My Tuesday in the Tetons

I woke up a little disappointed this morning because the sky was overcast and a chill was present in the air. Nate and I had reservations to go white water rafting today, but because of the weather we decided to reschedule. So I had to settle for my second choice for my day's activity...the Grand Tetons.

Grand Teton National Park is located directly south of Yellowstone. I knew that it would be an entire day excursion since it takes quite a while to drive through the park to get to the south entrance. I probably would have gotten to the Tetons faster than I did if there wasn't a major delay between West Yellowstone and Madison Junction. I don't know what really happened but it took me nearly an hour to drive 14 miles. There was a park ranger stationed near the bald eagle protected area...maybe some negligent tourist wasn't paying attention to the road while trying to get a picture of one of the birds and crashed his car? I don't know...just a theory.

I always thought of the Tetons as a D-list national park...that it was just a lame version of Yellowstone. Boy was I wrong. I was stunned at how majestic the Tetons actually were. I spent most of the afternoon driving from location to location in the park. Each scenic overlook more impressive than the previous. In many locations the mountains' pristine reflection could be seen in the lake that rests at their base. At Jenny Lake I leapt out onto a large rock near the shore. It was so peaceful having water completely surround me as I gazed out at the amazing scenery before me. It was also a good day for wildlife sighting; I saw several herds of bison, many elk, and TWO coyotes (each in different locations). I also hit a little ground squirrel with my car...that doesn't really count, but it's still technically wildlife.

I then worked my way down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Jackson is a fun, busy little city best known for it's elk antler arches in it's city square. While there I went to a few gift shops where I bought some souvenirs and a couple different t-shirts. I now have a shirt from Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Jackson Hole; as I bought my third one I realized that all three of them have a moose logo on them...woops. Oh well, I like moose...and so did the clerk at the gift shop (she helped me decide which one to get).

Okay, I have a confession. One of the gift shops I went to was run by a Native American and it mostly just sold hand crafted souvenirs. That's not the confession part. This is: this gift shop was going out of business so everything was discounted. Somehow they only charged me for about half of my stuff. I realized after I left that they mischarged me. I guess it's just another case of a white man ripping off the Indians...except it was their fault this time!

While in Jackson I also witnessed a reenactment of an old fashioned cowboy shoot-out. It was pretty fun to watch...they had everything that made the West great: gun shots (blanks), fighting, square dancing, and swooning women in long dresses. It was fun to drive around the town...about 14 years ago Carly and I stayed in a motel in Jackson with Grandma and Grandpa. I remember, that is where we saw "Three's Company" for the first time...we fell in love with it immediately. Good times.

This evening I made my way back through the Tetons. I took a different route where I saw old buildings from the homesteading days. One place I visited was a country chapel...the sign out front said "Come on in and pray." So I did. As I walked in, I realized that there were an unusual amount of people there for being such a remote place. I didn't think much of it and I continued to look around inside the church. I then noticed that there were a bunch of photos of the same lady on the table and walls in the entryway. Then I saw a stack of programs that said "In Loving Memory of Patricia L. Miles." I had accidently attented a memorial service. I was embarrassed...everyone there was probably wondering why some kid wearing jeans, a t-shirt, sunglasses, and a backwards hat was hanging out at a memorial service for someone he didn't even know. My bad.

Anyways, many of the other historic buildings were located down an isolated dirt road called Mormon Row. Now I don't want to oversell it, but in my 22.5 short years of life I don't know if I've ever seen anything quite as beautiful as the view from Mormon Row. Imagine an open meadow of wildflowers, prairie plants, and unspoiled earth nestled in the shadow of the majestic Tetons. There was even a small creek gently flowing nearby. The sun was setting just over the mountain line as I stood there on the dirt road, with nobody around me, simply listening to the purity of nature around me. It was a good day, a good day indeed.