Vacation Journal
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, June 3-5, 2005
Friday morning we left to go spend two nights at a log cabin at Colter Bay Village in the Grand Tetons. As we drove through the Madison Valley we saw one of the Bald Eagles on a perch above the river. We also passed a coyote walking the other way on the road. He was in the correct lane for the direction he was going, and I believe he was below the speed limit. We also passed a big herd of bison with 11 calves that were playing together. Most of the adults were laying down.
We stopped to take the walk to the Grand Prismatic Spring. It's a nice walk, about 3/4 mile with a good hill to climb. We did it mostly for the exercise.
We went past the Grand Tetons to Jackson to do a few things in the big city. We ate at Jedediah's, a place we ate at last year and enjoyed. Then we went shopping at K-Mart (no Wal-Marts in Jackson). We stopped by a quilt store, which is one of Charolette's favorite quilt stores. Then we went to see a movie (Cinderella Man). It was surprisingly good, maybe even better than good. We kept thinking we should know the actor who played Max Baer. His eyes looked very familiar, but we couldn't place him. I told Charolette that the last time we saw him he probably wasn't made up to be so ugly. Later, we read the review of the movie in the USA Today and learned that the actor is Craig Bierko. We saw him play the lead in the Music Man on Broadway in 2001. He definitely was better looking in the play. He did a fantastic job in the Music Man and he did a great job of playing a jerk in Cinderella Man.
We ate supper in Jackson and then drove to the park and checked into our cabin. We had a single cabin with two double beds and a twin bed - all that was available when I made our reservation. One end was all window. It was a very nice cabin and we enjoyed it. It was only about a 250 yard walk from the general store, about 300 yards from the restaurant, 400 yards from the visitor center, and 500 yards from the lake. We walked everywhere while we were at the cabin.
Saturday morning, we took the walk to Christian Pond, one of the best birding areas in the Tetons. Charolette was able to add several new birds to her life list. As we were returning from the pond, we were walking beside a small hill. From around the other side of the hill came a female moose and calf. I don't know who was more startled, the moose or us. We were about 25 feet apart. Fortunately, the moose ran into the wetlands area instead of towards us. There wasn't a tree or bush for 100 feet to give us any protection from her. Except for the small hill we were beside (about 20 feet tall and 75 feet in diameter), we were in a grassy wetland. We got to watch the moose and calf with our binoculars for about five minutes before she wandered into some shrubs on the other side of the wetland.
We went around to the front of Lake Jackson Lodge, which is just a short way from the trail to Christian Pond. The Lodge has a deck overlooking a large willow flats, Jackson Lake, and the Tetons. We saw another adult moose nearby. We identifed a Cinnamon Teal in a pond in the flats. We had been trying to find a Cinnamon Teal for Charolette at Christian Pond, but had no luck. Charolette also got a Green-winged Teal in the same pond in the flats about two hours later. We had lunch at the counter in the Lodge. I like eating at grills where all the seating is the old-fashioned counter.
In the parking area at the back of the lodge, we were able to identify a Red-naped Sapsucker, Mountain Chickadee, and a Pine Siskin (a very tiny bird). The Siskin was a new one for us. He stayed in our sight for several minutes, including stopping at a puddle in the parking lot a couple times to get a drink. As we left the lodge area, we encountered a second female moose with a calf. It was a good day for moose.
Later in the afternoon we took the Lakeshore Trail at Colter Bay (two mile round trip). We got one more new bird here (Red-breasted Nuthatch).
Back at our cabin, we saw a giant rabbit across the road. We were watching through our large window. It had four white paws and a gray body with gray ears with white trim. We guessed it was a Snowshoe Hare and later confirmed that at the office. We took a sunset walk to the lake and saw several more hares. They let you get fairly close before they would run a few feet away. As you may recall, Snowshoe Hares turn completely white in the winter.
Sunday morning we got up and walked to the restaurant for breakfast. Then we checked out and went to the church service at the amphitheater. We took a few minutes to enjoy the great views of the Tetons, and then we started our drive back, stopping at Moose Falls and Lewis Falls in Yellowstone. We stopped in the Old Faithful area to eat lunch at the Old Faithful Lodge cafeteria because Charolette really likes their Trout Almondine. I had turkey and dressing.
