Grand Teton National Park (June 14 & 15)

There are so many photos from the Tetons (too many for one post), so the travelogue will be broken down by days.

The Tetons. Sigh. Have you ever been? I remember my first trip as a 20 year old. I fell in love. Some don't like this range, with it's simple hinge along Jackson Lake and peaks towering in a relatively straight line. Not me. The Tetons are majestic in my book.

We arrived at the tent cabins in time for lunch. The girls loooved the accomodations: two log walls, two canvas walls, a canvas roof and wood-burning stove. There was a picnic table outside the tent walls and a bear box. In terms of camping, pretty swanky. In terms of view, pretty amazing:



We settled ourselves, ate lunch, and I laid Julia down for a nap. We were camped near the Colter Bay Corral, so Craig walked Grace over to find out about horse rides (we had planned to take Grace in RMNP, but the weather foiled our plans). In Rocky Mountain, children under eight are allowed to ride with an adult on longer excursions. In Tetons and Yellowstone, those same kids can only take corral rides. We were bummed for Grace, but she didn't know the difference. She thought her horse, Eli, was pretty special.



After her ride, Craig and Grace hiked over to an inlet on Jackson Lake and caught the first glimpse of an American White Pelican.



We would see many more over the next two weeks.

After dinner, we walked into the "village". Colter Bay Campground Village is large enough to make it on most maps. At capacity, over 3000 visitors can stay in the village. There's a laundromat, lodge, restaurant, museum, gift shop, grocery store, and marina. No need is unmet in this facility. Still, if you want a shower, you have to walk to it (that is unless you're staying in a full service cabin or lodge). We wandered down to the marina for some other views:



After running with tails between our legs from RMNP, we finally started to relax a bit. We knew the nights would be chilly, but we had the wood stove to keep us warm. We were certain we would take some great hikes and see lots of wildlife. We were right. The following morning, we headed south towards Moose, Wyoming and saw our first grizzly bear on the side of the road.

Our plan that day was to hike through the morraine up to Taggart Lake. Grace and Julia's plan was to whine and whine and whine a little bit more. Sometimes I'm an idiot as a parent. The kids were hungry. I didn't pick up on their clues. Whining often equals hungry. I assumed that eating two breakfasts would fill them up. Nope. In any case, once their stomachs were full, we made it to the lake without further complaint.



We played in the lake for a long time, enjoying the view:



And relaxing in the sun:





Like any good western day, the clouds started to form and we were run off the mountain by rain. Here's the entire set from those two days. Note that Craig is giving me the finger in a couple of pictures. He's just showing off his stitches.