A Long Trip to Grand Tetons National Park

This morning Yellowstone's south gate opened for the first time in a week.  We were free to travel directly to Grand Tetons NP.  We left around 10:00 am.  I did not pay close attention since we were just driving south, and we were on roads we'd traveled several times.  I directed George to Fishing Bridge instead of Lake Village.  Oh, no! We went the wrong direction.  We went to the east gate and not the south. We had gone 25 miles out of the way. We were fussy.  We backtracked to Fishing Bridge and turned left, heading finally south.

As we left Yellowstone, we saw fire crews parked on the sides of the road.  Smoke was in the air.
After arriving in Grand Tetons, we passed burned forests.  I have never seen blackened ground like that.


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They were able to keep a strip of unburned ground beside the highway.


We drove to Colter Bay on Jackson Lake.  We were happy to arrive and get out of the car.
I have never witnessed a huge fire like this.  It was burning on the other side of Jackson Lake.
The National Parks folks want to let fires burn out on their own, if possible.

 We picnicked beside the lake. The Tetons towered across from us.  The fire was mostly on the
right end and across.



We set out our chairs under aspens, read, and watched other folks.  Then we ventured into the lake.  The beach was all rock.  They were round specimens of white, grey, and rust.  I would love to take a bucket load home for the garden.  I skipped a few, but mostly they were too round, and I am out of practice.

Later we checked in to our cabin at Colter Bay Village.  There are 166 log cabins set up as if it's a neighborhood.  They have tin roofs, but we will not get any rain.  George napped, and I walked around the area.  There is a guest lounge one street over with ice machines and internet.  Woohoo!
That's where we are now.


This cabin is like ours, but ours doesn't have the golden shrubs in front.

Tomorrow we will explore more of Grand Tetons.  We will just see a smattering, but even going to dinner tonight, giant mountains were at the end of the street.  Beauty surrounds us.