Day 7 - National Oregon/California Trail Center

 We arrived too late in Montpelier, Idaho to go to the Oregon/California Trail Center, so we stayed the night, ate a Boy Scout pork roast dinner, and watched a fun fireworks display (not necessarily in that order!). The next morning we headed to the center.

 Montpelier is at the edge of the Great Basin, and I've been doing research about the entire Great Basin for an upcoming book, so I had learned about this center and really wanted to go.

 This sign made me laugh.

 They had a special Bigfoot/Sasquatch exhibit, which was a little odd. I guess we just don't have Bigfoots coming down into the central Great Basin, so I don't have much experience with Bigfoot sightings.

 Down in the basement were some historical exhibits by the DUP (Daughters of Utah Pioneers) and railroad exhibits, as Montpelier has busy train tracks through it. The nice lady in the museum really interacted with the kids. Desert Boy walked through the museum once and was ready to leave.

She told Desert Boy, "You're looking at things too fast." She led him over to the typewriter and let him type. Then he got to do some other activities on the old equipment.

As we headed up the stairs, he said to me, "Mom, she was right. I really was looking at things too fast."

 This quilt caught my eye. It's based on an historic photo. What impressive craftmanship!

Then it was time to begin our tour of the Oregon/California trail. It's a living history tour, with costumed interpreters.

 We first learned what we needed to take on the trail, how to make rifles, and other assorted important information. Then we prepared for our 2,000 mile journey.

 We were fortunate, we didn't have to walk the whole way, we got to make some of the journey in a covered wagon. The moving wagon freaked out Desert Girl, and she kept saying for hours afterward, "Oregon scary. Oregon scary." It was kind of cute. Hopefully she will recover some day.

When we exited the wagon we stopped at some camps and learned more about life on the trail. Those people sure had it rough! Desert Boy and Desert Girl were fascinated with the 45-minute program.

It was a fun stop. After we finished the living history portion, the kids ran back to the basement to continue looking at the local history museum. I've never seen them so interested in history!

Day 6 - Paris Ice Cave

 Heading south from Grand Tetons, we decided to visit Paris Ice Cave near Paris, Idaho. We got some directions from a local and headed up the good gravel road.

 After putting on helmets and finding lights, Desert Boy took off down the trail to the entrance.

 It was an impressive entrance, with huge blocks of limestone. We could feel a cold breeze coming out of the cave.

 We found lots of snow and ice still in the cave, despite it being July.

 A sturdy boardwalk helped us get across the icy wet parts.

 We still had to do some walking on the snow and ice, and Desert Boy found that it was painful to fall.

 The boardwalk part of the cave is not long, and you can see one entrance from the other. However, I could see that there was more cave, cave where we needed lights.

 We found another big room, with lots of ice.

 Ed checked out an ice formation.

 It is amazing how slippery the ice is!

 Ed looked up to see where all those big chunks of ice had come from. You certainly wouldn't want to be underneath when they fell.

 There was another entrance in this room, but it led to a long chimney that was too difficult for the kids.

 Quick pose!

 The ground is really rough around there. We wandered a bit and found one cave that looked only accessible by rappelling into it.

 Meanwhile, Desert Boy and Dad found another passageway and surprised us by coming out.

The Paris Ice Cave was a highlight of the trip. It's not big, but it sure is fun!

Day 6 - Jenny Lake Hike

The next day of our vacation, we decided that it would be fun to take the shuttle boat across Jenny Lake and hike from there, saving us about two miles of hiking each way. We all enjoyed the boat and feeling the cool water.

It was about a half-mile hike up to Hidden Falls, which wasn't really so hidden as we were hiking with boatloads of people.

An extremely habituated marmot looked for handouts.

So did this ground squirrel. I was a little afraid that the rodents would bite the kids, as they got so close.

We kept hiking higher, and Ed took a break out on a sunny ledge.

Then we got to Inspiration Point. We had passed some rock climbing classes, and Desert Boy decided he just had to do some climbing on the nice granite. He went up without any problems.

The view was great, and we took some time to snack and enjoy our surroundings.

Fun times.

I was surprised how many people did the hike over the rocky, uneven path. Here's a view of the human traffic jam. Many people had no water and some even did the hike in flip flops. Ouch.

While we were waiting for the boat back, the kids asked if they could play around on the rocks next to the water. I said yes, and they had a good time. Then Desert Girl fell in. She took it in stride and continued playing. I figured it was a good way for her to cool off on a warm day. I expected Desert Boy to fall in, too, but he managed to just get slightly damp.

We noticed clouds out to the east. These turned out to be from a huge fire, the Fontanelle Fire, which has burned over 60,000 acres. Although Yellowstone and Grand Teton were definitely wetter than the Great Basin, they were dry, and all sorts of fire restrictions were in place.

This was the end of our Grand Teton experience, so we said good bye to the beautiful mountains and clear, blue lakes and headed south.

Day 5 - Grand Tetons

 Desert Girl loved camping, especially since that meant she could make lots of messes (note that she is holding the milk bottle upside down!).

 Precious.

 Desert Boy needed some extra rest--note all the dirt on his face. We didn't quite see all that when we went to bed the night before!

 I figured the Grand Tetons would be kind of a rest day for the kids and me, and the kids agreed thoroughly. They didn't really want to hike. So my brother Ed found a good place to go hiking up into the high country for a couple hours, and we hung out near the trail head.

 I convinced the kids a little hiking might be okay, and we went a half-mile at a very slow place. Walking sticks were an important component of the hike.

 Going so slow gave us time to savor the little things, like this beautiful butterfly.

 I also took plenty of photos. (Yep, we finally did get him cleaned up!)

 And then we found the perfect beach for a little skinnydipping. The kids were ecstatic. They threw sticks into the water and then went and got them. It was a good thing we didn't have our dog Henry with us!

 On the way back, Desert Girl was in her jumping mode. She jumped more than she walked.

 I kept forgetting to take videos, but this still shows her in action.

 Sometimes the jumps don't go exactly as planned.

 We ended up with a little extra time, so my brother and I took turns riding a bike down the really nice bike trail from South Jenny Lake.

 When we got to the new visitor center (as of 2007), we looked at some of the exhibits. I'm not sure if the exhibit designers realized they were modeling some behavior.

 I must say that the kids understand teamwork!

 Desert Boy had been working on his junior ranger badge and he took the junior range pledge at the visitor center.

Then it was time to head to the surprisingly busy Jackson Hole airport to pick up my husband, who flew in to join us for the last few days of the vacation.

It was good to catch up with drinks and pizza and fantastic views of the Tetons.