This morning we decided that we would go to one of our favorite places around Jackson Hole for breakfast. We took a long ride up to Jackson Lake Lodge and had our favorites - Mountain granola with blueberry yogurt for me and a short stack for Bud. We had planned to take pictures of the beautiful mountain flowers, the snow covered Tetons and perhaps see a moose (we have always been pretty lucky seeing moose in that area).
After having breakfast and visiting some of the specialty shops at the Lodge we headed for Willow Flats - a place that we have had our morning devotions for all the years we have visited the area. We had noticed a sign earlier in the morning announcing the presence of bear in the area, but was told by the ranger at the Lodge that she didn't appear during the day usually, so we went on our merry way to have our quiet time. A diesel pick-up truck loaded with a very powerful telescope pulled out ahead of us (we learned later that he was working with the rangers) and we noticed about 300 yards ahead of us on the road a herd of elk was running swiftly across the road. That was a sight but we didn't think much of it, BUT then to the left of us in a field of Willow there was a momma Grizzly and two little cubs, their little heads peering above the Willow. We pulled off the road behind the pick-up truck and turned on the "always ready to shoot" camera. Bud took the pictures - he was closer to the bear. We were about 75 yards from the bear and he took some fabulous pictures with the zoom lens. They just took their time strolling through the willows. The momma would stay ahead of them most of the time, but they were never far behind her. I'm glad Bud took the picture - his hands were more steady than mine - be still my heart!! It was a fabulous sight!!
We saw a beautiful bald eagle soaring above the Snake river - too high for us to capture on film, but he was gorgeous. We also saw pelicans and a Trumpeteer Swan.
There are a few more pictures of the Tetons I'm adding, too. Believe me when I say I have so many beautiful pictures it is hard to choose just a few.
We bought our bear spray today - planned to buy before we saw the bear family - but it was a sure sign to us we need it.
We are going back out to Moose, WY this evening. We saw a beautiful meadow yesterday and was told that Moose frequent it early every morning and about 6-8pm in the evening. Hope tomorrow we have moose pictures to share.
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