American snapshot: Grand Teton National Park

If you head out of Yellowstone Park to the south you can't help but drive through Grand Teton National Park, the second national park of our summer trip. You can tell that this park is used to people just driving through and wanting to see a bit of what is on offer. When we stopped to get a bit of information the volunteer was able to give us a driving route, with recommended stops, that would take us a few hours to get through with enough time to actually get out of the car and walk for a bit. The entire time you are in the park the view is dominated by the Teton mountains towering over the landscape. I consistently found myself looking west unable to draw my eyes away from the majestic mountains. We stopped for a picnic lunch along the river where we could soak in their towering heights reflected back by the water. Father along we stopped for a short walk near some of the recreational areas (in some ways the park reminded me of a state park in terms of its recreational usage than a national park, although there is no denying that its natural landscape deserves national protection) where the obvious views were still enchanting but I also was absorbed by the northern version of bluebonnets and paintbrushes with their taller growth. A later stop took us to the chapel of transfiguration where the view was the entire focal point of the chapel. Why put in stain glass when a clear window will reveal one of God's masterpieces behind the altar? A turn and a head back into the park by a different road led us to Snake River Overlook, a spot where Ansel Adams took a few of his stunning photographs. You know I had to do my best to capture a piece of that in black and white. On our way out of the park we took a small detour along a dirt road where we happily stopped to watch the buffalo cross, taking their time, rubbing their heads against posts, bending down to nibble a bit of grass and keeping the calves moving. This park definitely has its own unique draw; even if it is often overshadowed by its larger more well-known northern neighbor.