our trip // the sights

Get your patient pants on because this post is going to be a tad long and full of photos and facts. Although, I'm proud of myself for cutting it down to under 20 photos of all the sights and "attractions" we saw and visited both in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. One thing you may notice is the lack of people/tourists in the pictures and that's not because I photoshopped them out. There just weren't that many people there. It was awesome! I had done a lot of research and reading about the best times to go and not be surrounded by crowds, and there seemed to be two very definitive answers: May and September. If you don't mind some chilly evening temps, I would HIGHLY recommend going in May - everything is very fresh, there's lots of new baby animals everywhere, and hardly any people. Also, if you're planning a trip to Yellowstone and/or the Tetons, this book was a crazy awesome resource. I read it for hours before our trip and always had it with me during the trip. It's full of tips, maps, hikes, restaurants, and reviews.

Now for the real reason we're here...

hello Wyoming! so glad I could finally add you to my list of "states I've been to."

we spent a night in the shadow of Devils Tower on the way to Yellowstone.

a photo op (thanks to this fence) with the Bighorn Mountains. also notice the lack of cars...on the interstate. so awesome.

lots of snow during a mountain pass through Montana.

my favorite feature at the Mammoth Hot Springs.

at the north entrance of the park before we went to explore Gardiner, MT.

an early morning walk around the boardwalks at the Norris Geyser Basin. this place was completely amazing and free of any other humans.

a hot-spring fed lake

a steaming stream in the Norris Geyser Basin

the breathtaking Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I was half expecting John Muir to be sitting on a rock in the distance.

one of many boiling hot springs around the Old Faithful area. the water in these things was so beautiful and clear...and stinky.

Old Faithful...not gonna lie, but sort of a let down.

the boardwalk leading to the Grand Prismatic Spring, which would have been more grand if there wasn't so much steam

Tim taking the most scenic off-road pee of his life with this view of the Tetons.

before our trip, I had been in contact with a ranger out at Grand Teton National Park and we were able to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the Grand Teton Rescue Cache and see a bunch of Bob's (Tim's dad) equipment that was destroyed during his climb of the Tetons back in July 2010. Read more about the storm and the amazing rescue effort here. It's a long, but extremely good article about the events of the rescue.

the money shot taken from Mormon Row.

we ended the week by spending some time in the town of Jackson amidst the high-end shops, awesome restaurants, and elk antlers.

our trip // exploring

Well folks, we've made it to the last two "categories" of our trip - "exploring" and "sights" - which coincidently contain some of my very favorite photos from the week. We'll start with exploring, the things we found while off-roading or hiking. While there are so many main attractions of the Yellowstone/Teton area - Old Faithful, Hot Springs, Tetons - the entire area is one giant mess of beautiful scenery everywhere you turn. Here were some of our favorite moments spent exploring.

at the top of the pass through the Bighorn Mountains

the valley by our campsite near Mammoth Hot Springs, and the Absaroka Range in the background

crystal-clear Jenny Lake. Tim is demonstrating his "Life Straw" - a tube the filters water so that it is drinkable.

cooling off in the snow during a hike

Tim's summit attempt of Teewinot. This is a sort of "Where's Waldo Tim" type of photo. Hint: look for a big rock.

splashing in the river near the Tetons. this is where we saw the marmot.

our trip // animals

All my reading and research leading up to our trip to Yellowstone sure set my hopes high for amount of  birds and beasts we'd see. I was a little nervous that we'd get out there and see nothing but robins and one lone buffalo. That was not the case, thank goodness. Within the first 20 minutes of entering the park, there were animals galore.

We saw many creatures throughout the week, but by far the largest concentration of animals was in Lamar Valley. We got up early one morning, made some instant coffee, grabbed some muffins, and drove for 45 minutes in the sunrise to this valley that plays host to hundreds of buffalo, antelope, and elk. It was beautiful. And I can definitely see why people get attacked/gored - the animals are so close and there's hardly ever anything separating you from them. It's amazing.

