30 Years Later

After 30 years from her last visit to Grand Teton National Park, my sister Betty makes it back.  The day started with her remembering things that never happened and hikes we never took (well maybe I exaggerate a bit).  Did I mention she is older than I am and some of you think I am old!  We did drive around a bit to see if anything looked familiar.  She did identify the mountain the park is named for and Jenny Lake, the trailhead of childhood hikes with the family.

Me and Betty on the deck at Jackson Lake Lodge after a quick refresher on
the names of the mountains.

We started our refresher journey by driving to Jackson Lake Lodge.  Here we saw that not just tourists come to the Tetons for vacation, but for “conferences” too.  There was some kind of Conference on Livers taking place at this time.  What?  Isn’t that something that might take place at Mayo or K.U. Med. Center?  It’s good to be a liverologist.  After Betty acquired some post cards, we headed back to the truck to continue the drive down memory lane.

Miki teaches Betty her grandmother's special shoe tying trick.
She also received other offers from others to tie their shoes too...
could have been a money maker.

Next, we drove to the top of Signal Mountain.  Coincidence or not, it does have a rather imposing cell tower at the top.  This is one of the higher spots to view the mountains and the features that lay before it.  A few photos were snapped and by this time lunch became a priority and we headed back to the campsite.

Betty and Andrew atop Signal Mountain.

With a vegatable themed lunch under our belts, we hit the trail this time with our feet and left the truck behind.  We guided Betty and Andrew to Heron Lake and Swan Lake without the accidental 3 mile detour we did a few days earlier by not reading the trail signs, because unlike some creatures like the fly that keeps running into the window to try and escape, we learn from our mistakes.

Lunch at the doghouse.

On the trail to Heron Lake.

Rest stop at the lake while we watch for wildlife.

Pretty day!

A couple of hours later, we returned without getting lost, to eat a taco salad based meal.  Then hurried back into Jackson where a photographer that Betty wanted to meet was having a gallery open house.  Thomas Mengelson (google him), among other things has worked with National Geographic and Jane Goodall.  One of his more recognized photographs is one of a big grizzly bear sitting at the top of a short waterfall and shows a salmon about to land in the bears jaws while jumping out of the water to get upstream…very cool.  Betty has been to his gallery in La Jolla, Ca and it was just coincidence that he was here for this open house and so was she.  We both bought something of his and got it signed, which makes us pretty cool too now.  We took our signed $25 poster and decided to leave the framed $13,000 and change original on the wall.

Betty getting her card signed by the man.

Miki getting our poster signed by the man and telling him,
you better spell his name right cause he has a short fuse!

For the second night in a row, we drove slowly back to Colter Bay to avoid any incidents with wild animals.  Last night we came across a small herd of elk poised next to the road to either cross or simply scare the ba-jesus out of drivers as part of a new park “scared straight” program, to cut down on animal vs. vehicle accidents.  We could not see them until we were almost next to them and they were literally on the shoulder of the road.  Did that stop me from driving faster than I should have tonight…

The evening ended by playing Rummikub and discussing a possible itinerary for tomorrow.  One thing is for sure, it will be Sunday and we will be having big-o-blueberry-pancakes for breakfast. 

My Zen from the Road:  While at the gallery in Jackson this evening, it was apparent that we were rubbing elbows with some people that had more money than sense.  You could see it in the way they dressed, the stretched faces from multiple visits to the plastic surgeon, to the angle at which their noses were elevated and manners forgotten, yet no one appreciated the photography on the walls more than we did.  Just goes to show that you can change your appearance or pretend to be something you are not, but you are who you are.  That is something everyone can see.

The sun setting as we head to Jackson.