Grand Teton National Park

Yes, yes, I'm alive.

'Tis PCS season once again.  We have yet to make a same-coast PCS trip.  All of our PCS moves have been at least 3,000 miles across country or across the ocean.  The Navy has sent us back to the Pentagon again, and we're excited to enjoy all there is to see and do around the National Capital Region.  The timing worked out well for us this time to let the boys finish school and then drive across country.

I enjoy making the drive across country and seeing America along the way.  I was disappointed to miss the drive across country from DC out to Bremerton in 2011.  My Lovely Wife had to do that road trip with the boys and a good friend from church who rode with her.  I would have liked to have more time to drive across country this time and see and do more like our previous trips (see my blog posts from our road trip in September to October 2008), but I had to get to my new job by a certain date.

Since we had been to Yellowstone National Park a couple of times on previous drives across country, we decided to veer a little south this time and see something new and different -  

Grand Teton National Park.

A few things I learned in the process of planning our visit and going to the Tetons:

- "Jackson Hole" is a term used for the valley to the east of the Tetons, to include the town of Jackson, Wyoming.

- Most of the rest of Wyoming does not consider Jackson Hole to be part of Wyoming.  There's a vast tourist business flowing through Jackson Hole year-round.  In the winter, people go for the skiing and winter sports.  In the summer, people go for the hiking, biking, kayaking, canoing, rafting, and just about any other outdoor activity you can imagine. 

- EVERYTHING is expen$ive in Jackson Hole.  The statistics of the number of tourists who go there are mind-boggling, and all the hotels and restaurants enjoy charging high prices just because they can.  I suffered some sticker-shock and pain in my wallet as soon as I started investigating hotels in Jackson Hole.

So, to help conserve our finances but still have two days of activities in GTNP, we drove to Rexburg, Idaho and spent the night there.  Rexburg is just 2 hours west of Jackson, and you can actually see the back side of the Tetons from there.  By doing that, we got up, drove into the park, had most of a day there, $pent just ONE night in a Jack$on Hole hotel, got up had most of a second day there, then continued driving east and stayed the night in a cheaper hotel in Casper, WY. 

Day 1:

View of the Tetons from near Rexburg, Idaho

I figured with it being a big tourist trap that gas would be pretty expensive in Jackson Hole, so we stopped and topped off the gas tank in Idaho on our way inbound.  Much to my surprise, it turns out that was actually a mistake.  Gas was significantly cheaper in Jackson Hole than it was back in Idaho.  Go figure.

I found this website useful - it provided four recommended day hikes in GTNP with kids.  Because I liked what he had to say on his website, I ordered his book, too, and I was glad I did.  I wish I had more time to do all of the hikes he recommended, but decided in the short time available to do the hike he wrote was his kids' favorite - Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. 

There are a TON of places to eat in Jackson Hole.  I should have done more research before we got there on where we wanted to eat.  They're all local unique places, no national chains.  I made the mistake of just walking in someplace for lunch that I thought looked good.  The food was okay, but the service was downright terrible.  If I would have looked at the Yelp reviews on my phone before we walked in there, I would have stopped and walked out.  I was kind of pissed off we wasted a meal there when there were so many other places with great reviews.

After lunch, we headed to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center.  We parked there and caught the Water Taxi across Jenny Lake.

Waiting to Board the Jenny Lake Water Taxi

The water taxi is open to the fresh air, but there's a canopy for shade over the forward half of the seats.  It carries about 30 people or so.  It's first come first serve and runs about every 15 minutes.  Their cashiers are pretty quick and efficient, and they DO take credit cards.

On the Jenny Lake Water Taxi 

From the landing on the other side of Jenny Lake, we went on a short day hike to Hidden Falls (0.5 miles) and Inspiration Point (another 0.5 miles past Hidden Falls).

The trail is very well-defined and mostly fenced-in with wood post fences like in the picture above, so it'd be kind of hard to get lost here.  

There was an incredible volume of water gushing down this valley into Jenny Lake.  When you look at this picture, you need to imagine the deafening ROAR of rushing water.  Here, let's see if this video will help...

Hidden Falls

The Hidden Falls were gorgeous and totally worth the trip.  Of note, we almost missed them.  You see, they're sort of... well... Hidden.  If you follow the sound of the water and go the direction you think you need to go across the bridges, then you'll only get a partial view of the falls through a bunch of trees off on the right.  Thankfully, I overheard someone telling someone else on the trail to go back across the bridges (away from the river and the sound of the water) and turn right up what looks like the smaller / less traveled trail.  That path takes you to the much better viewing point that you see in the picture above.   