Throughout the week, we saw:
buffalo (by the hundreds)
elk
antelope
wolf
coyote
black bears
sandhill cranes
marmot
moose
black billed magpie

But by far the most exciting animal spotting of the entire week was the mama grizzly bear we encountered on a hike. JUST KIDDING. We never spotted a grizzly bear, even from the car, which looking back I'm kind of disappointed, but I'm sure I would've been a little freaked out in the moment.

one of many buffalo

a moose chowing down

our lone bear sighting, which was sort of tainted by the fact that they were crossing a bridge

sandhill cranes

early morning elk

a nasty little marmot

memorial day & a baby bump

look what showed up this week!

 For the past few years, our Memorial Day Weekend tradition has been to hit the Superior Hiking Trail for a backpacking trip. But this year we had a sort of stay-cation spent with good friends. We kicked off  the weekend with getting a heck of a deal on a like-new Pack 'n' Play at a garage sale. I love a good deal! The rest of the weekend was spent going for walks, talking about all things baby, eating things like BBQ chicken+baked beans+BLTs, looking through baby name books, and starting the construction of our deck. It was the perfect balance of relaxation and productivity.

the frame work in place for our new deck. way to go, honey!

afternoon snack of toasted homemade bread (thanks Katie!) and ice cold raw milk. so delicious!

our trip // food

I have to admit that I haven't always been a hiker/backpacker/camper. My family would go on the occasional camping trip, but it was far from rugged. We're talking massive 4-room tent, 2-burner Coleman stove, pancakes for breakfast, and homemade casserole for supper. And then I met Tim. He introduced me to a whole new world of camping and being outside. The first backpacking trip I ever took was a long weekend on the Superior Hiking Trail. I carried everything I needed for the weekend on my back, so the luxuries for pretty minimal. And the food = dehydrated noodles, apples, peanut butter, and hard blocks of cheddar cheese; things that could withstand several days in a pack without refrigeration. It was all so exhilarating and uncomplicated. This is the type of camping we have fallen in love with.

So when it came to our trip out west, we were a little overwhelmed because this time, we would be "car camping," as we call it. We would always have access to our car which could house food and coolers. This meant we could actually have "real" food for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. And that's exactly what we did. I spent the week leading up to our trip planning and shopping and cooking and freezing what meals I could so that when we would get back to our camp site at night after a long day of exploring, all we had to do was light a fire and reheat the food. Lunches had to be easy and accessible since most of the time we would be in the middle of sight-seeing, i.e. tuna and cheese wraps, fruit, peanut butter sandwiches. And breakfasts needed to be more than a granola bar, i.e. corned beef hash, sausage, fried egg and cheese sandwiches. I'm happy to say that all the prep was worth it and we ate good.

Lunch on the road (Murdo, SD) - chicken salad and cherry tomatoes.

Supper in the shadow of Devils Tower - Pad Thai and fruit.

Lunch break at our camp site in Mammoth - cold roast sandwiches, pickled veggies, and salt and vinegar chips.

Supper on a cool evening - chicken corn chili and banana muffins.

I also owe a huge thank you to both of moms who contributed things like meatballs, mashed potatoes, spaghetti pie, and muffins to our food cause of the week. It was all so delicious!

my 1st trimester faves

I am so thankful to be in my 2nd trimester of this pregnancy! Even though I never did actually puke, the first 3 months were far from easy. I was tired all. the. time. There were days I would take a 2 hour nap after work and still go to bed early and sleep like a baby. Smells were magnified by about a thousand and things like cooking a meal and going to the grocery store were completely off-limits. Seriously, Tim was so awesome during the 1st trimester - he literally did ALL the grocery shopping, cleaning, and cooking while I laid on the couch eating toast and smelling peppermint essential oil. Don't know what I'd do without that guy.

The first weeks after finding out about Baby Miller, I spent a significant amount of time researching things like aids for morning sickness and prenatal vitamins. Here is what I found worked for me and would highly recommend.

