Grand Teton NP Fall Colors

A couple of weeks ago, we took advantage of free National Park admission day and drove out to Grand Teton for the day to enjoy the fall colors.  Turns out the fall colors were mostly done up there, and it was a rainy, chilly day, but it provided for some interesting scenery anyway, including a random sheep on the road.  

We were a little late getting out of the house, so we arrived in Jackson just in time for some yummy lunch, while it poured rain outside!  To add to the fun, a clown was making balloon animals in the restaurant, which our kids thought was completely awesome!  Hadley requested a butterfly, and Owen got a moose on a motorcycle.

After lunch, we walked around the square a bit, since it was still raining off and on.

We went to our favorite candy store, and the kids each got a huge lollipop.  I'm thinking Hadley should not have gotten blue...

Finally, we decided to venture on into the park and see how bad the rain was.  The clouds lent an air of mystery to the Tetons:

It wasn't raining much, so we decided on a 3-mile hike around String Lake.  Even with the obscured mountains and overcast sky, the scenery was beautiful.  It was very quiet, and we only saw a handful of other hikers on the trail.  Everyone started off on foot, but after her first stumble, H opted to ride in the backpack.

Not far up the trail, we came across these deer.  There are 3 total.  Can you see them all? We could also hear elks bugling nearby most of the hike.  It was an eerie sound in the forest, and it really scared Owen!  He wanted to hold my hand. :) We even heard crashing antlers (or at least that's what we thought that sound was), though we never saw the elks.

That may have been because of Chatty Cathy in the backpack, scaring away all the wildlife.  She was so exhausted that she was chattering nonsense and crying most of the hike.  The 20-30 minutes that she finally passed out were pure blissful silence!

Owen was a trooper and did the whole 3 miles by himself, with the brief exceptions of being carried after he fell into a muddy puddle and soaked his pants in cold water and when we were nearing the parking lot.  I was so proud of him for being such a good hiker!

I wished we had binoculars on the hike to find the elk, but I remembered that we had a little pair in the car on the way home.  Those entertained the kids all the way back to dinner in Jackson.  Notice Hadley usually held them upside down and backwards, but no matter.

We are so thankful to be able to do day trips to such amazing places!