Grand Teton National Park

String Lake

 Grand Teton was Kevin and my favorite stop on our first cross country trip and we were very excited to bring our kids back. The Teton mountains are beautiful, rising sharply from the ground and lakes below with snow covering their peaks.

First view of the park

The only moose we saw :-(

Our first day we had a picnic lunch at String Lake and then set out to hike along String and Leigh Lakes, but we didn't make it as far as we planned. By the end, it took us two hours to hike two miles. The kids had so much fun playing the whole way--climbing rocks and gong down each small path to the lake. Simeon stuck his feet in the water, shoes and all, and was quite pleased with himself. They pretended to be rangers, teaching Simeon who was the Junior Ranger in training. Katie Beth was the navigator with the map. At one turnout they built a pretend fire to cook dinner. Mark and Andrew explored the bottom of the lake with their stick drones and receivers. Where the  lakes met there was a flat wooden bridge to the other side where the kids climbed on a huge rock and then we decided we better turn back. Back at the start of the trail the kids all took their shoes off and waded in the icy water.

Our Ranger

The navigator and junior ranger in train

Pretend campfire - I loved how they all played together

He looks cute and innocent, but he's really sticking his feet in the water - shoes and all.

Testing the Ergo weight limit

Cooling off at the end

We went into the town of Jackson that night for dinner and to pick up groceries before heading back to the Hostel where we were staying.The Hostel was the first place we haven't had breakfast provided by the hotel, so it took a bit longer in the morning to go down to the kitchen to make breakfast and pack lunch.

Antler arch in the town of Jackson

Our second day we hung out at Coulter Bay on Jackson lake. The kids played in the rocks, setting up another pretend game and we had a picnic for lunch before taking a boat ride out on the lake. The narrated ride shared some about the formation of the Tetons, which are geologically young mountains as well as about the wildlife in the area. After the boat ride we went back to our spot on the bay to finish up the junior ranger books and play some more. I think we would have stayed and played longer, but we needed to turn the booklets in before the ranger station closed.

Picnic lunch

A lot has changed in 11 years, but we still love Teton!

They are playing another restaurant game.

That evening it was nice to have a hotplate to make dinner instead of just a microwave. We boiled spaghetti to have with salad and cooked vegetables. While the kids went to bed I caught up on laundry.