1. Traditional Medicinals Ginger Aid tea - I've come to love the taste of ginger thanks to the little stack of pickled ginger they serve you when you eat sushi. I made a mug of this tea every single morning for quite a few weeks to take the place of my traditional cup of coffee and always had a few packets stashed in my purse and my desk at work. If I ever started to feel gross, I brew some of this and it really took the edge off.

2. Preggie Pop Drops - Somewhere in my research of "remedies for morning sickness" I ran across this product. Fruity, sour things appealed to me and these were right on. I ordered a three pack off of Amazon (just to be sure), but only ended up going through one little tin. So I sent the rest to another prego mama who's a few weeks behind me. :)

3. Salsa - My mom's homemade salsa, to be exact. I know they say that spicy foods may make queasiness worse, but this was something else that nearly always sounded good to me. I had it on rice, with chips, and in quesadillas. Some days, it was the only thing I could stomach.

4. Ice water - I've never drank so much water in my life! If I wasn't drinking hot tea, I was (and still am!) drinking ice cold water. Almost anything that was ice cold sounded great to me - water, popsicles, milk, ice cream.

5. Peppermint essential oil - A friend from church gave me a little bottle of this and it's amazing! It was my first experience really with essential oils and it worked great for headaches and when smells became just too overwhelming. I would dab a little bit on my wrists or temples and the soothing smell would be with me most of the day.

6. Vitamin Code Raw Prenatal Vitamins - I am not a fan of pills. I do okay with Tylenol sized pills, but anything over that literally makes me gag. So after MUCH research, I was so pumped to learn that these prenatals were not only some of the best out there (thanks to their totally raw ingredients), but they come in capsules that can be opened. So what do I do? Make a small smoothie each morning and pour the contents of the capsules in with it. I was worried that it was going to make the smoothie taste really funky, but the only thing it adds is a bit of a ginger flavor, which is actually sort of a plus in my book.

7. 30 Rock - I honestly used to cringe at the sight of Alec Baldwin...until I got hooked on 30 Rock. Since we've already dominated all the season of The Office and Parks & Rec, this was my go-to show all those evenings I spent on the couch. I made it through all 7 seasons on Netflix during my 1st trimester. It made me laugh, which was a good distraction, and it rarely talked about food. Win, win.

our trip // lodging

A good thing about all this rain and chilly weather we've been having so far this week is that it's forced me to be inside and tackle all the elements of our trip - going through photos, video, adding up receipts of expenses, etc. The photos have been downloaded and edited, the loads of laundry complete and folded, the camping gear aired out and stored, and the costs/savings totaled. It's a good feeling.

I thought I'd break down our trip into categories so I don't have one huge blast of photos all in one post. Plus, this way, I can look over our photos just a few more times and relive the beauty of the week.

Today's category is...

Our main "home" of the week was our REI Half Dome tent, and while I usually sleep pretty awful on the ground, my bro-in-law was kind enough to lend me one of the poshest Thermarests I've ever seen in my life. We're talking 6 inches of padded, insulated comfort as opposed to the usual 2 inches. Add in a quilt, sleeping bag, and real pillow = I slept like a baby.

One thing of the week that we both loved was getting on nature's schedule. We were usually up with the sun (and the birds) around 5:00am and cozied into our sleeping bags by 9:00pm. It was so wonderful. And the stars....oh, the stars! When I'd wake up in the wee hours of the night thinking my bladder might burst, checking to see what the stars were like was my motivation to crawl out of my warm sleeping bag cocoon.

Our camp site for 2 nights by Mammoth Hot Springs. The camp host told us that if we had to get up in the middle of the night to look around a little first because buffalo frequently hang out in the camp ground. And while I didn't have any midnight run-ins with a buff, there were plenty of cow pies right around our tent.

How cozy is that?

A view of Grand Teton from our camp at Jenny Lake Campground.

