Today was our last full day in Wyoming! And we have loved it here! (We leave tomorrow morning...) I don't want to leave-- I could spend another week here! I feel like we haven't even scratched the surface on things to see here! It's such a gorgeous place and so green! Today we went back to Grand Teton National Park and hiked Phelps Lake. This was such a beautiful, mostly shaded and flat hike. We hiked to a 25 or so foot tall jumping rock. McKenzie jumped off of it as soon as we got there! I didn't even have my tennis shoes off yet and she'd already gone off! She just keeps surprising me on this trip! (The first time was when she came across the finish line of the 5k with a smile on her face!) Then Katelyn couldn't be out done so she jumped off. Then, Mac went AGAIN! Brooke got up the courage to go too. I had a really hard time making the jump-- it's a lot higher up than it looks! (You figure 3 stories!) I just got so mental about it! I've never jumped from that high before! There was a group of LDS High Adventure Scouts and Leader there from Herriman, UT! They all started to cheer for me and chant my name (thanks to Bill for telling them-- ugh...) and I STILL couldn't jump! One of their leaders had been DIVING in from a lower spot on this rock and he finally said, "Hey, if I dive from here, you have to jump from here." (Meaning from the higher spot!) So, I don't know why, but I AGREED to this insane idea! He dove and it still took encouragement from ALL the people behind me! Another man with 2 younger children finally came up to me to help me think through it logically--that really helped. Brooke and Katelyn jumped a few more times. They are crazy!!!! I FINALLY jumped-- the water was so freezing cold that when I came up for air (surprisingly quickly) I couldn't fill my lungs with air! I couldn't breathe! I also realized my forearms hurt because I'd slapped the water pretty hard to "protect" my fall-- this was done instinctually even though everyone said to go into the water straight and with your arms straight down. (Water is hard that high up... I learned the hard way!) I also landed in the water a bit on my bum, so later on, my it started hurting pretty badly... I must've bruised my tailbone which takes FOREVER to heal...UGH!!! Why do I do these things to myself. The thought entered my mind, "If someone tells you to jump off a cliff, do you do it?" Uh, well "yes!". DUMB!! I'll never do that ever again! I learned my lesson! Even if twenty 14 yr. old boys tell you it's really fun! (That should've been my first clue...) After I finally jumped, we hiked back around the lake where we'd started, back to the car.
We drove over to String Lake, but Brooke wanted to eat, so we drove back to Jenny Lake and went to their store and got some lunch. We drove BACK to String Lake and ate lunch at a pic nic table. Brooke was pretty hangry so we decided it was worth not hearing all the complaining! Mac didn't go down to the beach (she was DONE) but the rest of us did. Brooke, Katelyn and I got in the water and they skipped rocks. It's a really shallow lake and a lot of families and children were there. It would've been fun to have paddle boards or inner tubes or a ball-- a lot of people did and it looked like fun! We stayed for almost an hour there and then drove back to our hotel and got cleaned up. I did a couple loads of laundry-- which is free and just down the hall-- they even provide the soap! We went to the Jones Farewell Dinner, but only stayed long enough to eat. We barely missed the big birds they had on display... eagles, hawks, etc. Darn! We came back and got all packed. It was a fun day even though I'm pretty beat up! I think my tailbone will remind me of all the fun from today for the next while!
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