My father’s last spoken wish to me was to come with us to the Grand Tetons and to Yellowstone. He would never have the chance to see it again, through his own eyes. But he saw it through mine, and through the eyes of his grandchildren.

We left a little of him behind, too, in three places that felt right.

Tower Falls area, Yellowstone National Park

Soda Butte, in Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park

Lupine Meadows, in Grand Teton National Park

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” – John Muir, 1938

This is the second post (of a few) in which I’m sharing our itinerary for our recent trip out to Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. The first post is here, if you missed it. 

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Day 4:Yellowstone National Park – South Entrance to Old Faithful

As much as we hated to leave the Grand Teton National Park, we knew that adventures awaited in Yellowstone. We also knew that we’d have a chance to revisit the Grand Tetons during the last two days of our trip, since we were spending the last two nights of the vacation back in Jackson. Those snowy peaks, despite the fact that we couldn’t reach them (and oh, how we wanted to), had imprinted themselves on my heart.

After one last breakfast at the Pioneer Grill, and after one final view of the mountains through the hotel’s large glass windows, we checked out of the Jackson Lake Lodge and headed north to the southern entrance of Yellowstone. The distance from the Jackson Lake Lodge to our hotel for the night, the Old Faithful Inn, was listed as 39 miles and should have taken us just over an hour. We took our time, however. We did not want to miss a single sight along the way, so it took us about three hours.

It was a pathetic snow pile, but my kids didn’t care.

Soon after entering Yellowstone, as we entered higher elevations, we started encountering snow. The kids were thrilled to see snow, and especially snow that wasn’t just in the distance on faraway mountain tops, but in piles and slicks on the nearby mountainside, just off the road. We pulled over at least twice so Maddie and Oliver could throw icy snowballs at each other and at their father. They kicked the snow and poked at it with sticks and squealed and giggled. They lamented that we live in Florida, where it never snows.

grand teton national park | the merry gourmet

In my last post, I mentioned the possibility of sharing our itinerary for our recent trip out to Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. I had several messages from folks who were interested in reading more about the trip – people who are heading there soon or want to one day, or people (hi Mom!) who just want to see more of our photos — so here is the first of three (maybe) more posts about my current favorite family vacation.

Warning: Photo-heavy post ahead!

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Day 1: Jackson, WY, and Grand Teton National Park

Our plane arrived at the Jackson Hole Airport, a tiny airport with the most beautiful views possible, around lunchtime. Despite a rough start to our day – kicked off with a flight delay and an unexpected two-hour drive to another departure airport – the rest of our day of travel was surprisingly smooth. All of our bags made it to our final destination on time and intact, the children hadn’t been overly rude or annoying to each other (or me), and picking up the rental car (a stylish minivan) at the airport was a breeze.

We had a quick lunch in the town of Jackson then checked in to our cabin at the Cowboy Village Resort. We stayed at the cabin just long enough to ditch our bags and don our jackets so that we could go exploring. We were determined to make the most of every minute in Wyoming. And we did, too. Most days, we were up and out of our hotel by 8 or 9 in the morning, not returning for another 10 or 12 hours.

The Grand Teton National Park is just fifteen or twenty minutes from the town of Jackson. That afternoon, we drove into the park through the Moose-Wilson Road, a scenic 8-mile stretch of road, which held the promise of wildlife viewing – especially, we hoped, moose.

One of the stunning views at the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve.

Jackson Lake.

Jackson Lake.