In Wyoming we were sitting around a table making lunch of salami and cheese sandwiches from our cooler outside a roadside stop. We had a rule that we had to stop for any place selling fresh pies, but we hadn't seen any yet and needed to pick up a cord of wood for our fire that night in Grand Teton. We hadn't had any wood for fire at Firehole Canyon, the previous days stop, but that didn't get in the way of our fun. We killed a bottle of bourbon as we walked to the lake below our temporary desert home-a wonderful omen for the road trip we had only just begun.
Entering our campground in Grand Teton searching for a spot, we espied a picaresque lake through the trees. As if to draw us there as quickly as possible the first campsite we found was as close to the lake as possible.
To get to the beach we slid down a steep slope. Once on the shore, Nick and I immediately ran in. While adjusting to the sudden drop of temperature surrounding our bodies, I jumped backwards and inelegantly tubbed into the water. This lake was cold. As Margaret explained afterwards "the water was almost as cold as the Mos Def concert was hot." But it was our own, private, lake. We had spectacular scenery of the mountains in the distant West, foregrounded by an island forest. Evan quickly came in while MD snapped pics, smiles cheek-to-cheek, frozen to our faces. Margaret swam in, warming up in a race with Evan towards the mountains beyond. When we got too cold we would sun ourselves on the beach, the rocks trapping the warmth of the sun better then the crystal clear water.
Lessons Learned
Day 1:
1) Pay attention to gas gauge before light comes on
2) Pay attention to mileage when directions are given in those terms
3) If you go to sleep drinking bourbon and coke, make sure you have a water bottle next to your sleeping bag
Day 2:
1) Don't jump backwards into a lake wearing your sunglasses
2) Always get bacon
3) Go with Liquor, not beer
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