Saturday, July 9, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Today we hiked in the Sierra Madre Mountains along the Encampment River just outside of Saratoga. It was beautiful -- except for the two snakes! We also visited the old Encampment mining area. Tomorrow morning we're off to Denver. We plan to take the scenic route that goes through the Medicine Bow and Snowy Mountain ranges. We hear there are moose in the area!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Saratoga, WY
Yesterday we drove from Jackson to Saratoga. It was about a 6 hour drive. Saratoga is our last destination. Claire and Auguste's classmates' family run the historic Hotel Wolf in Saratoga (see pics). We are on the top floor in an apartment suite. It's pretty neat. There is a restaurant and bar on the first floor and rooms upstairs. We had a nice BBQ at Claire and Auguste's friends' house when we arrived. The kids come out every summer for about 5 weeks. Today their Dad and Aunt took us on a float trip down the North Platte River. Despite some rain later in the voyage, the scenery was fantastic. We got very close to the sandstone and saw several deer and bald eagles. We got home in the early afternoon and spent the later afternoon relaxing and exploring the small town. We had a very nice steak dinner in the restaurant. Tomorrow we are planning a little excursion to Encampment.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Today is the 4th of July! We spent the day hiking near Jenny Lake. This is a lake in the Grand Teton National Park. On our visit in 2009, we stayed further north in the Tetons at Jackson Lake. Jenny Lake is smaller than Jackson Lake and is in the southern part of the Tetons. We took a ferry boat ride over to the other side of the lake and hiked up to the Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. We went a little further but began to encounter a significant amount of snow so we eventually turned back. We then took a little excursion on our way back down Gros Ventre Road in the park and saw a buffalo AND another bull moose. He was across the river but with the binoculars and the video camera we got some awesome views of him. I'm afraid he was too far away to take a picture with my phone to share. We shot some great video, though. We're now sitting back poolside and considering going to the rodeo tonight. There are also fireworks over the mountains.
After a very nice breakfast in our hotel, we headed off to the Snake River for a float trip. By some miracle, on the way down the road on our bus we saw a bull moose. I've been longing to see a moose since our last trip to Wyoming. We spend a lot of time going in search of moose. This was a special treat because not only was it a moose but a bull moose. He was right by the side of the road near where we launched off. We saw lots and lots and lots of moose track in Louis Lake, and as it usually goes, kept missing moose by 10 minutes according to other reports. Thanks goodness we saw one today. Auguste kept reminding me that this meant we could come back to Wyoming now -- I was prepared to swear off WY if we didn't spot one this time. The trip down the Snake River was fun -- about 3 hours. We saw bald eagles and pelicans. The views were spectacular. Probably the most thrilling moment for Auguste was seeing Indiana Jones' ranch from the shore. The river was running high and fast but no rapids. Because of the river conditions, no kids under 10 on the whitewater rafting trips; usually the age limit is 6. The kids spent the late afternoon swimming in the pool and then we went to dinner at the Mangy Moose in Teton Village. We then spent some time in search of moose -- of course on Moose-Wilson Road. No moose but we did see 3 very large elk and Claire and Dave think they saw a bear.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Saturday, July 2 we arrived in Jackson Hole, WY after an incredible 3 days in Louis Lake, WY on the Wind River Mountain range. Louis Lake is in a very secluded area yet to be discovered by many tourists. We drove 10 miles on dirt road to get there. Fortunately, we decided to upgrade our rental car at the airport to a 4wd Jeep. We needed it on those roads. Our cabin was quite comfortable. The kids had their own loft with 2 single beds and a double. The downstairs had a bedroom, bath, kitchen and living area. The cabin was heated by propane and we had a stove and hot shower. Not bad, really. No cell service and no electricity but to be honest we didn't miss it a bit. We went on one of our best hikes ever; very steep at the start but worth the views at the end. Some pics are below. We canoed every day and saw the resident beaver who wasn't too happy about us being there. Claire and I went on a 2 1/2 hour horse trail ride up the VERY steep mountain we hiked on. It was quite and experience! Every night we ate dinner with the owners and wranglers by campfire. We took drives 10 miles down the road in the opposite direction from which we came in to get to Fossil Hill and looked around for some fossils. On our way out yesterday, we went through Sinks Canyon. The kids want to go back next year. It was truly the perfect spot. We had about a 4 hour drive from Louis Lake yesterday to Jackson. We arrived about 4pm. Today we have a scenic float trip down the Snake River at 11am. Hoping for a moose!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
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