free Huckleberry Milkshake! I love that race.

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Okay, I have to do that marathon! That sounds perfect, see you there❤️ Thanks Diane!

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I’m living vicariously through these pictures. I think we’re going to have to copy this trip when we can travel again! I think the worst travel horror story was back in HS–I went to a journalism camp in Chicago for 5 weeks and the day I was supposed to fly back to the west coast a bunch of tornadoes touched down by the airport. I was dropped off at the airport in the morning when my flight was supposed to leave (this was WAY before all current technology) and my flight was delayed, then delayed, then delayed again. I was 16, completely out of money (before I had a credit card haha), was freezing and so hungry in the airport, fell asleep in a chair and woke up to a final call about my flight boarding. Barely made it on for what was then a red eye back to the west coast. Every time I’m annoyed with flying now I think, at least I can buy food and reschedule my flights. haha. I can’t believe my parents just let me travel like that when I was a teenager. The good old days. ;)
I hope you keep having an amazing time. It is REALLY beautiful there (and I agree, mountains over beach 100%).

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I hope you guys are able to do this trip soon! Okay, that story from when you were 16… that would have been so scary! And you are so right, the world was so different then and there is no way we could do that now! I hope you are having a great day so far Mollie!

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I’m glad your trip went well. Our Yellowstone trip was kind of a flop with car problems and grumpy family members. we will probably do a do over. Ashton is where my husbands family is! So we go there all the time. You guys should check out Lava Campground in lava hot springs. It’s a little ways off Ashton. My cousin owns it.

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Oh bummer! I was hoping you guys had a great Yellowstone trip too! So cool your husband is from Ashton, we loved it there and next time we will go to the lava hot springs!

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I’m definitely a mountain person, too! My favorite <3

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I’m loving all of your vacation photos! Jackson Hole is one of my favorite places and the place I told my husband I’d love to own a vacation home! Now if I could find one on Zillow under $14 million, haha!

Enjoy the rest of your trip!

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Bahahah Andrew and I like to guess how much each of the homes there cost $$$! I hope that vacation home happens and we will come stay with you guys. Have a great day Anne!

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Liz, I hope you are able to get to the mountains soon!!

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This trip looks amazing!! I love active vacations and looks like you covered a lot of places.

Nightmare trip..Disney few yrs ago my middle guy and I were sick with stomach bug 24 hrs of getting there. We spent first few days in the hotel room isolated together and my husband braved Disney with the others alone. ?

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Lauren, that must have been awful! That happened to my mom and sister once too. Also, not sure how your husband did Disney alone with kids ha… I need Andrew with me! I hope you have a beautiful day.

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Last year we took a trip to the Tennessee and on our first day we went to Cades Cove. It was a windy day and we took a short hike on an easy trail We started to hear trees snapping so we decided to leave and get back to the car. On the way back a big tree snapped right next to us and we could see it was coming down. My husband I started to run straight ahead but our daughters both turned and ran back the opposite way and the tree fell right on top of both of them. It was easily the worst moment of my life. Somehow this gigantic tree to did not kill or even seriously injure either one of them. We were able to get them both out with just some scratches and bruises but I don’t think either of them will ever want to go hiking again. Even worse was later on the news we heard that another woman and her child were killed by a falling tree the same day in the area. It was very surreal and such a terrible scary experience.

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DONNA! That must have been terrifying! I am so thankful your family was okay and it sounds like a complete miracle.

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Worst trip, I went to Vegas with my mom for a girls weekend and the second last day of our trip I started having terrible pains in my lower stomach it got so unbearable I started vomiting and after being escorted to a Vegas hospital (I thought my appendix was rupturing) they discovered I had ruptured a few ovarian cysts (I didn’t even know I had them!). My dad ended up flying out to help my mom and I and the worst part was I forgot to purchase travel coverage for the trip so it ended up costing me 5 thousand dollars for the ambulance/hospital visit.

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Oh my goodness. Gillian! I’m so so glad you were okay but that sounds terrible and so expensive!

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Would you mind sharing the Airbnb you stayed at near Yellowstone, it looked awesome!

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Janae, due to the pandemic this year, we changed up plans and rented an A frame in Tahoe city. It’s a 7.5 hour trip from Salt Lake City,k. We had trails to hike and bike and chose a different beach each day. Since we drove we were able to bring our bikes, paddle boards and tubes. It was a wonderful vacation and we were able to social distance like at home. Put it on your list!

