Grand Teton National Park

Ahh! The Beauty of the rugged Grand Teton mountain range!!
It is so beautiful, it is truly one of my favorite places!!

...and here's Jackson Lake at the base of the Tetons.
We stayed at Jackson Lake Lodge in one of their "Cottages"

They weren't too bad...however, not really what I would call a "cottage"...they had no phones and no TV though...and that was heaven!!

And here's the view out behind the lodge..

Here's a picture of my dad pointing out where the wild things are...only this time he wasn't pointing at us...
Every night we'd go out and look at all of the wildlife...there were lots of Elk, but this moose was our favorite!!!...We decided to get a closer look..


...just kidding...this is a stuffed one...didn't you pay attention to my warnings earlier about NOT approaching the wildlife?
Do you think that I want to get gored?!?

My parents drove up and met us here ...I just love this picture of them...It was so fun to have them there with us!

(Doesn't my mom have a cute butt? :) )

With all of the beauty outside of the lodge, it was hard to believe what we saw inside of the lodge...They were all watching movies on their laptops...seriously people get some help...good honk...you are obviously ill....not even LANCE opened his laptop here!!!

One night we went to a chuck wagon BBQ buffet for dinner there at the lodge...my dad got pooped on by a bird,so naturally, after we finished dinner we had to go shopping for him to buy a new shirt...yes, he brought more...he just didn't want to wear them yet...See where I get it from Lance?...it's not my fault...


Wyatt's such a poser...
Chase is off chasing birds...

...and here we are having one of our MANY post-dinner pine cone fights.
I'm not going to lie to ya...those suckers hurt....


Next we went to Jenny Lake..also at the base of the Tetons.

Here we caught the ferry that took us across the lake to the trailhead to Hidden Falls

....and off we go on our hike!

My good little hikers...actually this is one of the few times Wyatt wasn't bawling for his daddy to carry him...

Stopping for a picture on the bridge on the way up to the falls
first glimpse of Hidden Falls
...and, NOT so Hidden Falls
Hooray!! We made it!
group photo...
..and time for snacks...and bribery treats Grandma promised the kids if they'd hike the whole way without making daddy carry them! :)

li'l trooper...

View of the summit...


It would have been nice to hike higher, but I swear I already had altitude sickness...seriously, when you've lived at sea level, or 500 ft. for the past 14 years...8,000 ft. is WAY up there!!!...oh yeah, and I'm out of shape....but altitude sickness sounds cooler....
Chase, our little artist, took a few minutes to sketch the falls...

On the hike back, Lance ran up ahead and jumped out from behind a tree growling like a bear in hopes of scaring me and my mom...but he jumped out too early and scared the crap out of some innocent, non-suspecting lady passing by...my mom and I thought it was pretty darn funny!...the lady didn't...I think she peed a little.

None-the-less, everyone made it back safe and sound...no one was mauled by bears...so that's good.

After all of that hiking, it was time for some ice cream at Teton Village.

This is what the early American Indians woke up to every morning...

...probably something like this too...all wanting to eat...

They probably woke up to this too...the white man wanting something.... like, maybe his horses back... :)

Later we stopped at one of the visitor centers...they had some hands-on exhibits...
Here's what we'd look like with horns...in case you were wondering...

Lauren looks like one of those alien's on Star Wars...
...and here's "the jaw-bone of an ass..."
Lance said it, not me...

So, there ya have it...our many adventures in the Tetons...Next up....Jackson Hole!

Summer Vacay Wrap-up: Vol. 1 of ....many...

Well....here it comes...ready or not!

What we've been up to for the past month or so....

I'm doing this a little out of order, but who cares right?...it was all in the same month...Here's our trip to Yellowstone! I haven't been there for probably 20 years, We decided it was time to take the kids up there.


Upon entering the park through the West Entrance, we were handed this:

I thought it was kind of funny...also, I just don't get it...do you really need to tell people NOT to approach the wild animals? REALLY??? Apparently so, or they wouldn't be handing out these flyers.
My son Chase is a worrier...I swear the kid will have an ulcer any day now...this really concerned him....esp. when minutes later, we saw this...

Instantly Chase was yelling, "DAD!!! Roll up your window Dad!!!"

"Hurry Dad!!! It's getting closer!!!...ROLL UP YOUR WINDOW!!! We are going to be GORED!!!"

By the time the Buffalo had gotten this far, Chase had passed out from cardiac arrest...I guess my reassuring words, "Chase, he won't gore us through the car...he'll just tip it over and roll us down the hill", didn't help him settle down like I thought they would.


Next, we pulled off to see this bubbling baby...The kids were fine with this until I told them that the reason it was bubbling is because of it's boiling hot water, and if they fall in, they'll scald to death and all of their flesh will fall off....well, it's true.
They didn't want to get anywhere near the next one......babies.

Next stop...Great Geyser Basin
By now my kids are thinking--our parents are trying to kill us! We won't leave this park alive! We'll either be gored, boiled, or suffocated from inhaling toxic fumes!!!


Yep...it stinks....just like rotten eggs...I almost threw up.
I love this picture of Wyatt plugging not only his own nose, but his dad's as well...Somebody has to save dad!


This was our favorite "stink-pot"
It's called the Dragon's cave...and that's exactly what it looked and sounded like!

Next up, Mammoth Hot Springs


The last time I was here, it was a lot...wetter, and more colorful...guess it's drying up.
This is where we were supposed to stay our first night...but they canceled our reservation for some reason, although I had just talked to them a couple of hours before confirming it....everyone's willing to TAKE reservations, It's the HOLDING they have a problem with.....They were nice at the hotel there though and found us another room at another hotel...their treat!! :)

Here we are posing in front of one of the many beautiful rivers and waterfalls we saw....what did I tell my children to keep them safe around the rivers and waterfalls? If you fall in you'll break all your bones on the rocks at the bottom, then you'll drown, then somewhere downstream a grizzly bear will eat your remains....I am just honest with them.

It is so beautiful up there. I would love to have a summer cabin there...sans the gorings, boilings, suffocatings and getting torn to pieces by grizzlies....really pretty though...and perfect weather


Here is the original entrance to the park that was dedicated by Teddy Roosevelt in 18-something, thus it is called the Roosevelt Archway...at the North Entrance

More wildlife

This guy looks like he wants to gore us.....we will not approach him.


...And last but not least....Here we are at "Old Faithful" waiting for it to go off...just us...

...and the 500.000 other people that came to watch boiling water come shooting out of the ground...


Here it goes!

"Hurry kids! Turn around before the wind changes and it scalds you!"

This got the attention of those standing around us...
After it was over, I said,
"WOW! it's a good thing we got to see it in the day...the rangers turn it off at night..."

This also got the attention of others around us....seriously people....


To end our Yellowstone travels, I bought this book.I could see by the title that it was just my kind of book. I read from it every night to my kids as they were falling asleep...they didn't sleep well though...weird...
It really is a very interesting book...all about people who didn't obey the rules and ended up falling into the hot-pots, getting all of their skin scalded off (told ya..), and people that got mauled by Grizzlies, and gored by Buffalo (Like I said, I'm just honest)...I highly recommend it!

All in all it is a beautiful place, and we made lots of fun memories to add to our many others!

Next up. The Grand Tetons!!!