Tetons - Driggs

Sunday, Sept. 19 - Today we decided to take the Jenny Lake road and drive over to Driggs, Idaho.  Someone in the park told us that was a beautiful drive, and it takes us over the summit of Teton Pass.  We were on the road by 9:00 a.m.  It was a chilly morning, 37 degrees, but it warmed up to the 80s.  And 80 seemed hot, hot, hot!  We have to rethink our route home because we don't want to get home before the Arizona temps drop below 100.  We are thinking we are going through Moab, Utah, but that is a pretty hot area too.  We'll see.  That's one of the wonders of retirement - we can make our own agenda and take our time.

We saw 4 deer beside the road just after leaving the campground.  The Tetons are pretty spectacular.  There are lots of viewing points along all the roads in the park.

We stopped and checked out Jenny Lake.  The water in the lakes and rivers here is so clear it is unbelievable.

There are some glaciers in the Tetons, although they are all receding.  This mountain contains the Teton Glacier.

We took a little road off the Jenny Lake Road that took us to Teton Village, a ski area.  But on this road, we finally, finally (!) saw a bear!  We came upon our first "bear jam."

We aren't the only ones who get excited about bears!  This one was a brown black bear, we think.  We never got a good look, or a good picture, but the bear is on the left side of the next picture.

It was munching on Saskatoon berries, and you could see the trees and bushes shaking when he ripped off a limb.  The bear finally wandered off out of sight, so everyone moved on.

Teton Village is pretty spread out, and there was an aerial tram ride going up the mountain, but we didn't take that.

We drove on up over the pass.  The fall colors of the trees (Aspens, we think) and grasses or weeds are really beautiful.  That's one thing I've always missed since moving away from Indiana -- fall, with its colors and smells.

We had lunch in Driggs at a little motel/restaurant that specialized in "cowboy cuisine."  There was a chicken outside that I think Brenda probably needs, to go with the one she has.

We drove back and took the Jackson Hole intersection.  Joe remembers that his brother Tom fell in love with Jackson Hole, so we checked it out.  It has antler arches in town by a park, and we saw another one as we left.

Just after leaving town, we drove beside a National Elk Refuge.  The elk haven't migrated down from the mountains yet, apparently, because we did not see any right here.  We read that the Boy Scouts gather the antlers in the spring as a fundraiser and sell them.  The Japanese are the biggest purchasers, supposedly for medicinal purposes.  The Boy Scouts get to keep 80% of the proceeds, so it sounds like a great idea.

We drove down an access road to get to the Snake River.  I wasn't too sure about this road, it had a 19% grade, but Joe just moseyed right on down it.  There was a guy fishing, and a few people just enjoying the river.

Back on the main road, we came upon another big meadow and I spotted a herd of bison -- the first we had seen since leaving Yellowstone.  Then I saw some antelope in front of them, and an elk ran across in front of the antelope.  There were probably 40 or more antelope scattered over this meadow.  The elk headed on up into the mountain, running almost all the way.  And the bison just grazed.  But it was great to get to see these animals.

We think we are leaving here tomorrow, not sure which way we are heading.  The National Parks are really wonderful places, and I am in awe of our forefathers who had the vision to set aside these areas so many years ago.  And I'm really happy that we are getting to enjoy them now.