We started our morning in Jackson at the town square. This “downtown” area has such a western feel to it: elk antler arches, western storefronts, statues of bucking horses, and stagecoach rides. You can't get much more “cowboy” than that! Emily, always on the go, wouldn't let us leave until she'd jumped the fences a few times...
...after which we hit the road and headed to Grand Teton National Park. Our day there was dampened a bit by the threat of rain, but we still found enough to do to fill our one day there. We were able to fit a quick hike in before lunch; this was a visit to the site of Mener's cabin. He started a ferry service on the river, and had somewhat of a compound there, including a general store, school, and blacksmith shop. The ferry was pretty advanced for its time, utilizing a pulley system to keep the ferry from being carried off by the current.
We chose a good time to have lunch because the rain decided to start while we ate. People were entering the restaurant drenched – we just missed the downpour. After enjoying bison burgers and elk chili, we headed out in lighter rain to drive to the top of Summit Mountain – again luck was with us, as it eased up just before we reached the top. The view cleared, and, with our binoculars we were able to find bison and elk in the valley below. (Tomorrow's lunch?!)
Afterwards, we decided to check out the view at Jackson Lodge, but didn't get far before road construction threatened to stop us. At that moment, Emily's eagle eye spotted a mother bear and two cubs at a turnoff. We were able to back up and turn in, and watched them for a little while before they ambled off into the woods. So cool! And such a good way for us to spend our time while waiting for the road to open up.
The delay wasn't too long, and we got to Jackson Lodge with 30 minutes to spend looking at the view of the meadow out back. No wildlife there, but it was pretty amazing watching the storm roll in across the mountains.
On to Yellowstone. Tomorrow's post will start there...
No comments:
Post a Comment