The Trail to Inspiration Point

The trail to Hidden Falls was pretty flat.  From there, there's a slight climb half a mile up to get to Inspiration Point.  Now, you might think that a 1 mile hike (2 miles round trip) is really short and pretty darn easy, but if you're not used to the altitude (~6,700 feet) then you're going to be winded. 

There was a pretty nice view from Inspiration Point.  I was glad we did it.

 YB on the trail back to the water taxi

Me and YB on the water taxi back to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center

To get a feel for the volume and variety of visitors they get here:  The water taxi operators clear this board every day.  They ask their visitors to put the magnet for their state up on the board or write the name of their country on the right, and they fill the board almost every day.

The Tram

Next, we drove down to the Teton Village and took the aerial tram ride up to the top of the mountain.  There are no reservations for the tram ride - it's first come, first serve.  They sell tickets for the tram online, and when you buy the tickets they're good for a one week period.  I DO recommend buying them online because they are cheaper online (save $6 per ticket) and easier to pickup at the will-call window. 

While waiting for the tram, the boys pretended to be terrified of the ride to come.

We were there for the second to last tram up for the day and it was pretty empty.  We almost got the entire tram to ourselves.

It was a really cool 12 minute ride up to the top.  We saw three moose below us on our way up.  Once we got up to the top, though, oh my!  It was COLD and HOWLING wind.  The view was spectacular, but we turned around and got on the next tram back down because we were freezing.

We spotted 2 more moose on our way to dinner.

For dinner, I had learned my lesson and checked Yelp before picking a place to eat.  We had dinner at the Sweetwater restaurant (Yelp listing), and it was EXTRAORDINARILY FABULOUS.  I can't tell you enough how awesome both the food and the service were at Sweetwater.  It was so good, I might just be willing to pay for the plane ticket to go back to Jackson Hole and eat there again.

We stayed at the Lexington Hotel, which was a VERY nice hotel with an excellent continental breakfast, but it cost twice as much as any other hotel on our trip across country.

Day 2:

The next day, we checked out of the hotel and headed back to the Jenny Lake Visitor's Center again - this time to rendezvous in the parking lot with Solitude Float Trips for a 10-mile scenic float trip down the Snake River.

Our guide, Bernie, and his team from Solitude Float Trips did a great job.  It was a very well-organized and efficient operation.  They met us in the Jenny Lake Visitor's Center Parking lot where we all piled into their vans towing the boats on these flatbed trailers.  They drove us up to Deadman's Bar and put us in the water there.

After putting the boat in the water, the used the flatbed trailer as a sort of dock / loading platform, so we were all completely dry when we sat down in the boat.  In fact, the rest of the ride was very smooth and we wouldn't have gotten wet at all if it hadn't been for certain members of my family sticking their hands in the water and flicking it at each other.

Bernie was great with our boys, talking to them, asking them questions, and he let each of them take a turn at guiding the boat.

The scenery was spectacular, and we saw three bald eagles, an osprey, and a prong-horn along the way.  I was also thankful to Bernie for giving us his local perspective on the area since he lives there year-round.  He told us the best place to eat in the national park was at the Signal Peak Lodge.  Someone else we had met along the way had recommended going to see Signal Peak because you can drive right to the top and enjoy the view.  So Bernie's claim of the food being good at the lodge sealed the deal.  After we got off the river, we headed up to the Signal Mountain Lodge.

Lunchtime View

The Signal Mountain Lodge is on the eastern shore of Lake Jackson, looking westward across the lake toward the Tetons.  Bernie was right - the food was fantastic.  The service was okay - not bad / but not extraordinary.  After lunch, we drove up to the top of Signal Peak.

Now, before you go driving up there, you should know that the viewpoint at the top has a pretty amazing panoramic view of the valley from north to east to south, but the view to the west (toward the Tetons) is blocked by trees.  I went up there expecting to see another great view of the Tetons and was a little surprised and slightly disappointed, so I just wanted to help you manage expectations if you go driving up there, too.

By that time it was early afternoon and we needed to hit the road.  We drove about 5 hours east / southeast from there to where we spent the night in Casper, Wyoming.  Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how our plan ended up enabling us to get two days' worth of activities in GTNP without paying for two night's hotel stay there.  There was SO much to do there!  I would LOVE to go back someday and spend a week hiking, biking, kayaking, and just soaking in the splendor of the natural beauty of the park.

...I just might have to take out a home equity loan to afford it.

Valley Forge and Washington's Crossing - Vacation Part 1

On Wednesday morning, we loaded up the car to head out on a family vacation.

