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We were asked a lot before this trip how long we predicted it would be before we were all tired of each other. I'm here to tell you that it was officially Day 10. DAY TEN. Still in Jackson at that point, we had plans to go to the Jackson Hole Resort/Village area and take the tram up the mountain for a waffle breakfast at Corbet's Cabin at the peak of the Grand Tetons. Then some exploring and a stop off at the Wildlife Art Museum.
While we still did those plans and had fun for the most part, we probably should have known from everyone's (and I mean everyone's) attitude that morning that we should have all just stayed in bed, or better yet gone 4 separate ways for the day. Oye. I would say this day would be one of Jeremy's drama books in the collection of reading for this trip (from one of the first blogs). Not the teenage romance he was hoping for..... or maybe it was teenage something....
We arrived at the Jackson Hole Resort area and it was really picturesque. I would actually like to come back here in the winter and see what this place is like as I'm imagining this incredible Winter Wonderland. (I'm getting strange looks from Jeremy when I say this as he's just thinking about how cold and how much snow there probably is). I'm not a huge fan of heights, especially when you are there for an extended period of time and my brain has time to process the "what-ifs". So the 12 minute tram ride to the top of the mountain although incredible views was an anxiety ridden adventure to the summit. It was really helpful to have Jake ask me about 30 times on the way up if I was scared yet and if I had looked down. Yep, really helpful.
Here it comes! The Heather anxiety on the rise....
Yes, they look sweet here.... looks can be deceiving....
It really was incredible views
It was cold. I mean, really cold. In a season, they get 400 inches of snow. 400!
The waffles were so good!! They were folded over like a taco with the butter and syrup in the middle. Definitely worth the ride to the top! And it was a cute little cabin. The boys and I were trying to figure out how they got everything up there to the top of the mountain before the lifts!
We were able to get one family photo at the top. The boys were freezing. I'll give them credit, they have put up with 9 days of photos up to this point with little to no complaining about it. The top of the mountain was apparently my limit with their photo taking. Or 41 degrees....either way, now I know.
Bryce the photographer.
Spoiler alert, might be part of our Christmas card!
Note the missing child.... he was in the cabin mad at us. LOL.
After coming down from the mountain, we watched some kids doing a mountain trail course on bikes. We enjoyed watching it but I don't think you are going to see a Lowey doing that any time soon! Pretty crazy terrain and the jumps these kids were taking... awesome!
Next Jake wanted to go to the Wildlife Art Museum. Before you go and think I have amazingly cultured kids, let me explain that the building looked pretty cool built into the side of a big hill and there were huge sculptures of animals that we had just seen in Yellowstone outside this place. Not because it was an art museum... And we kept driving by it every day. The inside of the museum was well done but as soon as we walked in, I was worried about this place keeping the kids attention as it was relatively fancy. I was pleasantly surprised. They had an interactive kid area and then this entire display on the migration of the elk and pronghorn that the kids were really interested in. It did have videos on big tv screens going too and the kids haven't been able to watch tv since we left so they were pretty excited just to have TV!!
The museum overlooked the elk refuge although we didn't see any elk there. We assumed they are in their migration based on the display in the museum.
Goof balls
A lot of really neat outdoor sculptures around the museum.
We finally saw a moose! LOL. That's about the only animal we haven't seen live on this adventure.
Kids interactive area. They were feeling the various pelts of animals.
So this is a funny story. I hear Bryce start giggling and quietly trying to get Jake's attention. He and Jake start pointing and laughing but I can only see them and not the painting. I walk into the alcove and just smirk and ask if they want their picture taken with the goose. They are looking at each other nervously laughing like, "she doesn't notice the lady!!!" Sure mom! Giggling the whole time like I don't notice why they want their picture. Hilarious.
"Aunt Tanya loves penguins, take my picture!"
After our tour at the museum we went back to the campground and everyone did their own thing for a while. Exactly what the family needed! We were even able to sit at the table and play some junior scrabble together later! ha!
We got up the next morning and made our way to Salt Lake City for a visit with the Zettler's. Brian, Hope and the whole family were such great hosts and we had an awesome time visiting with both families. BZ has been inviting our family to visit since our early NBA days together (circa 2004) and we just now made it happen. Alex was such a great sport playing with the boys for the afternoon and evening. They literally played everything they could think of and enjoyed that it wasn't with mom and dad for a while! Ha! But seriously, Alex is such an amazing young man and the fact that he's a graduated senior and spent the entire evening hanging out playing basketball, whiffle ball, nerf gun wars, you name it with 9 and 7 year olds was just great. The boys have a new hero! They want to go see one of his football games at Texas A&M.... they were immediately talking about it when we got going in the RV again. Another possible RV road trip??? Jeremy and I hope and pray that our boys grow up to be the young gentleman Alex is. Great "kid" and we wish him all the best with his education and football career at A&M!
We didn't get to spend as much time with the girls as they were all at dance practice for the evening, but you can quickly see what sweet, well mannered, and fun kids they are! Bailey, Lenzy, and Sophie hung out with us after a full day of dance practice. Talented young ladies! We missed getting Bailey and Lenzy in our photo before we left as they were off to drill practice the next morning, but here's part of the crew. Thanks again Zettler's! So great to catch up. Until next time!
