Friday, December 6, 2019

Fall Snapshot 2019

It's time for my seasonal check in!

Life Hack: Canva is a great way to design your own morning and evening routine lists for kids!

New Product I Love: Turkey Stuffing Kettle Chips I wasn't convinced when I saw these that stuffing spice goes with kettle chips, but they are delicious. I even topped my green bean casserole with them (they are gluten free!).



Last Book I Finished: Atomic Habits by James Clear 
James Clear had a life altering injury in high school. Rather than let it limit his prospects, he battled hard to return to baseball and the classroom. He credits the habits he learned for working back to health. Now he makes the study of habit his life work with a weekly email list to thousands! He refers back to pivotal books like the Power of Habit and gives ideas for how to implement the key thoughts in them. The atomic refers to how a small change daily can add up to a huge difference in the long run (not the explosive atomic idea that I was thinking). This is a practical book for how to make small improvements for life.

Life Project: Blog Series on National Parks and fine tuning my morning routine. 

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Grand Teton with Kids

Another park worth visiting with kids is Grand Teton National Park (original post on visiting national parks). It is always mentioned in connection with neighbor, Yellowstone National Park (my post here). If you drive from Santa Barbara, you would probably want to start here. Here were my driving directions for our 2019 trip. We decided to fly after looking at the drive time (22 hours from Glacier NP to Santa Barbara!), but even though we ended up flying, I still made a plan). 

Drive Option
Day 1 Drive to St George, UT 8.5 hours
Day 2 Jackson, WY 8.5 hours
Day 3 Grand Tetons
Day 4 Grand Tetons
Day 5 Grand Tetons
Day 6 Drive to Yellowstone 1.5-3 hours
Day 7 Yellowstone
Day 8 Yellowstone
Day 9 Yellowstone
Day 10 Drive to Glacier 9 hours
Day 11 Glacier
Day 12 Glacier
Day 13 Glacier
Day 14 Drive to Idaho Falls, ID 8 hours
Day 15 Visit with family in Idaho Falls
Day 16 Drive to San Francisco 13 hours
Day 17 San Francisco
Day 18 Drive to SB 7 hours

This was our plan from Yellowstone: 
Day 1: Drive to Grand Tetons from Yellowstone (about 3 hours) and set up camp in the tent cabin at  Colter Bay Campground. This included the views from North Tetons Rockefeller Memorial Parkway.
Tent Cabin at Colter Bay (from website)
Day 2: Visit Colter Bay Visitor Center and walk the Lakeshore Trail. Rent a boat and explore the lake. 
Lakeshore Trail

Day 3: Hike trail to Hidden Falls (1.3mi) at Jenny Lake and take the boat back to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center. View the Teton Glacier.

Hidden Falls
Day 4: Drive to Jackson and take a river rafting tour on the Snake River. Walk String Lake to Leigh Lake (2 miles) (some people do swim here). 
Rafting on the Snake River
Day 5: View Oxbow Bend. Drive though Morman Row. Visit Craig Thomas Visitor Center. Drive up Signal Mountain and tour the Rockefeller Preserve (3mi to Phelps Lake). 

Mormon Row
Other Teton ideas: a sunrise or sunset drive on the Antelope Flats Road to see wildlife, go swimming at Slide Lake, visit the town of Moose and its visitor Center, visit Teton Village for the tram and playground, Visit Chapel of Transfiguration, or take a Jackson Lake Boat Tour

Resources:
National Parks with Kids https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/047018406X/
https://www.crazyfamilyadventure.com/grand-tetons-family-friendly/