Yellowstone Day 4

Seth loves being somewhere fun on his birthday!

June 29^th was Seth’s eleventh birthday. The boys wanted to get up really early and go for an animal drive, but 6:30 seemed plenty early. We’d all showered and we had plans for breakfast, so we made it out the door by 6:45. Unfortunately, luck wasn’t with us. We didn’t see a single notable animal.

No animals, but beautiful views.

We stopped by Jackson Lake Lodge and saw a moose hundreds of yards out the massive west window. Then we went and got breakfast for Seth’s birthday. Seth loves pancakes, but he ordered French toast. Mom got the huckleberry pancakes, and both were delicious. Everyone else got big breakfast plates. Since Dad sang happy birthday when Seth’s food was delivered, the waitress found out that it was a special day. She treated Seth to a nice brownie. We really enjoyed that breakfast and even considered making it a tradition.

It was fun to eat out for breakfast!

Seth loves brownies. It was a great treat!

After breakfast, we drove to Moose Ponds to do our favorite hike. It was reported that a mother bear and her cubs had been sighted along the way, but again, we were unlucky. We didn’t see anything along the path, though we decided to enjoy the hike anyway.

This is our favorite trail in Grand Teton.

It is such a beautiful part of the park.

Mom and Dad love hiking together.

Happy Birthday to Seth!

Mark was really hoping to see some wildlife, but nothing!

We still enjoyed visiting Moose Ponds.

Dad trying to spot something!

This was the trail Seth most wanted to do. 

A second hike took us to Taggart Lake, which was a hike we’d never done before. The parking lot is always packed, and there are hundreds of people on the trail. Luckily, a prime parking spot opened up just for us. We passed large groups all up and down the trail, but Dad told Seth a birthday story and before we knew it, we had arrived at Taggart Lake. It was a beautiful, crystal clear lake, so we decided to dip our toes in for a few minutes. The water was ice cold and refreshing. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to take the long way back to the trailhead, hoping to final see a few animals. The hike was beautiful along Beaver Creek, but we were still unlucky as we didn’t spot any animals at all. We were disappointed, because it seemed like such an amazing place to see a moose or bear. We had been excited to spot a few bears, because we got to 21 quickly, which is just two short of our record of 23. Unfortunately, we stayed on 21 throughout this day.

Taggart Lake was a climb!

The views at the top were lovely.

It was nice to cool our feet off in the water.

Taggart Lake was an awesome new hike.

Seth wanted to touch one of these fish, but it never happened.

We really liked Taggart Lake.

The lake was so pretty.

The hike back down had a lot of pretty spots, too.

Mom loves hiking with this crew. Mark is of course way ahead of us!

We had a quick lunch of chips and applesauce and didn’t even bother with the sandwiches. Then we made the drives that we knew would net us some animals. On the Moose-Wilson Road, we saw nothing. Up toward Gros Ventre Canyon, we didn’t see a single thing. At Schwabacher Pond we heard that a moose had just wandered away. It seemed as if we wouldn’t being seeing animals for Seth’s birthday. Then the rain started. It was getting close to 5 o’clock, and we’d planned dinner at Dornan’s Pizza in Moose. The food was good and quick and the rain really came down while we ate. We had one more hike to try.

Schwabacher's Landing has the best photo spots.

Getting ready for the picture.

Family pic!

We had a hard time getting everyone ready for this picture.

Dax was being very silly. 

Seth got to eat pizza for his birthday!

Mom wanted to stop on the main road and try a “secret hike” that she’d heard about. It was very short and took us to a few cabins and other structures that few visitors in the Tetons ever see. We were encouraged by the terrain, but we only managed to spot a few marmots among the wildflowers.

Cute boys! And lots of rain all day long!

This spot was hidden and magical. 
 

Finally, we drove out Moose-Wilson Road one last time. At the overlook, we saw nothing, and the rain started to fall again. We thought about turning around right there, but we drove out a little farther. Within a few miles, we came to road construction, so we had to turn around. Back at the overlook we saw a few cars looking off to the west. Amazingly, a mama moose and her tiny calf were wading in the pond! The baby didn’t seem to like the water and swam to the edge, but the cow ate in the knee-deep water for quite a while. It was the perfect sighting! 

Here is momma and baby in the water together.

The baby moose did not like being in the water.

Momma Moose didn't mind.

She called the baby over to her as we were leaving.

Back at the cabin, we gave Seth a few birthday gifts. We sang and had oreos and milk, which is Seth's favorite treat. Then we read together and headed off to bed. It hadn’t been such a bad day after all.

We celebrated in our cabin at Grand Teton.

Seth loves mythology and was excited for this game.

Seth also got some new books and stuffed animals.