Grand Tetons National Park - Phase I

After an excellent early breakfast at the Alpenhof, we anxiously headed for Grand Teton National Park. The snow had continued to fall intermittently throughout the course of the evening giving Jackson Hole  the appearance of almost a "winter wonderland."  We enjoyed the beauty the snow added to the landscape but we were hopeful it would not obscure some of the vistas we were hoping to see.  We entered the park and were greeted by swiftly running streams and rivers whose "grayish" color gave evidence of their glacial origins - the point at which the grinding conflict between ice and stone provides a demonstration of the awesome powers of nature.   We kept our eyes peeled for our first views of the mountains whose "maternal" shape gives them their names.  (You're gonna have to look that one up yourselves, folks.  The gang told me I have already pushed the limits with the 'festival' sign I added yesterday!!)  Unfortunately, the skies remained veiled with snow flurries and low-lying clouds and the pictures we got of these spectacular mountains were not what we had hoped to be able to show you.  The first two pictures in this series are ours but the third is a royalty free photo I added just so you could see the magnificence of the range we were riding through.  It is spectacular and I hope you will be able to visit in person one of these days - or - to take a thorough "cyber-visit" through the wonderful internet options that are available to us these days.  Of course the mountains themselves are the namesake of the park but I must tell you that the forests, the meadows, the valleys and streams and just experience of being in this wild and vast area are all breathtaking.   Being folks who are not shy about acknowledging the hand of God in the wonders that we have seen, our group gets a little on the "spiritual" side when we see things like this.  Imagine our surprise when, just about at the time we were all reaching the "speechless" stage, we came upon an incredibly beautiful chapel in the middle of the woods.  It is the Episcopal Chapel of the Transfiguration and is open to all who want to spend a few minutes in reflection and contemplation.  We stopped for a while and sat in meditation in the chapel with a beautiful view of the mountains in the distance and the fog enshrouded woodlands in the foreground.  It was just amazing!!!  We came away from our brief stop refreshed and at peace with the world and headed into the increasing snowflakes toward new sights and experiences.  We continued through exquisite forests and past lakes of all sizes - some showing the effects of the wind and temperatures in a way that was really new to us.  I'll add some more pictures a little later on that will give you a better idea of what we're talking about.  Anyway - let me kinda set the scene for this ....  We are always on the lookout for new and exciting sights and the folks in this crew are some of the "sharpest-eyed" folks I have ever seen.  I don't remember whether it was Linda or Sherwood who made the first sighting but ...  I'm driving along all serene and peaceful after our visit to the chapel when all of a sudden, at a volume level of about 90db, directly into my right ear I hear ... "MOOSE!!!!"  Just the thing you want to have happen on a snowy road in the mountains!!  Check out the photos above and to the right and you'll see the big guy blending into the background pretty well!!!  Whoa!!!  After I got the car back under control we slowed and were able to watch this magnificent creature, at home in his native habitat, taking care of the business of "lunch Moose style."  As you guys well know, when the creatures show up our gang will jump through all kinds of hoops to join them.  But - we do respect the fact that they are wild animals and we never try to approach beyond reasonable bounds.  We have seen waaaaaayyyyyy too many tourists who have done things that were extremely unwise and who lived (fortunately) to regret it.  So - our credo is - use caution and respect when you are visiting with wild creatures.  We're going to finish up this phase of our trip through the Grand Teton National Park toward Yellowstone National Park with some of the views of the forests and lakes we talked about earlier.  Pay close attention to some of the latter pictures of the lakes and notice the curious and beautiful patterns created by the blowing snow, the freezing ice and the pervasive winds.  Almost before our eyes we saw the lakes make the transition from their liquid form to 'frozen solid' as we moved further into Wyoming.  The shapes, patterns and colors were an artist's dream - and inspiration and they once again showed that mother nature is the very best artist of all!!!  We're going to end for now so that we can come back again pretty quickly to enter "Phase II" of this segment of our journey - the trip into Yellowstone National Park.  You've gotta come back folks - we've really got some great stuff to show you.  One of our favorites is our discovery of what we consider to be the first, official "Hippie Buffalo."  Come on back and we'll show you what we're talking about and you can weigh in on whether you agree with us or not.  See ya.!!