Grand Tetons

My wife wanted to do something fun for our anniversary, and was particularly interested in finding something that I would love, so she looked up a national park we hadn't been to before, and got us an AirBNB right next to it to spend a weekend.

It was really cute, and my wife was in love from the moment we arrived. The shape, the size, the look, the decor...everything was exactly what she would have chose herself. We've had a lot of luck with AirBNB's so far. No hassle, and usually much cheaper than we could get a similar hotel.

For the first night, my wife had originally planned to head to Grand Teton National Park, and do a short hike somewhere, but after five and a half hours driving, the both of us were more interested in something simple and easy. So, instead we went into town, and looked at the shops. That's where I saw that "The Mountains Are Calling, And I Must Go" sign. For dinner,  I had a buffalo burger. Very frontiersy of me, eh?

The next morning, we went to the park.

My wife bought us both a seat on a float tour, which is a guided, non-whitewater rafting trip down the Snake river. It was a really relaxing and nice way to see the scenery, and the majesty of the scenery was breathtaking.

We also saw a great deal of wildlife while on the water as well. In this tree is a bald eagle. You have to look close, but it's there. I'd only seen bald eagles on TV before this, and we saw several. In trees, as well as swooping and diving over the river too.

We also saw a bunch of Canada geese with their babies still in tow.

And we happened upon this beautiful great blue heron.

Once we finished the float tour, it was time for a foot tour. The rangers advised us that the best hike available to us was the Jenny Lake trail, which, if you go the right way, leads you all the way to Hidden Falls.

It's interesting, considering the low water years we've been having where I live, and the out and out drought they're dealing with in California, to hear that up in Wyoming they had a particularly wet year, and rivers, creeks, and waterfalls are running full, loud, and proud.

 There was a ferry we could have taken back to the trailhead, and this sounded novel and interesting to me before we'd come, but we'd just spent the entire morning afloat, so we decided to hike it back instead. It gave us more time to look at the beautiful scenery, like this picture of Jenny Lake.

By the time we made it back, we were tired, and ready for to eat. So, we headed back into town for dinner, and spent the rest of the evening in the cabin.

The next morning was our last one there. We had a few hours before we needed to start heading back. On top of that, my wife was starting to feel ill. Instead of going on another hike, we decided to drive the scenic loop through the park. On our way to it, though, we made sure to stop at Mormon Row.

It wasn't all outhouses, but I did make sure to get a picture of that one. Where else is there an outhouse with such a beautiful view.

Mormon Row is an area in Grand Teton National Park that contains the remains of a settlement originally created by a group of Mormon pioneers. They've long since abandoned the place, but what remains of their farms continued to moulder and crumble for years. The park finally took steps to protect them, and the rustic look of the buildings combined with the amazing backdrop has made them a favorite for visitors. In fact, this barn is the T. A. Moulton barn. A website called Flixter has declared this barn to be the most photographed barn in America.

I took several pictures of it myself, and I can't remember what other barn I've ever taken a picture of, so I suppose it very possibly could be true. Oh, I did take a picture of the other barn just up the road.

That is a panorama picture I did with my phone. It's really big. You don't have to look at it all tiny like that. click on it, and I think you can see it much larger and more glorious.

On the way out of Mormon Row, I found this field of wildflowers. I don't know why but I love taking pictures of flowers. Whole fields of them is even better.

Add in the Grand Tetons as a backdrop, and you really can't go wrong.

We finally hit the scenic loop. We stopped at a couple of places, and took a few pictures, like this one of these elk we saw out grazing in a field.

And we eventually made it as far as Jackson Lake.

That was where we had to turn around though. my wife was feeling terrible, and just wanted to get underway so she could sleep, instead of stopping to get out and look at scenery every few minutes. It was a long drive back home anyway, so we got underway, and finished off our anniversary getaway.