Rhody Goes West: Grand Tetons

After we left Yellowstone National Park, we began our drive down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, driving through the Grand Tetons on our way.  

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming, USA

The drive was beautiful, and the roads were narrow and winding around the border of the mountains.  You could even see snow at the top, and it was actually snow this time, not sulfur, like I had thought in Yellowstone.  

Grand Tetons - Wyoming, USA

Since we had spent the morning in Yellowstone checking out the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Grand Prismatic, we didn't have time to hike that afternoon, and the next day was the Bar Mitzvah, the entire reason for taking this trip, so we just spent the afternoon settling in and visiting with D's family.  

Neither D nor I had ever been to a Bar Mitzvah, so it was very neat to see D's cousin choose to make Judaism part of his life.

D and I at Teton Village - Jackson, Wyoming

The day after the Bar Mitzvah, we went back to Grand Teton National Park and decided to a hike along one of the trails.  D's uncle is a park ranger, so he brought us along to one of the trails that he and his family like best.

All along the trail, you could see the tops of the mountains, and it was beautiful.

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming, USA

In the middle of the trail was a beautiful lake that overlooked the mountains.  The lake had all of these dead tree trunks in it that made the water look so cool.  And speaking of cool, the water was so cold! We stopped here for a while and had some lunch and then once we were done with our sandwiches and snacks, we got back on the trail to walk to the end and then head back to Jackson.  

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming, USA

D and I at Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming, USA

It was a great little hike, and a warm up for what was to come tomorrow, our last full day of vacation.  

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming, USA

We ended up just hanging out at the house and spending time with D's family that was still in town from the Bar Mitzvah, which was a welcome treat since they live so far away.  We walked up to the river behind D's aunt and uncle's house and we all went swimming, but when we were walking up the path to the river, I heard a screech.  I looked up into the trees and saw two Bald Eagles sitting on the branch of a tree.  

Male and Female Bald Eagle - Snake River, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

One was a male and the other was a female, and you can see the size difference more in the picture below.  They were only about twenty feet above my head, and they were so cool to see this close - much better than the Eagle we saw in Yellowstone.  

Male and Female Bald Eagle - Snake River, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

We must have spooked them though, because they didn't stay for long. In fact, they started looking around for an escape route since we came down to the river with eleven people. I actually caught their taking off on camera too, so take a look at the video below.

Male and Female Bald Eagle - Snake River, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The river was so relaxing, and judging by the Eagles sitting on the tree branch, they would agree.  It was a perfect, relaxing, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of day.  

Snake River, Jackson Wyoming

With only one more day in Wyoming before our drive back to Salt Lake City, we had a big hike planned and some more family time.  This was the perfect ending to a wonderful trip.