Jackson Hole Days 1-2

Early in spring we started talking about a summer vacation and trying to make a plan that would be fun for everyone, big kids and babies.  The kids had talked a lot about going rafting so Jackson Hole seemed like a logical spot.  After debating it for awhile, we decided to take my mom up on her offer to take the babies so that we could do some activities that didn't really work with them.  We headed out Wednesday afternoon and decided to take the scenic route.  The views were amazing, mostly small roads that took us past lakes, rivers and beautiful fields.  We don't exactly live in a metropolis, but it felt very wide open and wild.  We rolled into town with enough time to get checked in and hit the store to buy a few things for dinner, eat quickly and head to bed.

I had booked our condo online and was really impressed,

It was bigger and nicer than it had appeared and worked great for us.

Thursday morning Tim and I headed out early to get a run in before the day got too busy. We were both a little shocked when we walked outside - 40 degrees.  But it kind of felt wonderful to be cold while running, especially since it was only temporary.

We decided to make the most of our trip and booked both a morning and afternoon rafting trip. The morning was a float trip - super relaxed, scenic and historical. We saw tons of bald eagles as well as several huge nests with young eagles.  There were plenty of ospreys - we even saw one swoop in and catch a fish.  We also saw an eagle and an osprey "fighting", they were swooping at each other and definitely not happy with one another.  The guide said that the eagle had probably stolen a fish from the osprey, apparently that is pretty typical.

After a stop back at the boat house, we were bussed to the lower river for the whitewater portion of the trip.  Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of that section which was by far the most fun.  The first half was so mellow that it was easy to have a camera.   We definitely got wet on the second half and were too busy rowing to be able to take pictures, even if the camera were waterproof.  Brycen was super brave and rode on the front of the boat as our official bullrider.  He got tossed back into the boat a few times, but luckily never went overboard.  The rapids were super fun, definitely wild and exciting and what everyone had been looking forward to.  Taylor, Brycen and I did jump out during a calm section to swim - it was a short swim though, not long before everything started to go numb.  The second half was over too quickly and before we were ready it was time to get back to dry land.

After showers and snacks, we left for Teton Village to explore and a ride the gondola to the top.  There were fires somewhere north so everything was pretty smoggy, but even on a not so perfect day, the views were still impressive.  We didn't have a plan for dinner and after wandering around Teton Village to the point we were all getting hangry (hungry + angry), we settled on a local restaurant with pretty fancy food.  After a lot of explanations from the waiter we all settled on a meal and I think everyone ended up pretty happy with what they got.  Definitely not our normal style of dining, but fun to have the experience.

Are you tired yet?  We apparently were not because we decided to head into downtown Jackson Hole for some sightseeing and shopping.  After getting the obligatory pictures in front of the antlers, we still had plenty of time for souvenirs and ice cream.

We ended the day tired, but happy.  Tim had a little bed time wrap up and told the kids how much he loved them and how much we care about them.   I told the kids how important vacations always were to my mom because of the chance to spend time together and make memories.  While we were there I kept having memories of when I went with my family - I think when I was in high school.  Hopefully we created some great memories on this trip that the kids will remember for years to come.