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We got settled at our campground and then decided to spend Sunday at the campsite and doing our laundry. There was a good sized laundromat right at our campground so we were able to get it all done quickly. Then we headed to the marina to book a boat ride on the large lake in Grand Teton National Park. We planned on taking the dinner cruise on Monday but the person at the desk taking reservations talked us into the morning cruise on Monday. Looking at the forecast, it looked calm, but cold (5 degrees C). So, not being morning people, we set 3 alarms and got up at 6 am. When we checked in, we were greeted with the news our trip was cancelled! We were NOT impressed. No real explanation was given – possibly a cook was sick. It our impression they didn’t have enough signed up to make the trip worthwhile. So, we booked for the next morning and went back to the campsite for breakfast. Then we headed out on our own to see some sights.

It was a perfect morning! The water was so still and gave great reflections. While we didn’t see much wildlife, we did have some nice drives.

We drove down Antelope Flats Drive where we got to a viewpoint overlooking a small lake. The lake was created in 2002 when a massive rockslide occurred and dammed up the river.

We also had some beautiful red rock views.

From there, we headed back through to Jackson Hole for a snack of ice cream – expensive but all natural ingredients and we each had a scoop of huckleberry (similar to blueberry) which was excellent.

In the historic area of Jackson Hole is a square. At each of the 4 corners is an antler arch. Why antlers, you ask? Antler arches have been gates to the Jackson Town Square since 1900. The anters are from elk that winter on the National Elk Refuge. About 7,500 elk spend each winter on the refuge. The bulls shed their antlers each spring. Antlers are picked up by local Boy scouts and sold by public auction in this square each May. All four arches were built by the Jackson hole Rotary Club.

Check back for our morning breakfast cruise

We had a fairly long drive from West Yellowstone to the southeast corner of Idaho to another National Forest Campground for 3 nights. It was a bit higher elevation again as we were close to the top of a mountain pass. The campground is small with only about 25 sites but has some group areas and is near some 4-wheeler trails so apparently the numbers in the area can swell up to 150-200 people in the area.

On Friday afternoon we drove 90 minutes north to Lava Hot Springs and spent a couple of hours soaking in the hot springs. The coolest pool said it was 102-105 degrees F. Still too warm to be submerged for too long but it was a nice evening to be out. We didn’t venture into the hottest pool – it was 112 degrees! We didn’t take our phones in so I pulled a picture from their brochure.

Yesterday (Saturday) we made a trip down to Bear Lake in the afternoon. It is a large lake the is half in Idaho and half in Utah. We drove part way around – the rocky beaches were busy since it was the weekend. When the lighting is right, the lake is very turquoise in colour. We made a stop in Garden City, Utah at LeBeau’s for one of their famous raspberry shakes and some French fries and then headed back to the campground.

Soon after we got back to the campground, it started to rain. We had heavy rain along with a thunderstorm and then a period of pea sized hail. So glad we hadn’t decided to barbeque for supper!

This morning we headed back north and into the Tetons. Although there was forecast for more cloud today, it actually ended up fairly sunny most of the time and we had some nice scenery along the way. We drove for quite a while through valleys and along the Snake River. Eventually we saw the majestic Grand Teton Range. We plan on returning in another day or so for a loop drive for more views. The park is definitely smaller than Yellowstone. We have 4 nights in our National Park Campground at Colter Bay.