Yellowstone Day 2 (Grand Tetons National Park)

So initially in our cross country trip we were to hit the Grand Tetons on our way to Yellowstone, but we were offered a free stay in Colorado that could replace our hotel nights in Jackson Hole.  And as a family of six that has stayed our fair share in hotels, this is something you don’t pass up.  Plus, we loved Colorado and that gave us the opportunity to cram in Rocky Mountain National Park.  So, as I mentioned before, we changed up the plan and tagged Grand Tetons National Park to our time at Yellowstone.  So, day 2 was really Grand Tetons day.  

Yellowstone is a lot of driving!!  We are doing no screens and enjoying the GypsyGuide app and podcasts about the area or the Wild West as we scan the roadsides for wild animals.  We are keeping a tally of all we see (I’ll post a picture after we leave Yellowstone). Here’s the backseaters! I got demoted to the middle row because the big boys were causing trouble. 

It took us about two and a half hours to make it to the Grand Tetons and we pulled into a picnic spot along Jackson Lake. Worth the trip…the mountains are magnificent! You can see a couple of the guys out exploring the sandy beach.

We then drove a little farther on to Colter Bay Village where we did a two mile walk/hike through the woods and near the lakeshore.  

We stopped midway where we had the rocky beach to ourselves. 

And the boys took off their shirts and went swimming!  It was a fun spontaneous moment.  Doug did it first, then Tav, then Jansen, then Koen.  Penn played at the edge of the lakeshore and I skipped rocks and took pictures of them all (it’s a little harder for a girl to spontaneously go swimming!).

Doug’s in!

Tavin so brave!!

He’s thinking about it…

And then Jansen & Koen chose to go for it!

Drying off in the sun.

We finished our hike and loaded back into the van.  Our goal was to make it back to the dude ranch to get dinner there.  And to let the boys get out all their pent up energy from the ride back in the pool.  Mission accomplished.

The dude ranch had entertainment that evening.  A man with his guitar singing Western cowboy tunes.  They were entranced.  It was really interesting to see how much they enjoyed it.  Doug and I are thinking we should maybe hire the guy to play for them in the minivan for the rest of the trip to keep them quiet?  Ha!