11th May:

Today has been a day of hot sunshine and wildlife! 🌞🐏🐦‍⬛

We decided today would be a late start. After all the early starts we’ve had recently we thought we deserved a more leisurely start to the day.

Considering we arrived here yesterday in a snow storm and it was so cold I was shivering, we can’t believe how hot it’s been today. This afternoon it was 63ºF.

As we were not anticipating it being very warm here in the Tetons we didn’t pack many summer clothes. If this heat remains we will have to go and buy some new clothes!! Oh dear, what an awful task that will be! 😂

I did manage to buy another pair of La Sportiva hiking shoes this morning in a sale for half price. We first discovered the brand when we were here last year and they are the most comfortable shoes I have every owned.

After breakfast in the cabin Si went out to get some early shots of the Tetons and was rewarded for his trouble with this lovely shot.

We then set out to visit the Elk Refuge. During the winter months the herds come down to the Refuge from the mountains and it’s usually about this time they migrate back up again but we were hoping a few remained.

Sadly, we didn’t manage to see any elk up close but we did see Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep in the Refuge instead.

There were adults and babies and even though they were right on the road our presence didn’t bother them at all.

Nature can be very cruel ….

We then decided some lunch was in order to visited the Roadhouse Brewing Compay and had Duck flatbreads accompanied by a Smokey Pete (A Smoked Apple Cider Margarita with Vida Mezcal, Triple Sec, Lime Juice, Maple Syrup, Apple Cider) for me and a light beer for Si. Everything was delicious. I had some flatbread left over so it was boxed for me. Sadly, we walked out the restaurant without the box! 😔

As we finished lunch we got into conversation with a lovely couple, Brian and Christina from Connecticut, New England. They were on the hunt for grizzly bears. We told them about the sheep we had seen and as they were the one animal they hadn’t seen they decided to take a trip to the Refuge to see if they could see any.

We stopped off in the Elk Refuge Tourist Centre on the way back and Si took some lovely photos of birds and I managed to find a few things to buy! 😂

Si has signed up to a special app, Parkwolf, that sends notifications when wildlife is seen and tells you where to go to see them. Well, Si got a message to say there was a moose right outside on the Dornan’s road so he rushed along with his camera and this is the result.

As we had lunch today we didn’t bother with dinner and instead Si went to photograph sunset at the Snake River Overlook. This is a famous spot where Ansel Adams, a famous photographer, once took a photograph of the Snake River with the Tetons in the background.

Fingers crossed we’ll have some good photos in tomorrow’s blog.

Visits to the Tetons never disappoint and today has been really lovely.

As I close for the day I thought you may like to take a look at the beast of a car we are driving. I told you yesterday how I once fell out of a Chevrolet Tahoe. When you see this photo you’ll understand why! 😂 Si’s decided he doesn’t like the car’s gear selectors.

Si’s just returned from his sunset trip and now the sun’s gone down he said it’s freezing and he only took a thin jacket with him. ❄️Silly boy! 😔

As we are visiting early this year and there’s still snow about, there are lots of areas that haven’t been able to open but we’ve just found out that Schwbacher Landing is opening up tomorrow so we want to get down there to take sunrise photos ……. again!

I do hope you are enjoying reading the blog. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Catch you again tomorrow!