After stopping to buy some bear spray – safety first – we started our drive north into Jackson Hole to eat lunch and wait out some rain. We drove into Grand Teton National Park, where gorgeous steep mountain peaks hovered over us as we came upon pristine Jenny Lake. We took a small boat ride across the lake and did a great hike up the mountain. The weather was sunny and 75 and the views were beautiful!

Just after summitting and starting to turn back, an ominous black cloud swirled over the peak (insert thunder boom) and huge raindrops started bouncing off the ground- ouch! That’s not rain! It was a flash HAILSTORM!

Sheets of hail battered down so thickly that at some moments we couldn’t see anything but white, and the noise was deafening! Katie and Aniya were lucky enough to be close to a tree for some shelter, but Dustin and Aven weren’t so lucky. Dustin the brave daddy shielded Aven with his body even though he was the only one without a hood! His head and ears took a beating for nearly ten minutes before it slowed. The storm delayed us so that we were in danger of missing the last boat back across the lake! Now we were in danger of being stranded in bear and cougar country after dark- no time to waste! We jumped icy hail piles and slid down mini mudslides as fast as we could down the  mountain. We made the boat, the sky was again clear, and the sun shone off Dustin’s raw, red ears. What an ADVENTURE!!!

The beautiful drive through the park didn’t disappoint regarding wildlife viewing. We watched a black moose and it’s little brown baby walking through a distant large meadow. A black bear strolled by us and got within 3 feet of our truck! Later a herd of elk grazed peacefully beside the road.

The sun lowered as we drove into Yellowstone National Park. The silhouetted clouds of rising steam from geysers and fields of hot springs were strangely beautiful against the sunset. We peeked at Old Faithful for a few minutes before we had to move on- maybe we’ll be lucky enough to see it blow tomorrow! We had to make it to our hotel in Big Sky Montana. More adventures await!

Road Trip Stats:

• Total miles driven: 2,388
• Highest altitude on road: 8,600 (in Yellowstone)
• Possible Sasquatch sightings: 1 (see picture below)