Day 50 - Grand Teton National Park

Friday, July 29, 2016

Posted from: West Yellowstone, MT

Miles driven: 227

Total trip miles: 8,776

Driving down to Grand Teton National Park is on the agenda today. 

We started out early as it takes about two hours to drive through Yellowstone and arrive at the visitor center through the north entrance. 

We didn't stop and take this picture yesterday, so we stopped this morning. (Grace was braiding her hair in the car and hadn't finished yet, so she had to keep hold of her braid.)

The cool air of the early morning.

We decided to stop and turn in our Junior Ranger booklets at the Old Faithful visitor center. It had just opened and no one was there yet. #rockstarparking

This was the only park that required us to pay $3 for each kid to earn their badge. But they received a patch and a wooden 100th anniversary badge. Very cool! (Ignore the creepy guy in the background...it wasn't that cold.)

Grand Teton [I feel like I should note that Teton means nipple in French.]

We rounded the corner and expected to see the majestic mountains, but we saw this instead. A forest fire started by lightening on Monday. It had grown quite large at this point. They were not advising a lot of hiking or strenuous activity. The smell got pretty overwhelming as we drove closer. 

We stopped at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center to walk around and attend a ranger program. We were closer to the mountains now, so we could see them much better. 

The ranger program was about the type of rock in the park and how the mountains developed. It sounds like a dry topic, but the ranger did a great job using visuals and demonstrations. We were glad we attended this program. 

The kids finished their booklets and earned their Junior Ranger badges. 

The lake was peaceful and clear.

Us! (And another lady...hello Lady.)

This is what that picture would look like without us and Lady. 

We began the long drive back home to the campground. We stopped in town to pick up some groceries and cooked a great dinner and enjoyed a campfire. Oh! And I made homemade salsa! The grocery store had good tomatoes. They were the first we had this trip! It was a very relaxing evening.