It was FREEZING in the cabin when we woke up this morning. We crawled out of bed and dressed quickly to get in the truck to warm up. 37 degrees outside this morning. Whew! We decided to do the Tetons this morning since we had managed to see pretty much all of Yellowstone over the past four days. We left at 7 am and drove south through West Thumb in the most intense sulfur fog you can imagine. All of the valleys and roads were completely white with it. We nearly hit an elk cow that decided to walk across the road as we were coming through.
The drive through the Southern part of Yellowstone was unfortunately uneventful (no moose) but we made it to the Tetons in a little over an hour and a half. They were extraordinary. Huge and craigy and very different from the comparatively rolling Yellowstone ranges. We stopped by a Visitor Center in Colter Bay Villages, which is a massive campground with all sorts of facilities. We decided to take the park road around Jackson Lake and took some amazing photos of the mountains, the scrubby bushes, and the wildflowers.
We found the Jackson Hole airport (for tomorrow AM) and continued on to Jackson. The town was a lot more commercialized than I remembered from when I was younger, and the traffic was pretty crazy. Dad was able to fit the truck in a public parking garage (barely!) and we walked around town in search of a nice place for lunch. Dad found Local, a restaurant and bar, which had excellent food and we got to sit and relax after a long morning of driving.
After lunch we popped in and out of shops and a little while later I realized I had left my credit card and had to run back and pick it up. Located no problem. Just a slight bit of drama on the last day of the trip! We found a few souvenirs and decided to drop off our rented bear spray on the way out of town.
It took about three hours to get back to Canyon and when we walked in, the cabin was still really cold. I checked the window and found that it had been partially left open, which is probably why it was so cold this morning. Jenifer did some laundry up at the lodge while Dad ran an errand to the store, and I took a bath and packed my suitcase for the flight tomorrow afternoon. Let's all hope my suitcase takes the same flights I do this time...