Moose, WY (70's, mostly blue skies, chilly at night)
Carol, Martha, and John
John and Martha (overlooking Jackson Hole)
We had a great visit with John's sister, Martha (affectionately known as Diva), for ten days. She traveled from Sao Paolo Brazil to visit us and to attend a conference in Virginia afterwards.
Her visit started with fireworks and followed with lots of fun touring the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, hiking, river rafting and even a hootenanny.
We really enjoyed the 4th of July parade in downtown Jackson. It's always fun to attend these parades as we travel across the country. New to us this time was seeing rafts in parades and lots of cowboys.
Non-marching band
Pretty cowgirl princesses
Local cowboy dinner show
On the days we worked at GTA, Martha attended several interpretive talks led by the National Park rangers. She especially enjoyed the ranger led hike at Laurence D. Rockefeller. Each morning she drove us to work and had our jeep to explore the area and sometimes met us for lunch.
Over the holiday weekend we drove the motorhome up to Flagg Ranch and stayed for two nights so we could be closer to Yellowstone and give the diesel engine of our motorhome some exercise. It's a very nice campground with a friendly staff and nice restaurant. We spent one evening at Colter Bay and attended an interesting talk about the stars led by ranger who has been doing this program for over 40 years. Afterwards we were able to look through two telescopes into the night sky. Pretty cool!
Colter Bay
Oxbow Bend
Our trip to Yellowstone was extensive. John did a great job of planning a great overview for Martha. It's one BIG park but we were able to see some of the more popular highlights.
Lehardys Falls
Beautiful Yellowstone Lake
Old Faithful at sunset
Martha and I enjoyed watching this bubbling geyser located near the rushing river. The short video below demonstrates its uniqueness.
Old Faithful Inn (in the distance)
Elk
Wildlife was abundant and the highlight of the day was seeing a mother and her two twin cubs playing in the wildflowers.
Buffalo
Mama Black Bear and her twin cubs
Artist's Point is a must stop in Yellowstone and we were blessed with perfect weather. We started our trip early in the morning and managed to avoid most of the crazy crowds.
Artist Point
Lower Falls
Tower Fall
Lamar Valley
Mammoth
We returned to our campground and spend the last few days enjoying the beautiful scenery and our time together. John and Martha had a fun time on a float trip with the outfitter Lewis and Clark. They got rained on at the end and were rather chilly but still really enjoyed the trip.
John enjoying the Snake River Float Trip
Snake River
On Monday before Martha left we attended a local favorite called the Hootenanny @ Dornan's. This Monday night tradition has been happening for over 50 years and anyone is welcome to play a two song set. John Denver at one time performed here and it's one of our favorite things to do. Martha said it just like a slice of Americana.
All and all it was a great visit. Martha hopes to return next winter when we are back at Ding Darling. Thanks so much for visiting us! It was very special and we sure did enjoy sharing our "front yard" with you.
We are settling in at our new location - Grand Tetons National Park. It has been a bit of adjustment going from sunny Florida to snowy Wyoming. The change in temperature and scenery is dramatic. Nonetheless, we are very excited to be here and looking forward to being in such a beautiful area.
We started work on Wednesday at Grand Teton Association. I'll write a post about our first week soon. Everyone has been very friendly and welcoming. Our original camping site was too small and they quickly found a more adequate site for us. The park service even came out and graded the site to improve it. It's almost a double site and very spacious.
Before we started work we stopped at the beautiful Visitor Center (upcoming post) and took advantage of a couple of dinners downtown with the two for one specials in May. We especially enjoyed a nice dinner at the Calico restaurant with some new friends Cindy and Daryl in the Teton Village. The Idaho trout was so delicious and a real treat.
There has been lots of wildlife in the park. We have seen elk migrating up into the mountains, buffalo herds and three newborn babies, and even a grizzly bear. Check back soon for a post about this encounter.
Yesterday we decided to take a big road trip into the park and see more of the areas which have just opened up. It was a beautiful day with bright blue skies. There was lots of snow but the temperatures were in the 60's.
This is the route we took from our campground.
Our first stop was the beautiful Chapel of Transfiguration. It's right in the park and this Episcopal church has two services on Sunday. When you are inside there is a window behind the alter with a spectacular view of the mountains.
Window behind the alter
Jimmy enjoyed the road trip too!
Our next stop was an overlook and trail to Jenny Lake. Check out how high the snow is here.
The mountain in the distance are Blacktail Butte and our campground (Gros Ventre) is located behind them.
Blacktail Butte
The Jenny Lake Visitor Center is not open yet and the lake is frozen. This is a lovely place to stop in the summer. There are boat trips which take you over to more trails. Right now it was quiet and serene.
Our next stop was the Signal Mountain Lodge overlooking Jackson Lake. The lodge looked very nice and the rooms have spectacular views of the lake. It is supposed to open next week. The snack bar was open so we picked up a quick lunch and enjoyed the view. I really liked it here.
Snow covered book store.
We crossed the dam which holds up Jackson Lake and headed to Jackson Lake Lodge. It was buried in snow (no photos) so we quickly moved on to Colter Bay. This is one of the locations where Grand Teton Associations has a book store. John will be delivering supplies and inventory to them. I'm sure he's going to like this drive.
Snake River
Colter Bay (Jackson Lake in the distance)
From here we turned back and headed to Oxbow. We saw a grizzly bear there earlier in the week. No luck today.
Oxbow
It was a great road trip and took most of the day. As we got closer to our campground the snow started to dissipate. I'm sure most of you are happy this white stuff has left your area. For us seeing the snow is such a spectacular area was wonderful and the clear roads made it much easier to enjoy.
Coyote on the hunt
Elk Migration
Our new home
Check back later in the week for a post about our new workamping job and our grizzly encounter. Thanks for stopping by. Life is good!
Her visit started with fireworks and followed with lots of fun touring the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, hiking, river rafting and even a hootenanny.
On the days we worked at GTA, Martha attended several interpretive talks led by the National Park rangers. She especially enjoyed the ranger led hike at Laurence D. Rockefeller. Each morning she drove us to work and had our jeep to explore the area and sometimes met us for lunch. 
