Trips in the USA: Grand Tetons

Grand Tetons

We headed down from Yellowstone to do some backpacking in the Grand Tetons.  We borrowed some bear spray and an extra bear box and got our permits for a 4 night trips through the mountains, along the Teton Crest trail.  We started with nice and sunny weather, hiking through the high alpine lakes and meadows along the southern crest of the Tetons.  We camped our first night on the “Death Canyon” shelf with awesome views over Death Canyon and with the Grand Tetons in the distance. 

Trips in the USA: Glacier National Park

Cobalt Lake trail

We headed up to visit Jason’s sister in Montana, and to see some of the national parks up on the north in and around Montana.  We stayed in Bozeman a few days and then drove up to Glacier.  We stopped at Two Medicine Lake to camp a few nights and do a nice hike to Cobalt Lake.  We hiked up really nice valleys filled with huckleberry bushes.  It took extra time to get to the lake since we stopped to pick so many berries along the way. There are also lots of bears in the area, so we carried bear spray and made noise as we hiked through the bushes.  The wildflowers and berries made for some really nice hiking in this area.

Trips in the USA: Chicago

Millennium Park

We went to Chicago for a five day trip to see the city and go to a wedding of our our friends Mike and Becca.  We also ate tons of Chi-town food: hotdogs, deep-dish pizza and Italian beef sandwiches.

Trips in the USA: Yosemite

Yosemite waterfalls

So here are some highlights from some our trips within the United States, since our return.  We have been living in the Bay Area where Jason is temporarily working at his old job.  California has experienced more than normal amounts of rain, so the rivers are running with more water and the plants are staying greener for longer into the dry season this year.  We went with Alexa’s family to Yosemite National Park to see some of the waterfalls with the massive amounts of water.