Trying to get from Grand Junction to Yellowstone

Regarding groceries, if you go through Jackson and the Tetons to get to Yellowstone there are two large supermarkets on the south end of Jackson. One is a Smiths and has an associated gas station. The other is an Albertsons.

The State of Utah h ha s recently opened a new building to house State. Dino museum in Vernal. The Museum is located on Main St, Hwy 40, with good parking on the south side of the building . We had only planned one day in Vernal but it turned into a 3 day stay. We have our 8 and 10 year old grandsons with us and they loved the museum and the Monument, 20 miles to the east of Vernal.
Stock up on any needed supplies before getting to Yellowstone. Prices in West Yellowstone were frightening Hand soap I saw today here in Montrose for $1.49 was $4.27 in the super market in West Yellowstone.

Just to add to DesertHawk's comments about Vernal....

We visited the bone wall at the Dinosaur National Monument last year. There are something like 1,500 bones exposed in the rock wall.








There is a shuttle that takes everyone from the visitor center to the bone wall. In addition to the shuttle, there is a one mile trail that can be used to return to the visitor center. We took the trail, which passes a portion of the rock formation that contains the bones that has not been excavated. A number of bones were visible as they were being weathered out of the rock. It was a nice downhill hike back to the visitors center, but make sure you bring water.

Yep, We used route 139 to get to Grand Junction from Vernal in 2010. A neat drive, just like it was described.

We had overnighted in at Flaming Gorge area & at the Firefighters Memorial as well. A neat area.

We were coming down from Yellowstone/Tetons via Rock Springs.

Vernal should have a few Dinosaur museums & exhibits. We visited one years ago with our kiddos.

Not sure which one now: This One Seems Neat.

We just came down Hwy 139 today from Vernal, Utah. As mentioned above the pass takes some time to get over , up and down. We were southbound so the trucks exhaust brake got a good workout sine we are towing our Jeep Wrangler behind the truck camper. Prior to Vernal we camer one night in the Tetons, and before that we spend 5 nights in Yellowstone NP.

The road is somewhat bumpy in places but not enought to be a problem, IMHO. Currently in Montrose Colorado for a week.

Love this forum!!! Thanks for the pictures (WOW) and replies...guess its going to be 13. Further west we go, seems like triple digit weather is hitting us in the face...yuk! So we decided to go north.
Many thanks again.
Andi

13 out of Rifle is a good way to go. Give the Dinosaur National Park a look see if you have the time.
There's a great campground up in Flaming Gorge area called the Firefighters Memorial. Elec and water and dump.

We used route 139 to get from Grand Junction to Vernal last year. It was a pretty good climb with some sharp curves going up to the top of the pass. We were in second gear most of the way up and for a mile or so going down after the top. After that it was a very gradual descent to join with route 64. We were surprised to see several 18 wheel trucks using this road.

Two pictures from the climb.