Hump Day in the Tetons

Today we returned to String Lake with a rental paddle board, two kayaks, and four tubes. My aunt, Susie, gave us a quick demonstration on how to paddle board and my brothers took off in the kayaks. When we got there, it was still pretty chilly outside and none of us were really ready to get into the water so the tubes weren't really of much use.

Paddle boarding is one of the funnest things I have ever done. Thankfully, the boards are really stable and don't require much balance from the paddler. Part of the reason the experience was so amazing was probably because of the fantastic view. You are literally gliding through water with the Tetons surrounding you. 

I wished I would have had a fishing rod because there were soooooo many fish (trout I think) in the lake. It really is very hard to describe the feeling of paddle boarding at the foot of the mountains. It was probably the most incredible thing I have ever experienced, to say the least. My mom reminded us to take in the view and record it in our minds instead of focusing on trying to capture it on camera. No matter how long I sat on that board and looked around, I could not take it all in. There was too much beauty for my mind to wrap itself around. It was too awesome. I looked and looked, trying to memorize the landscape and ingrain it into my very consciousness but I couldn't do it. It was actually quite frustrating. Almost as frustrating as taking picture after picture and not even starting to capture the beauty of a place. I took in as much as I could though, and that was enough for me to be in awe at the Handiwork of Our Creator.
After five hours out in the sun, my siblings and I were pretty worn out and so declined the invitation to go to the Jackson Farmer's Market with my parents and Aunt Susie and Sarah(her daughter). We instead hung out at the house and watched Hawaii Five-O. When the adults got back with their produce they started to pack up and we headed out for a "fake camp-out." Originally, we were going to actually camp out and sleep in tents in Bridger-Teton National Forest but when my mom's back started bothering her on the trip up here, we decided it would be best not to sleep on the hard ground. So, our camp-out turned into a cook-out with the family and some of my aunt's friends. By the way, Aunt Susie has two daughters: Sarah and Catherine. They are a ton of fun. We cooked a bunch of chicken bratwurst and had a nice campfire until a storm hit us and we had to evacuate to our cars.

You can see the storm clouds closing in. The wildflowers were beautiful.

That's my Aunt Susie in the center. She's pretty darn cool.

The plan was to roast marshmallows and make s'mores after supper but because of the rain we had to clear out early so we made s'mores on the back porch of my aunt's house. 

My dad went a little crazy on the lighter fluid...he's like that.

Oh! And we saw two bighorn sheep which are apparently pretty rare in the area.