We got back to our trailer to discover that our bird feeders were empty. I filled them up quickly and soon learned why they were empty. A large flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds had discovered the feeders and were waiting in line to eat. The Yellow-rumped Warblers had to settle for eating off our thistle feeder. I will have to buy some more birdseed tomorrow.
We took it easy for the rest of Sunday.
We stopped to take the walk to the Grand Prismatic Spring. It's a nice walk, about 3/4 mile with a good hill to climb. We did it mostly for the exercise.
We went past the Grand Tetons to Jackson to do a few things in the big city. We ate at Jedediah's, a place we ate at last year and enjoyed. Then we went shopping at K-Mart (no Wal-Marts in Jackson). We stopped by a quilt store, which is one of Charolette's favorite quilt stores. Then we went to see a movie (Cinderella Man). It was surprisingly good, maybe even better than good. We kept thinking we should know the actor who played Max Baer. His eyes looked very familiar, but we couldn't place him. I told Charolette that the last time we saw him he probably wasn't made up to be so ugly. Later, we read the review of the movie in the USA Today and learned that the actor is Craig Bierko. We saw him play the lead in the Music Man on Broadway in 2001. He definitely was better looking in the play. He did a fantastic job in the Music Man and he did a great job of playing a jerk in Cinderella Man.
We ate supper in Jackson and then drove to the park and checked into our cabin. We had a single cabin with two double beds and a twin bed - all that was available when I made our reservation. One end was all window. It was a very nice cabin and we enjoyed it. It was only about a 250 yard walk from the general store, about 300 yards from the restaurant, 400 yards from the visitor center, and 500 yards from the lake. We walked everywhere while we were at the cabin.
Saturday morning, we took the walk to Christian Pond, one of the best birding areas in the Tetons. Charolette was able to add several new birds to her life list. As we were returning from the pond, we were walking beside a small hill. From around the other side of the hill came a female moose and calf. I don't know who was more startled, the moose or us. We were about 25 feet apart. Fortunately, the moose ran into the wetlands area instead of towards us. There wasn't a tree or bush for 100 feet to give us any protection from her. Except for the small hill we were beside (about 20 feet tall and 75 feet in diameter), we were in a grassy wetland. We got to watch the moose and calf with our binoculars for about five minutes before she wandered into some shrubs on the other side of the wetland.
We went around to the front of Lake Jackson Lodge, which is just a short way from the trail to Christian Pond. The Lodge has a deck overlooking a large willow flats, Jackson Lake, and the Tetons. We saw another adult moose nearby. We identifed a Cinnamon Teal in a pond in the flats. We had been trying to find a Cinnamon Teal for Charolette at Christian Pond, but had no luck. Charolette also got a Green-winged Teal in the same pond in the flats about two hours later. We had lunch at the counter in the Lodge. I like eating at grills where all the seating is the old-fashioned counter.
In the parking area at the back of the lodge, we were able to identify a Red-naped Sapsucker, Mountain Chickadee, and a Pine Siskin (a very tiny bird). The Siskin was a new one for us. He stayed in our sight for several minutes, including stopping at a puddle in the parking lot a couple times to get a drink. As we left the lodge area, we encountered a second female moose with a calf. It was a good day for moose.
Later in the afternoon we took the Lakeshore Trail at Colter Bay (two mile round trip). We got one more new bird here (Red-breasted Nuthatch).
Back at our cabin, we saw a giant rabbit across the road. We were watching through our large window. It had four white paws and a gray body with gray ears with white trim. We guessed it was a Snowshoe Hare and later confirmed that at the office. We took a sunset walk to the lake and saw several more hares. They let you get fairly close before they would run a few feet away. As you may recall, Snowshoe Hares turn completely white in the winter.
Sunday morning we got up and walked to the restaurant for breakfast. Then we checked out and went to the church service at the amphitheater. We took a few minutes to enjoy the great views of the Tetons, and then we started our drive back, stopping at Moose Falls and Lewis Falls in Yellowstone. We stopped in the Old Faithful area to eat lunch at the Old Faithful Lodge cafeteria because Charolette really likes their Trout Almondine. I had turkey and dressing.
We got back to our trailer to discover that our bird feeders were empty. I filled them up quickly and soon learned why they were empty. A large flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds had discovered the feeders and were waiting in line to eat. The Yellow-rumped Warblers had to settle for eating off our thistle feeder. I will have to buy some more birdseed tomorrow.
We took it easy for the rest of Sunday.
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