TGRT Day 2: Jackson and Grand Teton

On our full day in Jackson, we started out with pancakes and then joined up with our new friends at Jackson Hole Whitewater for a trip down the Snake River.   Luckily they convinced us to don wetsuits because the water was take-your-breath-away cold (50 degrees Fahrenheit) and we were the lead paddlers so took on the first hit of all the rapids!  Thanks to having the right clothes and the right attitude, we had an amazing time!

The rest of our boat included two college age women on summer internships in the area, and a group of high school campers and their counselor.  The campers were from the northeast U.S. and were on a months long voyage across the western U.S.  They were only on day 3 or 4 when we met up with them!   The morning was great fun!  We had big waves and quick rapids like the "Lunchbox" area above.  But there were also calm areas where we each took a turn to get in to swim.  Though by swim it was more a slide off the side of the raft, a shocking realization that the water was ice cold, and a rough re-entry as your fellow rafters hauled you back in by the straps of your life jacket.

Our best wildlife viewing was a juvenile bald eagle (mottled brown all over instead of a white head) sitting on a rock next to the river.

After returning to Jackson, I took a picture of these shrubs which (to me) looks like buffalo grazing!  We were to see thousands of grazing buffalo in the days ahead but I didn't know that yet!

After changing into dry clothes, eating lunch and picking up bear spray, we head into Grand Teton National Park for our first hike.  The entrance gate was where William got to exchange his Every Kid in a Park free ticket voucher for his official park pass.  And from then on, anytime we entered the park, John just pulled up so the back window was accessible and let William transact our business!  The park employees were great with it!  (If you have a child entering the 4th grade this year or soon, you need to check this out!  It's good for September 1 - August 31 of the child's 4th grade year, so we used ours the summer between 4th and 5th grades.)

We took the boat across Jenny Lake (you can also hike around in the wildflowers, but we were getting there late in the day and wanted to focus on a different part of the hike).   From the boat dock, we hiked to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point and then continued on into Cascade Canyon.  Since we had to get back by the last boat at 7 p.m., we just hiked as far as we could until our turnaround time and then had to go back.  I wish we had started earlier so we could spend much more time in the canyon.  It was all beautiful!

Our quick paced hike back to the boat launch was interrupting by a moose sighting!  It was our first big animal of the trip and we were pumped!   Pictures do not do him justice - with either how close we were on our one way trail to how magnificent his rack looked!  But alas, we had to leave this beautiful place - our legs tired and hearts full!

TGRT Day 1: SLC to Jackson

When I first started planning out The Great Road Trip (phrase borrowed from my friend Courtney) to take advantage of William's Every Kid in a Park 4th grade pass, I was closely watching several Kansas City area friends make the drive up to Mount Rushmore and over to Yellowstone and/or Grand Teton.   A few of our Chicagoland neighbors did, too, but I didn't think we had enough time off to make the drive worthwhile.   So we did TGRT by plane/rental car, and we're thrilled with how it turned out.   We flew Chicago to Salt Lake City (because that was the closest that Southwest Airlines flew), drove 6+ hours north/northeast to Jackson, Wyoming to spend two nights there before driving 2 hours north to Yellowstone National Park in Montana for 3 more nights.  Then we returned to Jackson Hole -this time for 2 nights in Teton Village - before driving back to Salt Lake and flying home.  We were gone for 8 nights/9 days and had an amazing trip!

 

First scenic overlook was Bear Lake, Utah, home of the raspberry milkshake, and the bluest water I've ever seen outside of the Caribbean!  John packed binoculars for each of us, and William had a great time using them. 

 

 

 The town of Garden City on Bear Lake had no fewer than 5 places within 2 blocks to order a "famous" raspberry milkshake.  I was skeptical but we got one of our shakes in raspberry and it was actually delicious!

The path we traveled was along the original Oregon-California Trail.  I wish we had made time to go to the discovery center/museum.  I have no doubt every 5th grader within 100 miles of there has been for a school trip!  The website said you get to shop for supplies before heading out on the trail!

As the trail ended and we entered more mountainous areas in Bridger National Park, we stopped for some more scenic views.  We saw a bald eagle.

Our hotel in downtown Jackson was The Wort Hotel.  It was very conveniently located on the main drag so we could walk everywhere including the park with the infamous antler arches.  There was also a well known "saloon" on the first floor that played live music on the weekends.  Unfortunately our room was directly above it and I wanted to sleep.   They were sold out for the weekend, so didn't have any rooms to move us to, but the second night the music ended earlier and we slept alright in our cozy room.

 

London Quick Trip

I needed to make a quick trip to London for a Monday meeting for work so I went out the weekend ahead of time.  I flew overnight on Friday so had Saturday afternoon/evening and all day Sunday to myself before meeting up with my colleagues on Monday for meetings.   I flew home on Tuesday morning after some annoying delays. 

