Birthday Girl

Yeah! Today is Charlotte’s birthday! What a wonderful birthday it was too! Not just for Charlotte, but for all of us. It was a very busy day! We woke up and went back to Harriman State Park. Today was our day for horseback riding. We were all so excited we could hardly stand it. We arrived a little early so that we could fill out all of the forms for the trail rides. The horses were so beautiful. They were all saddles up and ready for us. Our trail guides was Tom. He is the man who runs the ranch trail rides. He owns the business with his family. His daughter was the other trail guide. There was also another man who was working with the horses. He was a new addition to the ranch hands. We stood on the mounting block and waited our turn for getting on the horse. Charlotte the birthday girl rode a horse named Elroy. Joanna’s horse was named Tim. Tom and Carson rode on Roy. Roy was a very good horse. He was very bog. The guide, Tom, said that Roy was his own personal horse, and he had owned Roy for many years. My horse was named Pete. Pete and I got along fairly well. We began our journey without incident. It was the most beautiful ride up along the ridge of the mountain. Tom told us all about the mountain and how it was a volcano many years ago. He pointed out all of the various flowers and plants that were of interest. It was the most beautiful ride. We even were able to see a big moose while we were on the trail. He was just gazing there in the woods and we came up to him quietly. He was very big! He did not stay very long when he saw all of us. There were several people on the trail with us. There were about twenty people or so. Many of them were from Salt Lake City, UT. I think that many of them were in the same family. We rode along the trail and looked at all the scenery. We saw big piles of wood put there for the beavers. The trees had fallen and they left them there in a pile for the animals. We crossed over a small river and rode all over the mountain. When we got to the top of the trail, we stopped for a minute to take pictures and to give the horses a breather. We rode back down the trail towards the barn. We went across a great, big field. Tom told us that there were many coyotes in the field that were probably watching us right then. The field was just so beautiful! Some of the horses wanted to run because we were getting close to the barn. Eventually we made it back to the farm, and gave the horses water. We took turns dismounting. Boy, we were sore! What a wonderful time we all had! We had our picture made with our guide Tom before we left. We all enjoyed the ride on the mountain so very much!

We were a little tired, but we still had many things left to see on this Charlotte’s birthday! We stopped on the way to the next destination – the Grand Tetons! We stopped to have lunch at a small restaurant in a small town just about an hour outside Jackson Hole. We had lunch, and then we went to a drugstore and had an ice cream cone. It was a nice little town. It had one main street filled with little shops. When we went back to the car, Charlotte opened her present. Joanna bought her a purse that looked like a ladybug. It was very cute. Her Daddy and I gave her a pocketknife with a wolf on it. Actually, there were two knives in the special box. She was very happy. She seemed to like them very much. We drove on to Jackson Hole after lunch. It was such a pretty drive! The mountains were so very high. The van kept overheating. We crossed the mountains and the horizon opened up to reveal Jackson Hole. There were lots of shops and stores and restaurants. We did not stop on the way in to town. We drove straight on to Jenny Lake. It was so beautiful. We park and took a hike. We thought about taking the ferryboat ride across the lake, but it was rather expensive.

We decided to just hike around the lake. We knew that we probably would not go all the way to the top anyway. There was even still snow on the tops of the mountains! In the middle of the summer – today is July 27th! We walked a little way down the trail. We stopped several times and took pictures of the kids. We also stopped and felt the water, which was very, very cold. The water was rough too. I guess it was because of the weather. Most of the pictures that I had seen before of Jenny Lake it had been very peaceful and still so that it reflected the mountains. It definitely was not like that today. We had such a nice time. We headed back to the car, and we drove back into Jackson Hole. We stopped to get some gas (and cappuccino) and to call home. We talked to both sets of parents. It had been a while since we called so I think they were glad to hear from us. It is hard to call when we are doing so much. We have been seeing and doing so much, it’s hard to stop to call. We always get back to the campsite late. It stays light forever here. It’s light until about ten o’clock at night, so we use every bit of daylight. We finally drove back to Henry’s lake. We have been here for a while now. I think today is the fifth day. We were very tired. Tom and I just let the kids stay asleep in the van for the night. They were warmer that way anyway. At night it was fairly cool outside. It was late again when we arrived back at camp.