20240921 EF Go Ahead National Parks Bus Tour Day 10/20 - Grand Tetons and Jackson, Wyoming

American West Bus Tour Day 10/20 - Leaving Utah, crossing Iowa, Hello Wyoming

We hit the road this morning at 8:00. Before departing Salt Lake City, Robin chauffered us around the Temple Square area of the city with Geoff narrating.

Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz

We entered the Temple Square area, the global home of the LDS church.

The main temple is under construction

They are raising the entire building to earthquake-proof its foundation

The project has taken several years and has more to go

We caught a glimpse of the Capital dome

LDS Church office building

Eagle Gate

Church Administration Building

Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Brigham Young Statue

The new tabernacle

The former tabernacle

Final looks at the Capital Dome

There still is a lot of railroad traffic here and this is a large yard

A refinery on the way out of town

Another LDS temple in Brigham City, Utah

Colors were starting to change

We're hoping this bodes well for some spectacular color in Montana and the Dakotas

LDS temple in Logan, Utah

Our first stop was the Bear Lake Overlook

This half of the lake is in Idaho

The border is in the middle of the lake

The rest of the lake is in Utah

There were fascinating clouds overhead.

Here we are standing in front of the Idaho view on the left and the Utah view on the right

We drove down past the lake en route to Idaho.

We quickly passed into Idaho

Who knew we'd be in Paris on this trip (Paris, Idaho that is)

And just like that, we arrived in Wyoming

Lovely Smoot, Wyoming

As we were arriving in Afton, Wyoming, we passed another LDS temple

Afton was our lunch stop.

Six of us chowed down at Rocky Mountain Seafood

Afton is home to the world's largest elk antler arch

Built in 1958, it spans four lanes of traffic, is 75 feet wide, and is made from 3,011 intertwined antlers

Yesterday, Arlona grabbed a couple bottles of the new "Besties" Oreo Coke Zero and we tried it after lunch today.

We didn't know what to expect but it was actually good - there was a distinctive Oreo flavor along with the cola flavor and much to our surprise - it worked well as a sweet zero-calorie treat

We drove along the Snake River

We will be taking a float down this river in a couple of days

We arrived at our final destination for today, Jackson, Wyoming, for now, we were just passing through.

One of the four famous elk antler arches on the town's center square

We passed through so we could get our first look at the Tetons.

The Tetons are different than many mountain ranges

There are no foothills or gentle slopes - just prairie and *boom* mountains

John D. Rockefeller was credited for buying all this land to stop it from being developed, offering it to the U.S. to protect it as a National Park

We stopped at the visitor's center

And we were presented with an amazing view of the Tetons

The Tetons, from left to right:

Buck Mountain, 11,998 feet

South Teton, 12,514 feet

Nez Perce, 11,901 feet

Grand Teton, 13,770 feet

Mt. Owen, 12,928 feet

Teenwinot Mountian, 12,325 feet

Mt. Moran, 12,605 feet

Arlona, touching Mt. Owen

Me, with a pine tree

We made a brief stop at the Episcopal Chapel of the Transfiguration.

What a backdrop

The chapel's interior was modest but beautiful

What a view from the pulpit

Grand Teton tried to show itself but the pesky cloud wouldn't release its grip

We returned to Jackson to check in to our hotel for the next three nights.

Our hotel

We took a walk to grab some supplies

The obligatory elk antler arch photo - there are four of the arches, one on each corner of the square

A musician playing at the Veterans Monument

A Jackson classic

We headed back to the room to eat a little dinner and get some rest. We depart at 7:30 for a full day in Yellowstone National Park tomorrow. We're looking at nearly a 12-hour day, but it will be a great day.