First Trip to Grand Tetons, subtitled Visiting Cousins in the Park

We took our first (first of many, we hope) family trip to the Grand Tetons yesterday, and had a great time. We started our day at about 11:00 and drove up through Daniel and Bondurant, and into Teton County. We stopped next to the Hoback river and had lunch. My favorite part was watching the bird who lived in the hollow tree next to our spot come and go with bugs and things to feed its babies. Lamentably, I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture of the bird, but I have the memories in my mind.

We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch, prepared by Julie on Friday night. After lunch, Julie and the kids took a wade in the river to cool down, while yours truly manned the camera.

We continued our trek north into Jackson and Grand Teton National Park. We stopped and enjoyed a Clark family tradition, when the car (for some strange reason) lost control, and pulled into a Maverick station. Since we were there anyway, we got some cool sodas. [Side note: It is interesting to me that this particular tradition was started when my dad bought a car that didn’t have air conditioning, and how easily it was revived when we are driving cars that don’t have air conditioning.] After refreshing ourselves, we continued into the park. For those that aren’t familiar with the Grand Tetons, when you drive into Jackson from the south (like we did) you go through the town, past the National Elk Refuge, past the National Wildlife Art Museum (Which, by the way, is a really neat museum, and there is a great café where you can pick up lunch on the cheap. I recommend the turkey sandwich with smoked gouda cheese. Wow.), and past the National Fish Hatchery, and then all of a sudden there they are: The Grand Tetons. Spectacular!

We picked up an annual pass to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, partly in preparation for next year’s annual hoopla, which I have affectionately dubbed (as of this very moment, actually) “Hoopla Dos” (BTW: It will never meet or exceed the fun had during Hoopla Uno, so don’t get your hopes up. Andrew and Kristi really know how to party.) We drove up to Colter Bay and visited with Emily Minchew and Kaylie Harline, Julie’s cousins who are working up there for the summer. Emily celebrated her th birthday on Friday, so we took her out to dinner. Kaylie had to work all night, so we didn’t get much time to visit with her. But we did get a picture of everyone. Say cheese!

On the way out, we stopped to take the photo that you see above, and we met some really nice folks from Pennsylvania, who offered to take our picture. Then they took a picture of us for their scrapbook, and we took their’s for ours. Then we drove home, and everyone (except me) slept. Hope you had a great weekend!