Dinosaur Tracks

 We continued down Willow Flats Road a ways until we left the National Park and ran across the dinosaur tracks.  The tracks were of Sauropods and Therapods.  The pictures look pretty cool but I'm not sure I'd drive all that way for it if I only had limited time in the park. 

 We took Highway 191 back to the park and stopped at Courthouse Towers for a picture and then headed to Balanced Rock.

Eye of the Whale Arch

 We'd originally planned to go down the Salt Valley 4x4 road to see Tower Arch and Marching Men but the day we went it was closed.  We headed out to Willow Flats drive then to see Eye of the Whale Arch.  It was a pretty easy drive in two high clearance vehicles.  I'm not sure a sedan or minivan would have fared well.  We were able to walk right up to the arch and even around it.  We were probably the only visitor's to make it out that way.

As lame as the pictures look we still had fun driving around in our manly vehicles.  It was nice to see my truck being used as it should be.

Change of scenery: The Tetons

We headed for the Tetons after Yellowstone.  We were going to camp at Colter Bay but had talked to some neighbors in Yellowstone that said Signal Mountain was pretty nice.  We decided to follow their advice.  We set up camp, sweated a lot (85 degrees), then headed to String Lake for a dip in the water to cool off and cleanse our bodies.

 

We didn't stay long since I remembered that we hadn't shut the rain flaps on the tent and the sky was getting dark.  Good thing too, since it started raining within 5 minutes of us getting back.  That was our first rain of the trip.  We sat in the tent for about 45 minutes waiting for it to end.  The kids had a blast rolling all over each other and tackling everything and anything in site.

 

When they got a little bored I set up the camera and we played photo booth w/ the timer function.  The pictures aren't quite in focus but they make me smile every time I see them.

 

 

 

 

 We were feeling lazy that evening so we headed up to the Signal Mountain Lodge (Trapper's Grille) for dinner.  I was not impressed. Notice that this was our 2nd bad meal in a National Park. It's the beginning of a trend. The hamburgers (recommended by the waitress) were like cardboard (taste and texture.)  C did enjoy his.

 

Again, the Lodge itself was pretty and had great views of the mountains and lake.

 

If only they could get their food quality higher.

Checked out Colter Bay (since we didn't end up camping there), Willow Flats, and Oxbow Bend

 

for wildlife.  We also checked out the Jackson Lake Dam.  We saw an elk & a baby on the way to Colter Bay.  We saw another elk & a baby drinking water out of the Snake River at Oxbow and 4 or 5 beavers working/swimming/eating.  They were quite industrious.

  

The following pictures are some that the kids took.  I brought an old, old camera for them not really thinking that they would take any pictures that I would keep but they did get about 10 I really like out of the 300 they took.  I'm so glad I let them do this.  This is one of my favorite pics since it's from the perspective of the little people.

 This is a classic since I was always grabbing for Q's hand so she didn't flop down the hill.

 

 Again, I just like the perspective it was taken from and that we are taking pictures of each other!