Sunday, September 29, 2013

Wyoming - the Grand Tetons and Beyond

John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was so taken with the setting between Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, he bought up much of the surrounding lands to protect the area – and well understood!

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It is so magnificent, it seems surreal . . . a concert in watercolours . . . oh, I wish I could paint!

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The more we travel through the various regions: the more I become fascinated with the geology, like how these mountains erupted out of cracks in faults as the earth shifted between 60 and 70 million years ago and reach 13,770 feet above sea level.

In the Jackson Hole valley, glacial outwashes have left huge dimples (potholes) in the landscape believed to be cause by huge chunks of melted glacial ice.

Because of the way the mountains were formed, there are no foothills: the peaks rise right out of the sage covered plains. (http://www.grand.teton.national-park.com/info.htm#geol).

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clip_image010 And the river runs through it! The Snake River that we always thought of as a Idaho river actually runs through the Grand Teton Park as well. This was a sign leading down to a boat ramp we just couldn’t ignore.

And the wild-life!

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And the Lodges! This is a smaller, more intimate lodge at Jenny Lake.

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This trip was partially about visiting friends and what could be better than the opportunity to visit friends of my folks as well as ours. Lorraine and Sandy lived in Lethbridge for a good number of years and their kids called my Mom and Dad Grandma and Grandpa.

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They have a beautiful place in Pinedale, WY and hosted us for a few days. Thanks, you two!

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The View from their back deck!

Sandy and me on the back deck!

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1 comment:

Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak said...

Gorgeous photos. Last year when we visited in September, we could barely see the peaks because of wildfires all around the park. Glad you had nice vistas.