Day 1:
We left our house in plenty of time to make it to the airport, park at Peachy (the long term parking/ shuttle service facility for Hartsfield/Jackson Airport), get everyone through security, all bags checked, find the gate and still have plenty of time to spare! This is the first time our family has all flown together at the same time. I have flown with the girls, Kevin and I flew with Hooper, etc.. but this was the first time all 5 kids and 2 adults were together. We waited at the gate until about 20 mins before the flight was to leave. The less time I had to hold an 18 month old on a 4 hour flight to Utah the better. The terminal was loud and crowded. And to just get to the point of it, we missed our flight. The lady at the gate gave our seats away, shut the door and would not let us on. This was 15 mins before the flight was scheduled to leave. It was a huge disaster and I thought my husband was going to explode. I think the gate attendant was to blame, but at that point arguing was NOT going to get us on that flight (she gave our seats away and shut the door after all). So I stepped aside and started trying to get us on the next flight. We were able to secure 7 seats on the next flight to Utah, 2 hours later. Unfortunately that was not our final destination, we had a connector flight that took us to Idaho Falls. There were only 5 seats on that flight. So we had to decide who was gonna fly and who was gonna drive 3 hours from Salt Lake City, Utah to Idaho Falls. Long story short, we all flew to Utah, paid $399.00 for a one way vehicle to Idaho Falls and drove 3 hours. By the time we arrived in the tiny little airport at Idaho Falls it was 11:30 and the airport was all but shutdown. No signs of anyone other than the girl who was waiting for us at the rental car desk (we had a van for the week waiting for us there). God was looking out for us, because after about 30 mins of looking and knocking- we finally found a maintenance man who so kindly searched the back and found our luggage and brought it out to us. I don't know what we would of done without him! Our rental house in Jackson Hole was about 2 hours away. Of course we were all starving, we had not had any time to eat. We found a Denny's and pigged out on pancakes and eggs. Service wasn't exactly stellar at 1 am, so by the time we left there and hit the road it was 2:30 am. We made the 2 hour drive to Jackson Hole, everyone was asleep but Carter and I. He helped me stay awake as we dodged moose through a National Forest. I have never been so tired in my life. All I wanted to do was sleep! We arrived at our rental about 4:30 am. Everyone slept in the next morning... everyone but me. You see, the reason for this trip was scheduled around 2 awesome half marathons! The first, "Grand Teton Half Marathon" was at 6:30 am, exactly 2 hours from our arrival into Jackson Hole, Wyoming. By the time we unpacked the car, unloaded the kids and got everyone in bed... I had to put on my running shoes and go run 13.1 miles! I am so thankful that my sweet, precious friend signed up to do this race with me, because she was motivation to keep going! I knew she was waiting on me and I knew this would be an epic race! I couldn't miss running in the Tetons!
Day 2:
My day 1 and day 2 all blended together. I went straight to my race. It was a beautiful course. Everything in the Tetons in so picturesque! I got to enjoy it with one of my very best friends. We both flew out and turned our race into a vacation! After the race I finally got to go to the house and take a little nap.
Day 3:
The Grand Tetons! Finally! I got to get into the park and see things first hand. I spent weeks planning and reading and researching and I did not want to miss a thing. We got the $50 pass which allowed us 7 days entrance into either park (Teton or Yellowstone). I knew we would be in the parks almost everyday, so it saved us a chunk of money. I had mapped out trails I wanted us to hike and places I wanted to see. Unfortunately, Jada was in a boot the whole trip! She had fractured a bone in her foot at camp the week before we left. But she did not let it stop her! She was a trooper the whole trip and never complained. We started at String Lake. It was very full because of all the heavy snow melting down the mountains. Some of the trails around the lake were flooded too, but the kids didn't mind, they just took off their shoes and played in it!
String Lake
Sitting on a bench in the flooded lake
It didn't take long for the shoes to go..
We hiked the trail from String over to Jenny lake. Unfortunately much of the trail I wanted to hike was closed, so we missed out on some things on my list to see. But we were still able to take in all the beautiful scenery surrounding the famous Jenny Lake.
Snack time! All this hiking works up an appetite.
We headed over the Jenny Lake Lodge for lunch. We were all starving. It was a quaint little lodge and restaurant and the food was delicious! Hooper didn't make it quite through the meal.
We still had lots to see and do, so after lunch we drove up to the top of Signal Mountain and the views were stunning. You could see all through the valley.
The last stop for the day was Moose Ponds Trail. By this point it was almost dark and we had hiked over 10 miles throughout the day. The kids were getting tired and poor Jada and her broken foot finally gave up. But we all really wanted to see a moose and this trail was supposed to deliver!
Finally saw a moose!
Jenny lake behind us, on Moose Ponds Trail
Headed out the park about 8 pm, and back to our house.
We bought groceries in town and cooked most of our meals at the house. It is far too expensive to feed a family of 7 at a restaurant with the prices in this tourist town. We only ate out a time or two.
We took hundreds of amazing photos, but I will only post a handful. Here are a few more from out first day in the park:
Day 4:
We didn't do much hiking this day, it was our last full day in Jackson Hole and at the Tetons. We did do lots of sight seeing though. We had breakfast and headed back to the park. For the record, the parks are miles and miles wide. You can't just jump in the car and be there in a few. We spent HOURS in the car. I mean, HOURS. There is a lot of driving involved when visiting the Tetons and Yellowstone! We rented a mini-van, and although it was brand new (It had 12 miles on it when I pulled out of the airport with it, and we took back it back with over 1200 miles) and very nice... it was NOT our 12 passenger Nissan NV. And poor Jada got stuck in the back smooshed between 2 car seats, but we made it work! Plus we got an amazing deal from Priceline and only paid $299 for 10 days! Our first stop on day 4 was the Snake River Scenic Overlook. This is noted to be the most beautiful spot to view the full range and see the river twisting through. We tried to get some awesome photos.. most of them were hilarious. We tried.
Next stop was the Cunningham Cabin. A historical site, the lasts remnants of the family that once lived in this valley years ago. The kids had more fun chasing the ground squirrels and looking at the elk in the field than exploring the cabin. I will admit, the wildlife was definitely more exciting! And the views.. just breathtaking!
The cabin
Watching the elk
the ground squirrels
Watching the elk
We headed back into town and ate lunch at the Snake River Brewing Company. Lunch is quite a bit more affordable than dinner out. We shopped in town and then decided to take the tram up to the top of the Jackson Hole Ski resort. It was so cool! We were over10,000 feet up! We all really enjoyed the tram. By the time we got home it was late again, so we cooked dinner and all hit the hay. We had to leave Jackson Hole the next day and head to our next house which was located in Idaho, about 15 miles from the west entrance of Yellowstone in Montana.
Day 5:
We packed up from our house in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and headed to West Yellowstone, Montana. We decided to take the longer route and go up through the actual Yellowstone Park. We came through West Thumb. We could NOT wait to see some of the amazing things in Yellowstone.
Our first stop in the park was on the still frozen Lewis Lake . The kids thought it was so cool!! We also made a stop at the most southern thermal feature area West Thumb Geyser Basin. This was our first taste of the thermal features and geysers in Yellowstone and we were all in awe! Hot, steamy, bubbly water and mud all over the place!
We drove all the way up to West Yellowstone. We stop in town for groceries and lunch at the DQ. The kids were glad to have Blizzard! When we finally made it to our house in Island Park, ID we were all spent! We loved our big cabin in the woods there. It was amazing! I didn't get any pics of the cabin though.
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