Before I tackle today I thought I'd wrap up last night a little bit. The Signal Mountain Lodge has free WiFi so I was able to get down there and update some pictures. (To see things in the intended order, you can click on the date on the Archive on the right of the page and then start reading posts from the bottom up. Not that the order really matters...) Anyway, I got wrapped up in what I was doing and before I knew it I looked up and it was dark. And I still had to walk back to camp. Alone. No flashlight. No bear spray. Did I mention it was dark. I procrastinated for another hour or two, a part of me hoping that maybe Tom would come up and get me. Finally, I thought I had mustered enough courage to make the walk back to the tent. Not quite. I made it to the top of the hill, heard a rustle in the woods, and beelined back to the van. Drove the van to the campsite, woke up Tom, brought him (and flashlight and bear spray) back to park the van, and then walked back to the tent together. I haven't been that afraid of the dark in a LONG time.
Now on to today. A little bit of a slower start than I was thinking for the morning but we still beat most of the crowds to Jenny Lake (as evidenced by the overflowing parking lot when we left.) We took the boat across to do the Hidden Falls hike (with a slim hope of heading up to Inspiration Point. The kids did pretty well up to Hidden Falls - Sophie did have a meltdown when trying to pee off trail because the grass was poking her - but it was clear that was going to be our final destination for the day. It was a great hike though; the river was flowing and cascading over rocks for the majority of our time on the path so whenever we took a break for the kids, we had the sound of crashing water to help soothe our fraying nerves (they do say that it's a natural relaxant). After a few pics at Hidden Falls, it was back down the trail to boat for the ride back across the lake. Now it was Max's turn to throw a bit of a fit. I was thinking at the time it was just because he was tired and hungry, but I did see where his sock must have fallen down because back at the camper I noticed that the back of his foot was rubbed raw.
After hot dogs for lunch back at the camper, the kids were eager to get down to the lake for some swimming. Unfortunately, the weather had shifted a bit and the wind had picked up so it was a bit cool down at the water. Tom did swim for a few minutes and Sophie got all the way in for a few seconds. Max didn't last long at all and was already wrapped in a towel sitting on the rocky shore by the time I made it down to the lake. Quick turnaround for me and then back up to the camper to get dressed for the evening activities: a covered wagon ride and dinner.
Before heading out on the trail, we did a little souvenir shopping at the gift shop right next to our campground. (There are a lot of facilities right here; in addition to the gift shop and lodge with internet, there is a gas station/convenience store, bar, and a restaurant that Mike had breakfast at this morning. He was quite pleased, especially since they had seedless blackberry preserves.) Shopping complete, we headed out to Grand Teton Covered Wagon Cookout (or something like that) run by Castagno Outfitters. The only Chuckwagon Dinner out of town, this one was the right fit for us because it also featured a shorter ride and an earlier dinner time. We comprised almost half of the group going out on this tour (13 total) and I thought it was well worth the time and money. Max did fall asleep right before we got there (4:30 in the car for him is a dangerous time) but he woke up early in the ride and wasn't crabby (added bonus). The pair of Percheron crosses pulled our red wagon up a little trail that provided us with a view of the Teton range in front or across a little valley and the Snake River to the side. The abundant sage added a wonderful color while the little stands of quaking aspens provided the soothing sound. Trixie and Dixie (our horse team) provided the smells - less appealing but still part of the experience.
After a short ride we arrived at the dinner spot, a tent covered picnic table area with our singing cowboy and cheerful cook (and a porta-potty - important piece of equipment). As soon as we arrived, we were able to help ourselves to water and lemonade, our cowboy entertainer pulled out his guitar and started singing, and our cook took steak orders. I think we were all a little skeptical about the meal quality but I was pleasantly surprised. Though not usually a ribeye fan, my steak was cooked to medium, seasoned well, and had good texture. The meal was rounded out with baked beans, baked potatoes, corn bread, and a brownie. It just dawned on me that there was supposed to be watermelon too, not sure what happened there. The other reason that this chuckwagon dinner worked for us was because it was the only one that offered a hot dog meal for kids.
Though shy at first, Sophie really started to get into the music as the meal went on. She was excited from the moment she saw him pull out his guitar but for some reason started to be really shy when we'd try to talk to her about the music. By the end, she was joining in on a line or two with Jackson (Johnny Cash) and was dancing with Papa to the Boot Scootin' Boogie. Maxton really enjoyed the ride but was done with the music and kept asking after each song "Can we go NOW?" He was really excited to get out of there and enjoyed the ride back to the car.
No animal sightings on the ride home, but Sophie did see a fox again in the campground, this time on the way back up to the camper from the beach. I was close enough to her to see it too, but everyone else missed it. It was a late arrival back here and now the rain decided to finally fall so it's time to wind it down for the evening and get ready for another fun day tomorrow.
The general/possible outline for tomorrow:
Mormon Row for barn pics and bison viewing
Aerial Tram from Teton Village
Time in Jackson
It doesn't look like Sophie is going to be a Junior Ranger for the Grand Tetons. We got off to a slow start the first day and now she doesn't seem to have much interest in it. We'll see how it's going tomorrow and see what happens.
