Friday, July 13, 2007 ;
6:36 AM
11 July
Wed
Last day of Teton Camp
Tuesday night was the best for me. We all got used to the cold and heat, and the sleeping conditions, and the Elder's wife lent me a really soft and thick comforter, so we slept very well.
ds1 received lots of presents, his art and craft and worksheets from his Bible class teacher. He proudly told me he picked a Monarch butterfly finger puppet as his present. His teacher also told me she was hoping someone would pick that. She had a treasure chest full of gifts for the kids to choose from. He loves insects, so no surprise. I was just glad he picked it over the other things, which ranged from figurines to other little toys.
After a quick lunch, we sought to make the most out of our remaining time. So we quickly went for a hike with our neighbour, the engineer guy who gave us a lot of food. He had to be back by 5.30pm for a dinner appt, so we hiked very fast.
We took a shuttle boat across Jenny Lake. Dh and him fought over paying for some time, and our engineer friend joked that they don't accept Singapore currency and insisted on treating us to the boat ride. Felt bad, cos we invited him to hike with us, and wanted to treat him cos he already gave us so many things.
ABove left: our lady captain of the boat. :-)
Anyway, we reached the other side of Jenny Lake, and thus begun the toughest hike in this vacation, really!
Why? First, dh walked really quickly. As in almost running, and never stopping to catch breath, so I pretended I wanted to drink water and take pictures whenever I was out of breath. Otherwise they won't stop. And second, the terrain was undulating, very steep at times, and rocky. So the climbing was really energy-consuming. Ds1 loved this kind of challenge and so hiked very quickly also, which made me try and keep up with him, cos the paths were narrow and often dropped off suddenly at the side to the rocks or lake below, which was dangerous if he slipped or made a false step.
I was suddenly aware that ds1, at 4yo, has more strength and stamina than me! I already know he has more energy, but I thought maybe I was still stronger... Oh my...
We reached Hidden Falls. It was beautiful. Not as picturesque as those in Yosemite, but still beautiful in her own way. Sitting by the side, feeling the cold spray was refreshing too, but we only sat for 2min? And off we went again, on an even steeper trail to Inspiration Point. Ok, I think I am out of shape and unfit.... If someone who did it read this, and he just slightly fitter than me, he'd laugh already. In fact, the IT guy, who is at least 50 yrs old, carried the diaper bag for me. So paiseh.
Above right: breathtaking view from Ins Pt.
We set off at 2pm from our campsite, and we finished the hike at 5pm. So we drove back to the campsite for our engineer partner to honor his dinner appt. We decided that this last dinner, we would treat ourselves to the Chuckwagon Restaurant.
Below left: I tried the trout, supposedly caught from the lakes here. Not bad! I normally only liked deep-sea fish (back home in Spore). Tried some freshwater fish before in China while on a tour, and didn't really like them, cos they tend to have more bones, and taste more "fishy". But this was ok.
Below right: the restaurant was child-friendly and had lots of things to occupy both ds. so ds2 is very happy.
After dinner, we decided to tackle the Swan Lake and Heron Pond trails. There are supposedly a lot of wildlife here, ranging from waterfowl, moose to bears. But we were out of luck. We really love moose, but didn't see any here. We also had to cut short our hike cos the day turned darker sooner and we didn't want to chance upon a bear at close range in the dark forest.
dh was disappointed but I told him he can try the hike again the next morn by himself while I looked after the kids.
Below right: the water lilies in the Swan Lake.
Below left: a lot of horse poop all along the trail.
Firing up the stove when we got back. Brrrr, cold! Was ard 11.30pm then.
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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Sunset at ard 9.30pm.
Still not satisfied, this being the last night, we then sat in the safety of our van and drove off in search of more wildlife. At the Willows, we were walking along this trail near our van when we saw this sign. So me and kids went back to van to wait while dh continued alone. We waited for him for about 20min then it got really dark, so dh came back and we drove back to the tent.