Our one night of "luxury" - the Buckrail Lodge in Jackson, WY. 

favorite eats // lemon strawberry yogurt cake

What do I do when it's chilly and rainy and we've turned our heat off for the season? I bake. Which I actually enjoy now that I don't have morning/noon/night sickness. The grocery store had strawberries on sale this week and you better believe that a little crate of them was the first thing in my cart...that along with about 27 other kinds of fruits and vegetables. Baby Miller is craving stuff that's fresh, fresh, fresh.

So there on the counter sat 2 pounds of big, juicy strawberries just begging to be baked into something delicious and spring-y. Then I came across this recipe that I had saved on Pinterest awhile back: Lemon Strawberry Yogurt Cake. Done. And let me tell you, it is one of the most beautiful little cakes I've ever seen. And if spring had a flavor, I think it'd be a combo of lemon+strawberry.

via

Lemon Strawberry Yogurt Cake
from A Spicy Perspective

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 Tb. lemon juice, divided
Zest of 1 lemon
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
8 oz. plain or vanilla, Greek yogurt (I used vanilla & it was delish)
12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan (10-15 cup pan.) Sift together the 2 ¼ cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 Tb. lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.
3. Toss the strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the remaining 2 Tb. of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

home again

The Tetons - my favorite destination of the whole week

We're home! And I'm very happy to report that everything pretty much went off without a hitch - the weather was phenomenal, the car didn't have any issues, and gas prices didn't make us want to scream and cry. As it is after any long vacation, there are mounds of laundry, dishes, and to-do lists to be tackled, but I just have to remember that they are all the result of one awesome week spent unplugged and unhurried in the rugged American west.

I am currently sorting through the photos from the week and am actually proud of myself. I had a goal of not "over-taking" photos during the week. It's so easy (for me, anyway) to think, "It's a digital camera so I'll just take 10 photos of every scene/shot just to be sure." And then I get home and find that I've got hundreds of photos to sift through. Not cool. But this time, I've found myself with just a little over 100 photos documenting our 9 days of adventure. Cool.

Highlights and more photos (and maybe video?!) coming soon. I promise.

p.s. - "What's in Tim's hand?" you may be asking. Yep, it's a knife. I didn't realize that until I saw the photo on my computer tonight. He said he had to be prepared. Classic.

but before we go...

As excited as I am for our trip, this week is significant for another reason, too. Did you know that I've been keeping a secret for the past 12 weeks? That's right, we're taking a "hitch hiker" all the way to Yellowstone a.k.a. there will be another Miller in the world come November 2013! Holy cow, I can't even believe how awesome it feels to say that! I've honestly relished the fact that this has been our little secret for the past few months, passing the evenings of "morning" sickness by pinning things to my secret baby Pinterest board, but with the first big appointment under our belts (we heard our baby's strong and fast heartbeat!) and the fact that everything is pointing to normal/healthy, I just can't keep it in any longer. So this trip will be even more special than we even thought it would be. We are so blessed and happy and ecstatic. God is so good!

So with that, I'd like to leave you with a little video that captures just some of the joy that has already come from this little one. To give a little context to the video, I had just handed Grandma D. a skein of baby yarn and asked her to make something for me. She didn't quite get it right away, but when she did...

we're having a baby! from Erica Miller on Vimeo.

away we go

via

I have been waiting for this week for a long time. For the past couple of years, I've been daydreaming of taking a trip out west. Just me, my man, the open road, and the great outdoors. And this week, my dream comes true. We have spent the week cooking, freezing, packing, prepping, downloading, and charging in preparation to hit the road early Saturday morning for Wyoming where we'll split the next week between Devil's Tower, Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Teton National Park. Our itinerary is set, the campsites reserved, the maps highlighted and routed, the bear spray purchased, and the road trip playlist finalized. All that's left is one more night's sleep and we're off into the wild blue yonder! Stay tuned for what I'm sure will be an obscenely large photo blast documenting our trip after we return. It's going to be epic.