The Bear Affair

We woke up today and left our hotel in Pocatello at around 10:30 am so we could go to the Museum of Clean. Museums are always a must for Mom on road trips since she is a lifelong learner after all. Now Joe and I had been teasing Mom about this place ever since she mentioned it to us. Why would you want to go to a museum to learn about sanitation? However, I confess, it wasn’t really that bad of an experience. The museum had three floors, lots of exhibits, and was spotless. We learned about the history of many different cleaning appliances including the vacuum cleaner, the washing machine, and the trusty toilet. There were many models of each appliance throughout the ages and many hands-on activities. Most of the hands-on activities were cleaning which is probably why the building doesn’t need to hire janitors. Though it was a tad silly, the Museum of Clean was quite educational, but I didn’t leave inspired like their advertisement claimed I would.

"Come interested, leaved inspired!"

Mom learning how to washed and dry socks from the hands-on exhibit

Who hasn't wanted a Van Gogh on their toilet seat?

After we finished the Museum of Clean, we started our three hour drive to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. We listened to the Maze Runner book on the way which kept our interest the entire drive. We arrived at Grand Teton around four in the afternoon and headed to the visitor center. Along the way, we drove down a pretty bumpy road which brought back the memory of driving on Old Bozeman Road during our first road trip to Mississippi. You can read about it at my brother Joe’s blog here. At the visitor center, we figured out what hikes we wanted to do and how to get there since the map was bit difficult to decipher. We also purchased bear repellent spray at the strong recommendation of the park staff. 

Our first hike was a 1.5 mile trail to Taggert Lake. Now I’ll admit I was bit anxious and mildly paranoid we were going to meet a bear on the hike. I held the bear repellent spray in my hand with a firm grip and surveyed the area for any sign of Ursus arctos. It wasn’t comforting when the bear encounter guidebook had a section on what to do when you’re being mauled by a bear. Fortunately, we never saw any bears and I became more relaxed. The lake was beautiful and also had a great view of the Grand Teton Mountain. After we finished the hike, we drove down to Jenny Lake and took some more photos. Then we headed to Jackson Lake Lodge where we are staying for the night. Our room is one of the most luxurious we’ve ever stayed in on our road trips. Great nature-themed decorations, two sinks, and my personal favorite: liquid hand soap. The lodge itself also feels very grand and the lobby reminded me of the lobby in the Grand California Hotel in Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort. We ate dinner at restaurant in the lodge and I ordered fried macaroni & cheese which was pretty good. We headed back to our room after dinner and relaxed. Tomorrow we’ll do some more hiking in Grand Teton and then head to Yellowstone National Park.

Grand Teton Mountain

The Jackson Lake Lodge

The Lodge's Lobby

Check out my Mom’s or my brother Joe’s blog for a different perspective of today at http://andallthatjusttosay.blogspot.com/ and https://joesage.wordpress.com/, respectively.