River Rafting

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Sunday was a slow-start kind of day.  We were greeted with quite a bit of rain to start the day, which meant we had to put off climbing until the weather changed.  To avoid spending all morning in the tent or the car, we headed to town for breakfast.  We were not the only ones with that idea; it was very busy in town.  We did beat most of the rush and had a great breakfast at Crazy Woman Cafe.  

After breakfast, we headed back to camp for a bit, and then we headed out to climb. Feeling rather tired and sore, I opted just to belay for Brian, but he was able to get in a couple of interesting routes in an area that was quite fun (and impressive).

Monday morning, we departed for Grand Teton National Park.  It took us around five hours to get here, but we’ve arrived.  Our big adventure for the day was a rafting trip down the Snake River.  We were loaded into a van and drove, with the raft, to the launch point.  On our drive, we caught a glimpse of a herd of bison.  The rafting guide says there will be plenty of bison to see in Yellowstone.  

From the river, considered to be an advanced river in terms of rafting (not that I really know what that means), we had impressive views of the Grand Teton range, part of the greater Rocky Mountain range.  It was extremely windy on the river, but I’m happy to report that we all stayed in the raft. The tour was about 10 miles and took over 2 hours.  I seriously recommend a rafting trip at some point; it was fabulous.  In fact, we enjoyed it so much that Brian and I are excited to plan another rafting trip; the next time we’re hoping to do some whitewater rafting. Brian has some great video of the river that he’ll be sharing soon.  I’ll try to add it to the blog as well.  Though we didn’t see a moose (a swamp donkey, according to Brian and his dad), we did see a few bald eagles and an eaglet who hadn’t left his nest yet.  

After rafting, we headed to the Visitor Center.  There, I learned the difference between a grizzly and a black bear.  Here are a few things they have in common:  they are big, they have “food memory”, they scare the heck out of me,  and I don’t want to see either one…ever! After touring the Center, we headed to nearby Jackson Hole, WY.  Unfortunately, we have no celebrity encounters to report.  We did get to see some of the 64th Annual Shootout On The Square.  More enjoyable was all the shopping.  I could have spent all day (and tons of money) in Jackson Hole.  Intelligently, Brian directed my attention to dinner, so he didn’t have to sell off our car or a kidney to get us home.  We enjoyed dinner on a roof-top terrace at the Town Square Tavern.  We were able to look down on the square and watch all the happenings around town, including the taxi, a horse-drawn carriage.  

We called it a night and headed to our hotel, the Hatchet Resort.  The room was so narrow that Brian could nearly reach across the room from wall to wall.  The radiator was making a strange noise during the night, but it had a comfy bed, and I took perhaps the longest shower of my life (with plenty of hot, hot water).  

All in all, Monday was a great day, a wonderful early-anniversary present.  Thanks, Husband!  Next up, we’ll meet Tom, Ann, Daniel, and Xavier to explore the Tetons and Yellowstone.