The Carleton Tales: Grand Teton National Park

Continuation of my Bryce trip.

We left Bryce yesterday, and drove 9 and a half hours to Jackson, Wyoming, right outside of the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone.

Shortly after arriving, we had dinner with one of the couples my dad married, who was on their honeymoon/ 20 year anniversary. We had an excellent dinner, and walk around town with truffles afterwards to boot! Then we said our goodbyes and parted ways, which made me very sad because I enjoy their company quite a bit!

We went back to our hotel, and then prepared for the morning (today).

We got up bright and early at 8am, and then got ready and had breakfast at a local restaurant known as Cafe Genevieve, where we ate fabulous food. Then, we drove up to the Grand Teton National Park. We were a little worried about the heavy cloud cover, but it slowly dissipated over the day.

Once we arrived, we explored the main Visitor's Center. Here I learned that "Grand Teton" is French for great tits. The entire day, I walked around telling my dad, hey, look at the tits!

After this hysteria/stupidity, we showed our multi-park pass and drove on to Jenny Lake for a boat tour. We pulled into the Jenny Lake Visitor's Center around 11:55, and found out that there was a tour at 12:15, so we raced to the dock like bats out of hell. We arrived in the nick of time, got onboard, and left.

Our tour was excellent to say the least. Our navigator was very informative and engaging. He loved what he did, which helped him come across as real to our group. He showed us the damns, the Tetons, and explained to us the difference between Jackson and Jackson Hole. The hour flew by so quickly.

Then, we went back to shore and continued to drive around for an hour and a half. During this drive, we decided to count the licenses plates of different states (we ended up seeing 28, in three hours).

Finally, we drove to the Teton Village, where we boarded a gondola (we were too cheap to pay for the tram), up to the top of a mountain, about 3,000 ft higher than where we were. Once at the top, we ate dinner at a nice little restaurant before heading back down and going home.

As I sit here writing this, at 11:50 am, I am struck by sadness because I know that my trip is halfway over and that I only have six days more with my father before I leave for three months. Before I get too sad, I should go to bed, we have a long day tomorrow, and Yellowstone!

Anyways, have some pictures: