NW Day Fourteen, Wednesday: "This Place is Great"

Poor Boybot was sick overnight, but neither the Jedi nor I heard him up. The Boybot didn’t want to wake us, so he just took care of himself and brought a trashcan over to his air mattress in case he needed it. 

He waited till he heard me get up and then came over and told me that he wasn’t feeling well and was there any way he could get some gingerale? I could only find sprite in the hotel vending machines. The Jedi got up and went on to a grocery store in town, but still no gingerale. Boybot made do with a few sips of sprite and a ginger root capsule. I brought him some apple juice from the breakfast room, which he also sipped from.

Because we’re on some kind of hotel plan, the Jedi was able to make arrangements with the front desk so that we could have a 1 pm check out instead of an 11 a.m. checkout.

The Jedi and Sweetling walked the couple blocks to the downtown/historic section of Jackson Hole and explored there and took a few pictures. 

When they got back, three of us heated up assorted dinner leftovers for lunch. (Have I mentioned that several years ago the Jedi found a small refrigerated cooler that sits between the front seats of the van and plugs into the dashboard? We use it on road trips to be able to take leftovers with us.) And then three of us took all the clothing bins back out to the van and got the van all loaded up. And then (high school English teachers everywhere are cringing at my writing style), and then, just before one, Boybot went out to the van and lied down in the back seat of the van. (Is it lied down? Lay down? Laid down? Don’t make me look up grammar on vacation.)

The original plan for the day was to spend the entire day in Grand Teton. We had to check out in Jackson at 1 pm and we couldn’t check in at Yellowstone till 4:30, and we had to drive through Grand Teton to get to Yellowstone, so the revised plan was to determine what one thing was most important for each person to experience in Grand Teton, and to do just those things, provided that one adult could stay behind in the car with the sleeping Boybot.

So that’s what we did.

We drove into Grand Teton, taking the obligatory picture by the sign. (Boybot’s favorite thing for the day might be that he didn’t have to pose for a single photo.)

Then we drove up to the Jenny Lake area, where Sweetling and the Jedi went down to the lakeshore so Sweetling could go wading. (Her pick for the park).

And we stopped at a few pulloffs and took some photos of the scenery (my pick for the park). Although, Sweetling also really enjoyed this scenery. I believe her exact words were, “This place is great!”

And we drove over to the Snake River overlook (the Jedi’s pick for the park, because a photo of this scene was what motivated him to save for and plan and drive this ENTIRE trip.)

And I found a small piece of quartz for Boybot, because I knew collecting rocks would have been his pick for the park.

And we also drove past a herd of bison, which wasn’t anyone’s pick…but there they were!

With horses in the field across the road...

We drove the hour to Yellowstone…

 We passed over the Continental Divide for the second time this trip. This time there was a sign. (The Jedi wasn’t in favor of me getting out of the van to take this photo, because we were right up against the forest on not a very high traffic road with bear warning signs every 500 feet. I yelled really loudly before I got out of the van, and you could see through the forest somewhat, so….)

AND we actually reached our destination (Grant Village, altitude 7770 ft), well before dark. Three of us got unloaded what was need from the van (and checked the beds) and then, when the room was ready, Boybot came in and collapsed in a bed. 

He was feeling a little better, and was interested in something to eat. Sweetling and I were also hungry, so the Jedi and I hiked down to Grant Lake House to pick up a carry out dinner. 

We got there right before sunset, and got some pretty pictures of the sky. 

Then we hoofed it back through the forest at twilight, carrying a box of delicious smelling food. (A small bowl of udon noodles and chicken broth for Boybot, a small bowl of udon noodles, broth and roasted chicken for Sweetling, a small bowl of udon noodles with spicy peanut sauce and sautéed vegetables for me, and a large bowl of spaghetti noodles and marinara sauce for the Jedi.)

The Jedi made a run to the Grant Village mini-store for more apple juice for Boybot, and we’ve all chilled in the room.