The boys were very excited.

So was Smokey the Fish. (Can't you tell?)

This is a practice run for our PCS move drive across country later.  The primary reason for driving across country being so we can bring the fish with us of course.

I don't think we brought enough stuffed animals.

First, we drove up to Valley Forge, PA to tour the National Historic Park.  It was awesome and totally worth the trip.

We arrived about 3 p.m. hoping to get the kids to join the Continental Army.  Unfortunately, both the walking tours and the kids join the Continental Army activities were canceled due to the heat.

Instead, we watched the 18 minute introductory video in the theater, and then we went on the 90-minute Trolley Tour, and it was totally worth it.

Our tour guide, Brianna, was a local college student, and she was really enthusiastic and excited to talk about the American Revolution.

We stopped to see the replicas of the winter quarters the Continental Army built along the outer line of defense.

My youngest thought it was pretty cool to see life-size Lincoln Logs.

The tour guide said this was just like sleeping on a submarine.  I think the racks on a submarine are more spacious and comfortable.

Park Rangers Ron and Scott gave us an awesome lesson on life in the Continental Army.  Ron said their uniforms looked white because they were linen, and the linen wouldn't hold dye.  The wool coats the Continental Army would hold dye though, so those were blue.  They also explained the differences between the French and the American muskets and the things the soldiers had to do to keep the muskets in working order.

Next, they demonstrated how the Continental Army's muskets worked.

BANG!

Then we went to see General Washington's Headquarters.  That's General Washington's flag in the grass in front of the HQ.

This is where LtCol Alexander Hamilton managed the day-to-day administration of the Continental Army, posting letters from Washington to congress about how inadequately supplied the army was.

That's the parade ground where Von Steuben drilled the 15,000-ish soldiers into a professional army.  Our tour guide pointed out a statue of Von Steuben and mentioned the fact it has been relocated to a less prominent storage location twice in history.  She asked if anyone knew why, and my Eldest chimed in that it was because he was German and they moved his statue during WWI and WWII.  Brianna said my son should come be a tour guide there.

You won't find any sort of Valley Forge National Cemetary since no battle took place there and nobody was killed in combat.  Those who got sick in camp were carted off to hospitals about thirty miles away from the camp so as not to spread the sickness in the camp.  Likewise, if someone did die in the camp, they took the body elsewhere.  Our tour guide told us that there are mass unmarked graves near those hospitals.

This monument is for the "unknown soldiers" who died during the winter at Valley Forge and ended up in those unmarked mass graves in other parts of the countryside.

This memorial was built in 1917 to remind America of the hardships endured by the Continental Army at Valley Forge while America endured the hardships of WWI.

At the visitor center, you can pick up a Junior Park Ranger activity booklet.  For younger kids, they have to finish 3 activities in the book, and older kids have to finish 4 activities in the book.  Both boys finished their activities and earned their Junior Park Ranger badges here like they did back at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.

What I've provided above is a very brief glimpse of the things we saw at Valley Forge.  I learned a lot in our visit there and I'm very glad we went.  I highly recommend a visit and taking the trolley tour.

Continuing to test my theory that all breweries have good food, we went to the Rock Bottom Brewery in the King of Prussia Mall.  One of the park rangers recommended it to us as a favorite of the park rangers, and a quick check of Yelp found a comment, "I should pay rent here."  That's a sure sign of a place people go back to for a reason.  We weren't disappointed.  The food, beer, and service at Rock Bottom were extraordinarily good.

We stayed the night near Valley Forge before continuing our trek northbound.  Thursday we made a brief stop at the spot where Washington crossed the Delaware River.

Pretty Exciting, I know.  Try to contain your enthusiasm.

That's my family waiting for me back in the car.

Unfortunately, although the website claimed they just celebrated the reopening of the visitor's center, it was closed when we got there.  I understand there is another historic park and visitor center over on the New Jersey side of the river, but the bridge was closed for repairs and it wouldn't have been very a very quick or easy trip to get over to that side to check it out.  Maybe next time. 

We hit I-495 on the outskirts of Boston at just the WRONG time.  We spent a LONG time sitting here.  I took us 1 hour 45 minutes to travel 29 miles, and most of that was at a stand still here due to an accident blocking 2 of 3 lanes of traffic. Ugh.  

We have arrived safe and sound at our family place on Lake Winnipesaukee, thus opening a new chapter to our family's already long history here on the lake.  I look forward to updating my favorites list, navigating the buoy system, and getting out for a paddle around the lake.