 

I chose to stay at the same Marriott where we stayed for our family trip to London in 2017.   It's at the base of Westminster bridge with the London Eye in front and Big Ben/Parliament across the river.   The cab ride from the airport takes you past Buckingham Palace.  We drove past a Pride bicycle parade which was festive!

 I thought it was funny to take a photo of kids taking photos of themselves with the iconic telephone.

This guy was outside of Parliament and shares my disgust with single use plastics.   I was almost ill to see someone later carrying a disposable plastic water bottle inside of a single use plastic bag.  Seriously?!

 Big Ben is quiet ride now as the towers undergo renovations.  So much scaffolding.

 My hotel as photographed from the bridge.

Parliament and Big Ben as photographed from the hotel.   After I dropped my bags off and took a quick shower, I got dressed for church.  I walked back across the bridge over to Westminster Abbey to join the Evensong.   The abbey was closed to tourists for the evening already but you could join the evening's service for free.  I got there early and had a good seat where I could see part of the Quire (choir).   My chair sat between the choir and the altar facing the large stain glass window in the picture below. 

 After the service, I had an early dinner of vegetarian curry at a restaurant just behind the Abbey before turning in early thanks to jet lag and a head cold. 

On Sunday I had intended to get up in time to attend mass at a neighborhood parish (and let me tell you, it took some real research to find a Catholic church in the home of the Church of England! :-)), but the jet lag and head cold prompted me to keep resetting my alarm clock and just head to my second planned stop of the day:  The British Museum.   It was an easy walk along the Southbank and across the Waterloo bridge.   And it was an entertaining walk, as well, as West End Live was happening in front of The National Gallery.  The cast from The Waitress was just starting a song as I walked past.

Thankfully the British Museum is free will donation and I only paid 5 pounds to get in, because it was overwhelming.   I should have known.  I've been to the Louvre and the Vatican, and this is similar:  cram an entire civilization of treasures under one roof.   To make matters worse, I went in without a plan of what I wanted to see beside the Elgin Marbles, and it was unseasonably warm which combined with my head cold and no a/c made for an uncomfortable tour.   I wandered around for an hour seeing the "top 5" list and then bought an ice cream from a street truck and walked to lunch.

The Rosetta Stone with my closest friends.  At first I thought the best look I was going to get was through this guy's ipad photo.

This family apparently knew better than me and brought their own chairs to rest.  (No idea how those made it past security....)

Now known as the Parthenon Marbles or Parthenon Sculptures, I did know that the "Elgin Marbles" weren't round marbles.  I thought they were one panel of Greek sculpture taken from Greece.  In fact it was virtually ALL the marble decorations from the Parthenon.   So "marbles" means all the things made of marble.  I thought it was one panel - something the size of a giant painting - but it is this entire room.  Having just been to the Acropolis and toured the Parthenon about six months ago, I could really put this all into perspective.  And by "this" I mean the distaste that our Greek guides had for the British "explorers."   There were various plaques discussing how half of the marbles are at the New Acropolis Museum and that these needed to remain here to protect them.

After my fill of the museum, I found my way over to the Fuller's Ale House where I had eaten pies and beer on my last visit.  Luckily it was easy to find because it was right next to the hotel I stayed in that time.   I remembered my lesson learned about letting the pies vent, so I didn't burn the roof of my mouth this time!  I wish I had remembered that the beer sampler wasn't very good and just ordered my own pint!   Alas, I filled up and headed home ready to crash again. 

At the base of Waterloo bridge I heard music and stumbled across the end of this quaint concert.  They were playing music from The Jungle Book and it was very zippy!  I got to hear 1 1/2 songs before the concert was over and they and I were on our ways!   I found myself one more ice cream cone and then crawled back into bed.  I felt like my London tourist coverage was sufficient for this trip.  It was actually quite lovely to walk around on a weekend in the lovely weather with very little calendar or time commitments.  I did wish John and William were there to take it all in.  Makes me want to plan another family trip.

Monday morning was a rude awakening to a fire alarm.   Luckily I was showered and dressed in case I didn't get to go back in before heading to my business meetings.  However, I can't say that evacuating from an historic building where none of the hallways and exits nicely connect was very fun.   This is my view of the London Eye from the emergency exit/loading dock!   We were let back in without too much delay - apparently it was a surprise test that the hotel was not alerted to - and I had time to organize myself for my meetings.

My flight home was cancelled and my new flight was 4 hours later, so I had time to kill in the American Airlines lounge and then in the duty-free shop.   I bought the little guy some Kit Kats to share with me and the big guy some Game of Thrones Scotch to share with me.