GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: Cousin Time in the Tetons!

By: Jaycie Lillie, 6/30/23

We woke up early and headed toward Grand Teton National Park!!! We anxiously waited for the Wilsons. After we met up and gave hugs, we got in line.

We were wanting to hike to a waterfall (Hidden Falls) and a lookout (Inspiration Point) but it was across Jenny Lake. If we hiked it would take 2-3 hours just to get to the trailhead! So instead, we took the ferry boat across Jenny Lake to the trailhead to save time.

The water was clear but kind of green.

On our first hike, we saw many pretty wildflowers and mushrooms!

Unfortunately, yucky bag worms were everywhere, too. We knew we made it to the waterfall because we heard the rushing water, and the air was much cooler! We stayed and took photos for a while! It was a beautiful waterfall! Hidden Falls:

We then hiked backwards to get to the crossroad. At the crossroads, we took the other trail leading up to Inspiration Point!! (400 ft. elevation climb)

The overlooks were very beautiful, and we weren't even to Inspiration Point yet!! It was an overlook of the lake.

We did some pilates poses like Aunt Lauren does:

There were some tricky parts of the hike. Once we got close to the top it got rocky and narrow. But it was worth it!

We made it to Inspiration Point! The lake was so pretty!

We ate lunch and the chipmunks kept begging for food. One person fed one (Ugh)! We tried to keep them from our food.

After lunch, we took pictures and the kids looked at rocks while the adults talked.

We didn't want to leave but we had to get on the boat back. The hike back down was a different trail and it was pretty, too!

The boat let us on because of the stamp to tell that our tickets were not one way. The stamp said, "Be Bear Aware!" But we never saw any bears. (The next day we did see a moose and Bison!)

Once on the other side of the lake we had to decide what we were going to do. Of course, we had to go to the gift shop! And after that we went to the visitor center and got our Junior Ranger booklets to start.

We then decided to go to String Lake and those who wanted to hike to Leigh Lake could. And the others could hang out by String Lake. My cousins, Jett, and I completed our Junior Ranger booklets by String lake while some of the others went on a hike. Aunt Lauren stayed with us.

Mommy, Daddy, & Uncle Tyler went on a hike and they saw some pretty views!

Meanwhile, the mosquitoes were bad and when we sat down there were huge ants! But we were ok after that. We finished our booklets and earned our Junior Ranger badges together! That was so fun!

The Park Ranger who swore us in was from Grand Lake, Oklahoma!

After that, we all went to Jackson and ate dinner at a fun pizza place that used to be a Movie Theatre.

And in honor of momma’s birthday, we walked around the corner and ate ice cream and sorbet! Yummy! It was very good.

We then had to say goodbye. It was sad to say goodbye, I really enjoyed spending time with my uncle, aunt, and 2 cousins.

We had a fun day.

Jules’ Journal: Whitewater Rafting on the Snake River!

By: Julianne Lillie, 7/1/23

Today was our whitewater rafting trip on the Snake River! Since we didn’t have to check in until 11:45am, Jason made bacon, eggs, & toast on his Blackstone for brunch.

Then we got ourselves ready for rafting and said goodbye to Jaycie. (She doesn’t enjoy rafting and decided to stay back form some much needed alone time to craft and read.)

Jett, Jason, and I got fitted for our wetsuits w/ jackets and boots. Fitting Jett was a nightmare because he was slightly sweaty and acted like a noodle the whole time! But we managed.

Then we loaded up into the Van.

Apparently, it was just the 3 of us needing a shuttle to the drop in site. The other family that was paired with us had the grandpa chauffeur them. During the van ride, Jett was so uncomfortable that he decided to take off his swimsuit underneath and go commando. So he wrestled with the suit it in the backseat (being overdramatic like he does) but finally got it back on by the time we made it to the drop in site.

The sun was out, and it was a beautiful day in the mid 80s. We were all sweating in our wetsuits and rethinking that decision. However, later we were SO glad we had them!

Our guide’s name was Liza, and we were on an 8-person raft with another family of 5. We went through a ton of rapids leveling between 1 and 3. Jason and I rode up front, so we set the rhythm of the paddling and ended up getting the wettest! I’ve never gotten so many facefulls of water on a rafting trip before… it was quite adventurous! The water was so cold!!!! Between 50-55 degrees depending on the depth and shaded areas. I was SO glad I had my wetsuit on. I opted out to wearing the jacket and exposed my arms. But I really could’ve used the jacket. At times we were all shivering in the shade.

Jett was able to “ride the bull” on the front of the raft during our biggest level of rapids (level 3) called the “Big Kahuna.” He sat up front on the raft straddling the strap and holding on with both hands for dear life! It made me a little nervous, but I knew he’d fall backwards into the boat if he accidentally let go. They took professional photos while we were paddling through the Big Kahuna!

Jett got POUNDED up front!

At one point he was totally underwater!

Thankfully, he didn’t let go and had a BLAST doing it!

We saw a handful of Bald Eagles soaring above us during the 1.5 hour trip on the river. And 1 Peregrine falcon pestering one of the Bald Eagles trying to steal his food. (That was fun to watch!) We also saw a couple of Osprey hunting as well. We did see a Beaver nest, but unfortunately no Beaver. Liza said her morning group saw the Beaver in its nest, but it must be out hunting.

After our rafting adventure, we helped load all the rafts onto the trailers, put up our paddles and our life vests then headed back to our shuttle van. Our driver proceeded to tell us we were to take off our wetsuits and she’ll send them back with the crew for cleaning. That was a surprise to us! No one told us we would need to change onsite, and we didn’t bring any extra clothes! Yikes! Luckily, I wore my swimsuit underneath, so I was fine. I helped Jett strip down and he luckily had his swimsuit in the van to change back into. But all Jason had on was his underwear. So, he stripped down and wrapped a towel around his waist. And none of us had shoes either because we also had to turn in our wetsuit boots! But luckily the van shuttled us back and parked right beside our truck so we didn’t have to walk far in our bare feet! It was an adventure for sure! And the professional photos turned out so great!

Jett’s Wild Flight: First Time to PARAGLIDE!

By: Jett Lillie, 7/2/23

We woke up at 6:30am and celebrated my mom’s birthday and opened her cards! I set up this surprise for her.

And I made this special pop-up card for her.

We loaded up in the truck and got an email from the paragliding place that they had to delay the flight and push it to 11:45am instead of 10:00am! So, we went to a visitor center and looked for moose. We were able to see one female moose!!!

Then we headed for the paragliding place in Jackson, WY as the fog moved away and there were clear skies. This meant we can paraglide! YESSSS!

Since Jaycie doesn’t enjoy this type of thing, she stayed back in the truck to read and take photos from the ground. Mommy, Daddy, and I rode up the mountain in the gondola 🚠 and got ready for paragliding!!!

We hiked down to the take-off spot.

As we got strapped in, our pilot’s set up the chute and gave us instructions.

Then, we ran and took off!!!! Daddy videoed mommy and I taking off since he was last.

Here's me taking off!

Here's mom taking off!

It was amazing and I loved every minute of it!!! I was not afraid at all because I love heights and I knew God was my ultimate pilot. He was in control even when we almost went upside down!

Here’s Jaycie’s photos of us from the ground: