Grand Teton National Park

 The Grand Tetons were breathtaking!! Especially this time of year with all the colors! Just driving into the park we were suddenly surrounded by beauty. It rained on and off for most of our stay there but still one of our top spots so far.

This is a picture as we were driving into the park. When we got there we found out that only two campsites were open so our choices were limited. We ended up finding a somewhat remote campsite at Signal Mountain campgrounds. Unfortunately we could not get away from the sound of generators from RV's.

 We spent the next day just driving around the park. We started at the chapel, which had amazing wood beams and a beautiful stained glass window. We then headed to the dam. After that we went back to the lodge to get some lunch and a beer. We shared some nachos that were as big as Josh's head, and they were the half order!

 We drove all around the park, out to the snake river, which is where I took these pictures. Aren't the fall colors here awesome??  Then we headed out to two oceans lake. We thought about hiking but it had been so rainy that it was all mud...

 We spent the afternoon hanging out by Jackson Lake. Hiking around part of it, sitting on the dock, just enjoying the sights.
 

 Our friends from Big Sky, Brad and Matt, meet up with us in the late afternoon. We all decided to walk down to the lake again and watch the sunset over the mountains. It was so much fun! I have never seen such a beautiful sunset, and we were all alone at this huge lake, I couldn't believe it!

 This was the sun going down.

 The shadows afterwards were beautiful. This is Matt, Brad, and Josh at the end of the dock that we watched the sunset on.

 This one is one of my favorites because you can see the alpenglow from the sun. Brad said that's the lines coming out from behind the mountains. They look line sun beams!

 I like this one also, this is Matt, Josh, and Brad walking up the boat launch.

 The next day we woke up to pouring rain! So I bundled up and we headed out to Jenny Lake to hike to one of the more famous spots in the park, Hidden Falls. The shuttle that runs across the lake had shut down a few days earlier so it was not so crowded. Without the shuttle you had to hike a few miles around the lake to get to the Hidden Falls trail.

 We went with Brad, Matt, and their friend Benji. They brought all their fly fishing gear because apparently right below the falls was great fishing. It was a really nice hike. Again we were able to see lots of trees changing colors and the beautiful landscape.

 Once we got to the Hidden Falls trail we split up. Josh and I headed up the hill to the falls and the boys headed down stream. Here is Benji and Matt getting ready to go fish.

 Here is the falls! It really was amazing. Besides one other guy, we were the only ones up there! We decided to continue hiking up the mountain to inspiration point. So being out in the woods in cool but also slightly scary in bear country. We had our bear spray but were told the best way to avoid a bear is to make lots of noise so they know you're coming. I could only come up with bad eighties songs and Christmas jingles for the hike. But we did not run into any bears.

 The hike to inspiration point was ridiculous... It was such a cool view! But we were literally hiking along a narrow rock path along a huge ledge. That wasn't so bad though, what made it such a tough hike was that it started to snow the farther up we got, so the rocks became slippery.

 This was at 7200 feet. It was inspirational! It was neat to watch the clouds roll in on the mountain. But as soon as the snow really started to blow, we decided it was best to head back.

 This was Jenny Lake and that gorge area was where the Hidden Falls were. It was a really nice hike with beautiful views.

When we all got back to camp, it was almost dark and we were all hungry and exhausted. We decided that this was the perfect night to break out... the whole chicken in a can. Josh and I have been eating out of cans for the last two weeks now and it has been ok. But we were saving the best can for a special occasion. Matt and Brad had brought a pesto pasta dish and the chicken would go great with it. We cooked it over the fire and took it off the bone to throw in the pasta. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty good chicken. We of course followed up dinner with a few beers, a fifth of whiskey, and a pretty exciting game of cribbage.  All in all it was a prefect way to end our trip to the Tetons.  We are now headed off to the Badlands National Park to meet up with Kenny. Should be fun!!