When we realized we were going to be doing Yellowstone, I insisted that we spend at least a little time at Grand Teton National park. I've driven by/through it many times and have never been. And neither had Spencer!! It's gorgeous! I wanted to check it out, though I knew our time was really limited.
We stayed at Flagg Ranch the night before, so we were within a half hour of the entrance. It looked a little gray in the sky that morning but the Internet was not even an option so I couldn't check the weather. Regardless, we were going!
Again, we had to stop and take a picture...
And then high-tailed it for the Visitor's Center so my kids could get their Junior Ranger stuff. We only had a few hours for them to get this one done and they were focused and ready.
At the Visitor's Center we listened to a ranger program. Seeing a moose sounds amazing, but we figured it wasn't likely. And no, we really didn't see anything cool there. After the Visitor's Center we packed a few Rich kids into the motorhome for the drive to Jenny Lake, where we were spending our only time in the park. The kids feverishly worked on their requirements and almost all of them finished before we got there.
We quickly made lunch, they found sagebrush (they had to smell it as a requirement), and we headed to get them sworn in as Junior Rangers. These patches were pretty cool too! What a fun thing for the kids.
These two looked like twins all day. Exactly one week apart in age.
We headed off for the Jenny Lake ferry later than we had wanted to, and I kicked myself the rest of the day. Perhaps the boat ride was the most fun part for the kids...because the looks of joy on their faces were just the best. We got across and ate quickly, then started hiking up. It was further than any of us had realized and we were suddenly headed for Inspiration Point instead of Hidden Falls (we never did get to see the Falls because it was rainy when we came down - sad). The sprinkles got harder and harder, and when we were left with one last set of switchbacks we decided to call it good and head down before the rain got harder. I was bummed we didn't quite make it, but it WAS gorgeous even where we were, and Sadie fell asleep so that was a huge bonus.
We headed down, which is hard with a baby attached to my front - a SLEEPING baby at that, and there were parts that were slippery. We lost track of Steve and Melissa (come to find out later that Daniel had needed to go potty) but we kept going with the 3 of their kids we had. We got to the boat dock, all a little wet, and hopped on to a boat. We even saved seats for them, and they came around the corner just in time, but the boat driver said no! We pulled away and I felt horrible to leave them standing there in the rain. And it was raining pretty hard by this point.
In Jackson We did a 1-for-1 swap - we took Jacob and they took Tyler. I think Jacob got the better deal because we had sleepers and our motorhome was quiet.
Emma and Jacob had the best time!! They did rainbow loom for a while, had great conversation, and ate lots of chocolate that I had found in the freezer. Steve and Melissa went another prettier way (too rough for the motorhome) and I guess MaryJane cried a lot. :( So we decided to meet them back in Salt Lake. We missed our turnoff and ended up driving through western Wyoming, even though we had wanted to cut through Idaho. We stopped for dinner (Wendy's) in Evanston and made it to Salt Lake around 9:00. Steve and Melissa ate at a Costco in Pocatello and made it back about 20 minutes after us.
We stayed at Steve and Melissa's (in a bed! Heaven!) and it was awesome because Steve and Belinda were also there. The kids had such a PAR-TAY and were up until 11:30. We finally had to get stern with them because DUH that is not like Tyler at all and I knew he would be grumpy and tired from staying up so late. But that cousin time was priceless. The adults were up til 12:30 and then I got my second wind and couldn't sleep until 3 a.m.
Spencer and Steve took the motorhome in the next morning and it was a long, crazy story but they figured out how to make the generator work without spending a dime. I love decent, honest mechanics who will help you out without ripping you off. What a blessing. After checking out Joe and Kathy's new gorgeous house, we all drove to Temple Square to meet up with Matt and Mary and have lunch. We had 14 of the cousins there and they had such a ball. And what better place? It was great.
We said bye to everyone (I think Emma and Jacob had the hardest time), then made a quick visit to the visitor's center to see the Christus...
...then we were back to the motorhome and on our way to Bryce Canyon. We wanted to stop at BYU but were short on time so Emma said going to Walmart in Orem was ok and she was able to buy a (cheaper) BYU shirt there. :) Win-win. We saw the new Payson temple and suddenly were in the middle of nowhere on our way to Bryce. And the WIPED out kids? This is what they did on the drive. (ALL of them took a nap)
We got this picture so we wouldn't have to worry about it the next day...
1 comment:
Such a fun trip and great memories.
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