June 28 Park City to Jackson Hole, WY

We started off the morning with a hot air balloon in the front yard. We thought this happened every day, but it be should landing on the golf course. Off to Jackson Hole and new states Idaho and Wyoming. We passed through Afton, Wyoming where the world’s largest Elk Antler Arch exists – of course we needed a picture. It is so beautiful here – we can see ski slopes that are green and beautiful. We are following the Snake River that is running high and fast. We also pass the Elk Refuge where the Elk spend their winters.

When we arrive in Jackson, our friends Mike and Carol Dixon are there already (friends from Atlanta who now live in Boise, Idaho). They also have 3 kids about our kids ages, Andrew, Keith and Sarah. We take the kids to a pizza place and we go to the Million Dollar Steak House – just adults. Jackson is a fun town with shops and restaurants off the old town square. Back to business, we need to pack for our backpacking trip that begins tomorrow.

June 29 Grand Teton Backcountry - Leigh Lake

We leave the hotel with a good breakfast, all packed to backpack in Grand Teton National Park. Our destination is the group site on Leigh Lake. It’s about a 3 mile hike in from String Lake trailhead. One group is going to canoe and one is going to hike. We pick up the canoes and drive to String Lake our put in site. The trout are visible, but smart! We pack the canoes, have lunch, and begin the hike/canoe trip. The younger ones are going slower, so I leave with the older two. We make better time, but we don’t know where we are going. We hike and see many good campsites on Leigh Lake – they just aren’t the ones we need! Meanwhile the other groups have joined at the campsite. Realizing that we are not with them, they send our the park rangers to look for “missing” hikers. We weren’t lost, we just didn’t know we were on the wrong side of the lake. We finally find someone with a map, see our site and head that way. By the time, we find the campsite, one group is canoeing the lake to find us, another is hiking the trails…. Eventually we get settled in and the view is amazing! However, there are millions of very large mosquitoes eating us for lunch/dinner/etc. Bugspray only works for a short time. We have dinner and enjoy a great campfire.

June 30 Leigh Lake to Gros Ventre campsite in Grand Tetons

We wake up in our tent and look up to see as many mosquitoes as we saw stars last night. Not good. We are the mosquito burrito! The view is breathtaking – see picture. The mosquitoes are hungry. Roger and Mike leave to try to make another plan – too much nature here. We have breakfast and pack up camp. The kids love playing in the lake. Canoeing is beautiful. The water is so clear. The guys come back and we are moving. We pack up the canoes and packs and go back to civilization. First stop is Dornan’s in Moose, WY where everyone enjoys pizza and pasta. We finally decide to camp at Gros Ventre and set up camp there. The campfire is much more pleasant here with s’mores and stories.

July 1 Grand Tetons Gros Ventre/Jenny Lake

This more like it - far fewer mosquitoes. We saw our first moose this morning walking through the Gros Ventre campsite. Today we are going hiking at Jenny Lake. We all pack up and ride the ferry boat across. It is beautiful. Hidden Falls is enormous and flowing fast. The water is very cold. This is truly snow melting after a record year of snow. We eat lunch at Inspiration Point (group picture opportunity). Then we separate into 2 groups – one group hiking up Cascade Canyon and one group going back to the campsite to move to a more scenic sight. Here the fun begins for both….
Hiking Group: the short hike ends up being about 10 miles. The views are spectacular – hiking at 8000 feet between 2 12,000 foot cliffs with waterfalls cascading from glaciers. Then on the return hike, the Thomas and Andrew run ahead right into a moose: literally. Drew said, “It’s a moose. Now what do we do?” Thomas said, “get your camera.” After taking a few pictures they walked a little more slowly and more cautiously about 100 yards further where they saw the Bull Moose eating a snack by the river. He then began prancing in the water seemingly to attract the female (you know how men are) but possibly to get the bugs off him. After they finished the hike they were stranded on the west side of Jenny Lake in a lightning and hail storm. They had to wait for the storm to pass before the boat would leave the dock. Once back, Thomas volunteered to get the car and was rewarded with a bolt of lightning that hit less than 100 yards from where he was standing in the Jenny Lake visitor center parking lot.

