48 Hours in Grand Teton National Park

What does a 1.5 day trip to Jenny Lake look like?  Well, if you travel with my kind of people, it means a whole lot of fun, talking and action packed into as many waking hours as you can stand.

Four moms got in a Subaru and headed south.  We drove through Yellowstone National Park to get to Grand Teton National Park and pretty much talked without taking a breath the entire time.  We laughed because as women and moms, we are usually uber prepared for little excursions and road trips... Snacks, check.  Hydration, check.  Extra clothes, check.  Oh, no, not on this.  Once we heard "all expense paid trip at a 5-Star lodge, food included" we turned off "mom brain" and went with the flow.  We all looked at each other in the car like, "who brought the snacks?"  Not I said the cat, goose, duck, and pig!  It was surreal and WONDERFUL to not think about packing "stuff" for yourself or others, or to be responsible for a child, man or dog for an entire 48-hours.  

We realized we might be a bit spoiled when we got frustrated at the tourists slowing down through Yellowstone to look at the elk.  We drive through that park so many times a year and see so many beautiful things on a regular basis, we were "annoyed" at the people enjoying themselves and soaking up this gorgeous country.  We felt bad for about 2 more seconds and then put the petal to the metal to get to our destination.... 300 miles away from home! 

After a quick lunch at Old Faithful Lodge, with the creepiest waiter with the greasiest hair we have ever seen we arrived in Grand Teton National Park at Jenny Lake Lodge.  After our fancy check in where they offered us water, huckleberry lemonade, and our own personal bag carrier (I think the rest of the world calls them "bellmen),"  we grabbed one of the complimentary cruiser bikes and took off on a ride down the beautiful roads that surround the many lakes of the Park.  We were livin' large!

We backed up our dinner reservation at the Lodge's fancy restaurant until 8:30pm!  That's right folks, we didn't NEED to eat at 6:00pm on this night!   We cruised for a while, then took a drive to Moose, Wyoming (yes, friends not from around here, that's the name of a town, population 15).  We had a beer on the deck of a restaurant, enjoyed the PERFECT fall temperatures and colors, and turned off the cell phones!

We stuffed ourselves at dinner - 5 courses, a bottle of wine, and we eventually found our way back to our cabin in the dark.  Thanks to the frightened couple who loaned us a map at midnight so we could find our cabin that was 15 yards away.  Oops.

Sunday morning - we slept in until 8!  Laurie and I had ambitions of running around the lake, but alas, those warm cozy beds and no crying babies just kept us there for some reason.   It was time to stuff our still full bellies with more delicious food.  Burp.

We then went for a hike around Leigh Lake to Trapper and Bearpaw lakes.  The 8 miles was just what we needed to soak in some alpine air, stretch our legs, and do some more .... talking!

After our hike, it was back in the car for another beautiful trip through Yellowstone and home to lovely Livingston and our families.  For me, it was the perfect first night away from Matine.  Thanks for the invite Abby and thank you Mom and Jim for watching Matiner.