Greetings  from Jackson Hole, WY as we begin the count down to our return to Tennessee........

We approach our final week of work at Gros Ventre Campground with mixed emotions. This month has been a wonderful grand finale to our summer Alaskan adventure and we will surely miss our super co-workers and these glorious Rocky Mountains. However, as the temperatures here have dropped significantly we look forward to a fabulous fall in Tennessee and maybe even some end of season garden veggies still available at the farmer's market.

Thanks to our generous
boss, Steve, we have been off
every Sunday and able to
worship at First Bapt. Jackson WY

Cool weather has brought moose into
campground every day. 

Teton sunset from our "front yard"
at Gros Ventre campground

Rainbow outside campground office.
Longtime locals says we've had
most rain this year since 1980's.

  Greetings once again from the library in Jackson, WY......

What a grand adventure we had on our weekend off as we traveled through the east gate of Yellowstone NP over to Cody, WY and on to Red Lodge, MT to drive the famous Beartooth Highway that ends in Cooke City, the northeast entrance to Yellowstone. Heralded as one of the most scenic drives in the United States, the Beartooth Highway, a National Scenic Byways All-American Road, features breathtaking views of the Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains, and open high alpine plateaus dotted with countless glacial lakes, forested valleys, waterfalls and wildlife.The Beartooth Hwy passes through what is known today as the Beartooth Corridor. Surrounded by the Custer, Gallatin, and Shoshone National Forests, traveling parallel to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, and abutting Yellowstone National Park, the Highway sits in a million-plus acre wilderness. It is one of the highest and most rugged areas in the lower 48 states, with 20 peaks reaching over 12,000 feet in elevation. In the surrounding mountains, glaciers are found on the north flank of nearly every mountain peak over 11,500 feet high. The Road itself is the highest elevation highway in Wyoming (10,947 feet) and Montana (10,350 feet), and is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies. It was a cold, rainy weekend, but even with fog and clouds blocking some of the views, that route probably wins most spectacular of all we've seen this summer. The following photos don't even begin to capture the awesomeness of that route which is a definite for your bucket list!

After crossing east side of Yellowstone we
wove in and out of Wyoming and Montana
several times along our route.

 

Some Yellowstone scenes

After only a month working in the
park I know the feeling!

It was 39 degrees and spitting snow here!

Brave cows!

In these next three photos would you believe we were actually standing on a bridge looking down into the river?

This is the Sunlight Creek Bridge Wyoming's highest elevation bridge

We camped at West Yellowstone on
way back to Jackson.

Wild flowers were still abundant
despite cooler temperatures.

Beautiful route from Cody getting
to Beartooth Hwy

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Tribe used
this route attempting to escape US Calvary
and made his famous declaration,
"From where the sun now stands I will
fight no more forever."

Amen!

Greetings from Teton County Library in Jackson, WY..........

Wi-Fi has been a bit sketchy at the campground so we scheduled a stop at this awesome library after church to catch up on some computer "business". This week has flown by with more fantastic weather and a bit of a fall feel in the air. We love the chilly mornings, T-shirt afternoons, and jacket evenings. Our days off are Saturday and Sunday so yesterday we took a long bike ride and then met former campground workmates, Howard & Karen, for pizza at Leek's Marina, a cool little dive on the shore of beautiful Jackson Lake. We got to visit in their luxurious new 5th-wheel RV complete with fireplace and central vacuum system. WOW! An evening spent in that palatial RV made our Wee RV feel really WEE indeed. Tonight we're going with our boss and his wife, Steve & Doris, to the Bar J Chuck Wagon western dinner theater.Their musical show is always excellent so we're looking forward to that outing. Only a few photos to share today as new photo opportunities were limited this week.

Picturesque trail at String Lake
beckons bikers onward

Sunsets over the Tetons never cease
 to dazzle and amaze us.

Jackson Lake Dam controls the Snake
River which serves as a major water
source for all those Idaho potato fields.
Folks in these parts take water rights
 seriously!

Wild Bill agreed to pose with his teddy bear.

We are planning a road trip next weekend out the east entrance of Yellowstone over to Cody, WY and then through the Bear Tooth Pass and on to Red Lodge, MT.  Wildlife and beautiful scenery abound in that area so hopefully we'll have some new photos to share next post.

Greetings from Gros Ventre Campground in Grand Teton National Park......

Our first week as campground attendants has been a very pleasant one. Boss and coworkers are patient, gracious folks who've gone above and beyond to make us feel welcome and help us try to remember the campground office routine. Weather has been not so pleasant as almost four consecutive days of rain brought more rain than we can remember in our other five summers in the Rockies combined. But, campers are a hearty crowd and soggy wet tents and gear hasn't seemed to dampened their good nature. One camper, Jim Mauer, who has stellar photography talent, graciously shared ten of the following photos with us so you could glimpse some of the magnificent beauty of this magical park.

Low hanging clouds shroud Teton Range

Teton relect beautifully in many surrounding lakes

Wyoming skies are daily unique and amazing

Jackson Lake Dam on the Snake River

Bison constantly cause traffic jams
and sometimes stroll right through
our campground. This is also
what Wild Bill and I sometimes feel
like after many miles in the Wee RV.

Moose are in the campground almost daily

Osprey nest

Bear sightings are becoming more
 frequent in our campground so Park
Service requires us to give every camper
the "bear aware" talk about proper food
storage.

Pronghorn antelope 

Moulton Barn, said to be the most
photographed structure in the park,
is part of an old Mormon settlement
near our campground. 

                                                              Thanks, Jim!


Most of the campgrounds and lodging facilities in Grand Teton National Park are managed by concessionaire Grand Teton Lodge Company, who employ over 1000 people each season to staff these properties. Each year they host a mid-season dinner for all employees and we arrived just in time to attend this year's dinner with a Hawaiian luau theme. Thought you might like to see the male half of our campground staff modeling their island fashions. Check out the "cutie" far left with his flowered parasol. Thankfully they ran out of grass skirts before he arrived!

Yesterday was our day off and we did a beautiful hike to 
Bear Paw and Trapper Lakes. What was supposed to be eight miles round trip turned into eleven and we were both
ready to get our boots off when we got back to the trail head.
Here are a couple of shots Bill made along the hike.

More later.........