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Oh I am so so so glad you were able to go to Tahoe. That sounds absolutely perfect and that is next on our list. Hope you are having a beautiful morning!

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Hi Janae! Your pics look awesome and so much fun and you did such a great job keeping everyone safe too! I love doing laps when I run just so I can turn my brain off and just run.
My life goal this week is to work on my focus! I feel like it is more difficult now to motivate myself to do hard things so I want to work on that. Happy Monday!

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Hey Amy! I hope you had an amazing birthday weekend. I love that goal and could definitely work on that myself. Keep me updated and have a great day!

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Saving all these posts for when we plan our trip next year – and you’re totally making me want to be there now!

My son turns 9 this week (well, on Sunday the 16th) so we are planning his party. He wants a fishing cake and I have no idea how to do that!!

Our vacation ‘horror’ story was 3 years ago when my daughter was 1 and we ended up in the ER with her for a staph infection all around her mouth. She was so miserable and it was the first night of vacation. Luckily the medication they gave her helped keep her comfortable and we got through vacation just fine.

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I hope that you guys love it our here as much as we have! Happy birthday week to your son and you are going to have to send me a picture of the fish cake!

That is definitely a vacation horror story! So glad the medicine helped quickly.

Hope you have a great day Erika!

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My SIL and her family live in Jackson Hole so we try to get out at least every other year. We went last summer and my kids loved the covered wagon ride out to the dinner show as well. It was a highlight of our trip!

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so pretty out there! I want to go back out west. and back to Texas:)

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It makes me so happy to hear how much you loved Jackson!!!
We return there every 2-3 years so I am keeping my fingers crossed we will be there together sometime. That way we can have one day of vacation while Chris and Andrew take the kids on some all day adventure. ;)

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Hi Janae! I’ve been thinking a lot about what you were saying about going out for a run because you know you will feel better after you run, even if you don’t feel great during the run. I 100% agree and wonder if you have any tips for rest days. I feel so lazy, unmotivated, and just blah in general on days that I don’t run. But at the same time, I know my body needs a break from running so that I don’t get injured.

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I love this question! Mind if I answer in a post tomorrow or the next day because I have a lot to say!

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Looks like an amazing trip so far! We just got back from camping at Grand Teton. It is so beautiful out there! I’m glad you got that GyPSY travel app. Did you name the narrator? We called ours “Stan”! :)

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My sister lives in Jackson Hole. We really need to get down there to visit!!

Vacation nightmare: I left my baby (nearly 2) for the first time with my parents to go to Berlin on a special week trip with the husband. The baby got Hand Foot and Mouth three days before we left, but my mom told us to go anyway. We land in Berlin and the transformer on my breast pump fries, so my boobs are exploding and I spent the entire week hand expressing to get any relief at all. Then I got Hand Foot and Mouth. I lost my metro ticket (which I’ve never done before!) and had to pay a 60 euro fine. We got to the airport to leave and they informed me we didn’t have plane tickets (which I had confirmed five days earlier). I ended up standing at the front counter on the phone with Orbitz who said I did have a ticket, while the guy at the desk told me I didn’t. We had to buy last minute tickets in business class to get on the flight so we didn’t miss our connections. [Side note, after some long phone calls, Orbitz did reimburse me for those tickets, so kudos to them.] On our first layover there was a massive storm and our flight was delayed so badly that we missed our last connection home. We were not automatically rebooked as I’d booked them as two separate tickets. When we landed in Seattle I tried to get us on the next flight but they couldn’t get us on a flight for four more days, but we could try calling again. We got a hotel right next to the airport and called again at 6 the next morning. They told us there were two seats on the flight that left in 45 minutes and that was it. We’ve never run that fast ever, but we got to the gate as they were boarding and made it. It was a lot of stress for a one week trip…

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You vacation, I mean trip, looks amazing !!!!! How beautiful ! If I had free cabin, I would love to say I’d want it on a island somewhere warm and tropical. But realistically I’d love it on a private super clean lake someone warm. Only vacation horror story that comes to mind is going to Myrtle Beach a very long time ago. A hurricane hit the week before and no refunds were given. So we went anyway. It was an unrecognizable mess. There was very little open and little we could do. The beach was out of the question. Then, we had a bomb threat at our hotel and had to evacuate. Scariest thing ever !!!! We gladly came home from that trip.

