Last week we spent 4 days in Jackson Hole with my very cool, very knowledgeable Grandfather. Jack calls him, multiple times an hour, "Grandpa-Paul." We got there right after the snow hit, so not only was it a whole new, cold Jackson, but Grandpa got to relive everything he had done a few days earlier, WINTER style.
Grandpa didn't mind that though he had just spend an entire day in Yellowstone with the previous visitors, he'd spend another day there with us. But this time, due to snow, many parts of the park were closed and our day was planned by nature. We hit Jackson Lake and Old Faithful. It was around 35 degrees each day, Jack was a champ about wearing his new jacket and hat, and did a great job keeping his hands in his pockets to stay warm. It was a very surreal experience to see Jack amongst the snow without turning blue. Everything seems to only get better. We were at some pretty high elevations and he'd insist on walking, but every now and then he'd reach up to one of us to carry him. Whether that's his heart condition, or laziness...I haven't figured it out yet.
Old Faithful was on time as always and Jack thought it was
pretty cool to see it "explode" right in front of him. This was the only place in the park that we really ran into other people. We were hoping to see some wildlife, maybe some of the "hundreds of elk" Grandpa had seen a couple of days earlier, but the snow seemed to have driven everyone elsewhere. Most likely to the closed portions of the park.
After Old Faithful we drove back to "Jackson's" (Jack couldn't really grasp the concept of Jackson being a place, and not a person.) Grandpa told us lots of interesting stories, like how Grandma hid money for months and on Christmas presented Grandpa with $7300 to purchase their lot in Olympus Cove. And how his first born was conceived out of necessity to prevent Grandpa from being drafted to the Korean war. And how there isn't anyone that he "dislikes" that he can think of...
Truly a fascinating drive home.
The last day of Adventure included a drive through Teton National Park. Again, kind of quiet, due to the snow. But we stopped at Jenny Lodge and Jenny Lake. We did a lot of rock throwing. It's a boy thing, I think. Throwing rocks into a body of water. Lots of that.
We packed sandwiches and had some lunch at an abandoned visitors center that was closed for the season. That's where I learned about all of Grandpa's piano and organ teachers.
On our way back, we came across a bear hanging in a tree. He was searching for food and had cubs sleeping a ways in from the road. But he was just 20ft from us and went about his business climbing a very small tree. He was adorable. After that we saw a mama moose and her calf feeding in some marsh. Good wildlife.
Jack was the star of every show. Each time we went out to eat there were people staring and giggling at his cute behavior that I was constantly trying to minimize- because he thrives on playing class clown and can get quite riled up. But he sure was a good boy for all the driving we did. He had a great time and enjoyed spending time with Grandpa-Paul. As did we.
