July 16, 2009 - Colter Bay Campground

Colter Bay Campground is just about everything you'd hope a campground would be. It's beautiful, the weather is cool, there are wildflowers everywhere, there's plenty to do, everything is well-maintained--I could just go on and on.

We arrived yesterday morning. We set up camp and started exploring the area. There are lodges in every area of the park and inside the lodges are gift shops and restaurants. I was afraid that everything would be sort of "Disney-ized"--high prices, etc. That hasn't been the case. The restaurants have a nice selection at a reasonable price. We ate lunch at one of them and were very pleased. We bought food for dinner at the grocery store here. The grocery store is like a little Publix--we were amazed.

After lunch yesterday, we went to the Colter Bay Visitor's Center. They have a great Native American Museum there. We were really lucky to be there when they had a speaker. He was a man from Jackson--a former teacher and school principal. He's authored a number of books--around 12--about the Native Americans. The books are written at about the third grade level and many have been printed in several different languages. His talk yesterday was about Sacajaweja, the 15 year old Shoshonee woman who was invaluable in the Lewis and Clark Expedition because she knew which routes to take to get the horses necessary to complete the expedition. He was the most fascinating speaker! He's a tall, white-haired man of 80-something who really knows how to tell a story. We were glued to our seats. Naturally, we bought a couple of his books and had them autographed for Betsy and Ella.

We went for a long walk around the lake and were blown away by the views. This is an awesome place.

This morning was very cold, of course--about 40. We drank some coffee at the campsite but decided to walk up to the restaurant for breakfast. We've talked to a lot of the workers here. They all wear name tags with their home states on them. Many of the waitresses are college students working here for the summer. This morning we met a woman from Florida who's working as a hostess in the restaurant. Her husband is working in the Transportation Dept. here. The Grand Teton Lodge Co. is their employer. They are paid minimum wage, but they can live in the park for a nominal cost. People without campers live in the dorm. They all seem to love their jobs. They can ride the horses, use the kayaks, etc., at no charge while they're working here.

We took a really nice long walk/hike before lunch and saw a bunch of kids in the lake swimming--a little too cold for us. Some people are bundled-up, like us--others are walking around half-naked.

Well, we've got lots more to see. We'll post some pictures next time we're in the lodge.