Grand Tetons

Grand Tetons-July 5-9-.We spent three great days in the Grand Tetons.  It is a gorgeous place with spectacular scenery.  On Thursday, we spent most of the day getting here from Yellowstone.  Even after all these months traveling, it hasn’t gotten much easier and we haven’t gotten much quicker on moving days.  We decided to have me drive ahead in the car to secure a campsite at Colter Bay.  Mark was following me and I turned at West Thumb instead of going straight into Grant’s Village.  Mark unhappily couldn’t turn Miss Jim B around so he and Stefan had to drive to Bay Village.  Turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he was able to get a temporary fix on our fridge and fixed the pump on the water filter.  Janae and I drove ahead, enjoyed the great views and scoped out the area.  We enjoyed the best pizza ever at the Leek’s Marina Pizzeria. 

Views coming into Colter Bay

The best pizza at Leek's Marina

 On Friday we took off late morning and drove the scenic loop around Jenny Lake and then took the boat shuttle across the lake to hike Cascade Canyon.  Met a really neat couple from New Mexico.  A gorgeous hike but Stefan wasn’t into it today.  Both he and Janae need new shoes plus I just think everyone but me are ready to go home.  A special moment was when Janae and I met up with Mark and Stefan after we had hiked a bit further.  Stefan had been grumpy the whole hike but when he saw me, he grabbed my hand and we enjoyed walking hand in hand the rest of the way.  We talked more about his lego village and his ideas to maybe change it to an Indiana Jones or Njanga theme.

After the hike, we drove to Teton Village and took the free gondola to the top.  A live band and restaurant waited for us.  Janae and Stefan loved their Shirley Temples and we devoured the terriaki edamames.   The  highlight was watching Janae and Stefan laugh histerically while their father imitated and sang along with the band.

Next we were on a moose hunt and as we drove home, we saw a mother with two babies far off in the distance, two large bucks along the river and then two younger bucks right under the bridge in you got it, the town of Moose.  It’s times like this that I really wished I had a great camera.  Some of these people have telephoto tubes that go on and on.  I did manage to ask a couple of these folks if they would email me a couple shots.  So maybe we’ll get some good animal photos.

On Saturday, I took the kids all day while Mark got some alone time to fish and practice.  We drove to Jackson and enjoyed a couple great overlook points along the way.  The alpine slide was our destination.  Albeit overly priced, it was truly a blast.  Janae and Stefan got to go down twice.  Wished we could have gone unlimited times.

Jackson is a cool little western town named after an early trapper.  We all loved the antler arches.  These are picked up by the boy scouts on the elk reserve and then auctioned off in May.  Japan is a big buyer.  Moo’s ice cream is an absolute must and Stefan loved the fact that his hero, Harrison Ford lives here.

Next up was a scenic raft ride where we met in Moose at 5:30.  This was something that I had wanted for my birthday as I had heard so many wonderful things about this experience.  It started off as a glorious evening with beautiful views on the Snake River.  We sat next to a nice family with two boys from California.  Shortly into the ride and soon after this picture was taken, the storm clouds let loose and boy did we get it.  Not just a little rain but pelting that hurt so much  we all huddled in our green borrowed ponchos to wait it out.  It was a long hour down the river not seeing anything but the tops of our shoes.  Andy the guide earned his keep as it wasn’t easy guiding this boat in these conditions while he got soaked.  The storm stopped just when the trip was over.  I was so proud of Janae and Stefan.  They had the best attitudes.  Stefan loved laying on the floor of the boat and kept saying this is the best ride ever.  Janae said it could be worse and at least we’re not Pilgrims on the Mayflower.  Plus I got to see eagles tonight and that was great.  Andy the guide was most appreciative of their positive comments since half the boat didn’t say anything on the whole trip. 

In addition to seeing eagles, we did learn the difference between a raven and crow.  As Andy humorously pointed out, it’s just a matter of o-pinion how they’re different.  The ravens have five feathers called pinions at the end of their wings and crows have four.  We learned the snake river was named because the early explorers named the Shoshones the snake Indians because they would move their hands in a snake like fashion when talking.  On our way to pick-up Mark, the lighting was glorious and we even had a rainbow put the finishing touch on our great day.

Sunday, I had lost my steam in organizing so we didn’t make the best use of our time.  I practiced in the morning and then we missed the campground church.  Janae planned a nice service. She picked bible verses that we each read when the frisbee was thrown to us and then we picked a hymn to sing.  We left to have more pizza at the marina and try to finish our Jr. Ranger booklets.  We were on the fence whether to go on the complimentary raft ride again or rent a boat to go on Lake Jackson.  After visiting the Jackson Lodge and doing a short hike by String Lake, we received a great endorsement from some nice locals to go out on Jackson Lake.  We raced back to the marina in time to get a boat. We all enjoyed the beautiful views and venturing onto an island.  I was perfectly content but Janae and Stefan had hoped for a bit more pick-up in our transportation.  We kind of putzed along.

After stopping at the visitor center to receive our Jr. Ranges, attend a short history presentation, and shopping for souvenirs and food, we went back to our campsite.  We cooked an awesome meal of potatoes, beans and hamburgers over the open fire.  Absolutely delicious!!! We wrapped up our journey with sharing highlights from the year while roasting chocolate marshmallows.

Since we hope to come back here again, a few things to remember.  We liked our campsite of #J186. 183 was good too.  Next time, check if water sites will be open.  Will want to visit Triple X ranch for tour, rent boats or paddle boards to float in String Lake, visit Morman row, hike Garnet or Paintbrush canyon and sit and wait on the deck of the Jackson Lodge for wildlife.  We never really got to see a grizzly and there was a mom and her babies that frequented behind the lodge.  Wished we would have gone in the evening of our last night.  Also, may want to come for 4th of July for rodeo and gun reenactment.  If not, check and see if have reenactment another time.  Also, do another raft trip with Solitary Raft Company.