Yellowstone trip Day 4

Getting closer to Yellowstone!

We chose the southern route so that Jim could go to his favorite spot in the world - Jackson, WY. When we get rich, we will buy a place near here and fly in on our private jet. I'm thinking winters on Coronado Island and summers in the Grand Tetons. 

Going south also meant:

We got to visit Jenny Lake again.

We got to eat at Bubba's BBQ in Jackson again.

(Did both those things on our trip from CA to MN 11 years ago and 

they were so good we had to do it all over again!)

We had to skip Devil's Tower. Sad, but we will just have to go back someday.

Hello Beautiful

On our first trip to Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park, we hiked around the lake and up to Inspiration Point (woo woo). Little did I know, Jim felt very strongly that we had to recreate this experience. I had no idea he was planning on actually spending a lot of time here, so I was unprepared for hours away from the car and a real hike. Not to mention how this disrupted my schedule for the day! I say this all to explain why I spent the entire hike out whining and pissy. Clearly, I'm unused to not being in control. Maybe I could use some practice? 

Anyway, instead of hiking around the lake, we took a boat across to the Inspiration Point trailhead. The water was super choppy and Jim ended up sopping wet by the time we got across.

(Serves him right)

What I mean to say is "Thank you, dear, for shielding us all from the drenching spray!"

A ranger pointed out a bear on a big slab rock right where we were planning to hike. 

Cool that we saw a bear / unfortunate that we were heading into his area.

The kids solved that problem by calling out to him as we walked and clicking rocks together. Who needs bear spray? We have walking noisemakers. 

Inspiration point was worth it.

Jenny at Jenny Lake.

I got myself and my attitude together while enjoying the view and beautiful day.

One of our better family selfies.

I sure have a pretty lake!

The kids started jogging down the trail while we yelled at them to stay in view. That got old, so Jim and I gave in and joined the fun. Everyone verbally agreed to the waiver stating that we had no bandaids for scraped knees, then we trotted down the mountain at our fastest possible speeds. I was surprised at how fun it was! And how it didn't really hurt my ankles or knees! Guess I'm not as decrepit as I thought.

We piled back into the van and headed into Jackson for some BBQ at Bubba's. 

Mmmm...ribs and brisket!

Back in the car and over the only really true mountain pass of the journey. Thankfully, I was driving and Laura seems to have grown out of her serious carsickness. 

We were running hours late and knew the rest of our crew was already at the house. So we stopped at a grocery store on the way to pick up essentials and made it to the house around 9ish, tired, but happy.