A TALE OF TWO TIMES: The Grand Tetons: Then and Now!

A TALE OF TWO TIMES

The Grand Tetons; Then and Now!

My Grand Tetons trips of 2008 and 2019

Hello, everyone. As we welcome in my new year, April 5, 2020, the day I turned 61 years old, BobsRockyMountainBlog.com will finally see the light of day. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to get this blog up and running; the plan was to launch on the 1^st of January. But that didn’t happen. Now, however, the website is finished and ready for action. This will be the first article of a dynamic new website devoted, at first, to travel and photography. Since we have made our rounds through several of what I have always referred to as God’s greatest creations, the Rocky Mountains, my first article and the photos to go along with it are ready to post.

On our four-day journey to Billings in October 2018, my brother and I stopped at Mount Rushmore, in South Dakota, and saw the Black Hills as well as the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. Once we settled into our new apartment, and before snows could lock us in for the winter, a trip to Glacier National Park was beckoning. If one considers Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks to be the signature destinations for the state of Wyoming, then Glacier National Park must be regarded not only as the iconic landscape of Montana but also, as it has long been designated, the “Crown of the Continent.”

That journey, of about 500 miles or so, allowed us to view some magnificent peaks in the Beartooth, Crazy, Absaroka and Bridger mountain ranges. The actual distance of the route we took, in miles, was around 430 from Billings to St. Mary, the eastern, or starting point of the Going-to-the-Sun Highway. According to Google Maps, the driving time is seven hours and nine minutes (7:09). Even though, these mountains are very nice in their own right, I was looking forward to getting some pictures of the view from the Wild Goose Island Overlook in Glacier National Park. It’s my favorite spot, and I couldn’t wait to get there. In the early part of October 2018, the main road through the park, the famous Going-to-the-Sun Highway, had been shut down due to early snowfall. Nonetheless, by the time we got to Montana, on the 22nd of October, that road was open at least far enough that I could view this most extraordinary scene. The last time I saw it was in 2005. That’s quite a while.  There wasn’t anything spectacular on those first pictures as they were in the afternoon with a setting sun that did not make for good photographic conditions. When I went up there in June, of last year, I had my good friend “Hey Siri” wake me up at 4 AM so that I could catch a rising sun. MUCH BETTER!

The beginning of this article, though, is not about those earlier journeys on the way to a new life in the Rocky Mountains. This is the story of two vacations to Grand Teton National Park, which is about one hour south of Yellowstone National Park. While my brother finds his solace in the wilds of Glacier National Park, I prefer the panoramic views of the Teton mountain range in the aptly named Grand Teton National Park. And, though, I too, love the many wondrous vistas inside Glacier National Park, I never get tired of visiting the Tetons. The first trip, in this article, was a journey I made in January of 2008. It is a story of faith and my relationship with God. The second part is about my trip to the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks this past June (2019). It was the first time that I have had the opportunity to see these wonderful sights since 2008.

For the ease of my viewers I have broken down my article, A TALE OF TWO TIMES: The Grand Tetons; Then and Now! into seven parts. This is the first part, sort of an introductory. The next two parts will be about the life-changing vacation that I took in the middle of January 2008. The other four parts follow my 2019 journey through the Teton Valley to the back side of the Teton mountain range in Idaho, then up through Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park, before finishing up in Yellowstone National Park. That four-day vacation ended when I traversed the Beartooth Mountains, by traveling over U.S. Highway 212, commonly known as the Beartooth Highway, before returning home to Billings, Montana.

The main parts of this article will be published over five days, starting on Monday and running all week. After that, I intend to publish a new article at least two or three times each week.

I’m adding a short aside, for lack of better word, to this part. I do not advocate traveling any more than you must, at this time. Prudence dictates that we stay at home as much as possible, until this virus has run its course. As for myself, I don’t plan to travel very much this year, or at least for the next several months. I will not, however, let fears stop me from doing what I want, as far as travel goes, but why take a chance when you don’t have to. When the time comes, if I do any traveling, I will be avoiding forms of mass transit because of the enclosed environment with potential sources of infection. Again, why take the chance. If I travel, it will be by automobile, and I will wear gloves when pumping my own gas and avoiding crowds as much as possible. Fortunately, I have a stockpile of photos, from previous trips, through the Rocky Mountains, so I will be able to share them with my family and friends. I am confident that this will give you ideas for places to travel when the crises has passed.