More impressive scenery heading toward the Grand Teton range. Love those painted hills!

That’s the Tetons! Nope.

THAT’S the Tetons!

You know Annie Lamont’s book Help, Thanks, Wow? About the basic forms of prayer? Well, Grand Teton National Park was one long prayer of “Wow!” (And “Thanks!”). 

I must have a thousand pictures of these mountains. After awhile, you think “Enough with the mountains, already!” But they make me catch my breath every time I see them, the way they rise straight up from the flat land. And the RV park in Colter Bay was just so nice—it felt like Mount Gretna, under the pine trees. It even had pink flamingos! (My family and friends who have seen Mount Gretna will get this.)

More than anything else, the fact that Russ agreed to ride IN A CAR from Saratoga to Grand Teton National Park told me how sick he was. Even at Grand Teton Park, he had no energy. He finally talked to his sister Debby, a nurse practitioner, about his nagging covid symptoms. She is perhaps the only person he will listen to about medical advice (can’t blame him there—I immediately call my brother ‘Doctor Jeff’ with any medical concerns). She advised him to take it easy until his energy came back. He will take shorter days (30-40 miles), resting whenever necessary, especially when climbing. 

Unfortunately, on the way here, Scooby developed a frequent, racking cough, so one of my two days at Colter Bay was mostly spent driving to Jackson to have him seen by a veterinarian. He diagnosed kennel cough, even though Scooby had this cough before we left (very infrequently), and Moe shows no symptoms. I lucked out—their receptionist was a recent transplant from Mass., and she immediately took me under her wing (“Gotta take care of my home girl.”) She made sure I got an appointment that day, and made sure I had my $20 off coupon when I got there.  It wasn’t until I left, with antibiotics and cough suppressants, that I realized I had paid nothing for the vet visit—only the medicines. Looking out for your home girl, indeed!

I did get time for a hike on one of the many trails around Colter Bay that afternoon. Dogs are not allowed, due to bear activity, so I went without my trail buddies. Got my first look at a Western Tanager (those impossibly gaudy birds), and saw pink-sided juncos, the Rocky Mountain version of our slate-colored juncos. While I was sitting, watching a beaver swim lazily about in a small lake, a fellow bird watcher told me to look out for a sandhill crane on the other side of the lake. As I came around a tall beaver lodge, there it was; I hadn’t seen it before I nearly walked into it. I tried to drop quickly out of sight, but it flew away, leaving me with just one startled glimpse of that iconic bird.