Welcome To The Tetons!

(Posting for Monday, June 10th)

Today started out like many others during our stay in Yellowstone. We heard what we thought was a light rain around 4am, but were surprised (not really) with a fresh layer of sleet and snow on everything when we awoke around 8am. We had breakfast in the cabin and began packing up to head south to the Tetons.

We got everything packed and were on the road around 10am. With a fresh layer of snow and ice, we weren’t sure what to expect during our drive, but luckily there wasn’t much new snow during most of our drive. We worked our way west, and hit a morning bear jam just east of West Thumb. We got some nice pics of a grizzly that was digging for food about 25 feet off the road. As we worked our way south to the Tetons, the sun came out and the temps began to creep into the upper 40’s.

We rolled into the Tetons around 11:30am or so, and made a stop for lunch at Leek’s Marina on the northern end of Jackson Lake. At the lake, we caught our first unobstructed view of the Tetons – hard to describe them, other than amazing. It’s hard to say what was better – the view of the mountains or the pizza. After 5 days of eating bland food in Yellowstone, we were craving some food with flavor and spice. The gourmet pizzas at Leek’s definitely fit the bill. After lunch, we continued our way south through the Grand Teton National Park.

Around 1pm we made a quick stop at Colter Bay, where we will be staying tonight. Our cabin wasn’t ready, so we decided to continue exploring. We wandered over to the visitor center and ranger station at Colter Bay and enjoyed the Indian culture exhibit. The kids picked up their junior ranger kits, and we headed out to check out Jackson Lake. The lake is cold, clear and simply beautiful. The shores are covered with rocks rather than sand, so we spent some time skipping rocks across the lake before leaving.

We continued south along the main road and soon hit Jackson Lake Lodge. The lodge is a massive 1950’s era lodge sitting on a bluff with an amazing view of the Tetons. The lobby directly faces the Tetons, and the massive ceiling to floor windows provide an incredible backdrop for the lobby.

As you drive through the Tetons, the view of the mountains continues to change. It seems to get better as your drive south, so we snapped a ton of pics at every opportunity. Luckily, we had a great day for snapping pics. The sky was blue with scattered clouds that seemed to accentuate the splendor or the mountains.

From Jackson Lake Lodge, we continued south to Jenny Lake along the scenic Jenny Lake road. We stopped at the overlook for Jenny Lake and hiked part of the trail before heading on to the Jenny Lake visitor center. We enjoyed the quick 10 minute boat ride across Jenny Lake and took the short hike to Hidden Falls. After wrapping up at Jenny Lake, we headed further south to the Chapel of the Transfiguration. The Chapel is an Episcopal church built in the 1920’s. Behind the pulpit is a large picture window that perfectly frames the Tetons. The view is amazing, and makes this a very special place.

We made a quick stop at Dornan’s grocery for some provisions, and headed north back to Colter Bay to check in at our cabin around 8pm. Our cabin is great – a central hall with a modest bathroom, with 2 large bedrooms on either side. Colter Bay has a large collection of cabins, most of which are authentic dwellings gathered from the old homesteads throughout the Tetons. The center portion of our cabin is an original settler cabin, with rough hewn logs walls, and the bedrooms on either end are a newer 1960’s area addition.

After 11 days of sharing space with us, the kids were glad to have a room to call their own and spread out. We let them watch a movie on the laptop while they ate dinner, which gave Steph and I a little quiet time to do some reading about the Tetons and a little more planning for the rest of the trip.

It’s getting late and everyone’s ready for a good nights sleep. The cabin has 4 beds, quite a luxury for this trip, so it should make for a restful night.

The Grays