Day 9, Sunday June 28: A Day of Rest

After having several days with non-stop activity, we decided it was best if we took a day to just chill.  Our pace was one reason for not keeping up with the blog, during that time, and the other was the lack of cell service.  The only times we had service were the couple of hours we were in Jackson and the two visit to Old Faithful.  Other that that, nada.

As I've mentioned before, it got very cold at night, and we loved leaving the windows opened, and bundling up in our blankets.  It is a rare opportunity to enjoy chilly temps in June for us Lowcountry folks.  Another favorite was having Georgia come in each morning and snuggle up with us, tucking her ice cold feet between my legs as we lazed about.

Our campground provided church services in the amphitheater on Sundays and we chose to attend the 10:00 service.  The services are run by theology students who are employed in the parks for the season.  They did an excellent job and it was such a nice service among the trees, out in God's creation.  Afterwards, we got our stuff together to enjoy the day at the lake.  I mentioned before that our campground backed up to Jackson Lake and a path from the parking lot took you out to a beach area.  By beach, I mean pebbles instead of sand and a 60 degree lake instead of a shark-infested ocean!  Georgia soon found out that the best way to warm up after coming out of the lake was to lay directly on the warm pebbles.  Instant relief!

We saw, at one point, a mule deer in the trees behind us and a younger one.  We enjoyed watching them move around just a few feet from us.  As I made my way back to my chair I stood for a few minutes looking into the trees behind me and all of the sudden, like an optical illusion coming into focus, I saw two eyes and a huge set of antlers looking back at me.  It was another mule deer just hanging out in his bed.

The girls had a great time spashing around, playing wiffle ball with jay and just being kids on vacation.  They also made some friends that they played with.  Using some washed up logs, they found on the beach, they transferred them into boats to race each other on.  It was a terrific day at the lake!

For dinner that night we decided to head back out to a spot we'd passed during our raft trip.  There were several eating spots in this location, but we settled on the chuck wagon restaurant, Dornan's.  With several choices of meat and a buffet of sides and salad it was a cowboy feast!  There was a huge tepee and Katie Jo insisted we eat inside of it.  It turned out to be a wonderful choice since it was smokey outside from the grills.  We finished up our day on a turn-out overlooking the Tetons.  Sitting on the back of Jay's truck we enjoyed the view and the girls ran around scouting with their binoculars.

How can we leave this place??

The view from inside the tepee.