Journey to Jackson Hole

Friday, August 1, the three of us headed up with Joe and Carmen to visit Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the jumping-off point to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. Friday was Joe's birthday, all the more reason to celebrate. Below are just a few highlights. You can see more photos here. (click on the link)

We tried a new route to Jackson, through eastern Idaho and a little town called Soda Springs, which is home to the world's only artificial geyser. Apparently a crew in the 30's was drilling to find a natural source for a heated pool and struck a carbonated gusher! The city installed a mechanical valve, so every hour on the hour the geyser is allowed to erupt.


We stayed in a condo outside of Jackson proper, near Teton Village. The place was great--cozy but with enough room for the five of us. As you can see, Carmen enjoyed chilling and napping there very much. Check out the fine moose grandma and grandpa got her!




Jackson was experiencing an onslaught of bikers on their way to the big rally in Sturgis, SD. Below is one of the elk antler arches on the main square (ASPCA disclaimer: no elks were harmed in the making of this arch) and a "cowboy" bar nearby that was ground zero for the biker invasion.



Saturday we drove to Yellowstone--a couple-hour trip from Jackson--and were treated to some great views of the Tetons along the way.



The suspect was last seen with the child on Highway 89 near Grand Teton National Park. If you have any information concerning his whereabouts, please contact the authorities and exercise extreme caution when approaching him.

Yellowstone

Once we arrived at Yellowstone, we learned first-hand how vastly huge the park is. We decided to focus on the area around Old Faithful. Next time, we plan to camp in the park itself and spend a few days there.

Castle Geyser

Chris & Carmen at Crested Pool

Belgian Pool--can you believe it?!

Christina at Beauty Pool (takes one to know one)

One of the fiercer bits of wildlife we encountered

Old Faithful

Inside the Old Faithful Lodge, which looks like something out of
The Lord of the Rings.

Sunset on the Tetons

Evanston, Wyoming

Our trip back took us through Evanston, near the Utah-Wyoming state line. Now, we realize no one is going to make Evanston their next vacation destination, but we were taken with its quaint Depot Square.

A newly built Chinese gazebo donated by a former Evanstonian done good. It makes Evanston a lot more interesting than you would at first suspect!

Carmen needed to spend some time out of her car seat, so we engaged her in some of her favorite pastimes: looking at leaves and having the wind blow on her.