Dave asked the kids if they wanted to get up way before the sun and make the drive up there to see if we could see her. Before he could finish his question it was a huge, "YES!" so he sent them to bed early so the next day wouldn't be too terribly painful (for us and them!). Dave decided to stay at the campground and work to make sure he got all his hours in for the day. He still went to bed early too!
I stayed up the night before writing and doing laundry until 12:30am so 5:00am came very early! After I reseached the route we were to take I got the kids up, grabbed the breakfast I'd picked up at the store, and we headed to go find her. The grizzly is nammed "399" and she has two cubs she is raising in the Grand Teton park boundary.
We had great directions and we made it there before many people. We were a little worried because there wasn't a park ranger as we'd been told there usually was. We made sure by a few phone calls and texts that we were in the right spot. Within about 15 more minutes the traffic started to pick up and they would slow right around the area where she was supposed to be. We did find a park ranger eventually and he said she'd been there the day before until mid-afternoon then left. He didn't seem to expect her today, but said we were doing the right thing. We passed him one more time then assumed he'd left and so should we. Grizzly 399 - 1, MomOnARoadTrip - 0. I don't really want to see a grizzly up close but this one seemed like a good idea from inside a car.
Next up we were to search for a campsite! My hope was the area tucked in next to these stunning Teton Mountains, but the general advice from everywhere says they are full by early morning. I was hoping 8am was early enough, but not today. They were already full. Next on my list was the campground in the southeast section of the park, but once I saw where most of the activities we wanted to do were we headed to a more central campground at Signal Mountain.
I didn't realize this campground also filled up pretty quickly! When we arrived and grabbed the paperwork to reserve a site, cars were already trolling through the campground trying to figure out if people were leaving or not. Cars in front of us were snagging spots right under us! We'd passed by a site twice hoping for a tent-only site on the water but it just wasn't in the cards for us. So once we came back around to it we quickly put up the tent and went out to go pay for it.
We finally made it back to Dave and the campground we were supposed to leave 45 minutes before check out so we rushed around to throw everything in the car and relocate. Thankfully Dave and I had organized a lot the night before so it was easier than we thought it would be. We dropped Dave off at the library and headed to our next mountain home - Grand Teton National Park!
We had a little problem setting up as our two tents were too large for the designated tent area. We decided we would all have to cram into the kids' tent. Once we had it all set up we were all laughing as it looked like a giant bed. Well, at least we would be warm!!
Next we headed to the Visitor's Center to learn about the park and pick up junior ranger books. They had a fantastic interactive exhibit of the park wildlife, an interesting display of mountain climbers, and Laney's favorite - a native american display of the traditional beadwork. Some of the work was incredible!
This center had wifi so while quickly added a day to the blog, the kids worked on the junior ranger books. We were so involved in what we were doing we completely missed an afternoon rain shower! Before we knew it, it was time to go pick up Dave and bring him to our new spot.
Once we made it back we had a quick dinner of veggie burgers and took a family walk to explore the park. This beach area is just behind our site through the woods and I couldn't wait to visit in the early morning! The lighting was nice tonight along the lake!
We'd spotted the amphitheater on the map earlier but noticed there weren't any programs schedule during our stay which was disappointing. So the kids decided to make up their own program for us and before long they had a few other people in the audience. No doubt inspired by the Jackson shoot out the day before, they had a western shootout of their own. After 3 acts, we suggested they end and do some improve which ended up being quite funny. We'll have to remember that entertainment option!
We had a short campfire, mostly for the marshmallows, then we all climbed into the tent. We all giggled as we got settled into our giant bed and covered up with our new quilts. This was going to be a challenging sleeping experience but we were going to be warm!
