Family Vacation Days 1 and 2 (Updated)

Recap: Thanks to everyone who helped make our vacation to Jackson Hole, WY so much fun! Jon's parents provided the condo that we stayed in. Some dear friends at home fed our fish and watered our garden while we were away. My family, all of them including our Texans, came to visit on Saturday for a family reunion and to celebrate two birthdays. Thank you for coming. We really missed everyone after they left. We learned a lot about vacationing with a one-year-old this time around. After the squeaky condo pack-n-play was replaced by the Crenshaws pack-n-play, the Phillips family slept much better. Thank you Scott and Bethany. You saved our vacation!

Now here's the longer version of our story.
Day 1 We started our vacation last Thursday afternoon. I forgot to put the camera in the car so our final start time was 3:30 pm instead of 2:30 pm. Good thing we remembered by the time we got to Richmond. Dooh! We headed north passed Preston and drove through Emigration Canyon (by Mink Creek). The fall colors in the canyon were wonderful. We came down into Bear Lake Valley and passed Montpelier into Wyoming. We drove through Star Valley, up the Snake River Canyon and into Jackson Hole, where we had a condo reserved for a week. It was 7:30pm when we arrived so we just had time to make dinner and get settled. Autumn took several hours getting used to our condo with its squeaky floors as well as the fascinating carved bear statue at the top of the stairs. For Autumn, the entire week was centered around the carved bear. We made many trips to visit the statue every single day.


Day 2 Autumn got up at 5am on Friday. We decided to take advantage of the early hour and headed out to see the Tetons in the morning light. This is my Grand Tetons photo.


In Grand Teton National Park there is a drive called Signal Mountain. We took it and ended up following a mother black bear and her cub up the road for quite a distance. The baby bear was the cutest fuzz ball ever! (Photo credit Jonathan, through car windshield.)

In the afternoon we met up with my mom, my sister Mandy, and my brother John from Texas with his wife Meli and their daughter Julia. Autumn met uncle John for the first time and I think she really likes him. Together we took the fancy, fast tram to the top of Teton Ski Resort. Autumn rode in the hiking backpack. It was very windy at the top, but we managed to walk around and see the view.

In the evening we ate pizza and then went swimming at the hotel where John, Meli, and Julia were staying. There are more pictures of our Friday adventure at my mom's blog.