Day 17- Grand Teton National Park

Entering Grant Teton National Park

It may be the mattress I'll be sleeping on tonight.  It may be the nice, long, hot shower I've had.  It may be that I don't have to set up and take down a tent.  Whatever the reason Jackson, WY is just awesome!  The scenery of the Mountains as we drove in from Yellowstone was phenomenal! The views were just breathtaking.  I took a short video as we were driving but I haven't figured out how to download it!  We stopped at the Moose Junction Visitor and Education center on the way to Jackson.  There the boys both got their assignments for earning another Junior Ranger Badge.  Duncan also picked out two books on how to draw wildlife.  To date, he has drawn a wolf and a bison- both very impressive drawings! The visitor centers int he park are just great because they have so much for the kids to do.  There are antlers that they can pick up and hold and touch and guess what animal they belong to. There are pelts that they can compare (bison,elk,pronghorn, bighorn sheep) and (bobcat, mountain lion, wolf, coyote). While we were there we watched a movie called National Geographic's On The Edge: Grand Teton National Park. It talked about how the Tetons were formed through volcanic activity.  There are actually over 100 seismic occurrences that are recorded every day in the Tetons! The movie also talked about the cold, harsh winters that the wildlife endures.  Most people equate Yellowstone with lots of wildlife but the Tetons are loaded as well!  On our way through the park we had an entire group of buffalo ( maybe 20) cross the street in front of us.  I was able to capture a lot of it on camera.  I didn't know whether to look at the buffalo or the scenery!

Momma bison and two young ones crossing in front of our car.

There they go into the field.  Check out that scenery!

Finally we arrived in Jackson.  You can tell it is a high tourist destination but it is a great town with lots of little shops to explore with enough "cowboy" mixed in to get the western feel.  Thanks to a tip from one of my colleagues, we happened to be at the Town Square just as "a shootout" took place!  Duncan wanted to know how the guns made the noise but no bullets were shot.  He has become even more enthralled with guns on this trip. Douglas couldn't take his eyes off the entire show but at the end did NOT want his picture taken with the cowboys.

The boys under an arch of antlers in Jackson Town Square.

We checked in at Barker-Ewing Rafter Trips for our trip tomorrow.  She gave the boys an idea of what to expect clothing wise and then we were off.  Another of my colleagues has a son who is a river raft guide for Barker Ewing in the Tetons.  We are hoping we have him for a guide tomorrow but we'll see! From there we walked to the Snake River Brew Pub for dinner.  Len and I have been trying all of the different beers that are brewed in the Parks.  So far we have tried Moose Drool, Bitch Creek, Howling Wolf, and Sweetgrass.  Our favorite is Moose Drool.
So now we are back in our cabin.  The kids are driving us crazy.  They are in their beds laughing hysterically about who knows what. Settling down for bed has not been their strong suit! We are meeting my parents in a few days at Arches National Park.  I hope they are ready.  We've already told the kids they are more than welcome to sleep in the RV with them !:-)