THE GRAND TETON-August 23

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2009
No continental breakfast at this motel.....Had to break down and buy....Today we would visit The Grand Teton National Park. Randy Berg convinced me that we should go... This was not on our schedule....However.....why not. We had to go through the East Yellowstone Entrance and down through it South entrance to enter The Gran Teton.
That was a 2 hour trip just to get to the entrance of The Grand Teton National Park.
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EAST ENTRANCE TO YELLOWSTONE-TO GRAND TETON
We entered the park and immediately there was this HUGE Bison taking his morning stroll, stopping traffic, for he had the right of way.

ENTRANCE TO GRAND TETON
Almost immediately your are surrounded by mountain ranges.

COULTER BAY-JACKSON LAKE DAM
From Leek Marina to Coulter Lake to Jackson Lake Dam. At the Coulter Lake Visitor Center we took time to visit a Museum featuring Indian Culture. A very unique display.

INSPECTOR AT JACKSON LAKE DAM
As we traveled through the Teton Park, the majesty of the mountain ranges-their breath and height and color and rock formation overwhelms your senses.

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN-MT. MORAN
Standing and looking west you get a good view of Mt. Moran. Mt. Moran is 12, 605 feet high. The photos do not do not capture the power that Mountain exudes.

WHERE WE HAVE BEEN
And of course I had to show these signs to prove we were there.

THE GRAND TETON
This is what this day trip was all about. To see this 13,770 foot high mountain.
From the Signal Mountain area we traveled and stopped at the Jenny Lake Visitors Center from there through the Menors Ferry Historic District, stopping at the brand new Graig Thoma Discovery and Visitor Center. This center is kid friendly.

It was getting late. about 5:45 pm We.were on our way back to our lodging in West Yellowstone. We we stopped at Grant Village for supper. It took us 3 hours from that point to get to our motel in West Yellowstone. We arrived at our motel in the town of West Yellowstone at 9:00pm. Tired from a long day on the road....getting in and out of the Van to take pictures .... enjoy the views......driving at night... through a stretch of hard clay surface on which a construction crew was still working.....holding up traffic for a total of at least 30-45 minutes.

I thought we could do Yellowstone the next day in about 5-6 hours.....So I planned to make reservations at a motel in a town call Gardiner, which is located right at the North Entrance of the Park. My plan was to finish Yellowstone by 3-4 in the pm. Enjoy some evening time....and then leave in the morning for Big Horn--Mt.Rushmore..

That was my plan.....tune in tomorrow to HEAR THE REST OF THE STORY.

GOOD NIGHT..