Grand Teton National Park by Craig (June 17 and 18)

June 17
The weather we experienced on our hike worsened overnight, and we woke to very chilly temperatures and snow the next morning. We decided to forgo a camp breakfast and drive into the Village and eat in the restaurant. As we nursed our coffees and the girls finished their breakfasts, we decided to give up on a hiking day and make the drive south to Jackson. We hoped to see the new visitors center and get the latest weather info.

The visitors center was well worth the trip, and we spent at least an hour exploring all they had to offer. We also learned that again the weather was taking a turn for the worse. We quickly made the decision to cancel our Yellowstone campsite reservation and secured a cabin reservation at Old Faithful (spoiler alert: one never wants to stay in a cabin at Old Faithful).

Reservation done, we got back on the road and drove into Jackson. Jackson Hole is cool if you're 20, and it might be cool if you're 50, but for us, with two kids and crappy weather, it wasn't a whole lot of fun. We did eat another good meal (thanks, Bunnery), and we got out of town quickly.

As a part of our change in Yellowstone reservations, we would have to stay another night, June 18, in the Tetons. We're really glad we did.

June 18
We woke to beautiful blue skies, and I made pancakes to celebrate our last morning. Once lunches were packed we left the campsite and headed out to hike around Swan Lake and Heron Pond. We had hoped to see a moose, but as usual we were a little too late in the morning for such a sight. We were fortunate to see a number of birds, including migratory Canada geese:



Clark's Nutcracker:



Sand Hill Crane:



Blue Heron, Trumpeter Swan, Ruffed Grouse, and Bald Eagle (none pictured unfortunately), and of course, the American White Pelican:



And while we didn't see any moose, we did find some tracks:



After hiking for 3.5 miles we were also treated with some pretty spectacular views. Just click it, you'll get a much larger image. All told, we hiked nearly 4.5 miles that day. The girls graduated to being full-fledged hikers (well, Julia mostly hikes from on high--on my shoulders). We made it back to camp in time for some (much needed on my part) showers and ice cream, and just before dinner Ellen got to perform a little medical procedure.

When I sliced my finger back in Rocky Mountain, the nurse in Estes Park told me I should return to the ER to have the stitches removed. Ellen and I decided that wasn't necessary. She could do the job:



Don't worry, those scissors are reasonably sterile. Aside from some slight nerve damage (which has fully recovered now), my finger looked pretty good.



That pretty much wraps it up for the Tetons. Below is the full slide show from June 17 and 18, see if you can see snow a couple of pictures.