Fragabond

We stayed in Idaho last week ☺︎ Victor, ID is only ~40 minutes from Jackson, WY, and the drive between meanders over a beautiful mountain pass. I think perhaps the mountain pass closes in the winter, making Jackson less accessible that time of the year, but last week Victor was ideal. It was not crowded or expensive, and our Airbnb was SUPER updated (if I lived anywhere but South Florida, you better believe I would be installing heated bathroom tile floors after staying there…). We had plenty of room to work/study, we hiked nearby trails during the workweek, and overall very much enjoyed our time in potato land.

I won’t delay longer – the absolute highlight of this post is the hike we did on Saturday. The 19-mile Paintbrush Canyon loop in Grand Teton National Park is the most beautiful trail I have ever been on. We started at 7am, and it ultimately took us 9.5 hours to complete the hike – it was tiring, but so much fun. We saw a weasel, some elk, deer, and a whole bunch of adorable squeaky deer mice. We fortunately avoided any bears and, unfortunately, any Moose. Next time, Bullwinkle. I wish these photos did the views justice:

Also, here is a (completely unedited) video compilation that Zack captured of the experience. It is slightly embarrassing but too good not to share: Paintbrush Canyon Video Link

That night, we sat on the couch, ate barbecue, and watched UF almost lose to USF, which means it was almost the perfect end to the day. But we will take it.

We quickly packed up the car on Sunday morning and made the most of the drive to Livingston, MT (our current location) by taking a route through Yellowstone National Park. We stopped frequently along the way, including at the impressive Old Faithful geyser. We accidentally timed it perfectly and got to watch it erupt. We also saw a Bison from ~10 yards away – he was just casually grazing around the massive tourist area.

Now we are in Livingston, MT. Our Airbnb is…interesting…. but it is outside of Bozeman, a nice college town, and we have been working/studying from Bozeman coffee shops and the public library. The library is modern, equipped with reservable study rooms and a coffee corner, is busy and well-lit. Honestly, it is encouraging to see the public library system thriving!

Unfortunately, the North entrance to Yellowstone is the main reason to stay in Livingston, and we originally planned for 2 whole weeks here. The entrance is still closed to automobile traffic due to the massive flooding this summer. We are going to try and ride bikes down to Mammoth Springs this week, which is inside the Park and hopefully accessible, but stay tuned – we are about to call a little bit of an audible…

-Katie