To the moon and Back Alice

Yes we went to the moon and back "Alice" "Alice, Alice who to hell is Alice" Well if Alice was here she would think she went to hell, because to was hot. The Craters of the Moon was our destination. The surface of the moon is compared to Craters of the moon. There are many lava flows exist on the actual moon. These lava field were hot today. They say the lava rock can get up to 150 degrees and it felt like it today. We did 7 short hikes today. The last one was the Indian Tunnel, which we had to get a cave permit for, it was a lava tube that was 800' long. We did need to scramble over some large rock piles and climb out through a small opening at the end. But coming out back into the hot lava rocks, oh they were hot to touch. A couple of places the ceiling had collapsed so you could see daylight here and there. 

Some other interesting things were about the bright yellow and red lichens  (Lichen is a organism that is part algae and a fungi) but what is interesting about it, is that it breaks down the lava rock. Actually destroying it. 

Another cool thing was what's called the witches broom. The witches broom were created on tree by a dwarf mistletoe that is a parasite and it lives off other plants, but the unique things is that it secretes a hormone that causes the plant or tree to send more nourishment to that area. This surplus of food causes over-stimulates the branch causing the witches broom.

The dead tree are so picturesque

Then there is everything else.

 ATTENTION Selfie or shadow ??

 snow cone

 Big cracks

 reminds me of coral

Steve's said it looks look an Oreo Mcflurry?

The Grand Kahuna "The Grand Teton"

The Grand Teton

Apparently it is the Grand Teton meaning one mountain because when you use a s Tetons you get corrected that there is only one "Grand Teton" and the rest of the mountains have names also. Hummm ok then, I’ll try to remember that. Of course I wanted to ask the person then so why is the whole park called by one mountain? That’s ok save it for later. Again we had a looooong travel in. We had to travel through Jackson Hole busy, busy town. Tons of traffic once out still had a long drive to the park. Went one route up the eastern side took some pics by that time the clouds was coming in and the mountains was hazing. 

One of our first stops walking down over a trail we saw calf and mom

She looked at me I looked at her

Mom then looked at me

Eyes watching everywhere

Cunningham Cabin

Sun about to set

Too much snow for me

The weather up until now has been very good to us and the weather was suppose to be raining for the next few days which were the days scheduled to see Grand Teton. So we will do and see what we can. 

Next morning up early and off again. We decided that tomorrow will have to be a day off we are both tired and we have not had a day off since we left. Yes good idea but for today, it's another early day. Saw Jackson Lake and Jenny lake but the view of the mountains still were not clear and the rain began around 10 so make the best and hit the visitor’s center on the way out. 

Morning commute 

That's on my list

Side note (with the Asian Invasion comes these signs) Their culture is different they were standing on the toilet seats and missing not good.

Snack time

Dam gate gears

Colter Bay

Stopped for a late lunch at Jackson Hole and thought I do a little shopping. We found a great pizza place but the shopping was a little more expensive in Jackson Hole. It was now raining and cold so we called it a day.

Spicy Sausage with onions and Balsamic

Jackson Hole Town Square

Our last day at the Grand Teton was a down day. We did not even go anywhere. It seemed nice. It was our first day we did not put a least a couple of hours of driving on our butts.

We got to enjoy the best campsite we have had so far. Nice big site parking for our jeep was across the road and we had a gazebo with table and benches with lights hanging around them and our own water fountain. Really nice.

It was good to cook, new recipe BBQ with sriracha and BBQ, sriracha sauce grilled pineapple rings on a salad with a raspberry honey mustard homemade dressing. Yes it was amazing!