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See ya Yellowstone, Hello Grand Tetons & Jackson Hole

This was a special day because it was Bryce's 7th birthday! And he definitely wasn't going to let us forget it... Every chance he got, he brought up that it was his birthday. LOL. After a donut breakfast and a quick pack up of the campsite, we hit the road. We took the longer but more scenic route from Yellowstone to Jackson, WY. Back into Yellowstone from the west and out through the south entrance directly into the Grand Teton National Park. It was such a pretty drive. Amazing views of the mountains, lakes/rivers, and forests too!

The birthday boy relaxing on the drive from Yellowstone to Jackson, WY.

All of our days in and out of Yellowstone we kept forgetting to stop and take a picture at the sign... finally on the last day!

On to a new park and area to explore! The Grand Tetons are so pretty. Really cool snow covered mountains and then the Gros Ventre range right next to it with grassy hills.

Jackson is the one part of the trip that I didn't have the campsite all figured out in advance. There was a first come first serve campsite called Gros Ventre (pronounced Grow-vont, it's French) that I had earmarked as potential. I called the KOA to see if they had any last minute cancellations and after finding out they didn't, I asked the lady if she knew anything about Gros Ventre as we're about two miles from pulling in. She said, "if you are into wilderness camping, you will like it," and basically hung up. Um..... are you serious? Wilderness camping??? I mean, I don't need 5 star but what are we getting into!?!? I run into the office when we get there which is a tiny cabin for registering and their "camp store" consists of selling bags of ice and firewood. SLIGHTLY different than the camp STORES at the KOAs we have been staying at. Oh my.... what are we doing!? They are out of electric spots but they have one generator spot left. Oh thank the Lord!

We drive back to our spot and cue Jake freaking out. Bear signs everywhere.... "Be Bear Aware" Um okay. "Generator hours 8 am-10 pm." Jake- "What do we do after 10 pm?? We NEED the generator?! We should find a new place to stay!" Oh my city kid. With promises that we will be at the office no later than 8 am the next morning to try to get an electric spot for the next two days, we get them distracted with lunch and head off to explore Jackson. After Jake sets an alarm for the next morning for me of course.... :)

The famous elk antler arches. Apparently elk shed their antlers yearly and these are the antlers that are picked up in the elk refuge by boy scouts and then put together in Jackson central park by another organization (I'm blanking on the group that builds the arches). Pretty cool though! And I was glad to know this wasn't from hunting.....

Our dinner recommendation for the night was to Lift. At the base of a ski resort. Very good and the boys played some cornhole since we sat outside.

On Bryce's 7 year and one day birthday, we headed out on a family float on the Snake River. Wait, I should back up. I DID get up the next morning and secured second in line for the electric spots, so we moved campsites and at least could keep the fridge on and turn on a little heat.... It got a little bit chilly that night so we were all snuggled up in blankets! But no bear encounters and the wilderness camping was fine. We survived. Even Jake.

We decided to do some exploring near the campsite with a hike along the Gros Ventre river that was really high with all of the snow melting in the mountains. Really pretty views and the boys liked watching the water rushing along and seeing how fast everything moved that floated in the river.

My hiking crew....

Now on to the Family Float on the Snake River. Although Jeremy and I would have loved to do a White Water Rafting trip, not sure the boys are quite ready for that so we opted for the float. Jeremy was salivating watching all of the groups get ready for the White Water trips as we loaded the bus for the family float.... LOL. But he resisted and stuck with us. It was about a 15 mile float down the Snake River through the Tetons. Very cool! After everyone was more comfortable with it, she did take the boat over a few "bumps" and the kids got all excited. I think they are ready for the white water trip in Colorado in another week! (thank goodness..... we're already booked!) We were on the float with 3 other families and ironically one of the families was from Westfield, IN! Small world.

We survived and no one wanted to throw anyone out of the raft.... that was the next day but we'll get to that one in the next blog. We're stopping for gas and lunch somewhere in the middle of nowhere Utah now. Lowey's out!

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