I told everyone in the morning that the high temp was only going to be in the 50s today, and if we get to higher elevations it might even be cooler. I wore jeans and a sweatshirt and brought a jacket,
too. Ben and Daryl chose to wear shorts. We drove a couple of hours down through eastern Idaho (lots of potato farms!) to the Grand Teton National Park. It remained overcast, looked like it would rain, and the low clouds covered the mountain tops.
Did I mention in a previous blog the prairie dog dashboard ornament we got Elaine? Well, it sits on the dashboard and looks at us, so it wound up being in quite a few photos, too!
We drove through Jackson, WY, where Daryl bought himself a rain jacket at a Sports Authority. We had a large windbreaker sweatshirt in the trunk, which I keep there for emergencies (mostly having to do with freezing soccer games!), which Ben had worn before when he was unprepared for the cold weather. We took some cool photos of the antler arches in Jackson and then drove on into the park.
Unfortunately by this point it started to rain and visibility was poor.
The clouds did make the mountains look cool, but some of the views were not the best.
We spent some time at a gift shop and then headed toward Jenny Lake, which was the one thing we really wanted to do and see. I was prepared to hike in the rain, we had 4 umbrellas, too. But lo and behold, the rain stopped and the sun came out just in time! We took a boat across the lake and hiked a mile up to the Hidden Falls. Beautiful!
It was still really cold, but the hike warmed us up and it was well worth it!
Ben had his mind set on jumping from rock to rock to reach a big boulder I the middle of the river. He worked really hard to move a fallen log, but eventually decided to take of his shoes and socks and walk through the cold water.
Yeah! Made it!
After he got back to the side, while putting on his socks, he stumbled and fell face first, catching himself with hi hands and knees on the rocks, resulting in several bloody scratches. Poor Ben!
He also loves to skip stones. He had collected a bag full at the Walmart we stayed at and was just waiting for an opportunity to skip them! Here it was!
After we got back in the car, it promptly started raining again, but not before we got some more great photos of the Tetons! There was even a rainbow!
We decided to eat out at a restaurant, so we searched by GPS and found one called "Pioneer Grill" at one of the Park Visitor Centers. We were not expecting much, just a few good burgers, but it turned out it was at this posh ski lodge with a huge hotel, lots of shops, multiple bars and restaurants and a spectacular lobby with a picture window about 3 stories high! We had a delicious supper for a reasonable price (though Alex's huckleberry milkshake was a bit steep at $6.50!). My black bean burger was only $10 and was really good with chipotle aioli, yum!
After browsing some shops, it was a late drive back through Yellowstone Park at night; we did not get back to West Yellowstone until around 11 pm!
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