Grand Teton National Park

Once again we were up early and on the road just after 6:00 AM. The drive from Rigby to the Grand Tetons was so beautiful. So different from other parts of Idaho.  We got to the gates and didn't have to wait in line long at all. We were all pretty tired for our day at this park but did enjoy the beautiful views.  Our first stop was Jenny Lake.  We decided to hike to Hidden Falls and it was not a favorite hike.  It was long and hot and you just sort of felt like you were looking at the same thing the whole time.  There were very few people when we started but it got increasingly busy as we hiked on. When we were hiking back to the parking lot we could barely go a few feet without seeing another group. A few times other hikers warned us of bears but we did not see any.  The Falls were beautiful but I am not sure I would do the hike again.  I think it was around 5 miles and just felt forever long. I would definitely take the boat next time.

Not only did Sue join us at this park but we also met up with Kwon's again for lunch.  By then the Park was super crowded and we had to make a few adjustments to our meet up spots. Luckily all three of us managed to get parking spots at the Jenny Lake Overlook and had a nice visit.

After lunch we drove over to Colter Bay to enjoy a walk and then headed to the Mormon Barn.  I would have liked to have found more lakes but they all felt so crowded we chose other options.  Along the way we stopped at a few pullouts and found a beautiful spot overlooking the Snake River that shows why its called the Snake River.  The wind picked up and these clouds moved in fast! There were a few raindrops and Jared and Lydia got to experience their first prairie wind/dust storm. We were lucky and it moved through really quickly.  It was very Wyoming like.  Mormon Barn was beautiful and nicely removed from people which helped.  We also saw little gophers/prairie dogs sticking their heads out of their holes which was cute and perked Jared and Lydia up.  I really enjoyed Mormon Barn, it was nice to have wide spaces in front of the mountains and see so much of the mountain range. This park is very pretty and in such a different way then what we have in Virginia.

On our way back to Rigby we stopped in Victor Idaho to get Huckleberry Milkshakes.  Mark loves huckleberry and so wishes he could find it back East.  These shakes were good but had tons of whole huckleberries in them.  We wished there was more milkshake in them and less berries.  I believe he got huckleberry ice cream at least twice while we were on this trip so 3 times is pretty good.  We enjoyed this park, the views are stunning but it definitely felt more crowded than the other two we visited.