Our Daytrip to Pinedale

Boo Touches the Surf

The day after Helen's birthday, we decided to take a daytrip to Pinedale, which is a town about an hour and a half from our home (and if we were to drive about an hour and a half further, we would have been at Yellowstone...just so you know). This area is actually the very edge of Grand Teton National Park. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The temperature was in the upper 50's, the sky was partly cloudy, and there was a very pleasant breeze with just a touch of cold in it. As you can see from the pictures, autumn was in full swing. The picture above is taken at a glacial lake called Lake Something-or-other. The water was pretty cold, but I thought that Helen might like to touch the wet sand and to let the water splash over her hands. She was only mildly amused. It was some of the clearest water that I've ever seen. Absolutely beautiful.

Helen and Daddy in a Monet

Like I said, autumn was in full swing and the trees looked like they were made of gold. When the light would reflect off of the leaves, it would almost make you want to cry it was so beautiful. Notice in the above picture how the trees on the lower left look like they were painted by Monet. It was truly remarkable.

Helen and Mommy

The scenic drive that you see in the pictures begins at the bottom at lake-level, and then gradually ascends up a small mountain to the top. This picture is as we are getting higher up the mountain. You can see a higher view of the lake from the first picture. And you can also see how the whole area is surrounded by other mountains. Oh, did I mention that we live here?

Feeding a Chipmunk

This picture was taken near the top. There was already some snow fall there, though it looks a little like leftover hail. There are also quite a few chipmunks that are not afraid of humans. In this picture, I am feeding the chipmunk some Ritz crackers and as you can see he is standing in my hand. Before I busted out with the food, though, one of the chipmunks climbed up the outside of my pant leg and hung around for awhile, and then he crawled up my arm and over my shoulder and down my other arm. They were all very friendly. They of course liked me even more when I started to feed them.

We didn't take any pictures of the top, because it was kind of disappointing and you couldn't really see through the trees. There were some deer on the side of the road that just stared at us for awhile, and I do have pictures of that but I haven't edited them yet. Overall, the day was alot of fun. There are actually two lakes in this area, one on each side of the road. We tried to get a cabin on the shore of the other (unpictured here) lake, called Half-Moon Lake, but they were all booked up. BUT, if you are interested in coming out to visit, these cabins rent for around $75-120/night during the off-season (Sept thru May), so let us know and we can make reservations to stay there for a weekend or something. And during the summer they do all sorts of fishing expeditions and horse-back riding trips that are a little more expensive, but are all inclusive. So, come for a visit!