Very Grand Tetons

If Yellowstone stood out for its unique landscape and natural features, Grand Teton National Park and nearby Jackson Hole, WY stood out for their beauty. The tall, jagged, snowcapped peaks of the Grand Tetons are visible no matter where you go. The clear blue glacial lakes at the mountains' base are calm and serene. And the town of Jackson Hole, although definitely tourist-centered, was quaint and packed with charm.

After driving into the park and taking our obligatory road side pictures, we stopped by a park visitor's center to get our bearings of the park and then head to our lodging for the remainder of the week. We stayed in a ski-lodge style house in a ranch theme resort with a view of the mountains. It was a great place to set up my new hammock and even made waking up early to complete classwork bearable :) We spent our first full day in the park hiking from Jenny Lake to the popular Inspiration Point overlook. We walked the 2mi around the lake instead of taking the park ferry, which was a great choice. We had the chance to rest and take in the view on some overhanging rocks without any company. We walked through fields of wildflowers, took a detour to a waterfall, and even got to watch some climbers beginning their trek to summit the Grand Teton. Inspiration Point itself was pretty crowded, but the view was well spectacular.

Animals.

The views in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons are pretty great, but one of the most exciting parts of the trip was animal spotting!  We'd look out the windows with determination, and someone would scream as soon as they got a glimpse of an animal. Like some type of military drill, my dad would pull the car over immediately and we'd all sprint out, cameras at ready. We drove around for hours, and hiked for even longer to catch a glimpse of some of the animals native to the American West. Not surprisingly, most of our "big" animal sightings came when we least expect it. Here is our animal spotting checklist.

Buffalo.

Our first buffalo sighting was pretty spectacular. We were walking to the Morning Glory pool, about a mile from Old Faithful, when I spotted a buffalo in the river. Or, to be more specific, spotted tourists spotting a buffalo in the river :) He stepped out of the water and walked right through the crowd of spectators, completely un-phased. Chris might have gotten  little to close, but that's a different story. 

Yellowstone.

Wyoming is beautiful.

I've been up and down the East Coast, up and down the West Coast, and through some of the Southwest, but I haven't been anywhere like Wyoming. It's the type of beautiful has you still staring out the windows 3 hours into a 5 hour car ride. Just rolling hills, mountains, green, and tons of space. We flew into Billings, MT, and drove five hours to the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Even though we were admiring the beauty three hours into the ride, by hour five we were very much ready to get out of the car.

I'd heard about Yellowstone, seen pictures of Yellowstone, but actually setting foot in Yellowstone is something else entirely. It's millions of acres of (mostly) untouched land - something you don't get to see every day in our country. On top of all of the natural beauty, many of the buildings were built in the mid-19th century, and are a sight in their own right. We stayed at the Yellowstone Inn on Yellowstone lake for two days - spending our mornings sitting in rocking chairs overlooking the lake, our days exploring the park and our evenings drinking red wine while working on jigsaw puzzles. Yes, jigsaw puzzles :)