Jackson Hole Day 5-- White Water Rafting!!! A Family All-Time Favorite!!!!



We woke up a bit later today around 8am-- still early for the teenagers!  It was nice to sleep later, though.  We left at 9am for our white water rafting adventure down the Snake River.  It was another gorgeous and sunny day (they all have been!)  WE met at the company and then our whole group took a bus south where we got our life jackets on and got in our rafts.  There were 3 boats total in our group and we got on an 8 man boat.  The other 3 people were so nice and they were from Peoria too!  Crazy!!  What are the odds of that happening?!!??  They were super fun too.  Our guide's name was Veronica and she was super nice too!  She let us get out and swim in the calmer areas.  (I didn't -- the water was WAY too cold!)  McKenzie and Katelyn did, though.  We went through quite a few class 3 rapids that were super fun!  In the calmer areas, we played a game where someone stands on the front od the boat and everyone else tries to paddle hard in a circle to get them to fall off.  Katelyn and McKenzie did it and fell in.  And those 2 also "rode the bull" where they got to sit on the very front of the boat going through a rapid.  That looked really fun, but I was in the back with my feet on the hump...hahaha!  I got wet from my waist down but it actually felt really good!  We hiked back up the hill after we pulled out 8 miles down the river.  We saw Eagle nests and Osprey nests!  We saw a beautiful deer rafting, as well.  We got some groceries across the street at Smith's after the bus dropped us off.  We ate lunch when we got back to the hotel.  We relaxed until it was time to get ready for dinner.  We had dinner here at the hotel at their Italian restaurant with the Jones host for the trip-- Jeff Guebert and his family, along with another family with twin 4 year old boys!  (Il Villaggio Osteria)  We had a really nice time and the food was SO good!  We went to the rooftop hot tub tonight instead of last night because we got there too late last night... it was closed already)  McKenzie was the only one that stayed back at the room.  We soaked for a bit and then came back to the room.  Oh, I broke a crown today!  I was eating and felt something hard and I realized it was my tooth!  That was a weird sensation!  So now I have a tooth that feels really rough and funny.  So far it doesn't hurt and isn't sensitive to hot or cold, so that's good.  Well- another great day!  I really like it here!!  I could move here, it's so beautiful!  I love the mountains!!!

 



Jackson Hole Day 4-- Yellowstone National Park in 12 Hours!

Yellowstone is beautiful!  We started out taking a picture at Oxbow Bend where the mountain reflected on the water-- just beautiful!  We got a picture!  We didn't see any wildlife here though...  We stopped in a Jackson Lake Lodge to see the view from the 2nd floor.  Next we went to Old Faithful and went inside the O.F. Inn.  It was a while before the next eruption, so we bought deli sandwiches to eat later in the car.  Katelyn and I poked around the Visitors' Center and watched a 15 min. movie about Yellowstone.  We walked over to the viewing area and met up with Dad, Mac and Brooke.  We waited for 10-15 min. and then O.F erupted!  So cool and fun to watch this amazing display of nature!  Next we went to the Fountain Paint Pots and saw the colorful hot pools, bubbling mud pots, steam vents and smaller geysers.  Then we stopped at Upper Falls to see the 109' waterfall from the top-- we had to hike in to see it.  That was a lot of water moving really fast!  From there we went to Artist Point and saw the colorful, yellow canyon. WE saw the 308' Lower Falls waterfall! It was really pretty--I can see where Yellowstone got it's name!!  Then we drove through Hayden Valley and saw a bunch of bison!  We also saw a momma moose and her baby later on, as well!!  We stopped for ice cream just past Fishing Bridge Junction.  It tasted so yummy-- we were all really hot and tired at this point.  Then, we drove the rest of the south loop of the park.  We were all asleep, so Bill skipped Lewis Falls and Moose Falls-- 2 things I really wanted to see-- oh well...  WE got to our hotel around 6:30pm.  I feel like we missed so much!  that was a really quick look at a huge area with so many beautiful things to see!  We didn't even scratch the surface!! 

 

Tonight we are having dinner in our room.  I'm making lasagna, salad and garlic bread and we are going to chill here tonight.  We might go up to the roof top hot tub, if we feel like it later.  It will be nice to just relax in our room!!

 



 

 

 

Jackson Hole Day 3-- Grand Teton National Park



It was a gorgeous day!  We had an 8am breakfast with the Product Partner from Prudential to start the day.  (Carr Bennett and his family)  It was HARD to get up this morning!  We headed out to Grand Teton National Park today. We stopped at Visitors' Centers, drove between points of interest and got out and enjoyed the beautiful scenery all day-- the lakes are absolutely gorgeous with the mountains behind them.  There are also a lot of pretty wild flowers blooming everywhere!  We put our feet in at Jenny Lake and listened to interesting information on our Gaper Guide that Jones provided free for us, as we drove inside the park.  It gave us information based on our location.  Pretty cool!!  We spent most of the day here and decided we want to come back and explore more on another day when we have more time-- it was Sunday today, so we didn't do any hiking or swimming.  We want to come back to do all those things.  There is SO MUCH to see!! 

We came back to the hotel and relaxed--the girls took naps and I folded the laundry I'd started earlier.  We got cleaned up and went to the Jones Theme dinner tonight at the Spur Restaurant at the hotel here.  (This is where we had breakfast this morning, too.)  We enjoyed a nice buffet dinner and got to take some old-fashioned pictures with dress up clothing.  They gave us the photos tonight as a souvenir.  We got to try our luck with "calf-roping" outside with a plastic calf.  It's really hard to do and our target was stationary!  (Those cowboys last night made it look so easy!  I have a new respect for them!!)  Katelyn was able to rope the calf-- she actually got it a couple of times.  She picks up on things quickly!  We are back in our room early tonight because we are waking up EARLY (5am) tomorrow in order to get off by 6am so we can do the South Loop of Yellowstone in 12 hours, round trip.  It's going to be a long but fun day again tomorrow.  Today was a lot of fun as well.  Goodnight!