Meanwhile group 2 is driving to the campsite. One rainstorm had already hit the campsite and of course, I told Thomas not to worry about his fly on his tent (clothes and sleeping bags are wet inside the tent). We start to break down our campsite when we realize another storm is coming. We hurry to take down and put up the small tents. They are done – except the fly on Thomas’s. Then we get our big tent. We get it up and return to the campsite to get Thomas’s fly – the storm hits – a hail storm. Carol drives to pick us up. Pushing the button to open the back, she hits the sunroof button instead – “Not that button Mom” says Keith. Hail is pouring in the car now! We jump in the back to go to the campsite – our tent is blowing away! Marjory catches it. Carol sits in it to anchor it. I put the fly on Thomas’s tent (Why – it’s already totally soaked!) Jacob is soaked. Finally the rain ends – we decide to just walk the other tent (still up) over to the new campsite – yes strange looks by many. Rain comes again – we settle in the tents and play Bananagram and Hangman.
Then the guys call and we decide to meet at Dornan's Chuck Wagon for dinner. We laugh for the next 2 hours retelling tales of the day. It’s always fun with the Dixons!

July 2 Grand Tetons Camping - Colter Bay

We woke to a warm day, but a heavy, heavy dew. It was like a southern dew. We had to let our tents dry a while in the warm western air. We cooked pancakes and enjoyed the view of the Tetons. We said sad a good-bye to the Dixons as they head back to Idaho. We drove 47 miles up to Colter Bay. We set up camp, took a shower, and washed clothes – we now feel better. While relaxing in the campsite, a cinnamon colored bear came by. He was looking for food, but didn’t find any. It was fun to see a bear from a distance. The families around us are from TN too. We went to the Marina and visited Jackson Lake -- what a beautiful sunset. Ending the day with a campfire and stories, huddled in our sweatshirts as the temperature dipped below 40 degrees. It won’t be like this in two weeks when we’re back in Franklin!

July 3 Jackson – Whitewater Rafting down the Snake River

We woke up to a beautiful day – no signs of Cinnamon the Bear. We visited the Colter Bay Visitor’s Center and saw fascinating Indian artifacts – a necklace made of Grizzly claws, beautiful beading of clothes, and great weapons (Jacob liked those). The comment about these Indians is that they were very settled and peaceful with food plentiful which gave them time for making beautiful clothes and crafts. We packed up camp and headed to Jackson Hole for a whitewater trip at Charlie Sands Whitewater. The Snake River is at a historical high. It actually peaked 3 days ago, so it is extremely fast. The weather is warm - yeah. We got into a 14 man boat with our lifejackets. Man is that water COLD! 43 degrees! We made it through Class 2 and 3 rapids. The best was “Lunch Counter” which is 4 huge waves right after the other. It was followed by “Cottonwood” which is a long set of class 3 rapids, so we felt right at home again. We also saw a bald Eagle and several Ospreys. We wandered around Jackson – had our picture taken in front of the Elk Arch in honor of Patti. Next we climbed boulders at Jenny Lake. The previous climbing experiences paid off. Finally we drove into Yellowstone National Park - seeing the effects of the 1988 fire still evident. Also there is still snow on the ground and the mosquitoes are out again! Everyone is excited to sleep in a hotel at Grant Village.

July 4 Yellowstone Grant Village to Old Faithful

It's the 4th of July and here we are at Yellowstone National Park. It is the first visit for all but Roger. Yellowstone is basically one big super volcano, called a caldera. The geysers are unbelievable -- in fact a little unnerving – to realize how the earth works and can change at any time. Some are so beautiful and some so powerful. We stopped at the West Thumb of the Yellowstone Lake to see the pools there. One is so blue it looks like the Bahamas, the others are bubbling they are so hot. We are getting drawn into the world of Yellowstone’s magic. Next we drove to Old Faithful. It went off just as we walked up to welcome us to this place. We walked the pathway among the geysers and saw the many types and forms of geysers. I’ve included a few pictures to show the different types. The names are fun – Castle geyser, Grotto geyser, Grand geyser… It is fascinating. We stayed at the amazing Old Faithful Inn -- in fact we planned our entire trip around the fact that we were able to get a reservation in early October for the 4th of July -- We ate dinner in the Old Faithful Dining Room served by a guy from Clarksville TN, then went for a walk to see the geysers. Marjory really wanted to see the Grand

Geyser – its window for exploding is 3 hours. We actually got there just in time. We left there to Riverside geyser and saw it (it shoots our over the river). Thomas got to see the Beehive geyser too. We definitely got to see fireworks this year – they were just God’s fireworks.