Jackson Lake, Grand Tetons National Park

Today, we ventured over to the beautiful Jackson Lake in the Grand Tetons. The largest of all of the lakes in the park, it is seriously breathtaking to see this clear, bright blue body of glacial water with the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever seen as an immediate backdrop. Like, if I were Peewee Herman, I’d marry that thing (if John agreed to a three-way marriage, of course).

We started the day with lunch at the Jackson Lake Lodge in the Mural Room. The Mural Room is a fine dining room known for having the best view of all national park dining rooms as it directly looks over the lake and Tetons. When you first enter the lodge, the vantage point makes it look like the mountains could come crashing through the window if they got any closer.

We were seated right at a window seat for a delicious lunch of elk chili, a Greek salad and turkey melt. I really seem to have taken a liking to ground elk! And the view lived up to the expectations..

Afterwards, we were able to get a huge bowl of ice cream for a small donation to a fundraiser towards preserving the park and checked out the rest of this beautiful lodge and the views out on the patio.

We then drove over to the Colter Bay parking area and set out to walk around the lake. We took the nearest trailhead and got some stunning views early on. We also ran into a couple who noticed my Philadelphia Phillies cap and discovered they were originally from the town next to my parents in Jersey…small world!

We soon after saw signs for Jackson Lake Overlook. Assuming it was going to be a quick detour and that we could take another trail or rent a kayak after that, we took it but I am still not sure that we reached the actual overlook. We just kept going over some steep inclines and through some back trails until we reached Swan Lake, where we had heard reports of a moose hanging out by the water, but did not see him, nor did we see any swans. We did see a deer run across the trail pretty close to us but it was too fast for us to catch a photo.

After an unplanned five mile round trip hike, we were a little bit tired and decided to check out the nearby swimming beach. We are very glad that we did! It was, as everything is in the Grand Tetons, absolutely gorgeous and serene. Though the water was pretty cold because, as I mentioned, it is glacial runoff water, it was refreshing to at least go in up to my knees. Even though we had our bathing suits with us, we figured if even the little kids around us were complaining it was too cold, we might not want to go all the way in. Crystal clear water with the mountains right there though, we hung out here for several hours just enjoying the beach.

Tired and relaxed, we headed back to grill and enjoy the view yet again..