There are pictures below the text.

20070703 Tuesday
215 miles to Moran Jct, WY (Grand Teton Park RV Resort)
At 4pm, 90*F, dry

We got out fairly early and headed north on US191. Until you get close to Jackson (the city, Jackson Hole is the region), it's all pretty close to desert. The Wind River range is to the east and is nice to look at. When you get close to Jackson the Tetons appear to the left and ahead. We saw some bison, a bunch of antelope, and a great number of prairie dogs/ground squirrels.

Jackson is a mob. Traffic is wall-to-wall, and pedestrians (who have the right-of-way at crosswalks) don't help. Lots of shopping places with big names, and lots of places to separate tourists from their money.

We went through Jackson and on to the RV park and got set up. On the way, we saw a clump of cars and people looking over the side of a bridge. We stopped and walked over to find a small female moose snacking on the brush at river's edge. We watched for a while then went on.

After setting up we went back into the park, north a couple miles, then south down the string of lakes that sit at the foot of the Teton range. There are pullouts all along the road so you can get great pictures of the mountains and lakes. There were quite a few people but it wasn't terrible. At one point there was a big clump of cars and people, which turned out to be a mob watching a small black bear as it rested in a field just off the road. The bear looked at the people for a while, then rolled over and went to sleep. Dolores got good pictures of the bear.

We continued down to Jackson to refuel (diesel is $3.499 at our campground,$3.299 on the north end of town, and $2.899 on the south side. We chose the south side and filled up. Then we noticed a used book store, so we gathered in eight or nine books. I bought some Alaska Amber for the next few days, and wine for Dolores. Jackson has a full program tomorrow for the fourth of July, but we're not likely to go in for it - it will be hot again and there will be lots of people at the parade and at the outside symphony concert.

We got outta Jackson and headed back to the trailer. Saw one bison and an antelope on the way. Stopped for another clump and found a good-sized male moose, very dark fur, snacking. Got pictures, but they may not be worthwhile - he blended in with the brush he was eating.

We worked on pictures in the trailer until time to go out for a splurge dinner at the Jackson Lake Lodge, Mural Room. On the way we found a pronghorn antelope in the middle of the road and had to chase him off. The room had great food, nice service, and a window table looking down the Teton Range. Dolores had crab cake appetizer and trout, I had a salad and Alaskan butterfish. Wine, desert, the whole thing. When the sun dipped below the mountain, all the screens that prevented blindness rolled up all at once so all could see the outside without the screens. Beautiful.

After dinner we drove slowly home. Sure enough, we came upon a small elk and had to stop while it figured out which side of the road to exit on. Once home, we relaxed.

This was a really good day.

 

20070704 Wednesday!!!
At Moran Jct, WY (Grand Teton Park RV Resort)
At 5pm, 88*F, dry

It's the Glorious Fourth of July!! But we're not going to deal with the mob in Jackson to celebrate. We did set out our flag to show our sentiments.

We got up early and hit the road so we could see things with the sun behind us. We ran every road we could find that didn't say "4x4 Required". By 2:00pm we'd done most of the park and taken scads of pictures. We'd also stopped at the visitors center for some gifts and at the grocery in the park for bananas.

In our travels, we saw mommy moose & mooseling in a swamp, herds of bison, white pelicans, a deer, but no elk. And we did look.

We wore ourselves out just looking around at things as the heat increased until we gave up and went back to the trailer. There, we found we hadn't shifted the A/C control from heat to A/C so the trailer was unbearable. We hiked up to the campground store to kill time while it cooled. After our return, we made up spaghetti with hot italian sausage and salads and ate in.

This is a popular campground. Half the place empties in the morning and fills up again in the afternoon. The people say it's nearly always full this time of year.

We're still just going to sit around and take it easy the rest of the day. Matter of fact, I even took a nap.

Late in the evening, rain clouds developed east of us, but they didn't get here - they drifted off to the south. At sunset, we brought in the flag and quit any pretense of activity.