Dave, Janette and Diana on a mini-vacation!

For our 42nd anniversary, we took Diana with us up to the Tetons and Yellowstone last week, the 17th through 20th.  We had a great time!  This was a first time trip for her, and all though Dave and I we were there in June for his birthday a few days, we didn't get any further than Jackson Lake Lodge, and we didn't camp.

We were going to stay at Jenny Lake Campground, however it was full so we headed north and ended up at the Coulter Bay Campground.  All the 'tent' (yes, I said tent, ugh!) sites were full so we ended up among all the BIG rigs (RV's and such).  We finally got the new camp stove going and cooked dinner (Diana did some cooking and did a very good job I might add), making it very late by the time we finished up eating and cleaning up.  Because of the smell, I was nervous about the bear s coming in for a visit.  Since they had no 'bear boxes' in the RV loop, we had to take camp down the next morning (Monday) and set up over in another area where there were bear boxes.  After getting camp set back up, we went on up to Yellowstone, directly to Old Faithful.  It took forever finding a parking spot, but finally did and got over there just in time to see the 'old gyser' go off.  We went in to the cafeteria there and had lunch, then Dave took Diana on the gyser walk to see all the other stuff in the area.  I wanted to stay and see if I could get better pictures of "Old Faithful" but he never did go off again while we were there.  We headed towards the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and saw the falls, then headed on around the loop and ended back at the campground.  It was a lot of driving to do in one day.  We did see some buffalo and elk and other little critters.  We think we saw a bear in the distance headed for the trees.  A park ranger was there directing traffic so we were pretty sure it was.

We had dinner a littler earlier the second night and roasted marshmellows and Diana wanted to roast 'Starbursts'.  So you know who was a little high on sugar that night, but we had a lot of fun with her there.

On Tuesday we headed back to Jenny Lake for some hiking.  We did the 2.5 mile hike starting at the south end of the lake and ended up at the Hidden Falls.  It was a butt kicker, but I did it.  I'm not in as good of shape I was when we did the hike the times before.  Anyway, it was very beautiful all along the trail,....the falls were GORGEOUS!  We didn't hike back, but took the ferry boat back across the lake.  That was also a first for Diana,....wish the boat ride had lasted a little longer for her.

Since it was late enough in the afternoon when we finished at Jenny Lake, rather than go back to camp at that time, we went in to Jackson Hole and ate dinner at Bubba's.  Their pulled pork was wonderful!  It started blowing and raining so after getting gas, we headed back to camp.  We bedded down pretty early because it was raining.  I couldn't stand the idea of laying there on my cot for the rest of the night, so we went on a potty break and ended up building a fire and staying up.  It had quit raining by that time (9 p.m.).  We stayed up til' 11 p.m. and roasted some more marsh mellow then went back in the tent.  Oh, and just to let you know, we had 3 cots in the tent with 'no' walking room whatsoever.  Dave made breakfast each morning we were there,....he's a true blue camper.

Wednesday morning we took camp down and headed back home around 10 a.m.  We took some time and stopped at the "Shirt Off My Back" store and the Visitors Center.  We stopped in Alpine, WY for lunch.  Just as we were leaving there, I stubbed my second toe on the back of Diana's shoe and am pretty sure it broke in the first knuckle.  It was killing me, and since I started driving at that time, I had to pull over and take some Tylenol.  We wanted to show Diana Bear Lake so we went down and around Montpelier, ID then made our way up and back down through Logan Canyon.  It was much longer or I guess more time consuming by going that way.

Anyway, we made it back and settled in earlier that night so we could get up early and get ready for work on Thursday.  We were beat!

We had a great anniversary and a mini-vacation with our grand daughter.  We love the mountains!  She loved going with us as well.

Fun memories!