Day 10 ~ Grand Teton

Day 10 ~ Grand Teton National Park

No water or showers at Gros Ventre campground…..and we had to tote water to the campsite.  But the flora and fauna was worth it.  Well, to Mike and I anyway.  Harrison has expressed many times to us over the last few days that he doesn’t like camping.  Who knew?  He is always so expressive!  At least our grumbling teenager is polite!  Mostly he reads his Kindle while we gaze awestruck at the amazing scenery.  His surrogate Grandmother, Anita, threw him a line a couple of campgrounds back and gave him a password for his Kindle to get all kinds of reading material. He is looking forward to the last night of our journey, where we stay in a hotel in Kansas City.   Natalie on the other hand, is in her element.  We have always called her Nature Girl. 

The first night we drove the main road along the Grand Tetons to get the lay of the land.  This area is so spectacular.  Really.  I know I keep saying this, but words just can’t do it justice.  See my pictures: 

Sunset Over Jenny Lake

 

 

We also found a little Catholic church made out of logs!

 

In the morning during breakfast, a moose ran through the campground.  Later a deer ran through too.  That doesn't happen at a KOA!

Without Wifi, I couldn’t check the trails my nephew had told us to hike.  Ugh! So my plan was just to take the first one.  Whoops!  We missed the turn off for Phelps Lake, so we took the second one at Taggert Lake.  I think this was the most beautiful trail we have ever hiked.  It made Turkey Run State Park in Indiana look like peanuts.   

I love these Paper Birch Trees.  They are my favorite tree.

 

Very Cool Bridge

Breath Taking

Taggert Lake
 

We also drove up Signal Mountain.  Now this really was the biggest mountain we have ever been up.  It was  gorgeous, blue sky-mountains and wild flowers kind of thing. Captivating.

Very, Very High Elevation

 

I can't remember the actual name of this mountain peak.....But we dubbed it: Mount Crumpet.  You know the one the Grinch took his pack to the tippy-top to dump-it!  I swear Dr. Seuss was looking at this peak when he drew the mountain for The Grinch!  And we all shouted "Mount Crumpet!" at the same time, so you know it is true!

The campground paper said there were showers in Coulter Village.  So we had packed all our shower stuff to end our day with a shower 37 miles north of our campground.  Wowzers!  14.00 for showers! Mike laughed at me when I came out of the shower with my hair fluffed up.  We had been looking like stray dogs all day.  I am pretty much a two times a day shower girl, so the filth was pretty hard on me. 

 

There was a general store here.  I bought Mike a hat just like the one I had given him for Father’s Day a few years ago.  I washed it last month because it was filthy…….and well……it usually isn’t good to wash a hat with a brim in the washing machine.  It was a special hat from Duluth Trading….so it was a great find to get the same hat again.  I also mailed a postcard to Aunt Cyndi and Uncle Brian.  I imagine she is poking pins in a map following our journey as she receives each postcard.

We journeyed back to the campground, and I took inventory of what food we had left so we could get groceries tomorrow in Helena, MT on our way to Glacier.  I also made beans, rice, chicken, and cheese casserole.  I doubled it so we would have some lunch for tomorrow.  We scooped the leftovers into baggies.  We have been doing this for our lunches to save on dishes while we are out seeing the sights after we ran out of sandwich fixings.  Usually, we have made a chip dip out of blackbeans, tomatoes, canned chicken, corn, and avocado.  It is delicious.  Except, Harrison doesn’t like eating out of a baggie.  He said it is weird and unusual.  Well, in six weeks, it will be weird and unusual to eat off a plate for lunch.  Ha ha ha.  

The weather had been glorious all day, and we finally felt like we were on the upswing weather-wise.  We almost even took down the tarp over the camper in order to be ready faster in the morning for our long drive to Glacier National Park.  Alas, a storm blew up.  We experienced terrible winds that whipped the camper around.  It ripped the tarp out of the ground.  So Mike spent most of the storm outside trying to keep everything from blowing over or tipping over.  So much for the 14.00 shower.  LOL.   

We were in bed by 10:00 because we plan to get up at 5:00AM to get a head start on our big drive to Glacier.