Days 10 and 11 -- Grand Teton and Beyond

I'm going to start this blog post with a confession: I wasn't really expecting much from the Tetons.  After Yellowstone, I was a little spoiled and was figuring that the Tetons would be more of the same.  Well, not the first time I've been wrong and undoubtedly not the last.

I am continually amazed on this trip about how fast the landscape can change, and how many, many different kinds of mountains there are. When we rounded the bend and saw the Tetons it simply took my breath way.  Unlike Yellowstone's mountains which were on the soft, green side, the Tetons were bare and jagged and stark. Lit up by the morning sun and reflected in Jackson lake, they were just beautiful.

We didn't really do any sightseeing in the park: our plan for this area was a whitewater rafting trip down the Snake River. I was worried the girls might be nervous, but (wrong again) I was much more nervous for them than they were for themselves. I'm happy to report the trip was great and all 4 girls LOVED it! The class 2 and 3 rapids were exciting without being too scary, and the scenery was gorgeous.  We saw 2 bald eagles within the space of 5 minutes, and several cormorants and osprey throughout the ride. All 4 girls and Theo took a dip in the river -- 58 degrees cold but beautiful-- and, in a burst of testosterone, Theo took the guide's challenge and braved one rapid out of his seat, sitting on the nose of the boat, holding on only to a rope. It was pretty awesome!

After the Tetons, it was southward bound and some rest time for us. We drove down through Idaho then just a bit into Utah where we hotel-ed in a small town called Bear Lake. The west is incredible. In the middle of a fairly bare, dry landscape, out of nowhere came a stunning lake with water as clear and aqua as the Caribbean. Not only was it a great place to siesta and swim, it also turned out to be the raspberry capital of the country (or so it claims) and we landed there during Raspberry Days. Go figure!  The crowd was a little Jersey Shore meets Hometown Utah (read: Yikes!), but the raspberries were absolutely delicious and the famous raspberry shakes definitely lived up to their hype.

With rest and clean laundry under our belts, we continued our trek to the southern part of Utah.  We drove through Salt Lake City to take a glimpse of the Mormon Temple, continued down highways with an 80mph speed limit, and eventually caught another motel, not too far from Capitol Reef National Park, which will be today's adventure...