Grand Teton National Park

After Yellowstone, we packed up and headed to Jackson, Wyoming. That morning MJ had a dental emergency, but fortunately Jackson is a large enough town to have several emergency dentists, one of whom was able to see MJ as soon as we arrived. Perfect timing!

We stayed in an adorable little cabin only a short walk from the town square, and we walked there at least once every day. Jackson is really a cute little town, and we had fun browsing around the little shops, enjoying the restaurants and good weather. We visited the Jackson Hole Historical Society, where the kids completed a scavenger hunt to win prizes.

On all 4 corners of the square, there are massive arches made of elk antlers. There are more than 2,000 antlers in each arch! Each spring when the elk shed their antlers, the local Scouts collect them from the local elk refuge, because every 30-40 years the antlers start degrading and the arches need to be rebuilt.

Every evening in Jackson at 6 pm, there's a "cowboy shootout" in the square, and two of our three nights, we watched it. (The kids lobbied hard to watch it the third night as well, but MJ and I drew the line.) It's silly and slapstick, but the kids loved it.

Bright and early our first morning, we headed to Grand Teton National Park. We'd had amazing views of the peaks on our drive from Yellowstone, but we were excited to see them up close and get hiking. After stopping at the Visitors' Center, we headed to Jenny Lake and took a boat across. We hiked around the far shore a bit before hiking back around the lake to our car. I couldn't get enough of the gorgeous scenery! We had beautiful weather, and the hike was moderately strenuous -- just enough to tire the kids out.

We wrapped up our day by riding the Cowboy Coaster. MJ opted to skip it, but all three kids were eager to ride. I rode twice: once with Little Man and once with Sweet Pea (CC wanted to ride by herself). It was fun! We could brake to slow down, but otherwise gravity took us pretty fast down the rails. And we had beautiful views on our way down!

We started our second day with a whitewater rafting trip on the Snake River. We donned wetsuits and life vests, and shared a big raft with two other families and our guide, Vlad. It was Class II and III rapids, so they were exciting without being too scary. Within minutes we were completely drenched, and a few big drops had us all screaming! Sweet Pea and I even took a dip in the frigid 65-degree water.

Whitewater rafting was really awesome. Sweet Pea even said it was her favorite activity of the entire trip. We saw several bald eagles! We were all smiling and laughing the entire time -- what a great memory.

That afternoon we allowed the kids to pick what activity to do, and they chose to ride the gondola and tram at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. We couldn't believe the views! The tram rode so high and so far that I was nervous, but the views from the summit couldn't be beat. We rode (smaller) gondolas as well, and spent a very pleasant afternoon.

Kid souvenirs from Jackson:

- CC: a pink bandana
- Sweet Pea: a miniature snow globe of an antler arch and the Tetons
- Little Man: a deck of cards with pictures of Grant Teton National Park

Our last activity in Jackson was attending a rodeo. It was exciting and impressive and quite the little glimpse of rural America! We saw bronc busting, bull riding, team roping, and barrel racing. There were even children as young as 5 participating! Our kids were most impressed by a 9-year-old girl who competed in barrel racing, and took second place against adults. MJ voted the rodeo to be his favorite activity of the entire trip.

The next morning, we packed up and headed to the airport. It's located right at the base of the Tetons, and is absolutely the most beautiful airport I've ever seen. Unfortunately there is no restaurant or bar at the airport (!!) which made us regret our decision to arrive early to have breakfast. But now we're home, and we've survived our first BIG family trip!