Obstacle Course, continued

Days two and three had a different mix of obstacles. Sometimes the challenge was getting out the door of the condo, sometimes the challenge was getting out the door of the minivan, but we did make it to Grand Teton National Park both days.

We had gorgeous blue-sky weather for day two: Taggart Lake trail.

Despite the ease of the first half of the hike, it wasn't long after we reached the lake that things started to fall apart and feel difficult. No one was smiling anymore and about half of us were crying. Again, I was asking myself: "Why did we think this was a good idea?"

attempt at family photo by Taggart Lake

But we made it back to the condo, got the baby down for a nap, and I took Ramona and Mika down to Teton Village for a simpler activity: playing with dolls in the stream.

The next obstacle was a traffic jam between Teton Village and Jackson that caused such a huge delay, we decided to switch dinner plans from sushi restaurant to Wendy's. But no fits were thrown over this change in plans, which was a huge victory.

That night, Forest let me go to the Walk Music Hall in Teton Village for a concert showcasing Mark O'Connor, violinist. I didn't know too much about him, except that he composed "Appalachia Waltz," a beautiful piece I learned on the cello. Also, he collaborated with Yo Yo Ma at some point. Between that, Forest's encouragement, and the $15 price for the ticket, it was not a difficult decision for me to go! And I was not disappointed, the musicianship was quite incredible. There were no obstacles for this little part of the trip, and for that I was so grateful.

Day three was misty and overcast--maybe not perfect hiking weather, but only a minor obstacle in our overall itinerary. We still made it to Grand Teton National Park, and once one of our daughters stopped screaming about I-can't-remember-what in the parking lot, we were all on a trail hiking alongside String Lake.

On this hike, the girls enjoyed throwing pebbles in the lake, pretending to be bears, and pretending to be old ladies with canes (hiking sticks).

There was a popsicles-on-the-patio break after hiking . . .

. . . then we went to the county fair to eat snow cones and watch a "real cowboy" lasso ropes, swing a whip, and spin pistols.

At the fair, we also went to a petting zoo where a goat tried to eat my purse.

Next, we made it to the Japanese restaurant we meant to go to the night before. Paula took one bite of a sushi roll and promptly abandoned it after being offended by the cucumber.

But none of the other food was left uneaten.

We braved the rain after dinner and made it to Moo's for more ice cream. Inclement weather is rarely an obstacle significant enough to prevent our eating of ice cream.

To our surprise, we ran into some friends from church while we were there. Lily was one of Ramona's classmates in kindergarten.

Bunny-Bear and Bear-Bear Barry, two stuffed animals who came along with us to Jackson Hole. Both of them were gifts from Grandma Rosanne.

Besides the rain, the last part of our trip was quite smooth-sailing. I guess it only took three days for our family to find an efficient travel rhythm. I'm not sure if we found a path less filled with obstacles, or if it just got easier to maneuver around the obstacles on the path, but perhaps the most important thing is that we completed the course together. 

And that we eventually made it back home.

We did it! We made it to Jackson Hole and back, together. And we had fun. What a good idea it was to go.

Here are some drawings we did in the car. They are all by Ramona except the drawing of our minivan:

 How she imagined our condo before we arrived:

 Her depiction of the condo and surrounding area after we arrived:

 How she saw the mountains: