Monday, July 27

We were up at 5:45 this morning, and had breakfast in the Pioneer Grill. The food was great, but the coffee was pretty dreadful. But at 7:45 we met in the Lodge lobby for our raft trip on the Snake River. This was an inflated rubber raft managed by a very nice and knowledgeable young man named Sid, and was one of four rafts hired for our Caravan group. This was not a white water trip at all, it was a serene trip where we encountered mostly birds, including several bald eagles, as well as Morganser ducks and Canada geese. For two leisurely hours we went down the river at approximately 5 mph. After that we stopped at a lookout point where the Snake River and Grand Teton were famously photographed by Ansel Adams when he was hired by the National Park Service to document and promote the national parks.

After that we went to Jackson Hole and the city of Jackson. Jackson Hole is the name of the valley, and inside the valley is the city of Jackson. Jackson is where the famous elk antler Arches sit at the four corners of the city square. We visited the gallery of Thomas Mangelsen, a noted wildlife photographer, and if I was wealthy I might well have bought one of his full size pieces, but I doubt I can find $7,500-10,000 in sofa cushions, so I contented myself with a card for $5. It had a photo of chimps from Gombe, and the photo was part of a joint project between Mangelsen and Jane Goodall. I loved it, and will put it in a frame when we get back home.

Then Cheryl had the brilliant idea of getting some good coffee, so we went to Cowboy Coffee, and while sitting at an outdoor table we met a nice lady from Ireland and had a chat. Then Cheryl wanted to check out the T-shirt store, and I ended up buying a T-shirt. That may tell you something about our marriage, but I am not sure just what. Then we boarded the bus and chatted with Gloria for the 45 minute ride back to the Lodge and our cabins. 

At 5pm we went to the Mural Room for the farewell dinner. There was no particular program involved, just good food and conversation. But as it happened Cheryl T.D. sat next to us so we had a lot of conversation about travel. She said her favorite Caravan trip was the Panama trip, so maybe we should look into that. By 7 though we were back in our cabin.

Tuesday, July 28

Our last full day of the trip! It was mostly about traveling to Salt Lake City, by way of Idaho. We watched a video about the Oregon Trail because we were following that route for part of the way. And Cheryl T.D. had more quizzes. Along the way we passed a group of male Elk all gathered together, an unusual sight. We stopped for lunch in Utah, and when we reached Salt Lake City we got a brief tour of downtown on our coach before visiting the Mormon Tabernacle. The acoustics there are really incredible. A young lady demonstrated this by standing at the podium on the other side and ripping a piece of paper, which you could hear very clearly. Then we went to the Hilton for our last night on this trip. For dinner we found P.F. Chang’s on the next block. Then to bed. We are both tired and looking forward to getting home again.

Wednesday, July 29

Up at 6am this morning, and down to breakfast in the hotel. We sat with Kim and her son Nguyen, and they have traveled a lot so we compared stories. Others from our group also showed up in the dining room was we sat there, so we said some good byes. Our shuttle was not until 11 so we went back to the room to relax and finish our packing before heading to the airport. We were picked up by a car Caravan arranged, and went through TSA pretty smoothly.