All 50 Road Trip-May 16, 2018, Day 5

(click here for today's pictures)

Jackson Hole, WY plus Grand Teton NP

We all slept incredible wonderful last night, except after staying up until midnight (us and the kids) you would have thought that everyone would have slept later than 7:30. We did not. This cabin is full of windows, and it quickly became exceptionally bright. This morning I briefly thought about putting on my sun glasses while sitting at the kitchen table.

Robby and Anderson ran to the little store nearby to pick up dougnuts for breakfast along with some hot pockets for supper. We had stopped at the store yesterday for a potty stop and were surprised that the prices were normal Little Rock-ish prices. Robby also did buy 2 more loaves of bread making that 5 loaves of bread so far on the trip.

After breakfast, Robby walked to the offiice area to do a bit of computing. This not having any cell service/internet is just a little odd. The last trip that I remember really not having internet was at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Robby had to walk a ways each night to post the blog.

That is where we also moved large furniture in front of the door just in case any of the kids decided to start sleep walking. We could see the edge of the canyon from our front porch of that little cabin.

Last night Whitman really wanted to sleep upstairs with the boys in the loft except we were worried that he would try to come down the crazy steep steps in the middle of the night. Campbell had fallen down them yesterday so after that I became the steps police.

On each trip, we always say that we need a bit of downtime every once ina while. Today was a bit of slower morning for us which was nice. We didn’t leave the cabin until 10 which was very nice. We drove straight to Grand Tetons National Park and stopped at the sign to take a picture.

The next stop was at the Visitor’s Center. The kids had to work on their Jr. Ranger books for a little bit. Unfortunatley, their movie was not working so we weren’t able to watch it. The boys especially love watching movies at visitor’s centers.

When we left the Visitor’s Center, we walked around Jenny Lake for a bit. It is one of the most beautiful spots ever. The water is ice cold and the kids enjoyed putting their hands in. Well, their hands led to their feet and their feet led to just plain craziness.

Robby decided to have a contest to see who could keep their feet in the icy cold water the longest. He was filming it and I had my camera in my hand. He counted down and everyone took a step into the water. Keaton and Reagan stopped there. Graham and Whitman did not stop. They kept walking and walking. Graham is tall and can swim though he was wearing his clothes.

Whitman, however, is not tall and can not swim! And he just kept walking deeping into the water. This happened over probably 8 seconds. Whitman just kept walking deeper! Robby started screaming “Get him, get him!” and I was hollering, “Get your brother.”

Finally, Graham clued in to what was happening and headed over to Whitman who was still walking. When Whitman saw Graham running towards him, he took off running back towards the shore. This madness with Graham chasing Whitman and Whitman running from him, probably caused Whitman to be the most drenched since his chest never got into the water. However, the boys was completely drenched! Soaked with ice cold water.

It all took 8 seconds, but Robby did explain that Whitman was going to have to drown before he got in that water. We still aren’t sure what Whitman thought he was doing or thought everyone else was doing. It wasn’t too funny at the time but by the time I wrung out Whitman’s clothes to at least get him back to the car before hypothermia set in, it began to be pretty funny. He was never in any real danger but gracious me.

Walking around with a soaked little boy didn’t slow us down much. On our way to the car, we took plenty of pictures and the first back picture of the trip. Then we changed Whitman before heading to find a picnic spot. On the way today, we have been listening to a podcast on Yellowstone erupting and another one about a man being lost in Yellowstone.

This was probably the most perfect weather for our picnic so far. The kids played wiht the football and a little bit with the snow that was everywhere on the ground. After eating, we headed off on a trail. We walked on the Leigh Lake Trail. First we made it to String Lake which was beautiful.

We almost turned around there because we had to walk over snow and mud, but kept going. We eventually made it to the most beautiful spot. There was a bridge over the water and of course we took a few pictures there. It was only a tiny bit more to Leigh Lake.

It was a gorgeous hike and I would love to have a little cabin there. Now, we did hear some thunder and that helped to speed up our hike back to the car. From there, we went back to the Visitor’s Center for the kids to receive their Jr. Ranger badges.

Then I drove on down to Jackson. We stopped at the square to take a few pictures of the antler arches and as we were there, it started raining. We still ran to touch every antler arch before running back to the car.

Once in the car, we sat there for a bit waiting on the rain to stop while Robby did some work. ...After sitting in the car waiting for the rain to pass, we headed down the street. For a very long time, Robby and I have wanted to do one of those old timey picture things. After our initial sticker shock, Robby decided that it was still worth it. 

I picked out that we wanted to be cowboys and Western type people instead of saloon girls. The ladies helped the girls and I put on our dresses first. Reagan opted for a cowgirl instead of wearing a fancy dress. Soon the boys were putting on the cowboy clothes.

The kids were kind of funny in that no one asked what we were doing, they just did what the ladies said without complaints. Now, Whitman was a true mess. He talked the entire time. He chatted with the workers and made jokes. It was hysterical. I don't know if I have ever seen him act quite like that. Thankfully, he wasn't embarrassing, though his brothers and sisters thought so, he was just plain funny.

It took along time to dress us and put our props on. Then the pictures took just a bit. She did pictures of all of the kids individually which were wonderful, but we only were able to pick two so we opted for one of the group and one of just the kids. 

The pictures are really good and when we get home, Robby will be able to scan them so my blog readers will be able to see them. I wouldn't be surprised if those pictures end up on the Christmas card. Afterwards, we headed to Starbucks to use the bathroom. Robby bought some hot chocolate and apple cider which we drank while we waited on the pictures to load.

Then we headed back to the cabin to explore the grounds for just a bit. We already have supper there waiting on us-leftover pizza along with the Hot Pockets they bought this morning. The plan is to start laundry after our walk. Hopefully, the machines will be empty. More to come later on the blog...