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Day 1

On the first day of the trip we drove pretty solid, 10 hours, from San Diego to Beaver Utah.  You may ask, why Beaver?  Well there are a couple of reasons, Beaver is a little more then half way to our 1st real destination and it is at a lot higher elevation then bigger towns earlier on the route like St. George or Hurricane.  When we drove through St. George, the temp was 107 and Beaver was only 85, big difference.   When we pulled through town on the way to the campground there was a festival going on in the town square so we figured we would have a 4th of July celebration while we are there.  When we got to the campground and asked about fireworks, they said the town did not have anything for the 4th, just Butch Cassidy Days, since he was born there.  We would have to drive 7 miles west over to Greenville for fireworks.  I figured Greenville must be bigger then Beaver if they were the town in the area hosting fireworks.  We drove towards Greenville and pulled up to some people selling snacks at the side of the road and asked where Greenville is, they said we were there.  Greenville must have a population of 50-75 with 20 buildings, the whole town is the clump of trees to the left of Jeff in the 1st image below.  The woman at the snack stand told us where most everyone parks for the show and said the best view is from the top of the slight hill in the cemetery, so that is where we went.   They fired the fireworks from a pasture next to a truck  and it turned out to be a really nice small town fireworks.

We parked and setup our own grandstand in the back of the pickup.

The simpler fireworks are legal in Utah, so we bought some sparklers and a couple of other items and had some old fashion fun with them.

The Campground we stayed at in Beaver was Beaver Canyon Campground.  It is a fairly nice private own park with many long term residences.  They were kept up well, so you didn't feel like you were in some scary trailer park.  The price we paid was $24 with full hookups.

Day 2

They next day we headed out for our first major destination, the Grand Teton National Park.  We had another long day of driving, 9 hours, and pulled into the campground more at the northern end of the park by 6 pm.  The Campground was on the shores of Jackson Lake and below are the views from there.   The campground was Colter Bay Trailer Park, the only campground in the park with hookups.  It is a nice place with many rows of RVs lined up in a wooded setting.  It usually fills up, so you really need reservations, which I had gotten just a couple weeks earlier.  I think I got lucky on my timing.  My only complaint about this place is that they did not allow fires, but the tent camp right next to the RV camp could.

Day 3

This day was to see the park and catch some hikes.  The Teton mountain range juts up from the rolling plains around them, making them seem most dramatic, since there are not really foot hills leading up the them.  Everywhere you go there are great views to snap pictures of.

Not far off the road was our first taste of bison. (visually)  During the next 2.5 week, this is the "wild" animal we would see the most.

The weather was nice be mostly cloudy and hazy.  This kept the trees and grass was washing out in the bright sun in photographs, but the mountains were always not as clear  as I wished.  Our camera does not capture the image through the haze like you could see it with your own eyes.  I was able to get a little be of the clarity back by adjusting the contrast a little in Photoshop.

There is a pretty well know spot for photos of the Tetons called the Snake River Overlook.  Here you get the Snake River curving by in the foreground and the peaks in the back.

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