Although we hated to leave Yellowstone NP, we were looking forward to our next stop - Grand Teton NP.
We didn't have to wait long for our first glimpse of the Tetons.
After checking in at Colter Bay Campground, we went back up the road a short distance to the marina, where we parked, had lunch and spent the afternoon sitting outside gazing the mountains across Jackson Lake.
An early wake-up call this morning - Ken Fears, fellow LD'er also here at Colter Bay, came by at 0645 to take me out for some sunrise photography.
We began the shoot at the front patio of the Jackson Lake Lodge, which provided an incredible panorama of the mountains across the lake as the sun first touched the highest peaks and then moved steadily downward. While awaiting the sunrise, we spotted some elk down in the field in front of us.
Grand Teton offers more variety of trees than the pines of Yellowstone, so we're starting to see some fall colors.
Ken then took me over to the Snake River Oxbow, which presented shots like this across the smooth water. This was the "money shot" of our entire 8-month trip.
Going down a dirt road on the upper side of the Oxbow gave us the morning sun shining on the mist and yellow foliage.
Liz and I found this great spot on the shore of Jackson Lake to enjoy our lunch and spend the afternoon out in our chairs.
OK, so I took a couple of days off - this is a vacation, isn't it? <G> Back on Sunday the 25th, we got kicked out of Colter Bay as it was closing for the season. So we moved on down the road to Gros Ventre CG, about 10 miles north of Jackson, WY.
It was a beautiful morning for the ride down to Gros Ventre. Great views of the mountains, including Mt. Moran with its Black Dike near the top. The Black Dike was formed long before Mt. Moran became a mountain when molten magma was forced upward into a large crack. It then solidified into a dark igneous rock, diabase. The strip is about 150 feet wide.
We took the Jenny Lake Scenic Loop, which offers some close-up views of the mountains. See - we were really here!
Since I'm generally an early riser, I figured I'd have a decent chance at some good pictures of either a moose or sunrise; I struck out on the moose, but got some "sorta" interesting dawn shots.
Today we went into Jackson for the day - had to stock up on some things, your truly desperately needed a haircut, the LD was thirsty for some petrol ($3.67)and it had a little chip in the windshield I wanted to get fixed. Did you know the little gadget they use to apply the resin was invented here in Jackson, WY?
At each corner of the town square is an arch made of elk antlers.
Would you believe we got lost coming back to the campground this evening? Somehow we missed a clearly marked turn and ended up driving a bunch of miles too far before we figured out we had missed it.
When we did finally get back to the campground, there was a brand-new Lazy Daze here, which we would not even have noticed if someone had not pointed it out to us. It had the new, swirly paint scheme and white raised panels on the cabover - from the side or front it doesn't look at all like a Lazy Daze. Looks just like any other RV. "Ah well," said the old lady as she kissed the cow, "to each his own."
A hearty thank-you to all who responded to our plea for suggestions on what we should visit. Got some great suggestions, some of which we already had on our "possibility" list, but also some others which look intriguing.
Time for another gripe: the guy who starts his generator first thing in the morning and then goes out for the day, leaving the generator running all day!
Now it's time to start wandering southward through western Wyoming.
