We left Yellowstone on Wednesday morning. We were kind of happy to get away from all of the people! We headed south out of the park which ran right into Grand Teton National Park. After entering, we soon saw why people love the park so much. The mountains were gorgeous!! We were mesmerized by them! Stunning. We drove through the park and and pulled off at a few look out spots. We headed towards Jackson Lake where we were camping for the night. The lake was huge and beautiful. We had an amazing view of the mountains at the lake. We stopped for lunch at one of the lodges and enjoyed an amazing meal. We found our spot and tried to figure out what to do with our day. We decided to drive to two different horse riding stations to set a a horse back ride, but they were booked four days out! We then stopped by a little store and had some icecream and looked at a map some more. We then saw that the lake we were staying at rented out kayaks. This made us so happy!!! We knew they did boat rentals but not kayaks. We headed back to the lake and rented two kayaks. We kayaked to an island on the middle of the lake and had a stellar view of the mountains. We floated and gazed at the amazing scenery around us. It was so much fun and so beautiful. We were on the lake for two hours. It also turned out to be a lot cheaper than what we were planning on, so that was a plus:)
After kayaking, we headed back to our campsite. I received a text message from a colleague of mine that lives in the Tetons for the summer. She invited us out for drinks. We accepted the invited and headed a few miles down the main road for some drinks and great company. Susanna and her husband Greg are really amazing people! We could have talked with them all night. Susanna is the art teacher at Central Park and she really helped me get through my first year of teaching by being a great listener and a great friend. We had drinks on the patio of the bar and enjoyed watching the sun set on the mountains. A really great view. We made plans to meet for dinner the next day and then were on our way back to camp for some sleep.
The next morning, we set out towards our new campsite at the south end of the park. On the way, we took the scenic drive of Jenny Lake. It was very beautiful and right up against the mountains. It was a lovely drive. We then got to the new campsite and set up our reservation. We then planned our next two days. We booked a white water rafting trip for Friday and then decided to do some hiking and go to Jackson on this particular day. We headed to the trail head for Taggart lake and started our 4.5 mile hike. We hike by some beautiful streams and flowers. We got to the lake and enjoyed the view and then headed back down. It looks like it was going to rain so we headed back quick to try and make sure we would not get caught in rain. We did not:) We then changed our clothes and headed to Jackson. We found some parking, which was tough and then walked around the town. They have so many amazing shops there! We did a little shopping and walking around and then decided to pop into a brewery for some happy hour beers! It was the weirdest place. It was a Thai food restaraunt that then started brewing beer also. We had a few great beers why watching subtitled kung fu on the tvs and listening to old rap. Weird stuff! We had a great time there! Then we met up with Susanna and Greg for dinner. We picked Snake River Brewery for dinner - surprise surprise! We enjoyed a beer and some trout cakes why waiting for them. We then had a great dinner and even better conversation. What a wonderful time it was! We said our "see you in Augusts" and we headed back to our campsite for the night. Thanks for the amazing company in a truly amazing place Susanna and Greg!
The final morning in the Tetons, we had to wake up very early to get out to the rafting place. We had an 8:30 time slot and we wanted to get the early to get everything signed and ready. We stopped for coffee on the way :) this was a treat. We got to Jackson Hole White Water Rafting Company and then got on the bus! They bussed us about 30 minutes to the launch spot. The bus driver was a riot! You could tell he really loved his job. He told us stories and gave us snip it's of information about the area. We got to the launch site, got our gear, met our guide and then headed out! It was so much fun! Nothing too crazy, but just enough to give you a little rush. The Snake River was beutiful as well as the views around it. We went down the river for eight miles hitting several different rapids. We had an absolutely amazing guide named Tristan that was sociable and funny. We had a great time talking with him while he lead us down the river. After it was all over, we headed back to the bus and back to the main store. We then decided we were hungry.
We had lunch at a tavern in Jackson and had another great meal. We then walked around to the areas of the town we had not been to yet and shopped a little bit more. Then we headed back to our campground to catch a nap. We were both tired from a terrible nights sleep and rafting in the morning. We snuggled up with our books and then snoozed for a bit. We awoke to the sound of thunder. A big thunder storm was rolling in. This was fine with us. We had not gotten rained on the whole time we have been away! We have been lucky. We sat in the van, read a little and really enjoyed the thunder and rain. A lazy evening :)
Tomorrow we head out. Our adventure is coming to an end. It is a very bitter sweet feeling.
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