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I am living vicariously through your trip, it looks amazing and hopefully something my family can do one day! My vacation horror story is my husband and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a 3 day, child-free trip to Orlando. We stayed at a nicer Disney resort. I was 16 weeks pregnant so with our third and came down with what ended up being mono on the first day. Fever overnight and such bad body aches I thought I had the flu, went to urgent care but no flu. I basically just took around the clock ibuprofen to make it through the trip but even walking around Disney springs i was so tired I had to stop every 10 mins to sit down ? plus my husband was having what he now recognizes as a gallbladder attack. Fun times!

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I am so happy (and jealous!) that you guys got the waffles! I am a Nutella person myself. When we were there (without kids) last summer, we took the tram up and got our waffles and then planned on taking the Cirque (?) trail over to the gondola but at the end of June there was still too much snow, so we took the road down for a bit and then had to hike up to the gondola. Us being from out East and not used to the elevation, the hike up to the gondola was hard!

Thankfully, *knock on wood* we haven’t had any travels that we would call nightmares. But last year before our trip was stressful (and expensive)! We were supposed to fly into Billings via Dallas. They texted my husband 12 hours in advance that the Dallas leg had been canceled. They did this right before he was dropping off our daughter at overnight camp and there is no service in the camp. So I got the news and could do nothing about it for hours (he was there for 3 hours because they check all the girls for lice so it takes forever). And then I had to wait for him to drive 90 minutes home. The airline (American or Delta, I can’t remember) said they couldn’t do anything to get us to Billings until Wednesday night (almost 3 days later). So we rebooked on another airline and got into Billings via SLC 1 hour earlier but spent $2000 doing it :( We did eventually get the $ back for 1 leg of our trip but still spent a ton more than expected. Part of me was hoping to do the SLC–>Jackson drive again via Bear Lake, but since we were starting our trip from the Northeast corner of Yellowstone (versus our other 2 trips where we started in Jackson), driving from SLC to Montana would have been a long drive! Unfortunately we also weren’t able to do the Beartooth Highway because of poor conditions but we did the Chief Joseph highway instead which was still very beautiful.

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A cabin in the Alps, for sure.
Horror story that was also sort of hilarious: One spring break I took my two youngest (they were 6 and 10) to the coast in Belgium. On our way home (it was a long drive that we split into two days) my car started to act wonky and then made a horrible sound. I was able to gimp it to a parking area off the autobahn. About 3-4 truckers waddled over trying to diagnose what was wrong. Luckily I was able to call roadside service and we got a tow and lift to a nearby village. The whole thing was sort of funny because we had loaded up with belgium chocolates, Macarons, and baguettes so we would have been okay hanging out until someone picked us up (I kid about that). We were able to stay at a hotel and have a late night dinner and since there was nothing we could do, we just made the best of it. The next day we got a rental car that was tiny but we jammed our stuff in and continued on. I was single and was super proud of us for not freaking out too much and also finding the humor and fun in a disastrous car situation….with a language barrier!!!

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I’ve been to Vermont in the summer and I just feel like the fall would be even better so I might pick that. Or some cool place in Europe since I could use it as an excuse to visit Paris which is basically the greatest city on Earth.

Andrews here’s an almost horror story for you: My older brother was looking at a few colleges in Montana and Colorado so my family decided to make a road trip out of it since we live in Chicago. We’re on the highway in Colorado (I think it was this state but maybe I’m wrong) and there is nothing around. I truly mean nothing. It’s the hottest day ever and there’s not a tree in sight. We need gas and my Dad sees a sign for a town so he gets off at the next exit. We get off and there’s not a building that we can see regardless of which way we look and no sign to say “Town X miles”. Back on the highway we go since the previous exit that was about 20 miles away had gas. At this point, the car is essentially at empty and we have to go uphill to get gas. My Dad was a lucky man we made it to that gas station or he would’ve had 5 extremely angry people to be around.

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My family did a trip to Canmore, Alberta (right outside Banff). Between my parents, siblings and spouses, there were about 18 of us staying in a big house and some condos nearby. Everyone except my husband and I came on the same flight and must have caught a stomach bug on the plane because 12 of them were horribly sick by the time my husband and I arrived the next day. No one came out of their rooms for 3 days. My husband and I got in some fantastic hiking and mountain biking, but were sure to play it down when our family asked “oh, it was pretty hot out there”, “kinda windy today”, “I guess it was pretty” (haha, because Banff is drop dead gorgeous). Not fun but its certainly a trip we still talk about!

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The photo of you 5 (6 really :)) in Jackson is AMAZING!! Everyone looks so joyful!

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