Jackson WY and Grand Teton National Park
Sunday, 9/14 – Yellowstone to Jackson
We left the Lake Hotel on a cold, frosty morning with Yellowstone Lake covered in fog. We stopped to see the display about forest fires in Yellowstone at the Grant Village Visitor Center, which was very informative (lodge pole pines have two different kinds of pine cones, one that opens regularly and one that only opens when temperatures reach 113 degrees – who knew?!).
The drive through Grand Teton National Park was as amazing as I had expected – the mountains and surrounding area are almost too beautiful to be real. We arrived in Jackson in time for lunch and a stroll around the local art fair in the historic district. A major highlight was having internet and cell phone access again at the motel– Arthur only had 185 e-mails, which was a bit of a relief.
Jackson turned out not to be our favorite place (even without a Dick Cheney sighting). We think it is expensive, crowded and feels a little closed in with the mountains all around. We were able to find a good Mexican restaurant for dinner within walking distance of our Elk Country Inn with the help of the internet.
Monday, 9/15 – Jackson, WY to Jackson Lake Lodge
We stopped at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson as we headed north to Grand Teton National Park. They currently have a Robert Bateman retrospective that was great, of course. All of the wildlife sculptures on permanent display were amazing, as was the building itself.
The Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center at the south end of the Park had a really cool computer animation of the geological history of the Park. We have always said that we need to be able to see what happened over billions of years to even start to understand geology, and this animation took us through all those billions of years of change. The other displays at the center were also very good. And, once again, the building itself (and its setting) is a must-see. After a late lunch at Signal Hill (only average food but outstanding views), we just missed seeing a grizzly bear cross the highway. The rangers were at the turnout with their bear spray in hand.
We love Jackson Lake Lodge – thanks to all of you who recommended our staying here. It is gorgeous and has first class wildlife viewing. We had dinner on the terrace and saw lots of elk and three moose (our first of the trip!). Spotting the animals is a real group effort, with everyone pointing them out to each other. We had so much fun that we are going to cancel our 6:45 p.m. reservations in the nice restaurant tomorrow night in order not to miss prime viewing time. In addition to the wildlife, I spotted some very good friends of my parents from my hometown. Small world.
Tuesday, 9/16 – We saw a Grizzly!
What a day this has been. We were up at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast and early morning wildlife viewing. We saw huge a huge elk herd, 3 more moose (maybe the same ones), and I saw my first white pelicans. It was cold out at that early hour – about 35 degrees. After a call about work (I had heard nothing in 6 months, but once I go on vacation….), we drove up Signal Mountain. The views of Jackson Hole were great, and we saw 5 very pretty grouse in the middle of the road and more pronghorns in the fields below us.
We spent the afternoon floating down the Snake River on a “scenic” raft trip (i.e., no white water). It was a beautiful day – warmed up to the mid 70’s – and the raft ride was wonderful. Our guide pointed out all of the major changes in the river from annual spring flooding. The only wildlife we saw were two bald eagles sitting in trees right along the river, an osprey, various ducks, and a couple of beaver lodges (but no beaver).
Upon our return to the hotel, we rested, checked e-mail (the web is very slow here because Microsoft is having a meeting and they are all on their computers constantly) and got cleaned up. We arrived at the wildlife viewing deck about 6:30 just in time to watch a huge grizzly bear making his way across the field behind the hotel. It was perfect – close enough for great viewing, but no chance of being mauled (see Arthur's picture of it on the Picassa site). I had not come here with any idea of seeing a bear, but everyone around us has been talking about it non-stop (it is a real “score” to see one). So, I had become interested in the possibility, and we got really lucky. Now we can go home. Actually, we do leave for Utah tomorrow. We decided we had seen all of Jackson that we needed to see, so instead of going back there as originally scheduled, we are heading into Utah a couple of days early.
We left the Lake Hotel on a cold, frosty morning with Yellowstone Lake covered in fog. We stopped to see the display about forest fires in Yellowstone at the Grant Village Visitor Center, which was very informative (lodge pole pines have two different kinds of pine cones, one that opens regularly and one that only opens when temperatures reach 113 degrees – who knew?!).
The drive through Grand Teton National Park was as amazing as I had expected – the mountains and surrounding area are almost too beautiful to be real. We arrived in Jackson in time for lunch and a stroll around the local art fair in the historic district. A major highlight was having internet and cell phone access again at the motel– Arthur only had 185 e-mails, which was a bit of a relief.
Jackson turned out not to be our favorite place (even without a Dick Cheney sighting). We think it is expensive, crowded and feels a little closed in with the mountains all around. We were able to find a good Mexican restaurant for dinner within walking distance of our Elk Country Inn with the help of the internet.
Monday, 9/15 – Jackson, WY to Jackson Lake Lodge
We stopped at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson as we headed north to Grand Teton National Park. They currently have a Robert Bateman retrospective that was great, of course. All of the wildlife sculptures on permanent display were amazing, as was the building itself.
The Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center at the south end of the Park had a really cool computer animation of the geological history of the Park. We have always said that we need to be able to see what happened over billions of years to even start to understand geology, and this animation took us through all those billions of years of change. The other displays at the center were also very good. And, once again, the building itself (and its setting) is a must-see. After a late lunch at Signal Hill (only average food but outstanding views), we just missed seeing a grizzly bear cross the highway. The rangers were at the turnout with their bear spray in hand.
We love Jackson Lake Lodge – thanks to all of you who recommended our staying here. It is gorgeous and has first class wildlife viewing. We had dinner on the terrace and saw lots of elk and three moose (our first of the trip!). Spotting the animals is a real group effort, with everyone pointing them out to each other. We had so much fun that we are going to cancel our 6:45 p.m. reservations in the nice restaurant tomorrow night in order not to miss prime viewing time. In addition to the wildlife, I spotted some very good friends of my parents from my hometown. Small world.
Tuesday, 9/16 – We saw a Grizzly!
What a day this has been. We were up at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast and early morning wildlife viewing. We saw huge a huge elk herd, 3 more moose (maybe the same ones), and I saw my first white pelicans. It was cold out at that early hour – about 35 degrees. After a call about work (I had heard nothing in 6 months, but once I go on vacation….), we drove up Signal Mountain. The views of Jackson Hole were great, and we saw 5 very pretty grouse in the middle of the road and more pronghorns in the fields below us.
We spent the afternoon floating down the Snake River on a “scenic” raft trip (i.e., no white water). It was a beautiful day – warmed up to the mid 70’s – and the raft ride was wonderful. Our guide pointed out all of the major changes in the river from annual spring flooding. The only wildlife we saw were two bald eagles sitting in trees right along the river, an osprey, various ducks, and a couple of beaver lodges (but no beaver).
Upon our return to the hotel, we rested, checked e-mail (the web is very slow here because Microsoft is having a meeting and they are all on their computers constantly) and got cleaned up. We arrived at the wildlife viewing deck about 6:30 just in time to watch a huge grizzly bear making his way across the field behind the hotel. It was perfect – close enough for great viewing, but no chance of being mauled (see Arthur's picture of it on the Picassa site). I had not come here with any idea of seeing a bear, but everyone around us has been talking about it non-stop (it is a real “score” to see one). So, I had become interested in the possibility, and we got really lucky. Now we can go home. Actually, we do leave for Utah tomorrow. We decided we had seen all of Jackson that we needed to see, so instead of going back there as originally scheduled, we are heading into Utah a couple of days early.
posted by arthurandjane at 8:32 PM
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