Grand Tetons

Goodbye Yellowstone…Hello Grand Tetons!

I love how the mountains appear to just sit on the water. 

We saw this book in all of the visitor centers, and the kids laughed every time!

Our first stop in Grand Tetons was Colter Bay Village.  We walked part of the Lakeshore Trail.

Rock-throwing ensued.

I really wish we had stopped the car to get a better shot from this vantage point!

Next, we took a boat shuttle from the Jenny Lake Visitor Center.  It only took about ten minutes. 

After we disembarked from the boat, we hiked to Inspiration Point.  This was a real hike, as opposed to the strolls along the boardwalks of Yellowstone.  The incline up the mountain was pretty constant, and quite challenging!

We made it!!

Amazingly, n did not complain and claimed that he was not tired.  k claimed she had about “10% battery life left”, but she did well overall too.  I probably complained the most!

We bought a round trip boat ticket.  It was refreshing when the driver maneuvered the boat so that we were sprayed with water from the lake after our hot hike.

Yellowstone: Grant Village

For our last night in Yellowstone, we stayed at the Grant Village campground.  When we checked in, the ranger told us there was a bear in the campground, but thankfully, we never encountered it. 

After setting up camp, we went to the Visitors Center.  We listened to talk about bear safety. 

There was a small audience, so D ended up having to volunteer to play the bear. 

For dinner, we ate at the Lakehouse restaurant.  Let’s just say that the food here is a travesty.

The view was nice, though.

We tried the grill, and ended up with these pale, undercooked fries.  Xanterra, you need to step up your game!

Still unsatisfied, we ended up buying huckleberry yogurt and apple slices at the general store and eating some more of our stash of cup o’noodles.  I was excited to see that there were actual huckleberries listed as one of the ingredients this time! 

Yellowstone: West Thumb

West Thumb is known as moose territory, so we were keeping our fingers crossed for a sighting.  We didn’t come across any, but we did see numerous elk.

Again, such gorgeous scenery!

Yay—a picture with all four of us!  We saw tons of people with selfie sticks.  D received one at work just a week after we returned from our vacation.  It would have come in handy, although I would have felt really silly. 

The guidebooks I read did not really seem to hype up the West Thumb area, so my expectations were not too high.  However, it definitely ended up being one of the highlights!