Tetons and Jackson

Ah, the mountains! I don't think I could live without them! Friday afternoon my good pal Camie Stucki and I took off for Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We decided to follow the directions that she had printed off on MapQuest.com. The directions said to follow I-15, crossing into Idaho, and then to take exit #118. The music was playing, we were talking, and soon we were at exit #120. Only a few more exits to go! NOT! The next exit after exit #120 was exit #114! Where the heck was exit #118 anyways? We got off the freeway and went to the nearest gas station. As we walked in, I noticed a map of Idaho on the wall. We were in a place called Glenn's Ferry. I pointed at Glenn's Ferry on the map to show Cam where we were. We looked at each other in disbelief but all we could do was laugh! Instead of taking I-15 east towards Pocatello, we had been traveling west towards Boise. We cracked jokes the whole way back about how we just wanted to take a trip to Glenn's Ferry and how we had the extra gas money to blow anyways! To make an already long story shorter, we finally ended up at a campsite at Colter Bay at 10:30pm, a mere 10 hours after we had started!
Saturday morning came and we were just glad to be there among the beautiful Tetons. I told Cam about the Hidden Falls hike by Jenny Lake so after our oatmeal breakfast we packed up camp, paid our $15 to the camp host, and drove to the trailhead. The hike was nice. Not too long and not too short, not too hot and not too cold. A couple hours later we got back and went to Jackson Lake Lodge where we ate our sandwiches and apples out back on the patio with the Teton range in front of us. The rest of the afternoon was spent napping on the shore of Jackson Lake. It was so peaceful; we loved it.
Our stomachs told us it was time for dinner so we ate at a picnic table close to the lake. We had vegetable beef soup with fresh tomatoes, melted swiss cheese, and bread. When you're camping, as you all know, pretty much anything tastes great! Then it came time to clean up and with it, accident number two! I gathered up the dishes and headed to the water spicket while Cam gathered the trash and headed to the gigantic bear proof dumpster. After having washed one dish, I heard Cam yell, "Care, come here." I said "What?" and she said again, "Just come here." I set the dish I was washing down and walked over to the dumpster. She told me that she had accidentally thrown out the car keys along with the rest of the trash. Oh man! How in the world were we going to get them out! I guess doing 20 push-ups every morning after I run is worth it. I lifted up the freakin' huge/heavy bear-proof lid and Cam slid a small boulder on the two corners of the dumpster so that the lid was open at least half a foot. We needed one more person to help us lift up the lid high enough so that Cam could get in the dumpster and fish the keys out. We walked down the road and a car drove by with a young, strong guy in the driver seat (one of the only young guys we had seen our entire trip, most of the tourist were old people). Even though we felt ultra-embarrassed, we explained to him our situation and asked him to help us lift the lid. He pulled around to the dumpster and he and I lifted the lid while Cam did a little dumpster diving and fished out the keys. We were lucky to the max and laughed about it the rest of the trip. I'm sure we'll be laughing about it for a long time as well as amazed that we were actually able to get them out.
We didn't have the money to pay for a campsite again and it was raining so we decided to sleep in the back of Cam's Subaru Saturday night. It was a little squishy but we stayed warm. Sunday morning we packed up and drove into Jackson Hole. There was a art festival going on so we walked around that, window shopped, and just enjoyed the coolness of Jackson. At noon we headed out. This time we decided to go home via Logan. The ride home was so pretty going through beautiful canyons and valleys and by Bear Lake. The best part is that it only took 5 hours! We had sooo much fun that we are already looking forward to our next trip. Where it will be I'm not yet sure but one thing I'm sure about is that it will be filled with lots of adventure!