It's Time For...A Day of Exploring and New Adventures! Day 7

 

Day 7 Started out with a Crack of Don Adventure for Carleigh and Don. They were heading out to check out some favorite spots and then search for the Two Ocean Lake and trail that they had read about. When I inquired about it at the front desk, they said bug spray and bear spray is a must and it is a beautiful flat trail about 6 1/2 miles long.  They headed out living dangerously...without the bear spray. 

photo from Carleigh before the hike started

They were off...very narrow trail and LOTS of wildflowers and Aspen trees. Still no bear spray, so they resorted to singing grizzly carols and making random noises on a consistent basis.

They survived and mentioned that it was so pretty that they wanted to take Katie and I back...time is running out, don't know if we'll make it.

Katie and I slept in and had a leisurely breakfast and then decided we couldn't just sit around all morning. Don and Carleigh weren't expected to be back till after lunch.

So....after breakfast, we headed over to the Teton Mountain Sports area and checked about bike rentals. We were able to get the last two pathway bikes. I guess we're going on a bike ride.....both of us were a little unsure, and also a little excited for our own adventure.

We rode about a mile in one direction towards the park entrance and paused for pictures before returning.

We then headed back to the hotel and rode in the other direction for another few miles. It was all smooth and the area has really good bike trails. 

All in all, we rode about 5-6 miles and had a great little adventure. We didn't want to push our luck. :)  We returned our bikes and got back to the room just in time for a big rainstorm.

Carleigh and Don returned after lunch and Carleigh headed straight to the rooftop hot-tub. You have to be 18 to use it and this is the first visit where she meets that criteria. 

It's a huge hot-tub, and I can only imagine what it is like during the ski season. The weather started getting bad again, so she finished up and we headed back to the room.

We then got ready for dinner. We were going to a new place, The Bird. I love TripAdvisor and I spend hours on it before every vacation. I research restaurants, activities and anything else that I can find. So, the Bird popped up as a recommendation for those that want off the beaten path and away form the Town Center and tourists. It is a few miles out and favored by locals. It had great reviews, so we headed out.

Don and Carleigh were rested, refreshed and ready for dinner :) 

By the time we got there at 5:30ish, the place was packed. We did find 4 seats on the deck and the view was incredible!

It was a very warm evening, so we didn't hang out long. The food was great, and we were on our way. We decided to chase the sunset and head back into the park to see if we could also spot any animals. The animals are most active at dawn and dusk. That's one of the reasons that when we are here, Don loves to get up and out the door by 5:00 am most mornings.

No animals...YET, and we did find the sunset behind the Teton mountains.

We then headed back towards Moose-Wilson Road and saw a large crowd of people with cameras, cars stopped and fingers pointing. In the Tetons, that can mean only one thing...wild animal spotting.

Yep, we joined the crowd and saw a beautiful, very large moose.  He was pretty far away and then started walking towards us and all of the parked cars. Those that were smart, quickly got out of the way and allowed this beast to move on his way. He couldn't find a path to cross the street due to all of the parked cars, so he was getting a little agitated. Everyone backed far away and most got back in their cars and watched from a safe distance (including us). He found an opening and quickly crossed the street. He wanted away from us. 

Here he is across the street. A safe distance away from all of the onlookers.

We continued the few miles back to the hotel, satisfied with our after dinner adventure and looking forward to tomorrow.

At the Teton Village, every night looks like Christmas. I LOVE the lights!!

Day 8 had a lot of possibilities for adventure and we couldn't wait to see how it all played out. As a family of 4 adults, tomorrow would be the first day in our history of traveling that all 4 of us went in 4 different directions in the morning. Where do we go and what do we do? 

Are we really going to do the big family hike tomorrow night? Literally descend  2900 feet in elevation, down the mountain on a 4 mile hike? Sounds like a good idea right now!

Stay tuned for Day 8 - another day full of new and intense adventures!

As always, it's SELDOM A DULL MOMENT with the Rahns!