Coulter Bay

Because of Mountains & Strings, our summer is crazy. We always tell our kids not to worry, because we will do fun family things after music camp. Well, this year we took them on a three-day camping adventure to Coulter Bay on the other side of the Tetons. It's a bit of a drive, but the view is so worth it!  

We all loved Jackson Lake, but especially the kids. The Tetons are off to the side a little, but it's a gorgeous view of Mt. Moran. I swear, those mountains all seemed way bigger in real life than they do in these pictures.

Titanic anyone?

Gotta have bacon for breakfast on a camp-out. And Richard's famous pancakes, of course.

Can you guess which side of the tent the kids slept in?

Side note: Richard and I sleep quite comfortably on camp-outs. We just take our air mattress (We've even been known to bring along our memory foam topper when we have room.) and we make the bed up just like we do at home, but with more blankets. It's quite cozy. I don't sleep well in a bag, so this works great for me. :)

The next morning, they finally got a chance to jump in and swim. It was a little chilly, but they had fun.

Luckily, this campsite had a nice building with showers, so we got all clean and ready before heading to Jackson Hole for the day. 

Throughout the trip, as we were driving, we came upon a couple of grizzly bears just off the side of the road, a couple elk, and a deer...I think.

William is hiding behind the Moose. Stinker. 

We got a good deal on a tram ride at Teton Village. I must have had a puppy-dog look on my face when I asked about the prices for our family, because the sweet lady selling tickets gave them to us for half price. Sweet!

We ended our last night with the Bar J Wranglers - and in the front row, no less! I am so glad our kids are now old enough to enjoy this show and understand most of the jokes. We laughed and laughed. In fact, we had been listening to a book on tape (Ender's Game - if you must know) in the van, and when Richard was about to turn it on during the drive back to the camp site, Sarah said, "Let's not listen to the book, let's talk about the Bar J show!" 

Another side note: Richard and I can be found playing background music on a couple of the Bar J Cd's available to buy. They had him compose music and we went to Trent Walker's studio with a couple other string players to record for several songs. One of our (not that cool) claims to fame.

Getting ready to eat that fabulous cowboy dinner before the show. :) 

What a fun and very memorable family trip this turned out to be! I hope for many more to come. :)