Today has been much more of a traveling day than the others have been. After breakfast, we got Mr. Lee to take us back to Jackson Hole, so that we could visit the shops that had been closed the evening before. We looked around for a while, and then we went on a quest to find...Harrison Ford's ranch!!! Shut up! Do you really think we could be that close to a place Harrison Ford might be and not look for it? Well, we didn't have an address, just a general idea of where it was, and we think we might have found it, but we can't be sure. Of course, we weren't going to show up on the man's doorstep and ask to see him, so we contented ourselves by driving by what might have been the driveway! :)
We then headed back into Grand Teton National Park, and Mr. Lee started driving us through what I was sure wasn't a real road. It was narrow and twisty, and seemed to go nowhere. He finally pulled over to the side of the road to take some pictures, but Steve and I were sure we were going to be eaten by a bear at any moment.
Pretty scenery out there, though.
He finally got back in and drive us back to a real, paved road, and we stopped again to take pictures in a marshy place. These parks have the most varied areas I've ever seen. I didn't think we'd see wetlands, but we did, frogs and all!
After that we headed back towards civilization, and we saw a huge group of people pulled off to the sides of the road. Just a little hint, when you're out here and see a lot of people pulled over, go ahead and pull over too, because it usually means there is something interesting to look at. This time it was a giant bull moose! The one we saw yesterday was a female, but this guy was big and antlery. We got some pictures and watched him eat. I wanted to hug him, but the NPS frowns on that, so I left him alone. I wonder if these animals think it's weird that humans stop to watch team eat? I hope we don't make them self conscious.
Sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Moose.
Lake Lodge is a huge and gorgeous old hotel. Currently it's under renovation, but isn't that intrusive. I think they must have just painted the walls, because there is no art out and it looks a little bare. We heard that they've only been opened for a week, so maybe they haven't been able to get everything back into place yet. This lodge also reminds me of The Overlook Hotel from The Shining, but I think it's mainly a feeling about the place rather than the actual look of it. It has a huge sitting room with enormous windows that look out on the lake. It's a fantastic place, and I don't think it's anything like I've stayed in before. They are also serious about making sure you go see the sights! there are no tvs, no internet (except in designated spaces we can't seem to find) and we can't even get cell service. Yikes. My only complaint is that it's kind of shabby and a little messy right now. Our room wasn't ready when we got here, the halls have some dirty sheets and garbage in it, and it smells like someone has been microwaving Spaghettios somewhere. She shabby part doesn't bother me, because it is an old hotel after all, but the fact that the housekeeping staff don't seem to be on their toes does kind of bother me. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it's because more people showed up than they planned for and once they catch up, It will be perfect. The messiness aside, I'm excited to be staying here.
When we went to dinner (don't worry, the medicine I took earlier seems to be helping me still) Mr. Lee found out that the waiter was studying to be a math teacher, so he asked him some math question, which sparked off a conversation between Steve and Mr. Lee, taking about complicated math stuff. I felt completely put of the loop. Usually they just ignore me while they play with their phones at dinner, but lack of cell service just meant that they had to think of something else that I couldn't contribute to! Heehee! Once we finished eating, I came back up to the room and they left to find a place to get Internet service so that Steve could do work stuff and Mr. Lee could work on some PSA stuff. I don't mind, though. It's peaceful and I might take a nap.
LATER: Steve and Mr. Lee came back after a while. They apparently had to drive quite a way just to find a cell signal. You'd think with bears and places to drown, they might want more avenues of communication available, right? Oh, well. Mr. Lee was ready to go to sleep, but Steve and I went into the big lobby to listen to the pianist play. I felt little awkward, because we both had our iPads, but no one else had any sort of device. I felt rather gauche. To explain, though, we were reading books on the Kindle app, so it wasn't like we were playing Angry Birds or anything.
When the lady stopped playing, that was apparently the signal for the room to empty, but we didn't know that. I was so absorbed in my book that when I realized the music had stopped and looked up, the entire room was empty and creepy. We went back to the room after that. The last thing we wanted to see was whatever ghosts roam the halls of this joint.
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